Remote lock system preferences

Sometimes our techs forget to click the lock icon on a clients system preferences after they are finished making changes. Is there a terminal command that I can send to all the client machines to "lock" the system preferences so the end user cant get in and make any changes.
thanks

I don't have the syntax for you, but if you go to the Unix forum (hidden in OSX Tech) you may get a faster response.

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Changing desktop pictures locks system preferences

Re MacBook Pro laptop (OS 10.7.5)
Problem: Changing desktop pictures locks System Preferences
If I try to open System Preferences, I get windows for the Change Desktop/Background and the whirling beach ball begins until I go to Activities Monitor to Force Quit System Preferences, which informs me that my "System Preferences is no longer responding."
I have no trouble booting my Mac,
checked my Disk Utility informing me that there are no errors,
checked Permissions without errors,
went to Users>"my name">Preferences>found the plist for com.apple.systempreferences, moved it to my desktop, tried the Apple System Preferences option with same result. Returned plist . Hmm, just noticed that I have com.apple.systempreferences with one directly after Library ( i.e., not in any folder), and the other in the Library>Preferences folder. Could that be the foul up? Perhaps one of these plists is misplaced.
Any suggestions?

First follow the instructions in this support article.
If an iPhoto or Aperture library is the source of your desktop pictures, it may need to be rebuilt, or you may need to update the application to the latest version.
Otherwise, continue as below.
Back up all data.
In the Finder, hold down the option key and select
          Go ▹ Library
from the menu bar. From the Library folder, delete the following item, if it exists:
          Caches/com.apple.systempreferences
and move the following items to the Desktop, if they exist:
          Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db
          Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Launch System Preferences and test. If you still have the issue, put the items you moved to the Desktop back where they came from and post again. Otherwise, delete the items.

Syncing locked system preferences

I have 3 computers that sync everything (including perferences) via MobileMe. That works fine except that I'd like the energy saver and security settings to be different. If I make those two system preferences different for each computer, and LOCK them, will they keep their independent preferences upon syncing?
I could experiment but computers are at different sites right now.
thanks
roger

the answer is yes i figured it out myself, locking system preferences prevents them from being synced.
rr

Cant LOCK system preferences

Cant LOCK system preferences: File Sharing, Network, startup disk, date&time, time machine, energy saver, print&fax
I can LOCK : security, accounts login, parental control
no rhyme or reason. any help would be appreciated.

If you are using an Admin account for your daily-Use account, that is a problem.
The Admin can unlock and bypass nearly everything, so these things will not stay locked for your Admin account.
To protect these items from others, you need to create a new Admin account that you will use ONLY for Administration (such as installing software) and use it to demote your daily-use account to a non-Admin account. then things that are locked will stay locked, and others who wander by your computer will not be able to unlock them.
PS. Others in your household should each have their own "User" (not Admin) account. Then you can add additional restrictions with Parental Controls.

Remotely changing System Preferences via Firewire?

Hi all,
I've got an old mac mini and a new Mac book. The trick is, I've just moved overseas and don't have a monitor for the mini any longer. I have bought a cable to connect it to my tv, but I'm afraid the tv is too old, and won't play nice with the mini! Of course I cannot afford a new monitor either!
My goal is to set up the Mini as a home server for my MacBook and a windows machine. To do so I need to adjust all of three settings. The trick is, I can't figure out how to get in to change the preferences in order to make this possible.
I can start the Mini in Target disc mode, but of course cannot install any screen sharing software, etc. remotely. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could get access to the mini's System Preferences? Could I do that through Terminal? Boot camp?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
JakeOle

Hi Jake, and Welcome to the Discussions!
You could change the Sharing settings in...
Mini's /Library/Preferences/com.apple.sharing.firewall.plist
You'd likely have to use Terminal to reset the Permissions on it after saving it again though.
The Mini is pretty portable... know a friend with a Monitor?

Cannot "LOCK" System Preferences any longer???

OK, this just started, I can no long lock any of the system perf's. When I press the lock the window flashes (say's 'De-authenticating' ) very fast and returns to the unlocked state. Logging in as 'Root' or 'Admin' makes no difference. Everything seems to work fine I just cannot lock anything.... any suggestions???

