El Capitan dock customization issue

[Amar]

Hi guys,

Having a silly issue while imaging.

Issue: The dock will have 2 downloads folders. One of them is the correct one where it fans out, the other doesn't show as having an icon, displays a "?", and does not fan out.

I'm editing the plist located at /users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist

Dockutil does not work for us.

I don't know why I'm getting two downloads folders...I'm testing by running a policy and using FUT.

[davidacland]

Hi, are you using AD? Or are you managing the dock any other way (MCX, config profiles etc)?

[mm2270]

Hi. Can you explain what you meant by "I'm editing the plist located at /users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist" Editing it how? Directly? Through a script? I assume by the mention of FUT you're deploying a configured plist file. but it would help to know exactly what method you're using to customize the Dock.plist to start with.

Also, why doesn't dockutil work for you? Is it a deliberate decision not to use it (ex: don't want to deploy a custom app/binary), or do you mean you tried it but couldn't get it to work?

[Amar]

@mm2270 @davidacland I'm using composer to capture the changes I make to the plist, create a DMG, and have it as a step during imaging.

[davidacland]

What OS are you using? If its 10.10 or above that process may not work.

Either a config profile or dockutil may be more successful.

That being said, if the dock plist is being captured without the double folder, there must be something else adding it in. Either the AD connector, MCX, another profile or script.

[Amar]

@davidacland it's for 10.11. I'm giving dockutil a shot, the only reason I mentioned dockutil doesn't work for us is the previous tech who worked on the image wasn't able to utilize dockutil.

[Josh_Smith · Accepted solution]

I think you are getting the second Downloads icon from dockfixup. If you aren't familiar with dockfixup, Apple uses it to populate the dock. In this case your Downloads dock item is likely the broken one, and dockfixup is adding one that works. You can see what apple is adding to the dock by looking at this plist (command below specifically showing documents/right-hand side of dock):

sudo defaults read /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/com.apple.dockfixup.plist add-doc
(
        {
        path = "~/Downloads";
        version = "10.8.2";
    }
)

You can see the apps being added/updated like this:

sudo defaults read /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/com.apple.dockfixup.plist add-app
(
        {
        after = "/Applications/Notes.app";
        path = "/Applications/Maps.app";
        version = "10.9";
    },
        {
        after = "/Applications/iTunes.app";
        path = "/Applications/iBooks.app";
        version = "10.9";
    },
        {
        after = "/Applications/Maps.app";
        path = "/Applications/Photos.app";
        version = "10.10.3";
    },
        {
        after = end;
        group = 80;
        path = "/Applications/Server.app";
        server = 1;
        version = "10.8";
    }
)

In your case if the only thing you want to do is remove the duplicate Downloads icon....just remove Downloads from the plist you are pushing out and the working one will get added automagically when a user logs in. But for further customization I second the dockutil recommendation.

PS
You can check why the Downloads link is broken by looking in com.apple.dock:

defaults read com.apple.dock | grep Downloads

[Amar]

@Josh.Smith awesome thanks for the recommendations. I'll give it a try and see what I come up with.

[Amar]

So I was able to fix the issue thanks to @Josh.Smith's recommendation of looking into dockfixup. I deleted Downloads from the plist and was able to remedy the issue.

Thanks everyone for your help! @davidacland @mm2270

[stonga]

Simple question, is getting both download icons to fan out when you click on them a thing? Or is it designed where only one can fan out because I have the same settings on both but one fans out and the other leads directly to a folder file. Help please?