Sheridan Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 On my 10.6.8 macs (using the OD/AD setup, not using local folders) iTunes won't start up. If you clear the users preferences (from their Library folder) then you get the EULA etc again, but it then hangs at the point where it used to ask for proxy details to continue This is happening on all the macs now - since we updated them a couple of weeks ago (and there was an itune update in there) Has anyone got any idea how to find whats causing the hang? It stays hung with the beachball permanently, the only way to continue is to Force Quit.
Sheridan Posted July 16, 2012 Author Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) Nothing in the console that I can see as permissions issues etc - I've cleared all traces of users profiles from their home folders, and repaired the disk permissions but it hangs on startup. EDIT- have just noticed that it seems to work as an network admin user (still with the folder redirection set to the AD home folder), at least it comes up with the dialogue box asking for proxy authentication - which is fine as thats what I expect. It just hangs at this point for any other users, and locks the mac up completely Edited July 16, 2012 by Sheridan
mezmerrick Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 The proxy authentication might well be your problem then. I deliver proxy info via WGM, but we don't use authentication. iTunes on 10.6.8 works fine here, so it could be that? 1
Sheridan Posted July 16, 2012 Author Posted July 16, 2012 The proxy settings are sent by WGM - and using authentication works fine for Safari etc, and itunes when an admin logs in. It just seems to be the restricted users who have the issue. Typical really as I don't need to access the itunes shop, but just need them to able to use itunes for playing music etc!
mezmerrick Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 A quick Google on this suggests that it is a known issue, which has not been resolved by Apple. I couldn't find anyone mentioning a fix either. Maybe role back to the last version that worked?
Sheridan Posted July 16, 2012 Author Posted July 16, 2012 Rolling back would probably mean taking it back to 10.6.8, but I'd have to reinstall all the apps I'd loaded onto the image! Argh!
mezmerrick Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 Do you use Apple Remote Desktop? If you could find the last version of iTunes that worked you could distribute the package that way.
Rozzer Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 Have you tried removing the proxy settings and logging in again with a different user to pin point it being proxy related? Ross
Sheridan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) Admin users get the same proxy settings as standard users - we all use the same proxy server. I re-applied the 10.6.8 combo update but itunes still completely locks the mac up until you manually kill it off. EDIT: Watching the proxy live logs shows the the hanging mac isn't attempting to connect to anything Edited July 17, 2012 by Sheridan
Sheridan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) Smoothwall is our proxy It seems to hang as soon as the proxy dialogue appears - but only for non admins. Admins can enter their credentials and all is well. Non admins get the dialogue and the beachball until Itunes is forcibly closed. Nothing appears on the smoothwall proxy until the credentails are entered. Edited July 17, 2012 by Sheridan
JR-PCS Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 I was expecting you to say TMG, as have seen issues with it on macs before. In the past I have set up a squid proxy server on a mac server, which points to the main proxy server using a particular user account (e.g AD account called macuser). You can set this up easily using squidman. Then point the macs to the mac proxy server that you installed squid on to.
Sheridan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Posted July 17, 2012 This is going to be a right pain for the students - we can't change the default player to VLC (for example), nor is there a preference file for Itunes and now it just doesn't work with anyone other than an admin. Cheers apple for more of the same! One step forward, two steps backwards.
JR-PCS Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 why can't you change the default application? You could set up squidman as I mentioned in my previous post.
Sheridan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Posted July 17, 2012 Is there a way to set the default media player to VLC for all users? I haven't found a way yet. If I have to muck about with setting up more proxies, then these things would be better off dual booted into Windows7.
JR-PCS Posted July 17, 2012 Posted July 17, 2012 Never tried this but don't see why it would not work. Change the default app for a file extension and then add the com.apple.LaunchServices.plist in ~/Library/Preferences to workgroup manager. I presume you know how to change the default app for a file extension? (cmd+I on a file, change open with to preferred app and click change all button, repeat for all file extensions.) 1
Sheridan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Posted July 17, 2012 Thanks for the info, I'll give that a try, I'll have to give up on itunes for now.
Sheridan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 (edited) Just to update this, I set our proxy to allow unauthenticated access to all of apple.com, and it makes no difference at all. Its not the proxy causing the problem, its the Itunes app itself that hangs before any internet access is attempted. It works fine as an admin so obviously the latest update of itunes is screwed up for the time being. Even more info: When watching the users home folder (and comparing it to an admins) it seems to create the \Music\itunes folder the same as a working user, but missing the following two files: Itunes Library.itl Itunes Music Library.xml Does that mean anything to anyone perhaps? Edited July 18, 2012 by Sheridan
markcuk Posted July 18, 2012 Posted July 18, 2012 (edited) you could try and remove DesktopVideoOut.component from ~/Library/Quicktime also try and open in safe mode by holding down the Option and Command keys (Mac) while launching iTunes Edited July 18, 2012 by markcuk
Sheridan Posted July 18, 2012 Author Posted July 18, 2012 I tried in safe mode and it still hangs - I can't find the DesktopVideoOut.component file on any of the failing or working users folders
kosmick9 Posted July 19, 2012 Posted July 19, 2012 I have had this, the work-around I found to fix it was to log on to the mac as the user then pull out the network cable and open iTunes so that iTunes gives you the "could not connect to the Store" then go to the prefs and uncheck the "Check for new software automatically". Then put the network cable back in this would have to be done on a per user basis. The only other way to get around this I have found is to give the mac a Static IP and authenticate with the IP instead of the username and password for Internet access. It seems to be an issue when iTunes trys to check for new software with a authenticating proxy in place.
Sheridan Posted July 23, 2012 Author Posted July 23, 2012 (edited) I have had this, the work-around I found to fix it was to log on to the mac as the user then pull out the network cable and open iTunes so that iTunes gives you the "could not connect to the Store" then go to the prefs and uncheck the "Check for new software automatically". Then put the network cable back in this would have to be done on a per user basis. The only other way to get around this I have found is to give the mac a Static IP and authenticate with the IP instead of the username and password for Internet access. It seems to be an issue when iTunes trys to check for new software with a authenticating proxy in place. I tried this and Itunes now starts and gets as far as the dialogue asking where the location of the Itunes library is - it doesn't hang but you can't proceed becuase you can't select the local drive and your network home is now unavailable with the cable pulled out! So it does look like the same thing you were having. I tried to set our smoothwall box to allow unauthenticated access to itunes, but it still seemed to hang. I allowed *.apple.com in the end and that still didn't fix it. Is there a site that itunes tries to hit first? EDIT: I think I've cracked it. Allowing unauthenticated access to the sites apple.com, mzstatic.com and cddbp.net seems to allow non admin users to run itunes as it starts up straight away. Cheers apple for more ropey 'home use only' software! Edited July 23, 2012 by Sheridan 1
timpaxton Posted July 24, 2012 Posted July 24, 2012 EDIT: I think I've cracked it. Allowing unauthenticated access to the sites apple.com, mzstatic.com and cddbp.net seems to allow non admin users to run itunes as it starts up straight away. Cheers apple for more ropey 'home use only' software! Worth noting that I've got the same setup as you, (Macs, AD-OD golden triangle, SmoothWall) and I've also had to except service.gracenote.com in the past. cddbp.net was a new one to me though, and that's now in my iTunes exception list. Agree with you, when will Apple make software that is proxy friendly and may even behave behind a corporate firewall. Grrr indeed!
mac_shinobi Posted July 24, 2012 Posted July 24, 2012 @tom_newton - Thought smoothwall were in the process of making an OS X client ref the proxy side ( ident client or something like that , not sure if that is what it is called ) Over to you Tom / Smoothwall etc
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