I finally figured out a way to lock my mac & have plex media center/plexconnect (plus many other apps such as itunes, download managers, etc) running without any user input at boot. As far as i am aware this works for any app. Once it locks the screen it requires a password to login to osx. As a bonus I made a custom lock screen, screensaver that acts as a login window. Here is how I did it.
Goto system preferences then users & groups then login options and turn on automatic login for your user. Got the idea from here unfortunately the plist does not work anymore properly:
Open automator and choose application. Search for Run Apple script and enter this in then compile & save in /applications and set your new app to auto start in login options (in your users & groups in system pref):
You ask Is this a security risk? Yes, do I care No! I see the desktop for a split second then my screen locks. I would much rather have plex media center auto start then logging into my machine every single time, same goes for iTunes home sharing/airplay etc, but then I figured well hell why stop there? So I fired up xbmc and added my movies and created a new folder named coverart once my movies loaded I then used the finder option go then goto folder:
I found about 40 movie cover arts in the directories and put them into my coverart folder I created earlier went to system preferences then screen saver. Once there I picked Shifting tiles and pointed the source to my coverart folder and now I have what I consider a animated login window that goes along with my plex box. If you log out of osx it closes plex media center. So now if I want to "logout" I just use step 4 in this tut:
(If it says no plex media server found on atv then pickup your remote and go from library to channels back to library in plexconnect then it will detect PMS)
Here is what it looks like after my mac boots with with no user input, enjoy :)
I have since discovered an alternative to this method using fast user switching, when I would use vnc it would act weird and make it difficult to enter my password so if you use this code in automator to create an app it elminates that issue. Its not the best looking with all the fancy coverart but does the job if you use vnc.
#!/bin/sh
if [[ -z $1 ]]; then
/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend
else
USERID=`id -u $1`;
if [[ -z $USERID ]]; then
exit -1;
fi;
/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -switchToUserID $USERID
fi;
there's a script in page 9 where you following instructions (giving it plexconnect.py location). then you giving him access to the password with keychain access and after that just replacing icon if you want and putting your app in login items.
you can make it seemless with dock dodger.
works perefect no matter if computer sleep, display off, for this awesome script it's all the same
You still have to logon to osx for plex media center to start. If you have no password on your machine plexconnect and plex media center will start without any issues. But if you have a password plex media center will not start until you logon. If you logout plex media center will ends its process. I want a password on my mac, and I want to just startup my machine without having to enter my password just to start plex media center or if I reset I want plex media center to startup on its own. When your machine locks the screen after a certain number of minutes like mine does, it does not log out which also leaves plex media center running. When I start my machine it locks the screen and leaves plex media center running. I want everything to automated and start on its own to work with plexconnect on my atv's while still having a password on my machine. I have accomplished that by doing the above steps. Unless you have some magical way to start plex media center @ boot prior to logon that I dont know about this is how im going to leave my machine password protected.
You still have to logon to osx for plex media center to start. If you have no password on your machine plexconnect and plex media center will start without any issues. But if you have a password plex media center will not start until you logon. If you logout plex media center will ends its process. I want a password on my mac, and I want to just startup my machine without having to enter my password just to start plex media center or if I reset I want plex media center to startup on its own. When your machine locks the screen after a certain number of minutes like mine does, it does not log out which also leaves plex media center running. When I start my machine it locks the screen and leaves plex media center running. I want everything to automated and start on its own to work with plexconnect on my atv's while still having a password on my machine. I have accomplished that by doing the above steps. Unless you have some magical way to start plex media center @ boot prior to logon that I dont know about this is how im going to leave my machine password protected.
I am putting the password anyway so it doesn't that mind .. and after that it's all by itself :)
by the way, you can have password but boot the computer without make it ask for it ..
I want my machine locked at boot. I do not want other people using my computer by allowing it to automatically logon. If you want your machine unsecured & automatically logged in and it works for you then you are good to go. I just like my machine locked so not just anyone can jump on and have administrator privileges.
