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How to set up default user profile for os x 10.12 Sierra

I'm trying to use the process for setting a custom default user profile from OS X 10.10, but it's being problematic. It says it can't find the English.lproj folder, then it won't delete the file, etc. Is there a newer and better process for Sierra?

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Feb 7, 2017 10:26 AM

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6 replies

Mar 15, 2017 4:03 PM in response to rriojas3

I'm dealing with this as well.

I followed this guide written for Mavericks to El Capitan, but performed on macOS Sierra:

https://sites.sas.upenn.edu/jasonrw/blog/2013/03/create-custom-default-user-prof ile-os-x-107108

These instructions worked flawlessly in Mavericks, but I'm also having a few quirks in Sierra.


In my set up, I open some preinstalled programs, like LibreOffice and Firefox, add some bookmarks and install some extensions. I also add those programs to the dock.


I got everything to work, except the Downloads folder in the dock shows the folder icon with the little red circle, as if the user doesn't have rights to it, yet I can add/remove files no problem. On different machines it could also show a giant question mark. Re-adding the folder to the dock fixes it, but that's not desirable in the field!


The few things I did differently were running the Mac version of CCleaner with everything checked excluding 'Custom Files and Folders'. Further down in the instructions, when signed into the 'root' user, I delete the Keychain folder contents then instead of while logged in as the default profile user.


I also found this post: Re: Custom Profile Issue

Maybe that would help.

Mar 24, 2017 5:13 PM in response to dot.com

I've used those steps and they work as expected. However, how would one include the Downloads folder in the dock? I've tried using the following:


defaults write /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '<dict><key>tile-data</key><dict><key>file-data</key><dict><key>_CFURLString</k ey><string>~/Downloads</string><key>_CFURLStringType</key><integer>2</integer></ dict></dict></dict>'


With no success. I've tried replacing '~/Downloads' with '$HOME/Downloads' or 'Users/`whoami`/Downloads' with no success, either.


The broader question becomes: how would one insert a user-relative folder in the dock that works for any user who first signs in?


By the way, I found a way to remove a dock app via command line, though it may be overkill:


i="$(defaults read /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock [ persistent-apps \ persistent-others ] | grep _CFURLString\" | awk '/some app/ {print NR}')"


for j in `echo "$i" | tr " " "\n" | sort -gr`


do

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Delete persistent-others:$[$j-1]" /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist

done

Mar 15, 2017 4:24 PM in response to rriojas3

I'm guessing that the problem is something called SIP (System Integrity Protection). With SIP you are prevented from modifying things in the /System tree, as well as /usr, /bin, /sbin, and any of the pre-installed apps that come with Sierra. I found a suggestion that sounds like what you might be looking for at https://www.reddit.com/r/macsysadmin/comments/5kt9id/default_profile_config_in_m acos_sierra/


Basically it says:


How to setup a default user profile in macOS Sierra.

Everything must be done as root. Even sudo doesn't grant enough rights to get into the /System/Library/User\ Template/ folder.

  1. setup the account as desired. Dock icons, Finder prefs, etc.
  2. mv /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj /System/Library/User\ Template/orig-English.lproj
  3. 'ditto' the account (as root) to /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj ditto /Users/user /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj
  4. delete the com.apple.sharedfilelist rm -r /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/
  5. edit the /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist and remove "_CFURLString" for Downloads. You'll need an XML editor for this. I used Pref Setter
  6. Delete all the Keychains rm -rf /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/Library/Keychains/*
  7. Delete the .bash* files from /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/ *rm -rf /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/.bash**
  8. Change ownership of the /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj folder chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj
  9. chmod -R 755 /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj

If everything goes smoothly, you should have a default account setup for all new users of that device.

Hope that can be of some use to others!


Hope that helps -- ps make sure to read the other comments there as they sound like might help more.


Good luck...

Feb 7, 2017 11:57 AM in response to Old Toad

I'm not trying to add a new user. I work at a library where I have a lab environment of 20 iMacs. I created a user profile called "profile" which I set using our proprietary background, default browser start pages, dock, etc. I want our users to use this default profile when they log in to these lab computers. Basically, I was able to do this before with Yosemite and previous versions by copying the /Users/profile/ content to the /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/ folder. There were some other steps involved, but that's the jist of it. Sierra is not cooperating. Also, if someone else has already gone though this, maybe they can tell me of other issues that I may encounter. One that we had to deal with in the past was the computer asking for a login keychain password over and over and over again. Little quirky stuff that make working with macintosh stuff soooo much fun.

How to set up default user profile for os x 10.12 Sierra

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