Login Banner size

[Jason]

Hello everyone. The login banner seems to fit into a uniformly sized box that scrolls if there is too much text for it. Does anyone know if it's possible to increase the size of this box so that scrolling isn't necessary?

Thanks

[JPDyson · Accepted solution]

I have not been able to find it if it exists. At my last job, we went another route because of this limitation and used the policy banner functionality (this also solved a requirement for us that a user must interactively acknowledge the policy by clicking OK, no "implied consent" simply by logging in).

You can package a text file at /Library/Security/PolicyBanner.txt or .rtf(d), and the contents will pop-up in a basic window before login. You can do nice, big, colorful banners this way, but there's a gotcha: to dismiss it, you HAVE to move your mouse to the window and click OK.

Deets: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4788?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

[JPDyson · Accepted solution]

I have not been able to find it if it exists. At my last job, we went another route because of this limitation and used the policy banner functionality (this also solved a requirement for us that a user must interactively acknowledge the policy by clicking OK, no "implied consent" simply by logging in).

You can package a text file at /Library/Security/PolicyBanner.txt or .rtf(d), and the contents will pop-up in a basic window before login. You can do nice, big, colorful banners this way, but there's a gotcha: to dismiss it, you HAVE to move your mouse to the window and click OK.

Deets: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4788?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

[rtrouton · Accepted solution]

The login banner in Lion and later has a very limited amount of display space. If you need something larger, I'd also recommend using a policy banner.

I wrote a post a while back on setting login banners for Lion. For those interested, it's available here:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/setting-a-text-only-login-banner-at-the-filevault-2-pre-...

[Jason]

Thanks guys, both responses help a lot. I appreciate it.

[andrew]

I ran into a similar problem. At our school we need to have a brief statement/disclaimer about our computing policy.

We ended up just making a png with our statement and logo in Illustrator, and used Deeper (by company that makes Onxy) to modify the loginscreen logo. Sizing the PNG is a pain in the arse, the logo breaks on every other OSX update, but damn it looks pretty!

[JPDyson]

@andrew, I've seen more than a few instances of people achieving this by editing the local wallpaper resource. You tend to run into scaling issues unless you go to the lengths to make sure the right resolution resource ends up on each model (never mind that you get the right resource on a 15" laptop just for them to clamshell it and use it with a 24" monitor).

[fabian_ulmrich]

We used the policy banner in OS X 10.8.x, but it really slowed down the whole computer, especially during loginwindow startup. So I cannot really recommend this solution. But would be interested if there is a way to re-size the login banner.

[alexjdale]

Slowed down the computer? What do you mean? It takes a couple extra seconds to move your mouse and dismiss the window, but I haven't seen any performance impact and we've been using it for a long time now.

[fabian_ulmrich]

@alexjdale I noticed different behaviour. But mostly, the loginwindow could not be loaded correctly or was held back completely. Especially you could see this if you did not login directly after restart for example.

All in all, I think it's a good way to communicate your laptop policy to the end users again.

[RobertHammen]

Try this on for size:

10.9.5 + FileVault 2 + had laptop hooked up to a TV via HDMI..

Try as I might, the screen resolution is lowered enough that I can't click to Accept the policy banner. Can't scroll. Plugging in the TV does nothing but redraw the screen, grey, and not display the policy banner.

Tried all of the tricks including PRAM zap, Safe Boot. Last step was to boot from a USB flash drive, unlock the disk, and remove the stupid policy banner.

Anyone know if there's an easier way around this issue? I just wanted to leave work for the evening. Hour later...

--Robert

[ctangora]

If multiple displays are used and you have a security banner it will not allow you to click on the banner.

I filed a bug a few months ago with Apple about this. The only way I have found to get around it is to unplug the second monitor login, then plug the second monitor back in (or do what you did and remove the banner).

[Parm]

We have an issue where the policy banner is too large to fit on the screen and we can't access the Accept button - rendering the machine useless as you can't dismiss the policy to gain access to the login screen itself. Anyone else seen this or have a fix?? Is there a way to set the width of the box?

[andrew_nicholas]

@Jootla , did you find a fix for this issue? I've been deploying a policy banner at my new company for a few months and its been fine, but one machine that went out the door just fine apparently arrived with this issue and the box is now effectively useless to him.

[RobertHammen]

I believe this is now fixed in 10.10.2. Won't be addressed in previous versions of the OS, of course.

[NightFlight]

Okay, its 2019 and Catalina was released. Seems Apple discovered this useful function and as usual - appleized it. Meaning dumbed it down and made the feature un-customizable. It seems now that the banner no longer follows the size of the document and uses a fixed size - which is again - too small and uninformative.