[UniMacTech] OS X and custom user templates

[Glenn Rees]

Hi Vladmir,

  Yes, I use custom user templates and Active Directory.

 

It sounds like you are able to authenticate but a home directory is not
being created for you locally. I have had this happen before. OS X has the
ability to give you a strange basic 'default' home directory when there is
something wrong in the home directory creation process. I have never worked
out where it gets this from, as it certainly is not from
/System/Library/User Template/English.lproj

 

OK, a few things you must do to get the home directory template working
correctly:

 

Make sure you use OS X's default user template and it's path as listed
above. Bombich says to use /Library/Lab management or something, but I have
had some errors using such a path and don't recommend it.

 

When you authenticate via AD, a local home directory is created from the
default user template. You cannot use networked home directories with AD.
Any 'home directory' type attribute in the AD is mounted as a share in the
dock (of all places).

 

When you copy the user template from your test/default user account to
/System./English.lproj, you must do it as root. Make sure you delete the
current default template in English.lproj before doing a copy. I use the
following terminal commands to do this procedure: (my default/test user is
called 'default')

 

        sudo rm -rf /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/*

        sudo cp -R /Users/default/* /System/Library/User\
Template/English.lproj/

 

I have written an applescript that does this as well so I can just run it
from my admin desktop whenever I make changes.

 

After you have done this, boot into a different volume and run a permission
repair with disk utility on the volume with your default user template on
it. It will pick up some errors that you should correct.

 

Now when you log in everything should work for you!

 

Let me know how you go..

 

 

Regards,

Glenn.

 

-------------------------------------
Glenn Rees
IT Officer
Mac Administrator
Information and Communication Technology Services
University of Canberra, Australia
(w) +61 02 6201 5631
(m) 0407 360 180
(e) glenn.rees at canberra.edu.au
-------------------------------------

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to
me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we
know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there
are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the
ones we don't know we don't know." -- US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumseld


  _____  

From: unimactech-bounces at auc.uow.edu.au
[mailto:unimactech-bounces at auc.uow.edu.au] On Behalf Of Vladimir Tittl
Sent: Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:25 PM
To: University Macintosh Technical Forum
Subject: [UniMacTech] OS X and custom user templates

 

Hello,

Does anyone have experience with creating custom user templates in OS X?
I've followed instructions from Bombich and others and I'm still having
issues.

What I've done is create a temporary user and customise the dock, then I
copy over the default user template with the temporary one. 

But when anyone then logs in using Active Directory the old default dock
appears. I know this because it has question marks for the applications I
have deleted. How do I get the dock same as set up in the temporary user?

Is a different default template used when authenticating via AD?




Best regards,
 
Vladimir Tittl
 
IT Support Officer
School of Population Health
The University of Melbourne

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