Dockutil on 10.10.1 + 10.10.2

tim_rees
Contributor

Hi All,

Anyone else getting the following when trying to add items to the Dock with the latest Dockutil:

/var/root/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist does not seem to be a home directory or a dock plist

Started about a week ago... and I can't figure it out for the life of me. And this is using the exact scripts that worked a week ago.

2 REPLIES 2

bvrooman
Valued Contributor

You're probably running dockutil as root without declaring a home folder to change. It's trying to change the root user's Dock plist, which might not exist yet.

Here's my script to add an arbitrary Dock item to a user's plist at login:

#!/bin/sh

# Adds an arbitrary item to the logging-in (or out) user's Dock
#
# First two Casper variables ignored
# Third Casper variable is username passed at login/logout
# First custom variable ($4) is the path to the item to add
# Second custom variable ($5) is the name of the item in the Dock

# Get logging-in user's home folder
userhome=`eval "echo ~$3/"`

# Add dock item
dockutil --add "$4" --label "$5" --replacing "$5" "$userhome"

I use the "replacing" option so that the same policy can run at each login without producing an error, in order to re-add items that the user might remove inadvertently. I use this for network shares (with the policies limited by AD group).

Feel free to use this and modify to suit your needs.

Bhughes
Contributor

This was very helpful! Thanks @bvrooman !!