Cannot get Dock items to work

[howie_isaacks]

I want to include dock items along with the apps that I am distributing via Self Service. I add the Dock item using Casper Admin, and it is then visible when I create the policy in my JSS. I'm adding the application package and the dock item to the policy. When I run the install of my apps in Self Service, the app installs, and I see the Dock refresh, but the Dock item never appears. The log shows the installation of the app, and then relaunching the Dock. There is no step for adding the Dock item. What am I missing? I'm following the procedure for adding Dock items exactly as it is written into the Casper admin guide.

[Aziz]

What version JSS are you running @hisaacks? I'm pretty sure this was an issue with 9.81, but I'm still having issues with 9.82 and Casper Remote + dock items.

[howie_isaacks]

I'm running 9.8.1.

[jasonjrjune]

There is a known issue when deploying dock items using 9.81 it's a hit or miss. 9.82 was said to fix the problem

[howie_isaacks]

For me, it has consistently been a miss. The release notes for 9.8.2 say "The jamf binary no longer fails to add or remove Dock items using a policy on computers with OS X v10.11". I will upgrade, and then give this a try again.

[howie_isaacks]

Just upgraded my JSS, and I made sure that my test system has the latest JAMF binary. The policy that installs the Dock item STILL does not work. The log for this policy being executed via Self Service is below. Note that nowhere does it state that the Dock item is being installed. It shows that the Dock is being relaunched, but no Dock item getting installed. When you're dealing with users who never actually go to their Applications folder, let alone know where it is, it is absolutely necessary to have the Dock item get installed as part of the Self Service install. This makes Self Service useless for installing software for these users. If I have to stop what I'm doing and tell them where the app is, I might as well just manually do the whole thing for them.

[STEP 1 of 5]
Executing Policy Firefox
[STEP 2 of 5]
Mounting Think Fixed JSS to /Volumes/CasperShare...
Verifying package integrity...
Installing Firefox.dmg...
Filling user home directories from /Volumes/Firefox/Users/admin...
Closing package...
[STEP 3 of 5]
[STEP 4 of 5]
[STEP 5 of 5]
Relaunching dock(s)...
Unmounting file server...

[jasonjrjune]

Ok. So let's try to break down this problem. First the binary issue started with 10.11 so you prep device and device deploying to should be identical.
Now and ( this is no knock on your process or knowledge just being thorough ) the dock item is being created on prep device the correct way, Installing the same version of the app on you prep device that you have deploying from self service adding the app to your dock then creating the doc item is capser admin making sure fut/feu is set . Adding it to the correct catogory Then always and often saving the setting in Casper admin. Then setting up your policy in the JSS. If you have its set once computer make sure to flush it so that is attempts adding the doc item again once the policy is run. Now all this is coming from memory if your still having the issue after these steps let me know I will attempt recreate the process.

[howie_isaacks]

Actually, I tried this on a system running 10.10.5 as well as 10.11.2. Neither system gets the dock item. I got into the habit of saving in Casper Admin a long time ago, so that's not the problem. I thought about that myself :) The policy is set to ongoing so that a user can reinstall a deleted app should they choose to. I will work on this some more on Monday. I appreciate your input! I have an open ticket on this, and all I have got from JAMF support are questions. They stopped responding to me four hours ago.

[Stephen_Perry]

This has been a persistent issue. Until a fix is provided, I'd suggest checking out the following. It's not a solution to the root problem, but a fairly simple workaround in the mean time.

https://github.com/kcrawford/dockutil
https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/viewProduct.html?id=203&view=info

Dockutil may be deployed by way of a custom package built using Composer. The Dock may then easily be managed by way of policy.

Not ideal considering this is part of the Casper Suite core functionality, but it is something.

[howie_isaacks]

Thanks. I will check it out. I'm a perfectionist though. If my company buys a product (Casper), then we expect its core functions to work. We should not have to rely on another product to make Casper do what it's supposed to do.

[Stephen_Perry]

Agreed!

[mike_paul]

The fix was actually related to the way Dock items are created in a version of Casper Admin prior to 9.82 due to the OS changes, not in the pushing of the Dock Item from the JSS. Once I recreated the dock items in a 9.82 Casper Admin they appeared to all push correctly. The release notes aren't clear on what was changed to resolve the issue so I apologize for the confusion.

[howie_isaacks]

I got my Dock items working by deleting them completely, and then re-adding them via Casper Admin. The release notes definitely needed to be detailed about how to apply the fix. I have been successful just now with getting three Dock items to load from a policy, but I cannot get Self Service to load onto the Dock using a policy. I used to be able to do this a few years ago. What's the problem? Why would this one app not work?

[howie_isaacks]

Just worked with someone at JAMF to solve the Self Service as a Dock item issue. The "secret" is to not add it through Casper Admin. Instead, add it through the JSS using the path: file:///Applications/Self%20Service.app/ I'm going to stop caring why Self Service has to be added this way. I have more important things to worry about :)