Camtasia 2023 - Anyone get it to install and serialize via JAMF?

[kwoodard]

I have been trying to get Camtasia 2023 to install with JAMF for 2 weeks solid. I am following their Enterprise guide Enterprise Install Guidelines For Camtasia on macOS and I am not getting any luck. I have followed all the steps in creating the LicenseKey file, put into the proper location, and gone so far as to package that separately and deployed that and the Camtasia package (downloaded from the AutoPKG app). Camtasia installs fine, but upon launch, it does not grab the License information. 

The next issue (which I know is moot until I can solve the first issue) is I would like to utilize all of the "Deployment Options" that are listed on the document above. When I try to do just the one where the software doesn't display the sign-in page, the software cannot see the app license anymore as a valid license. I don't understand why that is.

What makes these options difficult is that the plist that they write to isn't created until after the software is launched for the first time (the plist is created in the users preferences folder, not the global library preferences). It appears to me that Camtasia isn't really designed for a multi-user environment. I'm totally at a loss on what to do. Please help!

[TheAngryYeti]

I would attempt to do this one as a composer snapshot capture. Install it on a fresh VM or tester with composer. Make sure you do all of the options you want so it writes to the plist etc. then when you package it up do so as a dmg with FUT/FEU option. 

[kwoodard]

I was afraid someone would mention this. I suck at doing captures like this. Any tips?

[TheAngryYeti]

I’ll take a look at it in the AM and see what shakes out and I’ll post back.

[kwoodard]

So I’m understanding, install the software first, start Composer (which I struggle with getting going properly for this use), then launch the software, add the serial number, set the options (I did create a PPPC file, but a couple options didn’t seem to be available to approve…only deny) and then save as a DMG?

[cdev]

The biggest thing I can suggest is to ensure you have the permissions set properly on the license file and the folders that lead to it by adding a couple of lines to a postinstall script in your package (or setting them properly in Composer):

/usr/sbin/chown -R root:admin "/Users/Shared/TechSmith"
/bin/chmod -R 777 "/Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia"
/bin/chmod -R 755 "/Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia/Camtasia Registration Key Unified License"
"/Applications/Camtasia 2023.app/Contents/Resources/aceinstaller" install

[smallchange]

Any luck on this @kwoodard ? I am having the same exact issue. I tried using Composer to package Camtasia. I take a snapshot, install Camtasia, place the license file in the location they mention in the enterprise documentation (/Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia/), and then complete the snapshot. I have noticed a few things.

1. The documentation explicitly says, "Once they load Camtasia for the first time, it will read the license key and unlock Camtasia." Therefore it would be my understanding that I shouldn't open the application post install while recording the snapshot. After I complete the install, I try and navigate to /Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia/, but that directory doesn't exist until after I run Camtasia for the first time. 

2. If I do end up running Camtasia on the device, and then try placing the license file in the noted directory, a "License" folder is already generated, which I assume conflicts with the license file I end up placing in the repository. The folder includes a .lic file, and few other files.

I am currently attempting to create the Directory before running Camtasia, and seeing if that will allow me to keep the license file in that location without running the software. I will provide more updates as I continue testing, but let me know if you find any other solutions.

Cheers

[kwoodard]

Nope, I am still stuck. Your experience is exactly like mine. I reached out to TechSmith support and they say follow the guide. When I told them it doesn't work, they literally said, "Sorry..." and offered nothing else for support.

[kwoodard]

I tried all day Friday trying to get this working...even with a Jamf support person. No luck. What happens to my installation, whenever a new person signs into the lab computer and their profile is created, at first launch of Camtasia, the plist is overwritten.

[TheAngryYeti]

I'll post here as well, as I was the one working with kwoodard.  What I found is the default commands did not work with keeping the options as noted in the vendor docs.  The license file dropped as a non-txt file at /users/shared/techsmith/camtasia/ proved to allow the licensing to stay...but it was the options that were a struggle as the plist referenced is in the user space and, as noted above, is not present prior to launch of the program, even when pre-created it overwrote it.  I was able to capture the PLIST file that is generated by the launch and added all the keys, I then turned this into a profile, scrubbed the program from the tester and then deployed the profile first, and then program.  I pushed out the profile first and then installed the program via self-service, upon first launch it respected the values finally.   

So - the new obstacle (which I didn't test out of the gate) is that new users are not being allowed access to the license file to make the program launch.  once I granted permissions to the file it worked for the next user and applied the settings via profile. so the easier way to do the multi-user portion as its being a pain would be to run 

/bin/chmod -R 777 "/Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia"

At Login as a policy for each user once.

