Alan Siu's Blog

  • Using OpenSnoop with process names that have spaces in them

    opensnoop is a command-line tool that comes preinstalled with Mac OS X allowing you to see what’s being modified in your filesystem. If you Google some tutorials on it, you’ll see that you can track a particular process name like Safari with code like sudo opensnoop -n Safari but if you try to do it…

  • Keeping up to date using Munki without bothering users

    Munki is a great tool for distributing software and creating little mini App Stores for organizations, so users can do self-service installs of Mac software. But Munki is also a great tool for keeping software up to date. Some software updates are primarily about adding new features. Many updates, however, include bug fixes or security…

  • Error 0x80070190 when activating Microsoft Office 2010

    Had this happen once on a Windows machine. Microsoft has several solutions outlined at When attempting to activate Office 2010 receive error “An unspecified error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. (0x80070190)” The one that worked for me was 3. Change the UserOperations key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform to…

  • Packaging CrashPlan PROe for Munki

    Update This no longer applies for CrashPlan 6.5 and above. For more details, see Considerations when upgrading CrashPlan with Munki. Why the official deployment method won’t work for Munki Code42 has a guide for Preparing The Crashplan App For Deployment. It basically downloads (from your CrashPlan PROe server) a .zip file of some tools to…

  • iPad apps open instead of updating

    If you have a user with a bunch of apps to update in the iOS App Store, but tapping the Update button opens the app instead of updating the app, check to make sure her iOS is up to date. For example, if you have a lot of pending app updates and are still on…

  • Recreating a deleted recovery partition on a Mac

    Important update: Lately I’ve been having issues with CreateRecoveryPartitionInstaller creating an empty (unusable) recovery partition. I’m not the only one experiencing it, but the problem also doesn’t seem to be universal.. If you’re not getting this tutorial below to work for you, you might want to try this less elegant workaround that totally did work…

  • Get photos/music off an iPad or iPhone using Ubuntu Linux

    Disclaimer These instructions work for iOS 8 (tested on both an iPhone and an iPad) using Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty) and Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid). The instructions will still likely work in other versions of iOS and Ubuntu, but your mileage may vary. What’s the problem? If you take pictures with your iPhone or iPad and then…

  • Packaging NetExtender for Munki

    Disclaimer The following tutorial is based on and works for NetExtender version 7.5.774 for Mac. Your mileage may vary for other versions. Why does NetExtender need a Munki-fied “update”? The actual NetExtender application doesn’t need anything special for Munki. You can do a regular munkiimport on the .dmg file, and it’ll go in just fine…

  • LEGO Mindstorms stuck on splash screen

    For the odd computer here and there I’ve had LEGO Mindstorms get stuck on the splash screen (we’re talking 10-15 minutes or more). A bit of trouble, but I’ve found going to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins and deleting the Silverlight.plugin, then reinstalling both Silverlight and LEGO Mindstorms seems to fix it.

  • Packaging Starry Night College for Munki

    The following tutorial is just a more step-by-step version of Multiple guest users on one PC – How to register Starry Night, and with Munki in mind. Find the Starry Night app in your /Applications folder, right-click it, and select Show Package Contents. Then, go to Contents > Resources > Sky Data > Resources and…

  • Opening .wps Files without using WordPerfect

    Very rarely, you may get a .wps (WordPerfect) file as an attachment instead of a .pdf, .docx, or .pages file. You can ask the sender to re-send it in another format, or you can pay WordPerfect US$220 to install WordPerfect to open one attachment… or you can try to open the .wps file. Won’t work…

  • Creating a Symantec Endpoint Protection package for Munki

    Thanks to Erik from the Munki Dev group for the tip. If you have a newer version of Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) that comes as an .app with a separate Additional Resources folder, here is how you can get a Munki-friendly package out of it. Go ahead and launch up the installer .app file. Click…

  • Restoring a deleted recovery partition on a Mac

    Update This is only one method to restore the missing recovery partition. Check out Recreating a deleted recovery partition on a Mac for another method. The Missing Recovery Partition Problem I don’t actually know how a recovery partition gets deleted, but I’ve come across a few Macs with the partition deleted, and I’ve been looking…

  • Running a post-uninstall script for a Munki package

    Much as I love editing text files and entering commands into Terminal.app, I do also appreciate a good GUI frontend. Apart from munkiimport, I mainly manage Munki using MunkiAdmin, as I referenced in Absolute beginner’s guide to setting up Munki (not monkey). Of course, I got a bit too comfortable with the GUI frontend, and…

  • Configure Mac Remote Management from the Terminal

    On a Mac, if you want to remotely manage the client machine using ARD (Apple Remote Desktop), you can go to System Preferences > Sharing > Remote Management. What if you want to configure a user to remotely manage the machine but you have only SSH access (or you want to run a script instead…