Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW
Ask TUAW: Bypass the registration screen, install Leopard Server on the new Mac Mini, iPhone 2G AppleCare options and more
Once again, it's time for another edition of Ask TUAW: the place where we try to answer all of your Mac and Apple-related questions. This week we're taking questions about bypassing the Apple registration screen, installing Leopard Server on the latest Mac Mini, AppleCare for iPhone version 1.0 and more.As always, we welcome your suggestions for this week and questions for next time. Please leave your contributions in the comments for this post. When asking questions, please include which Mac and which version of OS X you're running. If you don't specify, we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac.
Tom asks:
When I do an install of OSX or after bringing home a new Mac I get to a screen that asks me to register. If I don't want to fill out that information in is there any way to bypass it?
Sure. Once you get to the registration screen simply press the Command and Q keys and you will see a new dialog box come up. On it, one of your choices will be to "Skip" the registration process. Simply click it and you'll move on to the next screen to create your user account and finish the setup of OSX.
John asks:
I have a Leopard Server installer DVD from last year and I'm having trouble installing the software on one of the new Mac Minis. It won't even boot the Mini nor will it work when I try upgrading OSX client to server. Once it installs I get endless restarts, etc. What's the best way to accomplish this?
Oddly enough, I ran into this problem recently myself. My solution was to use an external USB 2.0 hard drive, attach it to the Mini, restart the Mini from its Software Restore DVD and install OSX Client on the external drive.
Then, I booted the Mini from the external drive, inserted the Leopard Server install DVD and installed the server software converting the external USB drive from OSX client to OSX server. Next, I applied the latest combo update to the server software on the USB drive (10.5.6 as of this post).
Finally, using Disk Utility I restored the Mini from the external USB drive with the latest version of Leopard Server installed on it. Once it was done restoring, which took about 20 minutes, I was able to boot from the Mini because it now had Leopard Server 10.5.6 installed on it and all worked as expected.
WSN asks:
I have an iPhone Rev1 and It has Apple Care on it and is still covered. What happens now with Rev1 iPhones if you send them in via Apple Care? Do they refurb them, do they have parts, or do they just send you an 8gb 3G iPhone?
I spoke to AppleCare and they assured me they still have stock of Rev1 iPhones to replace ones still covered by warranty. So, if you were expecting to "trade up" somehow, it seems you're going to be out of luck. If it turns out they need to replace your current Rev1 2G iPhone, you'll be getting a 2G iPhone to replace it.
Ben asks:
In my address book, my dad is called "Dad" and my mom is called "Mom", with only a first name. However, periodically, "Mom" will get her last name added, and "Smith" will be added. I would rather it said "Mom" and stayed this way. Whenever I send an email to my mom, I type "mo" into the address field, and it auto-fills to "Mom Smith."
Mail.app remembers that she is called Mom Smith, and *it* goes back and changes the original address card. I've figured out the root of the problem, but I can't figure out how to change it so I don't have to undo the switch manually every time.
Mail keeps a list of email addresses you use so it can help you later by not making you type all those letters when you enter an address. A potential solution to your problem is to turn this feature off. To do this, go to Mail> Preferences> Composing and then uncheck the box next to "Automatically complete addresses." If the problem you describe is actually being caused by Mail remembering an address and then changing it in Address Book, this should eliminate that issue.
Bill asks:
I used to be able to have my signature automatically appear when I created new emails in Apple Mail. Now, not so much. I must manually click on the signature list. Any ideas?
You need to make sure you've selected a signature for each of your email accounts. To check this, go to Mail> Preferences> Signatures and see if each of your accounts has a signature assigned to it.
Phil asks:
I have started getting email that has no from, no subject and no body. What is it?
Most likely its spam that has become corrupted or malformed spam. To check, open the email in question and then go to Mail> View> Messges> View Raw Source to see the contents. The email headers are most likely scrambled so Mail doesn't recognize them and instead displays nothing. Feel free to delete them if they come in.
Then, I booted the Mini from the external drive, inserted the Leopard Server install DVD and installed the server software converting the external USB drive from OSX client to OSX server. Next, I applied the latest combo update to the server software on the USB drive (10.5.6 as of this post).
Finally, using Disk Utility I restored the Mini from the external USB drive with the latest version of Leopard Server installed on it. Once it was done restoring, which took about 20 minutes, I was able to boot from the Mini because it now had Leopard Server 10.5.6 installed on it and all worked as expected.
WSN asks:
I have an iPhone Rev1 and It has Apple Care on it and is still covered. What happens now with Rev1 iPhones if you send them in via Apple Care? Do they refurb them, do they have parts, or do they just send you an 8gb 3G iPhone?