..."Logging in as 'Root' or 'Admin' makes no difference."...
If you happened to have run "repair permissions" on your 10.5 drive while booted into 10.4 (or while using eg. "DiskWarrior"), that would have resulted in changes to permissions that are incompatible with 10.5. One of the consequences is that some user processes may end up running as "root", which might account for there being no difference between logging in as "root" and "admin". The "root" account is meant to be authorized to make most changes through "System Preferences" without being required to authenticate, so it may not be possible to close the "Lock" when "System Preferences" is running as "root".
If the above describes your situation, unfortunately, the tools currently provided with 10.5 will not fix this problem automatically -- specifically, "repair permissions" in 10.5 doesn't repair the permissions that are causing the problem. If you are an experienced user, you can fix the permissions manually (using the output from a "verify permissions" run conducted while booted in 10.5 as a guide to determine what changes are required).
For most users, an "archive and install" may be the easiest solution. It should be acceptable to preserve user and network settings.
This issue could potentially pose a serious security issue. I think Apple needs to fix this quickly, and at the very least, post a support article describing the specific symptoms and warning of the dangers.

Unable to Lock System Preferences in Lion.

I've just noticed that I can not lock preferences. I've tried locking time machine, energy saver and also Print & Scan. I click on the icon, it flickers but doesn't lock. Any thoughts on why and how to fix? (iMac 24", Lion 10.7.3)
Thanks,
Kevin

Ok, found a discussion to fix in the security prefences.

System preferences locks up

Changing desktop pictures locks system preferences.

Re: Changing desktop pictures locks system preferences. Info: MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3) This is very similar to my issue:
When I select System Preferences from the Apple System Preferences menu, both laptop and extended monitor screens immediately jump to the Change background/screen windows and locks me there with the spinning beach ball, while the text on the Change screens reads, "Loading ....". Then I have to move to Activity Monitor and Force Quit System Preferences which indicates in parens "System Preferences no longer responding."
I have tried LInc's solution re finding both plist files: Caches/com.apple.systempreferences which I cannot find;
I have found and moved the following item to the Desktop:
Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Retesting by launching System Preferences again produced the same results. I then replace the Desktop's plist file where it came from.
BTW: The standard Utility Disk checks indicate no errors.
I'm stuck. Any more ideas?
Thanks.

Mail keeps asking for password and icloud setting do not load in system preferences

Hi,
I have a mac mini server with mavericks, i have 2 iMacs as clients running mavericks too, when i use iMac (A) mail app and icloud work fine, them i take iMac (B) and mail app start asking for password , it just won't take the password, icloud do not load and cannot use anything else on system prferences because it locks system preferences, i need to force quit system prefrences , so I return to iMac (A) and i get same behaivor as iMac (B), i would appreciate your help for finding a solution for this.
All network users get the same behaivor, local users do not get this behaivor.
Thanks
Hector

Hector;
I have the same problem. The solution is to log into your client, open Keychain, run Keychain First Aid under file menu. If it fails to find your keychain, note the path, mount the disk that it is looking for, and rerun.
In short, you need to have the disk that your keychain is sitting on mounted. While your user account is mounted, Maveriks cannot match the reference path. Looking like a bug.
Example:
my folder sits on a second disk on server. It is properly setup in the mavericks server.
On the server, it is locally referred to as: /Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user. I can log in to mail on the server when I log in with my user name.
In the workgroup manager, the same location is referred to as:
afp://my_server.local/Users/my_user (or smb)
/Network/Servers/my_server.local/Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user
So this is the network path. So the client should be looking for that. But instead, it looks for the local disk, which is not mounted as such. In other words, it looks for:
/Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user/Library/Keychains
instead of
/Network/Servers/my_server.local/Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user/Library/Keychains
To eliminate this problem, you mount the volume on the client, so it can find. I will keep the editorial to myself, but this is not quality software.
Ali

Is there a way I can permanently disable the security lock thing in System Preferences?

