Suppressing "Enable Metadata Retrieval" prompt in VLC?

Hey @donmontalvo I know it goes into the user's folder by default but have you tried recreating the file in the top level library/ prefs /etc to see if that works?

If not, we've got an example of loop through the Users directory and doing stuff here
Link

Gimme an hour to get to a desk and I might be able to knock up something :)

Hey @donmontalvo,

Try this (in test, not production!):

#!/bin/sh

for USER_HOME in /Users/*
    do
        USER_UID=`basename "${USER_HOME}"`
        if [ ! "${USER_UID}" = "Shared" ]; then 
            if [ ! -d "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc ]; then
                mkdir -p "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc
                chown "${USER_UID}" "${USER_HOME}"/Library
                chown "${USER_UID}" "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc
            fi
            if [ -d "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc ]; then
                CHECK_FOR_METADATA=$(less "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc | grep -c "metadata-network-access=")
                if [[ "${CHECK_FOR_ANALYTICS}" != 0 ]]; then
                    sed -i '' -e 's/#metadata-network-access=0/metadata-network-access=1/' "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc
                else
                    echo "metadata-network-access=1" >> "${USER_HOME}"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc
                fi
            fi
        fi
done

This will Loop through the Users folder (excluding "Shared") and:
1. Check for the "~/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc" directory, creating it as needed
2. Check for the "metadata-network-access=". If found, it will replace it. If not, it will add the desired value.

Test, test and test again : )

Also, This will only work on Home Folders in /Users. More work can be carried out go via DSCL and grab user home directory locations dynamically but this should get you out of most problems.

Hope that Helps!

Darren

That prompt is shown if the VLCFirstRun key does NOT exist in the org.videolan.vlc pref domain.

just create a config profile that contains a VLCFirstRun key and valid date time stamp value .

I just used mcxToProfile to convert an already configured org.videolan.vlc plist file into a config profile.

this has been around for a while, see here: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=126302

@niklas.blomdalen @daz_wallace @calumhunter

Thanks for all the great input, and my apologies for the late response. Its been pretty busy the last couple weeks.

I did some testing to make sure any logic used wouldn't result in multiple # in the front of the value. Just in case we end up having to programmatically toggle this value. Determined as long as the value starts with a #s(even if there are multiple #s, its a moot point. If a user enables the checkbox via GUI, the entire line is replaced anyway.

#metadata-network-access=0 <-- disabled
metadata-network-access=1 <-- enabled

Here is what I came up with, after stealing...er...adapting what you guys posted. :)

#!/bin/sh

# Disable "Check for album art and metadata?" prompt, and auto updates for all users
/usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc VLCFirstRun -date "2015-05-22T00:00:00Z" 2>/dev/null
/usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc SUEnableAutomaticChecks -bool "false" 2>/dev/null
/usr/bin/killall cfprefsd 2>/dev/null

# Disable metadata-network-access in User Template
/bin/mkdir -p /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/ 2>/dev/null
/bin/echo "# Allow metadata network access (boolean)" > /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
/bin/echo "#metadata-network-access=0" >> /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
/usr/sbin/chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null
/bin/chmod -R 700 /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null

# Disable metadata-network-access per user
over500=`dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '$2 > 500 { print $1 }'`
for u in $over500 ;
do
    /bin/mkdir -p /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/ 2>/dev/null
    /bin/echo "# Allow metadata network access (boolean)" > /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
    /bin/echo "#metadata-network-access=0" >> /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
    /usr/sbin/chown -R "$u" /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null
    /bin/chmod -R 700 /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null
    /usr/bin/killall -u "$u" cfprefsd 2>/dev/null
done

exit 0

Hope to see you guys at JNUC2016. :)

HTH,
Don

#!/bin/sh

# Disable "Check for album art and metadata?" prompt, and auto updates for all users
/usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc VLCFirstRun -date "2015-05-22T00:00:00Z" 2>/dev/null
/usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc SUEnableAutomaticChecks -bool "false" 2>/dev/null
/usr/bin/killall cfprefsd 2>/dev/null

# Disable metadata-network-access in User Template
/bin/mkdir -p /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/ 2>/dev/null
/bin/echo "# Allow metadata network access (boolean)" > /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
/bin/echo "#metadata-network-access=0" >> /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
/usr/sbin/chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null
/bin/chmod -R 700 /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null

# Disable metadata-network-access per user
over500=`dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '$2 > 500 { print $1 }'`
for u in $over500 ;
do
    /bin/mkdir -p /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/ 2>/dev/null
    /bin/echo "# Allow metadata network access (boolean)" > /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
    /bin/echo "#metadata-network-access=0" >> /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc 2>/dev/null
    /usr/sbin/chown -R "$u" /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null
    /bin/chmod -R 700 /Users/"$u"/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc 2>/dev/null
    /usr/bin/killall -u "$u" cfprefsd 2>/dev/null
done

exit 0

We moved the update disable part to Configuration Profile.

Unfortunately the metadata bit is still on that silly file, refined the script a bit:

#!/bin/bash 

OVER500=$(/usr/bin/dscl . list /Users UniqueID | /usr/bin/awk '$2 > 500 { print $1 }')

for u in "${OVER500}"
do
    DIR1="/Users/${u}/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc"
    FILE1="${DIR1}"/vlcrc
    STR_ON="metadata-network-access=1"
    STR_OFF="#metadata-network-access=0"
    
    if [[ -e "${FILE1}" ]]
    then
        /usr/bin/sed -i '' "s/"${STR_ON}"/"${STR_OFF}"/g" "${FILE1}"
    else
        /bin/mkdir -p "${DIR1}"
        /bin/echo "${STR_OFF}" > "${FILE1}"
    fi
done