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Suppressing the iCloud and Diagnostics pop-up windows using profiles with...
As part of the release of Casper 9.93, JAMF has added options for suppressing the iCloud and Diagnostics pop-up windows to the following MDM profile payloads: Login Window Security & Privacy The...
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Opening Microsoft Works files on a Mac
A colleague recently asked for assistance with opening a particular document, which was created using Microsoft Works. Microsoft Works had a long run as a lower-cost alternative to Microsoft’s Office...
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Unplug USB and Thunderbolt devices when setting up Windows 8.x or 10.x using...
As part of setting up a dual-boot configuration for a group at my shop, I was working with a colleague to set up a new Windows 10 installation using Boot Camp on a new Retina MacBook Pro. As part of...
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Portable home directories will not work on macOS Sierra
As part of the pre-release announcements about macOS Sierra, Apple released the following KBase article: https://support.apple.com/HT206871 As part of the KBase article, Apple included a Changes coming...
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Setting VMware Fusion to confirm you want to close an active VM
I do a lot of work with virtual machines running in VMware’s Fusion hypervisor software. As part of that work, I’ll occasionally run into the following issue: 1. I’m running an application inside a VM....
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Upgrading to macOS Sierra requires OS X 10.7.5 or later
As part of Apple’s Upgrade to macOS Sierra documentation, there’s been a change in the system requirements for macOS Sierra as opposed to OS X El Capitan. For OS X El Capitan, the earliest OS you can...
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Disabling iCloud Drive and Document Syncing
In the course of my testing of macOS Sierra this week, I decided to turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents syncing. This was my reaction: I turned on iCloud Desktop and Documents syncing. I turned off...
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Building a Casper smart group containing Sierra-incompatible Macs
As part of preparing for macOS Sierra, I’m planning to provide a way for my customers to upgrade themselves to Sierra via Casper’s Self Service. Unlike the upgrade process I was able to provide for OS...
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Suppressing Siri pop-up windows on macOS Sierra
Starting in 10.7.2, Apple set the iCloud sign-in to pop up on the first login. In 10.10, Apple added a new Diagnostics & Usage window that pops up at first login after the iCloud sign-in. In 10.12,...
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Blocking Siri on macOS Sierra
Siri is a welcome addition to macOS Sierra, but in certain environments it’s a service which needs to be disabled. For those Mac admins who need to do this, here are the relevant keys: Stop Siri from...
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macOS Sierra’s /Volumes folder is no longer world-writable
One of the changes made in macOS Sierra is summed up by my colleague @n8felton below: #MacAdmins, in case you missed it, you will need to be root to create folders in /Volumes starting in 10.12...
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tty_tickets option now on by default for macOS Sierra’s sudo tool
While working on some documentation, I noticed a behavioral change in macOS Sierra’s sudo tool that was different from how sudo behaves on OS X El Capitan. El Capitan if you run sudo in one Terminal...
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fdesetup authrestart no longer requires an immediate restart in macOS Sierra
Apple made a change to the fdesetup authrestart command in macOS Sierra, where running fdesetup authrestart will no longer require the encrypted Mac in question to restart immediately. The delayed...
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iCloud Desktop and Documents in macOS Sierra – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
As part of the iCloud services in macOS Sierra, Apple is offering a new way to store your files in iCloud – synchronizing the contents of your account’s Desktop and Documents folder with iCloud Drive....
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Making MDM manage more
My colleague @mikeymikey put out a call over Twitter to find out what folks want to manage with MDM profiles, but currently cannot. Hey #macadmins What settings do you manage in your org right now that...
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Managing the automatic download of the macOS Sierra installer to compatible Macs
As was reported today, Apple is beginning to automatically download the macOS Sierra installer to compatible Macs. The installation process is not automatic, much like installing the macOS Sierra...
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Slides from the “What’s new in File System” session at MacSysAdmin 2016
For those who wanted a copy of my filesystem talk at MacSysAdmin 2016, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format. PDF – http://tinyurl.com/MSA2016FileSystemPDF Keynote –...
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Slides from the virtualization session at MacSysAdmin 2016
For those who wanted a copy of my virtualization talk at MacSysAdmin 2016, here are links to the slides in PDF and Keynote format. PDF – http://tinyurl.com/MSA2016VirtualizationPDF Keynote –...
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FileVault 2 and the rise of Apple File System
As part of the various announcements at WWDC 2016 in June 2016, Apple announced that there would be a new filesystem named Apple File System (APFS) being released in 2017. As part of the functionality...
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System Preferences problem when enabling FileVault 2 using an IRK is fixed in...
Starting in OS X Yosemite 10.10.x, I noticed an issue when enabling FileVault 2 via System Preferences when using an institutional recovery key. In Mavericks and earlier versions of OS X, the behavior...
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