Hacking the Mac OS X Installer DVD
I work at a university and we regularly get lots of new computers in that need to be imaged. Normally, people use a NetBoot server with NetRestore to do this, but our network is too clunky and poorly-designed to able to handle network-based imaging. So I have to resort to different methods of distributing our customized ASR images. For instance, we have one image for people in the Illustration Dept, but a very different one for workers who do not work in our design departments.
Last year, I was able to use Charles Sruska's excellent BootCD to build a bootable DVD that could then be used to image the workstations as needed. The ASR image is simply stored on the extra space on the root of the DVD, and NetRestore would let techs image from the ASR image to the internal HD of the Mac. It was fairly close to a "double-click" install for my techs: Boot from DVD, run NetRestore, restart the computer.
BootCD works well with Panther but has not been updated to work in Tiger. I'm sure Charles is working on it, but it's not done yet and I had to create a different solution, so I started hacking the Mac OS X Installer DVD. For the PPC machines, I used a copy of the recent Mac OS X 10.4.6 Retail DVD that was shipped to ACN members. It is a universal DVD that will boot any Tiger-compatible PPC-based Mac. Quite simply, this is how I did it:1) Use Disk Utility to make a read-write image of the DVD.
2) Remove from the r/w disk image all the stuff that won't be used: XCode installer and the installer packages in /System/Installation/Packages except the MacOSinstall.pkg.
3) Copy your ASR image to the root of the r/w image. When you make the ASR image with NetRestore Helper, make it an ASR compressed image. Mine is 2.1GB.
4) Set up your window environment for your techs. Mine is a custom graphic with our school logo and some basic instructions. There are also PDF's of instructions right in the window for them to read. Move all the contents of the root of the image farther down and turn off the toolbars. So the only thing the tech sees is the "Reboot" program and the instructions.
5) I renamed the "Install Mac OS X" installer program to "Double-click me to boot from this DVD"
6) Burn the disk image with Disk Utility.
When done, you'll have a customized bootable DVD that your techs can use to image your workstations. What they do is boot to the DVD which enters the Language Chooser and then once at the Installer, they can exit to Disk Utility and use its restore function to image your ASR image to the internal HD of the new Mac.
I've built one of these for our new Intel iMacs as well. I simply used the Restore DVD #1 that ships with each model. One caveat--I had to use the command line hdiutil to resize the r/w DVD for the Intel Macs because it's larger than 4.3GB. Of course, if you have dual-layer DVD's and burners, you could go that route and not have to resize the image to make it fit on a 4.3GB DVD-R.
For extra credit:
I'm working on editing the /etc/rc.cdrom file to tell the bootable DVD to go immediately to Disk Utility instead of launching the Installer program. I've almost got it working but it's getting hung up on the Language Chooser section. I just have to find what file calls what, and then I'll be able to cut a few steps out of the Bootable Restore DVD process.
For extra extra credit:
You can build a dual-layer bootable DVD that can be both a normal Mac OS Installer *and* a Restore DVD for your custom ASR image.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-21-2006 @ 1:22PM
stephen said...
That's pretty heavy-duty for TUAW
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7-21-2006 @ 1:35PM
Fra said...
Wow, this feels like the TUAW from back in the day.
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7-21-2006 @ 1:57PM
CajunLuke said...
Put this on macosxhints.com!
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7-21-2006 @ 2:06PM
viperteq said...
Hey, would you mind making this a full-0n tutorial with screenshots and all, plus explanations of some of the technical terms that your using. I think Apple users in Sysadmin positions (like myself) would find this really helpful!
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7-21-2006 @ 2:49PM
Ezrael said...
I posted more detailed instructions on a similar solution at http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=230
You can ignore the parts about the WinXP partition (I didn't have a Intel mac then and couldn't test it, seem to recall something about it didnt work). The other thing that didn't seem to work is that Disk Utility on the OS X restore DVD can select a source, but you cannot drag and drop a destination for the image restore (only the DU within a booted OS X can do so...). I'm curious if Damien found a way around this...
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7-21-2006 @ 3:12PM
Damien said...
Thanks for the extra info and instructions Ezrael. If I'm interpreting your comment correctly, you can get around the problem you're having with DU by doing this:
Using Disk Utility, mount the ASR image that's residing on the root of your bootable DVD (of course, you can store it elsewhere, but the root is a nice easy place to find). Once the ASR image is mounted, then you can drag-and-drop both the source and destination in the Restore section of Disk Utility. Or, in other words, have DU restore from the mounted image (it'll mount and show up in DU drive/image list) instead of trying to restore from the ASR image (not mounted).
My instructions were't that explicit on this step.
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7-21-2006 @ 3:35PM
Daniel said...
Its easier than that to boot to something else, skipping the language chooser and the install util entirely. Just drop an executable text file into /etc named rc.cdrom.local. The rc.cdrom file is already set up to look for it. In the .local file you can call diskutility, or a custom program for imaging if you have one on the disk.
Your file should look something like this:
#!/bin/sh
/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/Disk Utility
exit 0;
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7-21-2006 @ 3:49PM
Ezrael said...
ah, that makes quite a bit of sense. I'll have to try that when i get home. nice work
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7-21-2006 @ 4:18PM
Wisin said...
Looks very cool.
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7-21-2006 @ 5:53PM
chflory said...
I would appreciate a little help. When I try to resize with hdiutil I get the following:
~/desktop chflory$ hdiutil resize -size 4.37g disk.dmg
hdiutil: resize request is below minimum size allowed.
hdiutil: resize: failed. Invalid argument (22)
What am I doing wrong? Please help!!
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7-21-2006 @ 6:32PM
systemsboy said...
Great post. Love these kinds of admin articles. Keep 'em coming.
-systemsboy
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7-22-2006 @ 1:39AM
Ezrael said...
@chflory
hmm could be a couple things, but the most obvious problem is that the disk image is already more than 4.37g.... basically that resize command allows you to artificially inflate the disk image and then add to it, and itll keep you from adding so much that it wont burn. do a Cmd-I on the image and I'm guessing youll find it larger than 4.37g.
after youve switched it to r/w, you can root around the image and make sure all the packages are removed. try the resize after youve deleted contents.
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7-22-2006 @ 11:13PM
chflory said...
@ Ezrael
Thank you for your reply.
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7-27-2006 @ 1:36PM
Artur said...
This is all great, but I'm running into one problem: when I launch Disk Utility to restore my HD image onto a freshly formatted HD, it lets me choose disk image for source, but requires me to drag and drop target drive icon. Problem is, no icons are shown on the desktop and dragging from the list of drives in the left pane does not work. Any hints?
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10-12-2006 @ 3:02PM
cars experts said...
thanks!
this is the best how-to "Creating a Bootable Restore DVD" from all websites
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