I recently published my first ever Python module to PyPi – macusers. It simplifies getting the current logged in user even when the script is running as root or at login window. I’ve been using the code for a long time now in my Munki scripts and custom packages.
Performant Big Sur VMs in Fusion
TL;DR
- Requirements
- macOS 11 host and guest
- VMware Fusion 12.1
- Download and install VMware Tools 11.2.5 or later
- Edit the VM’s VMX file
- Right click the VM
- Hold the option key
- Click Open Config in Editor
- Add
appleGPU0.present="TRUE"andsvga.present="FALSE" - Enjoy
Nuke and Paving M1 Macs
Those of us getting the new M1 Macs quickly found out that the traditional way of wiping a Mac using Disk Utility no longer works as expected. When using this method we’ve found numerous bugs and it typically leads us to needing to DFU the M1 Mac and use Apple Configurator 2 to completely wipe and restore it.
Here is the best way that I’ve found to completely wipe and reload an M1 Mac.
0 Bytes Available
Second day of vacation and I get a text ‘backup server is full’. Well, that sucks. Pretty sure it had 1.5TB a week or two ago. Sure enough, 0 bytes available.
Checking If A Binary Is Universal
With the M1 Macs out and getting my hands on an M1 Mac mini, I got curious which applications are installing as Universal Binaries for ARM, and which are x86 only and need Rosetta 2 to run.
Azure Billing and Management
The goal of this post is to serve as a quick guide to gaining access to all Azure subscriptions.
From macOS Server to NAS: The Great Migration
This year I got to speak at Penn State’s MacAdmins conference about if a NAS is the right tool to move to from macOS server.
You can find more information about my talk on the MacAdmins conference website here.
You can find my slides here:
SSH Reverse Proxy Tunnel
On occasion I need to test external access to my office or sometimes I’m on public Wi-Fi and want to securely browse the internet without connecting to a VPN. For times like those I use an SSH reverse proxy tunnel to a VPS and Firefox. This routes all of my Firefox traffic through my VPS securely over SSH.
All you need to accomplish this is an SSH server somewhere that you trust and Firefox. Once you have an SSH server up, go through these steps:
Enable Office 365 Add-ins for Specific Users
Whenever I’m testing out new Office 365 plugins I like to first deploy them to myself, then to a hand full of co-workers for testing. Here are my steps to accomplish this process:
Server 2016 and the GUI
Trying to install Server 2016 with a GUI, but not getting the option to install the GUI? Samesies. It took me a few hours and installs to finally figure out what’s going on. It’s not hard to resolve. Just annoying.