Device Signature Error when attempting to install packages through Casper

When attempting to install printers (and other packages) some Macs (10.9.x) would report an error "Device Signature Error-A valid device signature is required to perform the action."  The helpful folks at JAMF Nation provided the following fix:

In ARD push out the following commands:

launchctl stop com.apple.apsd
rm /Library/Keychains/apsd.keychain
launchctl start com.apple.apsd

After the commands have been applied, Recon the machine again.  You should now be able to install packages.

Windows 2008 Server: Files Locked for Editing

We have been receiving numerous reports that Mac clients were unable to edit files when opened from a Windows 2008 server share.  Clients would receive the following message when they attempted to open files:

If the user copied the file to their desktop they were able to open it but as soon as they saved it back they would get the same lock message.

The file lock issue existed regardless of whether or not the user connected via SMB or AFP (using ExtremeZIP).  Restarting ExtremeZIP and the server did not resolve the issue; nor did closing all open file connections.

We discovered the following work-around:

• On the server open Control Panel/Folder Options/View
• Put a tick in "Show Hidden Files and Folders"
• Remove the tick in "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)"
• Apply the changes
• Go to the folder with the locked file
• Look for a temp file with a "~$" in front of the file name.  Examples: ~$filename.xls or ~$filename.xlsx
• Delete the temp files

 After deleting the temp files the user could open the file without a problem.

Note: the issues we were seeing were occurring with Excel files.  I don't know if this same procedure will work if you are seeing the file lock with other file types but it is worth a go.

WiFi Network Dropping Packets on a Mac

A MacBookPro running 10.9.4 was experiencing a problem where it would suffer constant connection drops on some WiFi networks with upwards of 70% packet loss.  Cable connections were fine and not all WiFi connections displayed this problem.

The WiFi router was replaced and a separate WiFi access point was tried and still the drops continued.  Other computers connected to the same WiFi network did not have this problem.

We resolved the issue by following these steps:

• Turn on WiFi on the Mac
• Open System Preferences/Network
• Highlight the WiFi connection and click on the "Advanced" tab
• Click on the "Wi-Fi" tab
• Remove the problematic network.  It might be a good idea to remove ALL the saved networks as long as the user knows the passwords for them!
• Click "OK" and then "Apply" to apply the changes
• Open Keychain Access
• Highlight the "Login" keychain
• Search for "Airport"
• Find the "AirPort network password(s)" that are associated with the problem network and delete them.  Note: there are normally two per network, "System" and "Local Items" Keychains
• Restart
• Log into the WiFi network and enter the authentication details when prompted

After removing the shared networks and deleting the items from the Keychain the packet loss stopped and normal WiFi connectivity was restored.