10.5: Parental Controls and authenticating proxies

Oct 23, '08 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: JC123

If your network is using an authenticating proxy for web access (you need to enter a "proxy password" to access the web), then you'll have trouble if you turn on Parental Controls, as the controls will prevent you from authenticating to the proxy.

The Parental Controls feature works by directing all web access for controlled users to an internal Apache web proxy (this proxy is dynamically started when a Parental Controls user logs in). Unfortunately, this proxy eats the HTTP 407 response authentication credentials, so you end up in a never-ending loop of the proxy demanding to know who you are, and the Parental Controls proxy refusing to let you tell.

Here's one possible solution. Open Terminal and run this command:

sudo chmod a-x /usr/sbin/httpd
Enter your admin password when prompted, then quit Terminal and restart your Mac. It's important to note that the above Terminal command prevents the Apache web server (httpd) from running at all. As such, this fix is only recommended if you need Parental Controls and don't need to host web sites on your Mac. It stops the Parental Controls proxy from running, but it also stops your computer from acting as a web server (because the same Apache httpd program is used to serve your web content).

System updates (i.e. 10.5.5 update) and Apple Security Updates reset parental controls, thus the commands must be re-entered.

[robg adds: I can't confirm this issue nor test the fix...]

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