Change Parental Controls via ARD

I'm trying to determine the most efficient way to add a particular application to 150+ users in 2 different facilities via "Parental Controls" in System Preferences.
There doesn't seem to be any easy way to globally affect all the users' preferences. I'm hoping I don't have access each user station one-by-one. I was thinking that I could replace the related plist file in all the users, but I can't seem to find the one that drives parental control settings.
Any ideas out there?

hi mecklists thanks for your response.
I've explored a workgroup manager-based solution, but right now that's not viable. I think I'm either gonna find a way to do it globally via ARD, or I'm gonna bite the bullet and go station-to-station.
Specifically the problem is that users currently can't calibrate their monitors with the Display system preference, because some apps are made inaccessible through the parental control settings. I've discovered in need to make an application called "Display calibrator" available, along with the Colorsync Utility.
The solutions I'm exploring are:
- Create an automater/applescript script to launch globally through ARD. Main problem: I don't know how to do this, or even if this is possible.
- Create a good plist file to copy into users' folders via ARD. Main problem: I can't figure out which plist files drive parental control settings, if any.
- Go station-to-station. Problem: repetitive task which won't help me learn anything.
-RR

Similar Messages

Changing parental controls on multiple agents

Anyone know how to change the parental controls using ARD? I want to copy a set of permissions and send it out to all of the macs in my lab.

I believe the file you are looking for, for the most part, is com.apple.applicationaccess.plist. The problem is that, apparently, not all of the restrictions (safari being an example) are found in this file.

How do I change parental controls on multiple machines through ARD

I am trying to manage 36 new iMacs in a high school classroom setting. I need to adjust the parental controls on all 36 machines so that they all have the same restrictions. I am running ARD but cannot figure out how to do that... any ideas?
Billy Woody
EVHS High

You could probably write a UNIX script that would pull from a list of MAC addresses for each computer and send the appropriate IP address, but unless you have a lot of computers you need to change, writing such a script may be more work than just sending the commands individually.
Of course if you change the IP address on a computer you're working with via ARD, you'll sort of be pulling the ladder out from under yourself, so the task will never report as completed. You'll need to quit it manually and re-add the systems. This may also affect running of a script for further systems; I've not tried to change IP addresses en masse so I don't know.
Regards.

Copy Leopard Parental Controls through ARD

I have around 150 newer iMacs all running Leopard that I need to change the parental controls on. I have been searching for a way to change the parental controls on all of them at once through ARD, but I have only found a way to do this for Tiger, not Leopard. Simply copying one managed account's application access plist has not worked even after repairing permissions. Anyone have any ideas?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8463817
This is the link to a thread that I found that had the solution that I was looking for. HUGE thanks to biovizier for the information and the answer to my problems!

Is there a way to disable a user's Parental Controls through ARD?

So, we have Users with AD accounts, and for some reason Parental Controls is ON, and the only thing it limits is Printer Administration. I don't need this on, there's actually no need for Parental Controls at all, they are all Users, not Admins..
So, is there a terminal command that turns all Parental Controls OFF for all accounts that have it?
And, can i 'push' that out through ARD?

Assuming that they are local and not handed down by AD, you can remove the managed client settings for a local user from the commandline like so:
sudo dscl -mcxdelete /Local/Default/Users/username
sudo rm -rf /Library/Managed\ Preferences/username

Installing applications and changing parental controls

I have added 2 new programs to my client computers thru ARD with no problems, but would like to know how to set up parental controls for them. Currently when you click on each program I get a message saying that I need to modify the parental controls to +*Never Allow, Always Allow or Allow Once*+. I would like to chnege the access to Always allow from ARD and enable the command to *Modify the Dock* as well
Is there a Unix command for this?

You can copy and paste the settings in the PC pref pane in System Preferences. Make sure remote management is enabled on each machine. Control click on one in System Preferences (from the Admin Mac) and paste into each of the other machines.
Alternatively, you can do it with some UNIX commands:
It can be done using MCX settings. First (make sure all machines are logged out), configure ONE of the accounts with the proper parental controls. Than, in Terminal, use this command:
dscl . -mcxexport /Users/user1 > /path/to/file
*path to file is the path to the file you want to save the settings to. the file will be created. replace user1 with proper username
Now, copy that file to all the other computers to the same location (using ARD).
In ARD, run this command on the machine:
dscl . -mcximport /Users/user2 /path/to/file
*replace user2 with proper username. run as the user root
Now, make sure to delete that file off the machines. Login on a machine. The settings should be applied.

