Technology Blog
Munki has been a staple management tool for many MacAdmins for a decade.
However in recent releases of macOS, Munki needs to be granted Privacy Preferences Policy Control permissions to access certain disk locations or update some apps.
Thankfully this has become very easy in the past year thanks to the MacAdmins community.
Read on for details and an example configuration profile.
Apple released macOS 14 Sonoma this week, and on top of the numerous consumer facing features, there are also a number of interest to MacAdmins.
• What’s new for enterprise in macOS Sonoma
While there are many improvements to features like Declarative Device Management (DDM) and MDM, one of the most interesting to me only got a short mention with no details.
Automated Device Enrollment can be enforced after Setup Assistant.
This feature, which I’m calling Retroactive Automated Device Enrollment, was announced during WWDC and I extensively tested it during the beta cycles.
I think there is some amazing potential here. Read on for details…
We are always looking for ways to reduce friction for end users. Our job in IT is to empower users to get their work done with as few technological distractions as possible.
Many times Apple makes this harder due to features or functionality in macOS. One such example is Keyboard Setup Assistant (KSA) which automatically launches anytime a new input device is detected.
While this is very helpful for consumers who have purchased a new peripheral; in a corporate setting it can be an annoyance multiplied thousands of times over.
YubiKeys present to macOS as keyboards and trigger KSA. When rolling them out we decided to use a Munki NoPkg to save our co-workers from having to dismiss this useless dialog.
Read on for the details…
MunkiReport 5.8 was released today and primarily includes compatibility with Python 3 and PHP 8.
Just like last year’s release of 5.7, this new version of MunkiReport requires admins to deploy a specific Python package to clients before updating.
It will also likely require a coordinated update on your web server to enable PHP 8.
Read on for the details…
A very annoying bug in the latest release of Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub caused us to uninstall it from our macOS fleet using Munki.
Last week VMware released version 23.04.0 and the users in our testing group were immediately bombarded with a confusing error dialog. These errors would appear repeatedly throughout the day and worst of all, steal focus every time.
We halted the rollout and immediately engaged VMware support who confirmed the issue isn’t isolated to our tenant. Multiple customers are experiencing the bug including others in the #workspaceone channel on the MacAdmins Slack.
However despite pulling 24.04 from Munki and making sure automatic updates were disabled in our WS1 console, the install count continued to climb. With no resolution in sight from VMware we decided to remove 24.04 from our fleet completely.
So much for Read-Only Friday! Read on for the details…
A frequent request for the open source tool Nudge is local timezone support. Nudge was coded to use UTC for configuring and enforcing the installation deadline for macOS updates.
This means that global companies have had to pick a single deadline for their entire fleet. Alternatively they could deploy multiple configurations for different regions. Neither option is ideal.
Bob Gendler set out to code a local timezone feature only to find out, to everyone’s surprise, that it already exists!
Read on for the details…
Only a month after my post An easier method to put a MacBook into DFU mode, Timothy Perfitt has one-uped himself.
Over the weekend Perfitt shared his latest app, DFU Blaster, on YouTube and Mastodon.
I’m happy to report that it is by far the easiest method yet to put an Apple Silicon Mac into DFU mode.
Read on for the details…
The signing certificate for the popular MacAdmins tool Nudge was changed tonight and action may be needed on your part.
Nudge version 1.1.11 was released but contains no code changes, only those related to the build process and the signing certificate.
This will require a configuration profile update if you are managing the login item for Nudge in the com.apple.servicemanagement payload.
Read on for the details.
A great new feature introduced with macOS 13 Ventura is the ability for users to perform a delta upgrade. As opposed to the traditional “Install macOS Ventura.app”, which is still available, the delta upgrade takes place entirely in System Preferences’ Software Update pane and is less than half the size.
This new delta method also means that for the first time standard (non-admin) users can perform a major macOS upgrade if they are running 12.3 or higher.
Nudge is an open source application from Erik Gomez that allows MacAdmins to encourage their users to install macOS updates. Because it is no longer possible to install macOS updates without user input, a tool like Nudge is needed. Old methods to script and automate softwareupdate no longer work.
However, Nudge was written before the introduction of these new delta upgrades, and traditional configurations need adjustment to account for them. Thankfully members of the MacAdmins community worked out the needed changes. Read on for the details.
Using DFU mode and Apple Configurator is the fastest way to erase and perform a clean installation of macOS on an Apple Silicon Mac.
Unfortunately Apple’s official documentation to Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon using Apple Configurator has always given users trouble.
Thankfully there is an easier method I’ve been using with near 100% success for the past year and a half. This method isn’t new but I frequently come across users who struggle to initiate a DFU so I want to help spread the word further.
Read on for the details…
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