davidacland

As @Norphy said, its a broad topic. Here's a few specific bits and pieces I would recommend: - Binding to AD, avoid unchecking the "Force local home directory on startup disk" as it will tell the Mac to store the user home folder only on the network and you will have huge stability problems. - Use a modular deployment method leveraging something like Munki (free) or Casper (commercial) - Use AutoDMG to easily create a base OS image - Use a first boot script to get the Mac configured after deploying the base image (full guide here: Creating Your First Boot Script) - Avoid using the internal drives on the Mac mini unless you have no other choice as they are (as standard) 5400-rpm and really struggle - Don't use Time Machine to back up the server. It doesn't work properly when you restore. - Consider using a different MDM server rather than the built-in Profile Manager. PM works ok but has a habit of dying for no apparent reason and is quite difficult to backup / restore. I would go for either Casper (if money was available) or Meraki which is a free MDM service. Alternatively Munki 2 can install configuration profiles now, although you have to make them with another tool. There's loads more to know about it but hopefully this list will help give you a head start. David Acland - Amsys

I haven't tried this with Configurator but with the iLife and iWork apps, if you try to download them on 10.9 it will report that the latest version isn't compatible but then direct you to the 10.9 friendly versions.

If you use the built-in AD plugin with the "Use UNC path to derive network home location" enabled, it mounts the actual share, not the subdirectory. If you want the mount point to be the actual users home folder you would need to use a login script instead. We've posted a cut down version of our SMBHome mounting script here: https://github.com/amsysuk/public_scripts/tree/master/mount_SMBHome You just need to set it to run at login via a launch agent.

Do you know if you have got the .TemporaryItems folder writable by all users at the root level of the share? The MS apps use this folder (they make a folder peruser that connects) to store temporary items etc. If the folder isn't there, or isn't writable by all users you will get lots of problems. The other possibility would be to use AFP. I was a bit confused by the title as it said sharing from a Win 2012 server, but then in the detail it said a 10.9.4 Mac server. If its a Mac server I would just use AFP. Apple are veering towards SMB recently but its still not stable enough in my opinion. If it is a Windows server I would trial ExtremeZ-IP from GroupLogic which can do AFP.

It is but I have had to do two things in the past. The first is to make sure the virtual machine file is in an area accessible by all users. this is normally /Users/Shared. The second is more for usability, but I put an icon for the virtual machine file in the dock for any new users. This will allow them to click its icon and have it fire up the VM. On a side note, you will need to make sure the options are set correctly when they log out. I've had issues in the past where the VM gets suspended when they log out. When another user launches the VM, it resumes the previous persons settings, giving them access to the other persons files etc.

Not sure which model (or age) of MacBook it is but if you have a compatible installer disc you put it in the drive and startup holding down Alt. This will get you to the startup manager and let you select the DVD as the boot disc. You need to make sure you are installing an OS the same or higher than the one the Mac originally shipped with. If it is a newer Mac that shipped with 10.7 etc then it won't boot from the 10.6 disc.

I'm with @Michael, get the teacher to do a full backup using iTunes on the computer they normally sync it with. The upgrade shouldn't lose anything but its worth being extra cautious.

Reading the thread it does sound like a repair might be needed. Just in case, we have had two funny causes of trackpad issues that you could rule out: Problematic power adaptor: Had this on Macs and iOS devices, basically causing some kind of static charge on the casing that was messing up the input. Try it without a PSU plugged in to rule this out. Bluetooth mouse / trackpad connected: We had a MacBook change hands a few times and they forgot it had once been used with a bluetooth trackpad. The trackpad was actually still switched on and put on a shelf with some books on top of it. This was pressing the trackpad down and preventing anyone from "clicking". Turn off bluetooth to rule this out.

Hi, We're big fans of the caching service. We have a write up about it (although a little old) here: OS X Server - Caching Service Part 1 » Amsys and part 2: OS X Server - Caching Service Part 2 » Amsys On simple networks you just plug it in and turn it on. For more complex / larger networks it will be worth getting input from your network administrator.

We normally use local home folders and delete the keychains at logout (described in this thread http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mac/144951-keychain.html). Everyone has different experiences but I wouldn't personally recommend it. The concept sounds great but in reality it causes logon problems, application crashes and general chaos.

If you are having to pre-create the computer object the account you are using will be missing some of the needed privileges. You will need the ability to create computer objects in the OU you are targeting and the rights to join computers to the domain. Worth noting that if you are using 10.10, you may get issues even if everything is set correctly. 10.10 is having lots of AD connection issues at the moment.