Changing parental controls messages

Does any one know where the message that pops up when parental controls blocks access to a web site is stored - I would like to change it to better reflect the use to which the computer is being put.

I believe the file you are looking for, for the most part, is com.apple.applicationaccess.plist. The problem is that, apparently, not all of the restrictions (safari being an example) are found in this file.

Configure Parental controls via CLI

Hello all.
i ahve over 350 macs where by i need to eneable parental controls from another computer option.
Is there a command via terminal to perfom this action?

It would depend on what you need to do, but '/usr/bin/dscl' offers a few options for configuring "Parental Controls" from the command line. For more information about various options, try eg.:<pre>
man dscl
dscl . -mcxhelp</pre>
In particular, the '-mcxexport' option can be used to save settings (individually or all at once) from one account to a file, and '-mcximport' can be used to load those settings to a second account. If pre-Leopard systems are involved, 'dscl . -read' and 'dscl . -create' can be used in a similar manner (although limited to copying everything at once), in a format compatible with older versions of 'dscl' or 'nicl'.

Parental Controls via Smart WiFi and Range

I have recently purchased a WRT1900AC. Went through setup and all seamed to work OK. However when using the Smart WiFi it does not provide the option to select "Specific" under Parental Controls. In fact the whole App looks completely different from what is in the user’s manual. In addition I find the range of this device extremely poor. I bought this WiFi router to replace a cheap free one costing one tenth of this one. The most annoying thing is the cheap freebee one has a much greater range irrespective of how I set the antennas. Is this normal.

Please post a picture of what your seeing on the Parental Controls section of the router... What Hardware version is your router?
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What region are you located? Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations
What ISP Service do you have? Cable or DSL?
What ISP Modem Mfr. and model # do you have? Wireless Configurations
Ensure the default (linksys) SSID name is changed. Ensure that different SSID names are used between each WiFi 2.4/5Ghz radios for dual band routers. Can be anything and not something that's already in use by any neighbouring WiFi routers.
What wireless modes are you using?
Any 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz cordless house phones or WiFi APs near by?
Any other WiFi routers in the area? Link> Use http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html to find out. Use v3. How many?
WMM Support must be enabled for single wireless N mode to function.
http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/ukp.aspx?vw=1&articleid=5471
Router Placement
Forum User - "Well I feel really dumb. After moving the router away from other electronic devices my speeds are back to normal. Just a heads up for anyone experiencing slow speeds, you might want to move it away from other electronics and see if that helps."
3-6' feet minimum safe distance between devices.
Placement on main level floor and central in the building and WELL ventilated is preferred. Not in basements or closets as building materials, or near by electronics devices could interfere or hinder good signal propagation.
http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/ukp.aspx?vw=1&docid=d9a3b1b2039741948a2365b053a93ea8_3759.xml&pid=80&respid=0&snid=2&dispid=0&cpage=search
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/31083-smallnetbuilders-wireless-faq-the-essentials
http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/GetArticle.aspx?docid=acca9b9008f04a66af818c2ab366001e_Positioning_the_external_antennas_on_the_Linksys_WRT1900AC.xml&pid=80&converted=0

Setting parental controls via profile manager

So I've got Lion Server running on an older mac mini. I've setup up accounts on the server for my kids. (they're my guinea pigs!) We have 2 other macs in the house both running Mavericks. I'm able to do a networkin login into the kids' accounts from those client machines with no problem. I'm also storing their home folders on the server and creating "mobile" accounts (I think that's the terminology) on the client machines. I've installed the Trust certificate from the server onto those client machines. I've also installed the group certificate on the client machiens. (most of the profile manager settings I have for the kids are handled in a group called "kids")
Here's the problem: if I try to enforce parental controls on the kids' accounts (such as limiting the time they can be on them, etc) it doesn't work. In fact, after the settings get pushed to the client machines, they (the client machines) often will lock-up or start acting really flaky. A reboot "fixes" that, but the parental controls still won't work.
I've tried this literally dozens of times with the same result. Other changes in profile manager, such as restricting access to certain apps, DOES seem to work. It's mainly just the settings related to parental controls that seem to be the problem.
Am I doing something wrong? Is this stuff supposed to work? Thanks for any help, this is incredibly frustrating!

