You may not be able to open unbundled applications with an account that is managed by the Capabilities feature. You may notice this when one application cannot open another sub-application, sometimes called "sub-launching." This document explains how to allow unbundled applications.
Note: This advanced procedure requires manual editing of a value in NetInfo Manager. This is provided for information purposes only. Apple does not provide any further technical support or assistance for performing this task. The Capabilities feature is available in Mac OS X 10.2.
About unbundled applications
An "unbundled" application is one that does not have an assigned Type/Creator or Bundle ID. These applications cannot open if you have selected the "Use only these applications" checkbox in the Capabilities pane of Accounts preferences. Some applications may open (or sub-launch) unbundled application utilities to perform certain tasks.
Allowing use of unbundled applications
Using the steps below, you can allow use of unbundled applications while still managing application access.
Part I: Accounts Preferences
- 1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click the Accounts icon.
Figure 1 Selecting the Accounts pane
3. Click the New User button, and follow the prompts to create a new user.
4. Select the user you just created from the Users list.
5. Click the Capabilities button.
6. Set the Capabilities options as desired.
Note: If your are restricting applications by selecting the "Use only these applications" option, click the Locate button to add support applications to the allowed list.
7. Click OK to save the Capabilities settings.
Part II: NetInfo Manager
- 1. Open NetInfo Manager (/Applications/Utilities).
2. From the Security menu, choose Authenticate.
3. Enter your administrator account name and password.
4. Using the columns in NetInfo Manager, navigate to the user that you just created. For example, to edit the user with the short name "grethe", you would go to /users/grethe in the columns.
5. Locate the mcx_settings property, and select its value by double-clicking the field to its right. All of the text should be highlighted.
6. Press Command-C to copy the contents of the mcx_settings property to the Clipboard.
Part III: TextEdit
- 1. Open TextEdit (/Applications/).
2. If a new, blank document did not appear, create one now. From the File menu, choose New.
3. From the Format menu, choose Make Plain Text.
4. Press Command-V to paste the contents of the mcx_settings value into the document.
5. From the File menu, choose Save As.
6. Name the file: mcx_settings.org.plist
7. Save the file to the desktop.
8. Using the Finder, select the file you just saved.
9. From the File menu, choose Duplicate.
10. Rename the duplicate to: mcx_settings.plist
11. Open the mcx_settings.plist file in TextEdit.
12. Locate the "AlwaysAllowedList-Raw" dictionary (<dict>) that is under the mcx_preference_settings domain (highlighted in Figure 1).
Note: If this dictionary is not found, then applications are not being managed for this user. Conversely, there may be multiple instances of this dictionary. In that case you should only edit the one located under the mcx_preference_settings, as illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Locating the AlwaysAllowedList-Raw dictionary
13. Add the following text above the AlwaysAllowedList-Raw dictionary (highlighted in figure 3):
<key>AllowUnbundledApps</key>
<true/>
Figure 3 Adding the AllowUnbundledApps key
14. Save the changes.
Note: You can test the validity of your plist file by trying to open it in the Plist Editor application (installed with the developer tools, also found on the NetBoot for Mac OS 9 CD). If the file does not open in Plist Editor, there may be an issue with how you added the key.
15. From the Edit menu, choose Select All. (This should select all of the mcx_settings.plist document).
16. Press Command-C to copy the text to the Clipboard.
Part IV: Replacing mcx_settings
- 1. Go back to the NetInfo Manager application.
2. Paste the text from the Clipboard into the mcx_settings value that you previously selected in NetInfo Manager.
Note: You can use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to scroll down and verify that text was successfully pasted.
3. Save the changes in NetInfo Manager.
4. Confirm the modification by clicking the "Update this copy" button.
Go back to Part II, Step 4 and repeat this process for each account that needs to be able to open unbundled applications.
The accounts you edited will be able use unbundled applications when they next log in.
This document will be updated when more information is available.
Additional information
You may see this issue when using iPhoto, Image Capture, Apple Remote Desktop, or a custom desktop picture. For related information, see these technical documents:
107539: "Mac OS X Managed Client: Stops Responding During Login When Using Custom Desktop Picture"
25400: "iPhoto, Image Capture: Managed Mac OS X Clients May Not Recognize a Camera"
107410: "Apple Remote Desktop: Managed Clients Become Unavailable"