macadmin.fraserhess.com

Discoveries and solutions from my work administering Mac computers.

  • You should be opinionated about Apple’s stock apps

    In a recent post, I covered the differences between Macs from the factory and those that were wiped and macOS was reinstalled. A major difference is that the factory Macs include 5 additional applications: Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, and GarageBand. I’ve discovered that there’s a very good reason to be opinionated about whether or not…

  • UI and process for preventing a Mac from turning on

    Last week, Apple documented how to prevent a Mac from turning on when the lid is opened or the power is connected. As a person with a set of test Macs that get opened and unplugged/plugged all the time, this is a welcome feature. The nvram command to change this setting has a set of…

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  • Blocking Dialpad automatic updates

    Dialpad, in their own words, an “all-in-one AI-powered customer communications platform” has a Mac app that self-updates. If it attempts to install an update and the logged-in end-user is not an admin, the app prompts for admin credentials. This frustrates end-users and help desks alike. I was unable to find a workaround for this behavior…

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  • Differences between factory and clean installs of macOS

    macOS can be cleanly re-installed using Erase All Contents and Settings, transferring an IPSW file while in DFU mode, and by using the startosinstall –eraseinstall command in the macOS Install app. All of these come with trade offs. None of them are exactly the same as a factory Mac. EACS IPSW EI OS version Same…

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  • Passcode Generator

    When sending an MDM command to lock or wipe a device, a six-digit passcode is required. Humans aren’t great at random numbers, so I made several attempts at a shell function that generates random passcodes. Read on or skip to the final solution. All solutions print the passcode and copy it to the clipboard. Attempt…