Aside from logging and using the root account on a daily basis, is there a way to permanently be rid of the security lock thing in System Preferences?
Yosemite has a bug (?) where if an Admin account has its password set to blank (empty), you can't remove the security lock...
You can click it, it'll ask for Username and Password (Why?), and when you click on 'Unlock', it unlocks for a brief moment and instantly locks itself again...
This is beyond infuriating. Do advise.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. However I'm quite aware that the sleep/wake button disables the screen. Unfortunately, mea maxima culpa, I sometimes accidentally hit shuttle before I've pressed the sleep/wake button, often when I am trying to do more than one thing at once. Sometimes I accidentally hit shuffle at other times too,eg when waking up the phone.
This is especially exasperating when listening to classical pieces with multiple movements. I will look for an alternative music player for the iphone, as I don't think the default music application and I are a good match.
Thanks again,
Tim Blackwell

In Lion 10.7.x I cannot disable the Lock documents for 2 weeks in Time Machine! Thus it prevents to change anything else like the system preferences or other settings. How I can disable it?

Hello, In Lion 10.7.x I cannot disable the Lock documents for 2 weeks in Time Machine! Thus it prevents to change anything else like the system preferences or other settings. All is locked. How I can disable it?

Do you mean the check box isn't enabled?
Or you remove the check but it doesn't "stick"?
Or you remove the box but documents are stil getting locked?
That setting doesn't apply to other things in System Preferences, just apps that support AutoSave and Versions. If you're having a problem with System Prefs, please clarify exactly what.

When I go to System Preferences Network "Click the lock to make changes",... it ALWAYS UNLOCKED. That is even if I have locked it before last shutdown. Should it not stay locked until I unlock it again as administrator?

When I go to
System Preferences > Network > "Click the lock to make changes",...
It is ALWAYS UNLOCKED.
That is even if I have locked it before the last shutdown.
Should it not stay locked until I unlock it again as administrator?
PJ (Pjflyer)

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences... ▹ Security & Privacy ▹ General
If there's a closed padlock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane, click it and authenticate to unlock the settings. Enter your login password when prompted.
Click the Advanced button and check the box marked Require an administrator password to access locked preferences in the sheet that drops down. Then click OK.

Why is the security "lock" always open in (Network) System Preferences?

(+This may not be the correct forum, but here it goes anyway+)
I have a "1st Gen" iMac G5 (so, a PowerPC), running Tiger, 10.4.11
On the rare occasions that I open the Network options in the "System Preferences", I see that the "lock" at the bottom left is always (?) open.
Here is a screenshot of the "network preferences" with the open lock, just as it was when I opened the Preferences a little while ago tonight:
(Language is Dutch, my native language)
http://nl.tinypic.com/a/1ln35/3
Why is that "lock" (always) open? I am ab-so-lu-te-ly certain that I close the "lock" (on the rare occasions that I need to change something).
Is this a security risk?
How do I get this "lock" to stay closed?

Ah...
Does the answer lay here?
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10314181
(...Go to System Preferences: Security. Check the box next to "Require password to unlock each secure system preference." Then lock Security.)
That option was not checked... I did so now and will see what happens.
(I found this just now, while reading another topic on this forum. Is it ok, if I leave my question & postings here?)
Message was edited by: Kris Dee

Security PreferencePane Lock in System Preferences

For some strange reason the lock in the left hand bottom of security Preferences does not stay locked. Every time I reboot it is unlocked. Is there a fix for this.

With some exceptions (eg. the "Accounts" pref pane), it is standard behaviour for "secure" pref panes to be unlocked when logging in the an "admin" account, although this can be changed via "System Preferences" > "Security" as described in this "Help" document:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8675.html
The presumption is that users log in to "admin" accounts in order to administer the computer so the default behaviour is a convenience feature. However, especially in light of some outstanding security issues, it is recommended that users do not log in to an "admin" account routinely.
Unfortunately, the benefits of using a non-admin account are currently mitigated due to the recent release of a reported "standard" -> "root" privilege escalation vulnerability...

System preferences, sharing, remote management?

Hello,
Could someone tell me where I can find more information of how to use remote management that is under system preferences, sharing. What is the difference between screen sharing and remote management? It will be a great help as I am learning my way round my mybook and this feature would be of great help.
Thanks!

Hi Allan,
Open System Preferences (Applications folder) and click the Sharing icon. Very bottom right of that window click the ? mark. That will prompt the Help Viewer for the Sharing preferences. You can type in keywords at the top of that window in the search field. Example: Remote Management
Mac OS X: About File Sharing
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Remote lock system preferences

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