This seems to be overly complicated for this software and I'm not sure why TechSmith is a not a bit more helpful but if anyone else wants to give it a shot with me, send me a message and I can see how I can help out.

[kwoodard]

I finally got in touch with a senior support tech at TechSmith. While they don't know how Jamf works, they should know how their software works and how the license key is used. I have emailed all of your findings, as well as mine, and hopefully they might be able to make some changes in a new release. Some of the behavior that Camtasia does at launch is so strange, it seems to cause more problems than it fixes.

[CleaverPsycho]

Hi Guys I'm curious to know if any of you have made progress or found a solution? Your experiences and insights have been helpful, however I too haven't had any success. It would be great to hear about any updates or new developments.

[kwoodard]

I still have not. Been working with their support team and we have not been successful. Still have an issue with the license not being picked up and the plist with all the preferences being wiped out on first launch by our students. 

[kwoodard]

Come Monday morning, I will be working on this again. I am hoping that the new version of Camtasia will have addressed some of these problems and make enterprise installations better. We'll see.

[RickDalton]

Running into the same issue. Did you ever get this working?

[kwoodard]

This is what I received from Techsmith last week. I haven't had a chance to test it out...

Thanks for your patience here. My team made some changes that should have resolved what you were seeing, these changes are reflected in the most recent release of Camtasia, which is 23.3.6. 

[b_rant]

For what it's worth I was having endless issues getting this to work until I double checked the formatting of the LicenseKey file and placed it here:  /Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia/LicenseKey

On Sonoma I had to open TextEdit - Settings:
Under New Document - Change it to Plain Text.
Under Open and Save - Unchecked the add .txt to end of file option and saving as plain text default to UTF-8 Unicode. Not sure if needed but I also unchecked the preserve whitespace option.

When saving the file it should say Plain Text Encoding at the bottom with UTF-8 already selected. 

After packaging this in composer and sending it out as part of the install the text file showed up as a unix executable file but this did not stop Camtasia from opening it and licensing the application.

[smallchange]

@b_rant I have tried the method above countless times, but when I open the application I get prompted with this:

I am not sure what I am missing. The license file is formatted as you mentioned above. I have packaged the application with the license file and folder structure, and have also tried packaging the application and the folder structure separately. I have also tried the process locally, with no luck. Any insights on how you got yours to work are appreciated. 

[b_rant]

Something else that seems to work is to copy a current unix executable file and then edit it with the license key info and rename it. Did this for the 2024 update instead of making a text file.

This would look something like this:

Open Finder - Go - Go to folder - Type /bin 

Copy any Unix Executable file from here to /Users/Shared/TechSmith/Camtasia Folder

Rename the file inside Camtasia Folder to LicenseKey

Open LicenseKey file in TextEdit and delete everything here, replace with only the License Key Number

Throw this into Composer and make sure to fix the owner to root/wheel . (I have my permissions set to 777 but not sure if this is really needed, read may be enough.)

Deploy to your test machine and it should open past the sign in screen. 

[kwoodard]

I was able to get the license to run using steps similar to yours. What I am still stuck with (and TechSmith still cannot seem to figure out) is setting up the preference file. I can sucessfully run the scripts needed to create the custom plist file, but when I launch the software the first time, the plist is overwritten with a basic one...no preferences applied.

[cdev]

Check the permissions on the plist – if it doesn't have proper access, it will usually overwrite it.

[b_rant]

Here is an example of the script to change preferences that is working for me. 

This will get current user, write preferences to the file and change owner of file. If you are not using 2024, you will need to edit these lines to 2023.

#!/bin/sh

## Get the logged in username
loggedInUser=$(stat -f%Su /dev/console)

## Run the defaults command on their plist
/usr/bin/defaults write /Users/$loggedInUser/Library/Preferences/com.TechSmith.Camtasia2024.plist DisableSignInRequirement -bool YES
/usr/bin/defaults write /Users/$loggedInUser/Library/Preferences/com.TechSmith.Camtasia2024.plist HideRegistrationKey -bool YES
/usr/bin/defaults write /Users/$loggedInUser/Library/Preferences/com.TechSmith.Camtasia2024.plist DisableEventTracking -bool YES

## Correct permissions on the plist
/usr/sbin/chown $loggedInUser /Users/$loggedInUser/Library/Preferences/com.TechSmith.Camtasia2024.plist

[kwoodard]

This is the same script that I am using for mine. The plist is generated properly and permissions are set as they should. The problem I am seeing is when I launch Camtasia for the first time on that users profile, Camtasia starts and the plist is overwritten with a generic plist that has no options set.