Unfortunatley I never got this resolved. In fact, it turns out that this is really a bug in how the parental controls work with a "managed" account. All of the other settings that can be managed on OSX server seemed to work just fine in my testing, but the parental controls do not. Or more specifically, the curfew (time limit) settings definitely don't work. It's hard to believe, but apparently this is a use-case Apple never considered. (if you do some googling for parental controls and OSX server you'll find we're not alone)
I don't recall exactly, but if you're trying to determine if changes got pushed to the clients there is something in the profile manager (web UI) that shows "completed tasks" or "active tasks" (or something like that) which should show what was pushed and if it was succssfully received by the client.
Anyway, after all that effort I ended up not using the profile management feature in OSX server at all. My kids accounts are now just plain 'old local accounts. I came to the conclusion (as many others have) that OSX server, at least in a home setting, just isn't worth the effort. It's too bad because if it all worked properly it could be really useful. If you still want to mess around with OSX server you might want to check out some nice youtube videos by a guy named Todd Olthof. He has a bunch of videos on OSX server that are actually geared completely towards the home user.
Good luck!

Upgraded to Snow Leopard, changed Parental Controls

I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard. I used parental controls and had built a white list for my two kids. Now they are able to go to the sites on the list (for instance, youtube.com and google.com), but they cannot go to any other links that are on the allowed domain (i.e. a search in google or youtube).
Any help will be appreciated.

I have the same problem. This is especially bad for facebook, which always adds stuff to teh end of the URL after the domain. Snow Leopard wants me to add every possible URL the kids visit, which is ridiculous. Worked just fine in 10.5. There are so many bugs in 10.6 I am seriously considering a downgrade.

Whitelisting IP addresses after Parental Controls

When I enable webfiltering of stuff like Twitter using Parental Controls on the networked iMacs I control via ARD, it seems to block https traffic on sites I'd like to still allow, like Gmail and Yahoo Mail.
I know I can get around this by whitelisting particular IP addresss for those sites using Terminal, but what's the syntax?

...Imessages keeps asking for a new IP every time...
Are you sure? That doesn't make much sense to me...
Other than that, each website (read: domain) has an IP address. E.g. apple.com is 17.149.160.49. So, whatever you're up to, you can always use either domain names or IP addresses.
But not sure if that helps you with what you're up to or what you need. So, explain a bit more or better, please?

Problem Accessing Parental Control Sheet in Accounts Pref Pane

I have two computers, a B&W G3 and an AGP G4 Gigabit Ethernet (yes, I know they are old, but they work!), both experiencing the same problem after the latest Security Update 2008-008.
I have several user accounts on both machines. I am attempting to change parental controls to enable some accounts to have access to a new application.
1) I go to System Preferences > Accounts.
2) I click the lock icon and type an administrator name and password.
3) I select the user account I want and click Parental Controls.
4) When I click on the parental controls tab, the tab turns gray but doesn't change the screen. If I press the space bar, the window finally changes, but shows only Mail and I can't even configure that.
5) Clicking on the System Preferences icon in the Dock, I can select another prefpane to load, and it will switch to that pref pane if I select it.
6) This happens for EVERY account on the machine except the administrator account.
7) Looking at Console.app while going through this process, there is a looooong string of information about AppKit errors originating from System Preferences.app. I'm on my work computer right now, and so cannot copy and paste this info.
Other than a compelte archive and reinstall, does anybody know what's going on here, and how to solve it?

