Removing Dock item TV, Launchpad and Apple Music

[abacpits]

I am trying to remove and add some Dockitems to our new Users, so far it goes well with the Built in Tool and policies. Just these three Apps don't work. 

I am using the following path 

file://localhost/System/Applications/TV.app/

file://localhost/System/Applications/Music.app/

file://localhost/System/Applications/Launchpad.app/

I'm aware that there are other tools like dockutil and dockmaster, but I would like to use the built-in functions. Am I doing something wrong or is this a known issue?

[howie_isaacks · Accepted solution]

If you open the Jamf Admin app from a Mac with these items on the Dock, then use Jamf Admin to add them to Jamf Pro, they will be available to you to add to a policy to remove them. I have a Dock items policy that I run at the end of my zero touch provisioning process. I remove a lot of the default Dock items and add a lot of the apps that just got installed during setup. Here's a screenshot.

[dsavageED]

There are 2 ways I've approached this in the past, one of them is dockutil (which works), the other is to create the user template dock config at "/Library/User Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist" which essentially sets the dock a particular way for newly created users.

[abacpits]

But can you try it with a Testmachine with the built in Tool and give me a feedback? Just these three Apps, all other Apps work with Jamfs Way to set the Dock

[howie_isaacks · Accepted solution]

If you open the Jamf Admin app from a Mac with these items on the Dock, then use Jamf Admin to add them to Jamf Pro, they will be available to you to add to a policy to remove them. I have a Dock items policy that I run at the end of my zero touch provisioning process. I remove a lot of the default Dock items and add a lot of the apps that just got installed during setup. Here's a screenshot.

[abacpits]

That’s exactly the way I am doing it, but directly on the Jamf Pro Server and not with Jamf Admin. Everything else is doing great like all Office Apps and FaceTime… but just these three Apps. Is there anything different with Jamf Admin? 

[admingp23]

Thank you very much, Jamf Admin was the solution. It uses the following path for the Tv App for example:

file:///System/Applications/TV.app/

instead of this one

file://localhost/System/Applications/TV.app/

[YanW]

This is what I use

file:///System/Applications/TV.app/

file:///System/Applications/Music.app/

file:///System/Applications/Launchpad.app/

[admingp23]

issue is solved, thanks a lot to everyone. But with this built in Tool, why are so many Admins using dockutil etc.?

[howie_isaacks · Accepted solution]

dockutil provides more granular control. One thing I have learned in all of my years working with Jamf Pro is that what we need to do changes over time. For basic adding to the Dock and removing, I just use the built-in Jamf policy payload for doing those things.

[easyedc]

I think I understand why so many Admins use dockutil - historically the native Jamf functionality was hit or miss (going back about 15 years). I don't use 3rd part tools like dockutil and just rely on the native Jamf functionality to manage my dock, I find it fairly consistent. I have also spent my entire career working for tightly regulated industries, which have strict software requirements for apps. As a result I find myself using as much native to Jamf functionality as possible (open source is a dirty word around here).

[howie_isaacks]

Most of the time the built in payloads work great. I have noticed over the years that sometimes adding a recon step to my scripts works better than using the Maintenance payload to update inventory. I do this on a case by case basis. 

[scottb]

Yeah, for sure some things have gotten better - but when you rely upon so many third-party hacks, you just get used to using them and unless you catch an improvement in release notes, you almost never try those again...but it's a good point to do so.

I'm trying to get rid of as many add-ons as I can.  It's sorta ridiculous some of the things that aren't native yet...

[easyedc]

What amazes me to this day is that there are clearly 3rd party solutions to things that a vast majority of shops implement (thinking of a variety of DEPNotify-type enrollment education tools, RIP cocoa-dialog) that Jamf sees the community using, yet doesn't make any native solution themselves within the product.  There's been a number of head-scratchers over the years like that.  Between Jamfhelper and script writing I've been able to avoid most of add-ons, but it would be nice to see some of the fancy stuff integrated.

[scottb]

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@easyedc wrote:

What amazes me to this day is that there are clearly 3rd party solutions to things that a vast majority of shops implement (thinking of a variety of DEPNotify-type enrollment education tools, RIP cocoa-dialog) that Jamf sees the community using, yet doesn't make any native solution themselves within the product.  There's been a number of head-scratchers over the years like that.  Between Jamfhelper and script writing I've been able to avoid most of add-ons, but it would be nice to see some of the fancy stuff integrated.

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100% that! ^^^

[howie_isaacks]

I agree with you mostly. I think something built-in and customizable for onboarding would be awesome. I am underwhelmed by what Jamf is offering with Jamf Pro 11 which is why I am about to put the really awesome Setup Your Mac into production. @dan-snelson and his collaborators have done a great job on it. This whole discussion is making me want to check out dockutil again. I used it in the past but later decided to just use the built-in payload for managing the Dock. I like that Jamf Pro allows a level of granular control that other MDMs don't. All of our needs are different. If you want a nice and easy Fisher Price experience go with Kandji. I can't say in polite conversation what I think about Kandji. I do like for things to be easy so I agree that Jamf should look at what other MDM solutions have and choose some that will further enhance our experience with Jamf Pro.

[scottb]

I was looking at that too, @howie_isaacks , but again, another tool to have to learn and propagate knowledge of.

I looked at a few videos, and not sure 100% how to work with that.  Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention.

Dan certainly has done some amazing stuff, and maybe I need to get focused on that as well.

[howie_isaacks]

If you get the time, I encourage you to check it out. It uses Swift Dialog for the user facing interface. Swift Dialog is a great tool that I am trying to use every chance I get. There's a great companion app for it that allows you to quickly add in all the policies you want to run. I used DEPNotify for a long time and loved it but this is better.

[scottb]

Thank you! Are there any videos/tutorials you recommend?

[howie_isaacks]

Dan's website talking about Setup Your Mac is here. There's a demo video.

https://snelson.us/2024/02/setup-your-mac-1-14-0-under-the-hood/

Here's the Github repository.

https://github.com/setup-your-mac/Setup-Your-Mac

The helper app makes customizing easy. There's a Mac Admins Slack channel for Setup Your Mac.

https://macadmins.slack.com/archives/C04FRRN3281