10.7: Move an ARD 3.x Installation/Install ARD

Nov 22, '11 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: Ben Levy

Aside from the fact that the current Apple Remote Desktop Installer requires 10.6 and doesn't want to run in 10.7 one of the more vexing aspects of working with ARD is that eventually one becomes heavily invested in the library it creates and setting up a new installation or moving a library to another machine is problematic.

The following instructions allow for moving an ARD installation and/or the library of machines, stored commands, groups, etc. that collect with heavy use.

These are all the relevant files to make ARD work, assuming ARD doesn't exist on the target machine already:

If it's already installed, here are instructions for moving the accumulated installation and customization (note that root needs to enabled for part of this):

Copy database to remote machine:
sudo scp -Epr /var/db/RemoteManagement root@machinenameorIP:/var/db
Copy the /Library preferences:
sudo scp -Ep /Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteDesktop.plist root@machinenameorIP:/Library/Preferences
Copy home directory preferences:
sudo scp -E /Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.RemoteDesktop.plist username@machinenameorIP:~/Library/Preferences
Copy home directory Application Support Remote Desktop directory:
sudo scp -Er /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Remote Desktop username@machinenameorIP:"/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Remote Desktop/"

[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. I just upgraded my existing Snow Leopard installation to Lion and the ARD support was retained. I trust Apple will fix the ARD installer (maybe they already have) to recognize 10.7 and there will be no need for this.]

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