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I just set up an iChat server on a Leopard Server. I'm planning on testing it out with a small group of people, but I'd like to set it up remotely so I can just tell them to "Open iChat" instead of having them go through the process of setting up and adding the account.

Is there a way to set up an iChat jabber account remotely through a setup script? Or do I have to visit each computer - via Remote Desktop or walking around the office?

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You can have a look at http://osxportableapps.sourceforge.net/p_ichat/copy.html. Even if that doesn't work for you, that page has some info on where iChat stores its jabber, and other, settings so you can copy those files to a network location.

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I was able to solve this problem by copying my existing com.apple.iChat.Jabber.plist file and editing the "LoginAs" string to the users name I wanted to set up. I then copied the plist to their computer via Apple Remote Desktop. When they started iChat (they didn't have any iChat plists in their ~/Library/Preferences/ folder) iChat asked them to enter their password, then said "welcome" and had them enter their password again. Once they did that they were up and running!

The other answers by Mark Pim and Chealion are correct in their own way. I'm just posting what worked for me in my case.

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  • That worked better than I would have assumed it would have.
    – Chealion
    Jul 7, 2009 at 20:46
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iChat stores it's preferences and Jabber account details in two files called com.apple.iChat.plist and com.apple.iChat.Jabber.plist in the Users Preference folder. However I am unaware of any available or easy way to script account creation using the .plist files. From what I can read from the iChat AppleScript dictionary it's not possible to add an account using AppleScript either - only work with existing accounts.

If your users used the server to authenticate to log onto the machines (or are willing to apple MCX locally):

You can manage iChat accounts via MCX, specifically the com.apple.iChat.managed preference manifest.

To manage these preferences you can do it via Workgroup Manager - click on a user, users or a group and then click the "Preferences" item in the toolbar. You can then click on the tab that says details to manage certain .plist files.

If you haven't already you'll want to add ManagedClient.app's (in /System/Library/CoreServices) preference manifests to Workgroup Manager by click the Add button and choosing ManagedClient.app.

Double click on the com.apple.iChat.managed item to edit it which will bring down a sheet that looks somewhat similar to Property List Viewer. Click on the disclosure triangle beside Often, and then click New Key. From the drop down for that item it provides a preset called "Account Info", choose that one. Then edit the details as necessary as you would per your setup. Note that the "%@" refers to the user's username, so you should change $@@ichat.apple.com to %@@FQDN.OF.YOUR.iChat.Server

I've set this up at work and unfortunately it was a bit hit or miss but a lot of it had to do with having a misconfiguration in the MCX and SSL issues.

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  • I believe this would be the solution if I had people authenticate against this computer and ran some scripts when they did. Alas, I do not. Each computer is it's own little world, and I'm only using this server as an iChat server. So I'm looking for a way to generate a plist file and copy it over to their computer via Remote Desktop. Or to make a script that I can copy to their computer that makes the plist file there.
    – Jason Lawton
    Jul 7, 2009 at 15:54
  • Sorry - was assuming the users information was on the server. You can however check out afp548.com/article.php?story=using-mcx-in-the-dslocal-domain for applying MCX locally.
    – Chealion
    Jul 7, 2009 at 20:37

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