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MattDB
Participant
October 27, 2023
Question

macOS: Unable to Restrict Access to CC Desktop Application App Panel

  • October 27, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1909 views

I'm trying to restrict access to the App Panel in the CC Desktop App on student lab machines, but have been unable to do so recently. The target computers are running macOS 13.6. As a test, I've created a new managed package in the Admin Console that includes just the CC Desktop App, configured with the options to hide access to the app panel. However, after the installation, the app panel remains freely accessible. I've verified that the ServiceConfig.xml file is getting installed along with the app and that it does contain the correct key values needed for restricting the App Panel. I've been able to recreate this issue on newly restored or imaged computers with nothing but just the Adobe CC Desktop app installed. Everything seems to work as expected when installing managaged packages created the same way for our Windows devices. It's as if the current version of the Adobe CC Desktop app for macOS is just ignoring the ServiceConfig.xml file altogether. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

 

Steps to reproduce:

Hardware: Apple Silicon based Mac running clean install of macOS 13.6

1. Create a new macOS (Universal) managed package in the Admin Console

2. Add the Creative Cloud Destkop Application (6.0.0) to the package

3. Deselect "Enable Self-Service Install" under options

4. Create package. 

5. Install package on the target computer.

6. Launch Adobe Creative Cloud Destkop Application and verify whether App Panel is restrcited.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    rpandita
    Community Manager
    rpanditaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    October 30, 2023

    Hi MattDB

     

    Can you please share the service config file here?

     

    Regards

    Rohit Pandita

    M
    MattDBAuthor
    Participant
    November 7, 2023

    I wanted to provide an update on this issue. In my case we found that the Self-service polices under our Adobe CC product profile in the Admin Console had been enabled. I don't recall ever enabling this feature, but it was on. Disabling these policies resolved the issue for us. I got confirmation from Adobe support that these polices take precedence over any policies or restrictions configured at the package level, and are applied as soon as a licence user logs into any of the Creative Cloud applications.

    In the Adobe Admin console, go to Products, select your Adobe CC product, drill down on it's configuration, go to the "Permissions" tab, click the edit button next to Self-service polices and make sure the option is toggled off. As soon as these policies were disabled, our managed package policies immediately began working again as expected.

     

     

    M
    MattDBAuthor
    Participant
    November 7, 2023

    Yeah, sorry. We do have NUL and SDL. NUL we allow self install on both windows and mac. For SDL, we want to only allow installs via Jamf or MECM software centers. We create the NUL installers with self service enabled, we create the SDL installers with it disabled (we don't want random students installing software on lab machines). 

     

    This has traditionally worked as expected, but with version 6, it doesn't seem to (at least on macOS).

     

    Oh, and no, not installing from Jamf App Installers. We manually build our CCAPP for both NUL and SDL, and build individual apps for all the SDL apps so we can scope and distribute as required.  


    Oh okay. The only reason I asked is that we do use App Installers and Jamf bundles a default non-customizable ServiceConfig.xml file along with the apps. Originally these default settings restricted self-service which worked for us, but then Jamf changed the default settings a couple months ago to allow for self-service, which really caught us by surprise. We still use the App Installers but I now have a separate policy that generates a new ServiceConfig.xml file with the restrictions to overwrite the one that Jamf bundles with their installer. If your making your custom packages and policies I imagine this wouldn't be a problem for you. Pushing the apps out via App Installer then applying the xml file just to student / lab machines is now working for us. 

    Defintely a strange issue. Have you tried creating a managed package containing just the desktop app with self-service disabled and installing it manually on a clean Mac? 

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