• Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Xsan

    Programatic Screen Sharing

    You can remotely start ARD with kickstart, which I have previously covered at length. But Screen Sharing is a bit of a different little beast. To start up Screen Sharing, you can just use the following command: echo -n enabled > /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScreenSharing.launchd I still prefer kickstart, but this method functions when you need something quick and easy. To then disable Screen Sharing, you can just toss the launchd item: rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScreenSharing.launchd Once you have Screen Sharing started, you can then open the Screen Sharing application from a client by using the open command, followed by the protocol, which would be vnc and then the IP address. As with FTP you…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mass Deployment

    Sending Command Keys Through ARD

    You can send Command keys (aka – Open Apple and Closed Apple) through Apple Remote Desktop (ARD), or not send the Command keys through ARD. Your call: defaults write com.apple.RemoteDesktop DoNotSendSystemKeys 1 P.S. – Of course these are short, I’m on the road. Sorry for brevity but typing posts on the iPhone is not all it’s cracked up to be…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mass Deployment

    Apple Remote Desktop Issues + Xsan

    The build_hd_index process is spiking! What to do?!?! In an Xsan environment where you have a number of clients and Apple Remote Desktop is running on an administrative computer, the Application Usage Data and User Accounting Data collectors can cause the build_hd_index process to run more often than is needed (okay so spiking is a bit extreme but a dropped frame once every couple of days is the end of the world to some people), especially in cases where you don’t actually use the collected data for business intelligence. If you do a Get Info on a computer in Remote Desktop you can uncheck Collect Application Usage Data and Collect User…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    Kickstarting ARD

    The Command Line Fibre Channel Management and Setting up the Network Stack from the Command Line articles I did on Xsanity covered a couple of tasks that you more than likely perform on every client system you setup.  Now let’s look at another.   Whether you are deploying Xsan or managing it, assuming you have more than 1 machine to manage (and why would you use Xsan if you don’t) then a little Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) can make your life a lot easier.  You might be deploying a package to install the Final Cut Server.app or you might be installing Xsan remotely.  Or maybe you’re quitting Final Cut Pro…

  • Mac OS X

    Mac OS X 10.5: Getting ARD Buttons in Screen Sharing

    I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Screen Sharing is a great enhancement to Leopard. The ability to control other Macs isn’t only available through third party applications any more. However, many administrators who are used to using Apple Remote Desktop will want some of the features they have become accustomed to, such as curtain mode, full screen, get clipboard, etc. So to obtain these features, the following command (all on one line) will unlock many of the buttons that have been disabled in Screen Sharing: defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing 'NSToolbar Configuration ControlToolbar' -dict-add 'TB Item Identifiers' '(Scale,Control,Share,Curtain,Capture,FullScreen,GetClipboard,SendClipboard,Quality)'

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

    Allow ARD Access into an ARD Server

    When a computer has ARD open, by default you cannot log into it using Remote Desktop from another host.  To fix this, use the following command: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteDesktop AdminConsoleAllowsRemoteControl -bool false And then run the kickstart -restart -agent command from /System/Library/CoreServices/ARD Agent.app/Contents/Resources /System/Library/CoreServices/ARD Agent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart’ -restart -agent

  • Mac OS X

    Script to Clear the SideBar Prefs

    Here’s a quick little script you can push out to a system having SideBar issues, to clear the prefs.  Alternately you can throw the rm command itself into ARD as a support mechanism… #!/bin/bash rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist exit 0