Ok, thanks for the problem solving steps. Before I begin those, though, let me just paste the console output for this error here:
2009-02-06 17:17:32.807 Safari[189] * Illegal NSTableView data source (<HTArrayController: 0x1b9f3d0>[object class: NSMutableDictionary, number of selected objects: 0]). Must implement numberOfRowsInTableView: and tableView:objectValueForTableColumn:row:
2009-02-06 17:17:32.813 Safari[189] * Illegal NSTableView data source (<HTArrayController: 0x1ba09b0>[object class: NSMutableDictionary, number of selected objects: 0]). Must implement numberOfRowsInTableView: and tableView:objectValueForTableColumn:row:
2009-02-06 17:17:32.817 Safari[189] * Illegal NSTableView data source (<HTArrayController: 0x1ba11f0>[object class: NSMutableDictionary, number of selected objects: 0]). Must implement numberOfRowsInTableView: and tableView:objectValueForTableColumn:row:
2009-02-06 17:17:39.747 Safari[189] Warning: Instances of type NSURLConnection do not respond to _initWithRequest:delegate:usesCache:maxContentLength:startImmediately:
2009-02-06 17:17:39.785 Safari[189] SafariBlock checking for updates.
Debugger() was called!
2009-02-06 17:23:39.750 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action limitMatrixAction: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.754 System Preferences[192] * Illegal NSOutlineView data source (<AppController: 0x4f1c70>). Must implement outlineView:numberOfChildrenOfItem:, outlineView:isItemExpandable:, outlineView:child:ofItem: and outlineView:objectValueForTableColumn:byItem:
2009-02-06 17:23:39.755 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action canUseApplications: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.756 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action checkAllApplications: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.756 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action uncheckAllApplications: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.756 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action locateApplication: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.757 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action accessSystemPreferences: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.757 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action toggleApplication: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.757 System Preferences[192] * Illegal NSOutlineView data source (<AppController: 0x4f1c70>). Must implement outlineView:numberOfChildrenOfItem:, outlineView:isItemExpandable:, outlineView:child:ofItem: and outlineView:objectValueForTableColumn:byItem:
2009-02-06 17:23:39.758 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action checkAllApplications: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.759 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action uncheckAllApplications: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.759 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action locateApplication: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:39.759 System Preferences[192] Could not connect the action toggleApplication: to target of class AppController
2009-02-06 17:23:52.983 System Preferences[192] LSFindApplicationForInfo didnt fill out URL for com.apple.ichat (-10814)
2009-02-06 17:23:53.111 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController preloadWithManager:]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:23:53.132 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController preloadWithManager:]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:23:56.236 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController preloadWithManager:]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:23:56.237 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController preloadWithManager:]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:23:56.292 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController state]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:23:56.293 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController state]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:24:01.808 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController state]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]
2009-02-06 17:24:01.809 System Preferences[192] * -[AppController state]: selector not recognized [self = 0x4f1c70]

Parental Controls CPU 100%

Under Activity Monitor Parentalcontrols is running at between 30-97% CPU- whatever will bring the total to 100%. this has been ongoing for several days now and the computer will not fully go to sleep- screen goes dark, but no flashing light, but I can force it to sleep. When I try to change parental controls settings locally- System preferences crashes and has to be force quit, but I can change settings from a different networked computer. Any ideas?

I have been testing different scenarios and have been able to keep this from occurring under 10.5.2. Let me start by saying that I have had these issues happen on my Mac Mini.
Everytime I have enabled "Use Simple Finder" AND "Only allow selected applications" TOGETHER has resulted in the parentalcontrols process to run away. Everytime I have disabled these two settings and kept all the other Parental Control settings as I had it before, the parentalcontrols process has NOT consumed all the CPU cycles.
Give this a try and see if this helps. What helps is to have the Activity monitor open while doing this. Disable all Parental Controls first, Force Quite the parentalconcrols process, then re-enable the Parental Control on the accounts you need, keeping away from setting both "Use Simple Finder" and "Only allow selected applications" together.
Also I read somewhere that disabling fast user switching would help. I have kept my fast user switching turned ON.
Hope this helps.

R Rating - Parental Control in Encore CS5

Adobe sales support informed me yesterday that an R RATING can be set in Encore CS5.
I can't find anything about R RATING / Parental Control via Encore CS5 help nor can I find same in any Encore Forum.
Please answer as soon as possible.
You can email me independently at [email protected]
Brian Patterson
Dub-It
Hollywood CA
323.993.9570

Call that person back and tell him/her to give you the page number in the Encore PDF
I just search both Encore and PPro PDF files, and do not find parental in either file
As I said... I've been on the various Adobe forums for about 8 years, and yours is the first mention I remember of parental controls
I don't think Encore will do that... so if you need it, you'll have to use different software
PS - be more careful of putting your entire SIG in an open forum... spam-bots crawl everywhere harvesting email addresses

Change Parental Controls via ARD

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