Applications Preventing Reboot (macOS/Windows)

Description

Before the FileWave client reboots a computer, where the Fileset properties are set to reboot, a warning can be expected to 'Quit All Running Processes' with a list for the user to address.

Some processes do not respond to FileWave Clients requests to quit when "Quit all" or "Quit Application" is being used, because they are being immediately restarted by LaunchDaemon after quitting, or do not respond properly to the signals sent to them by FileWave.  This can result in users being blocked from installing FileSets with the "Reboot" Flag set. 

Information

Although this warning is usual, there are instances where certain apps or processes can appear in the queue that are unexpected, for example:

As a service, this can show even though the user is not using Adobe Apps at the time.

Solution

Requirements to prevent this experience are:

A settings file may be configured to allow for certain apps.  Create a fileset containing the settings.ini and then associate it to the desired clients. The directory where the file should be placed depends on the operating system:

macOS
/usr/local/sbin/FileWave.app/Contents/Resources/fwGUI.app/Contents/custom
Windows
C:\Program Files (x86)\FileWave\custom

The changes will only be visible in the desktop Kiosk after the user logs out and logs in again.

To exclude an unexpected process from being listed and preventing the reboot, first obtain the Bundle ID or process name of the listed App or Service.  

Obtain Bundle ID or Process Name

Windows

In this example, to exclude notepad you require: 'notepad.exe'

macOS

~/Library/Application\ Support/FileWave/FWGUI.log

There should be lines similar to the following, for each process that has prevented the reboot:

|DEBUG|INSTALLER|[addProcessInfo] new process added /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app pid 67345 bundleID com.apple.Terminal
|DEBUG|INSTALLER|[addProcessInfo] new process added /Applications/Preview.app pid 73400 bundleID com.apple.Preview
|DEBUG|INSTALLER|[addProcessInfo] new process added /Applications/TextEdit.app pid 73718 bundleID com.apple.TextEdit

Configure 'settings.ini'

The 'settings.ini' file should be configured with the following format (Bundle IDs or processes being a comma separated list):

[General]
ignoredApplications=com.bar, com.foo

For the example of Windows Notepad, it should read:

[General]
ignoredApplications=notepad.exe

To avoid the newer default processes Microsoft now include, consider ignoring the following:

[General]
ignoredApplications=StartMenuExperienceHost.exe,SearchApp.exe,TextInputHost.exe

For the example of macOS TextEdit, it should read:

[General]
ignoredApplications=com.apple.TextEdit

Combining this with current generic settings, it may look something like:

show_top_downloads=false
window_title="My Customized Kiosk"
hide_system_tray=false

[General]
ignoredApplications=com.adobe.acc.AdobeDesktopService,com.apple.TextEdit

Deployment

Deploy the 'settings.ini' file to the following locations: 

macOS

/usr/local/sbin/FileWave.app/Contents/Resources/fwGUI.app/Contents/custom

Windows

C:\Program Files (x86)\FileWave\custom


Revision #4
Created 14 July 2023 18:50:31 by Josh Levitsky
Updated 11 June 2024 21:07:48 by Josh Levitsky