macOS Helper tools

Tools used for macOS management at DESY.


List


Privileges

and PrivilegesDemoter

About

Privileges and PrivilegesDemoter allow standard users to be granted administrator rights for a short period of time.

This allows Mac users to work mainly without administrator rights, which reduces the vulnerability to cyber attacks.

Privileges offers options for assigning administrator rights, while PrivilegesDemoter reminds users to demote privileges and otherwise does so automatically.

User guide

Privileges offers 2 options for assigning administrator rights.

  1. Launch Privileges > Click the Request Privileges button.
  2. Toggle PrivilegesUse the from the macOS Dock tile.

The difference between the two is that launch privileges itself has no time limit. However, we achieve this with the PrivilegesDemoter tool so both have a time limit.
What remains is the difference in handling and that Toggle Privileges only runs for 20 minutes while Launch Privileges can be extended via the PrivilegesDemoter pop-up dialog.

Demo

Launch Privileges

PrivilegesBanner

Toggle Privileges

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Frequently Asked Questions