Alan Siu's Blog

  • Fixing ffmpeg for Munki (allowUntrusted)

    Apparently the version of ffmpeg that the Audacity Team wants you to install for Audacity has an invalid or expired signature, which now prevents Munki from installing it. The best solution (workaround) I’ve found is (author of Munki) Greg Neagle’s own: FIXING PACKAGES WITH EXPIRED SIGNATURES

  • Packaging Logger Pro for Munki

    Vernier, the company that produces Logger Pro, is quite generous in terms of its licensing. Schools can pay an affordable site license fee, and that includes the license for not only school computers but even for students to put it on their home computers (Logger Pro 3 site license allows your students to install Logger…

  • Terminal command to mark a Munki optional install for installation

    If you’re a beginning Munki administrator, you’re probably pretty familiar with adding software to these categories: Managed Installs: Software that has to be installed on the client machine and does not appear as an optional install to be removed. Managed Uninstalls: Software that must be removed, so if it’s installed will be force-removed from the…

  • Mac “Printing – Unable to get printer status” error

    Can’t say this will work in every situation, but it’s possible that the printing protocol is wrong. If you’re adding via lpadmin and ipp, try lpd or vice versa.

  • Adding Google Apps “Other Calendars” to iOS

    If you’re using Google Apps for Education and add a Google account to Mails, Contacts, Calendars in iOS, you may notice only your primary calendars (and not “other calendars”) showing up on your iPhone or iPad’s Calendar app. If that happens, just visit www.google.com/calendar/syncselect while logged into your GAFE account, and then check the box…

  • Fix for Mac OS X 10.10.5 breaking Apache

    Problem If you have SSL enabled on an Apache server running on Mac OS X, you may have found that upgrading to 10.10.5 breaks your site, and your users cannot connect either via http or https. It turns out the update moves the certs and keys to a new folder, so references to those certs…

  • Renaming a Mac hard drive from the command line

    You know, if your hard drives are set to show as icons on the desktop, you can rename them by selecting them, hitting Enter, and then typing in a new name? If you want to script naming, you can also name from the command line. For example, if you want to rename the drive you’re…

  • Default printer options for Mac OS X

    If you ever want to script default printing options for OS X, these commands should help you out. User: Switching to a default printer instead of the last used printer By default, Mac OS X will make the default printer whatever printer was last used. If you’d like to change that setting for the user,…

  • Packaging PowerTeacher Gradebook for Munki

    Important Update: As of April, 2017 (possibly earlier), the LaunchGradebook.ptg file appears to be tied to the specific user logged in, so it can’t just be generically distributed. So if you don’t have an older version of LaunchGradebook.ptg for your organization, you essentially won’t be able to distribute Gradebook to your users. Fortunately, (hat tip…

  • Modifying the Energy Saver “Put hard disks to sleep when possible” setting using the terminal

    If you’re looking in Yosemite for where the Put hard disks to sleep when possible setting in Energy Saver lives, it’s in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist, so you can view with the command defaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist and you’ll see the value in “Disk Sleep Timer”, with 10 meaning the box is checked and 0 meaning it’s not checked.…

  • Modifying the Energy Saver “Turn display off after” preferences in Yosemite using the terminal

    What’s the problem? I’m shocked at how little straightforward documentation there is regarding where the Energy Saver settings (from System Preferences) are stored or how to modify them using the terminal. Where are the settings stored? Using opensnoop, I was able to track down that Energy Saver modifies this file: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist The main slider in…

  • Making Microsoft AutoUpdate check manually for Macs with Munki

    Note: I’m writing with regard to Microsoft Office for 2011. It’s possible the .plist file updates here is different for other versions of Microsoft Office for Mac. If you’re using Munki to manage software updates, you don’t want the applications themselves to be constantly checking for updates or notifying your users when an update is…

  • Terminal command to change a user password on a Mac

    Update May, 2019 Now that there are SecureToken users, the command below no longer works to reset another user’s password. Thanks to mario on the MacAdmins Slack for testing. Acknowledgements Just a cleaned-up version of directions from Mac Script to change Administrator password Changing a user password via terminal command If you ever want to—perhaps…