Managed Prefs Fail on iMac (iMac Intel (Mid 2007)

[robb1068]

I've ran into an odd problem where a particular type of iMac refuses to apply managed preferences. They're older machines (iMac Intel (Mid 2007) we were thinking about plugging into some third level functionality and I can't recall if we've had this issue previously. So far I've ran into two different iMacs (same model) that have this problem.

Tried the various methods for getting managed prefs working and if I run a mcx verbose command, the iMac will display everything it's supposed to apply, just nothing appears in the Managed Prefs folder. JAMF is the only thing managing the devices so there's no conflict with WGM. They otherwise behave as expected (report in to Inventory, can push out software, etc.).

Anyone else have this problem and have any suggestions?

[cbrewer]

I haven't tied this to a specific model of machine, but when I have had an issue with managed preferences not applying i run 'jamf enroll' and then reboot. That seems to get managed preferences working again.

[Sandy · Accepted solution]

HI,
I ran into this on imacs around that era. This is going to seem far-fetched, but the reason it was happening for me is that the ethernet and airport ids are getting swapped, and so the settings are not applying....
ifconfig setting airport first and the localhost file being set with the airport MAC...
Mostly was a 10.5 thing but I still see one once in awhile in 10.6
Mostly these models:
2008 imac: imac8,1 (this is the model we put in every building Lab in 2008
2007 imac: imac5,1 this is a white intel I have in my office

To test this out, try disabling the Airports (hopefully you don't have these on wireless :) and test the settings then.
System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family"*
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleAir"*
I believe there is a script in the resource kit to disable the Airport, but it's done by moving the Extensions (drivers) out of the folder.

Something to try at least :)

Regards,
Sandy

[robb1068]

Thanks Sandy, I pulled the IO80211Family.kext file, rebooted and managed prefs applied! I had previously turned Airport off since it's a wired desktop, but I had to actually remove the .kext file from System/Library/Extensions/.

They were imaged with the same image as some of their contemporaries, but for some odd reason this particular model had an issue.

Thanks!

[majedian21]

I have been struggling with this exact same issue for months and a JAMF support tech pointed me here. The model I was testing was iMac5,2 running 10.6.8 and the fix proposed by @sandyh][/url worked beautifully. Like @robb1068][/url, I only had to delete the /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext file. A reboot and log-in was needed after that, but it works!!! Thank you Sandy!