We used this at a few sites around 2008-2009. Not sure about documentation but I remember that it mounted a network share with the -nobrowse option and could install packages. You could set the client settings using MCX which was handy. It was a bit troublesome though and munki completely blew it out of the water. If you already have a server I would switch to Munki.

Have you tried resetting the PRAM (hold down cmd + alt + P + R on startup until you hear the startup chime 4-5 times)? Failing that I would try taking a disk image of the working partition, re-partition the whole drive and restore from backup. Quite a bit of work and not guaranteed to fix it so might not be worth doing.

That error normally means a part of the system is corrupted or has been moved / broken. If the partition is of no use to you, you can delete it using Disk Utility, reclaiming the unused space (be aware that this will delete any data stored on that volume). If you need it to boot, you will ned to start up from the recovery partition and re-install OS X on that volume. David Acland - Amsys

I've had this symptom in the past and it has been an issue with the XML its trying to push down. Profile Manager will accept it and deploy to the clients but nothing will happen. I normally get the plist file just how I want it before adding it to profile manager.

HI @awebb08 Here's the basic code. It would need to be triggered by a LaunchAgent at login. Make sure you test it quite heavily before rolling out to any clients though! #!/bin/sh for folder in "Desktop" "Documents" "Movies"; do # Check if the relevant folder exists in the network home and create it if it's missing if [ ! -d /Volumes/"$USER"/"$folder" ]; then mkdir /Volumes/"$USER"/"$folder" fi # Check if the local folder is a symbolic link and make it if it's not if [[ ! -L /Users/"$USER"/"$folder" ]]; then mv /Users/"$USER"/"$folder" /Users/"$USER"/"$folder".old # This command renames the target folder if it exists to avoid data loss ln -s /Volumes/"$USER"/"$folder" /Users/"$USER"/"$folder" fi done

To keep the home folder local but redirect certain folders to the network you can use a login script with the ln command which makes symbolic links. Depending on the apps you are using this might cause some problems though. Logic, FCP, iMovie etc all have issues writing directly to network shares.

I have although there are a few other things that might be playing a part for your specific setup. When a new user logs in for the first time (with no home folder), the starting point is the user template. After that, other items are created by their respective apps. For example, there is no login.keychain in the user template as it is created by a separate process as soon as it is needed. If you are getting custom user preferences or settings returning, it is likely that OS X is reading them from its preference cache (since 10.9 OS X has kept a separate cached copy of the preferences). To clear out the preferences cache for a specific for a specific user run "killall cfprefsd" at the start of the script that deletes the preference files. When cfprefsd reloads it will start fresh. The other variables that will affect the folder deleting approach are managed preferences / configuration profiles from a Mac management system (if you have one) such as profile manager or workgroup manager running on an Open Directory server. Hope this is of some help.

Yep, it recreates itself on the next login. If its only certain folders you're concerned about I would just delete those with a logout script.

It might depend on the method you're using to lock them down. I've had odd issues with some third party apps (things like Adobe CS, Office and lots of the audio apps). A lot of them don't like not being able to write into their own preference files etc. I would normally go for deleting the ~/Library folder at logout to force it to refresh the settings. How are you locking them down? David Acland - Amsys

In case its the same issue, this is being discussed on a load of other forums I visit: From what I've seen its a combination of 10.10.x and Active Directory. Luckily 10.9.5 still works on most new Macs that are shipping (except Mac minis and 5k iMacs). David Acland - Amsys

It sounds like an old QuickSilver PowerMac. Thats going back a few years HFS+ can't be read by Windows. I've used a few third party Windows apps in the past but they can be more trouble than they are worth. I would connect the drive to a Mac and look in Disk Utility first to see if that can mount it. If it can't, DiskWarrior may be able to help. If the drive is physically broken though you might be out of luck. David Acland - Amsys

We are using 10.9.5 at lots of our clients sites, all working with AD ok. We have tried using Yosemite but its a bit of a disaster at the moment. We're sticking with 10.9.5 until Apple can work out some of the bugs.

From what I've seen, the best route is just to keep it updated. As @Mustang said, AutoPKG and Munki, or AutoPKGr and Casper to make it completely automated. You can get the distribution version of flash here: Adobe Flash Player Distribution | Adobe

In our case it standard spec 21.5" iMacs with SATA hard drives.