I spoke to AppleCare and they assured me they still have stock of Rev1 iPhones to replace ones still covered by warranty. So, if you were expecting to "trade up" somehow, it seems you're going to be out of luck. If it turns out they need to replace your current Rev1 2G iPhone, you'll be getting a 2G iPhone to replace it.
Ben asks:
In my address book, my dad is called "Dad" and my mom is called "Mom", with only a first name. However, periodically, "Mom" will get her last name added, and "Smith" will be added. I would rather it said "Mom" and stayed this way. Whenever I send an email to my mom, I type "mo" into the address field, and it auto-fills to "Mom Smith."
Mail.app remembers that she is called Mom Smith, and *it* goes back and changes the original address card. I've figured out the root of the problem, but I can't figure out how to change it so I don't have to undo the switch manually every time.
Mail keeps a list of email addresses you use so it can help you later by not making you type all those letters when you enter an address. A potential solution to your problem is to turn this feature off. To do this, go to Mail> Preferences> Composing and then uncheck the box next to "Automatically complete addresses." If the problem you describe is actually being caused by Mail remembering an address and then changing it in Address Book, this should eliminate that issue.
Bill asks:
I used to be able to have my signature automatically appear when I created new emails in Apple Mail. Now, not so much. I must manually click on the signature list. Any ideas?
You need to make sure you've selected a signature for each of your email accounts. To check this, go to Mail> Preferences> Signatures and see if each of your accounts has a signature assigned to it.
Phil asks:
I have started getting email that has no from, no subject and no body. What is it?
Most likely its spam that has become corrupted or malformed spam. To check, open the email in question and then go to Mail> View> Messges> View Raw Source to see the contents. The email headers are most likely scrambled so Mail doesn't recognize them and instead displays nothing. Feel free to delete them if they come in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
David Emery said 9:10AM on 4-08-2009
Here's a question/issue: A friend and I both have the older G5/2ghz DP machines. We've both experienced the same problem trying to install Leopard (client) on these machines: The install gets about 2/3 through, and says "The installation disk is damaged. Please contact the software vendor." In my case, it did this on a -brand new- Leopard install disk.
Any thoughts what's going on here? I can "hack" around the problem by doing an install onto an external drive attached to my G4 laptop then cloning the installation to the G5, but that doesn't get me any G5 specific/64 bit components.
Reply
Todd said 9:31AM on 4-08-2009
The method you should use is to *copy* the leopard install DVD to an external HDD (firewire recommended but apparently USB will work too - YMMV) and then boot the system using that external drive. The install will proceed from this device (and much faster too!) and you won't get the error message. I saw several comments on a website describing the process where users had the same problem you had, and installing from HDD fixed it.
Just google for "Install Leopard External Drive" and you should find plenty of articles about how to do this.
Essentially you create a 10GB partition on an external disk; use disk utility to copy the contents of the DVD to the 10GB partition and then you bless the disk so it's bootable.
Then, you reboot your machine (holding option key) and select the external disk as the boot device and voila, you are installing Leopard from HDD rather than DVD.
PS - my local Apple store uses this technique and reinstalled Leopard for me in about 7 minutes (intel based Imac) :)
Give it a try!
Wayne LeFevre said 11:08AM on 4-08-2009
John, if you'd like you can PM this one, but serious? There's nothing else in the sub-$1500 range that can be looked at that has descent performance/space/reliability?
Wayne LeFevre said 11:13AM on 4-08-2009
Well that didn't work, did it? Ah, the wonders of 1PWD...
What I meant to say was, Can you create a HD install from your original Leopard disc - with the updates already added?
I'd like to be able to do new installs without having to update everything from 1.5.0 to 1.5.6 every single time.
Jayster said 4:47PM on 4-08-2009
@ David Emery,
Had the same problem. Turned out to be bad RAM. Run Memtest or If you have 2 RAM modules installed, take one out and try the install again. If no success, try the next RAM module alone.
Let me know if it works out
Stephen said 9:09AM on 4-08-2009
A much simpler way to install OS X Server on a Mac mini is to set the Mini up running 10.5 Client, then pop in the Server disc. You can run the installer from within Leopard, then reboot. Should come back up running Server.
Reply
brubalcava said 9:22AM on 4-08-2009
What are the advantages of using OS X Server on a Mac Mini or anywhere else for that matter?
Mike said 11:11AM on 4-08-2009
The user said he tried this and it didn't work. Also, the answer from TUAW seems to also confirm this as something they tried.
Aaron Ruhlig said 11:29AM on 4-08-2009
I'm certainly not super knowledgeable about Leopard Server installs, but I do know that I purchased a new MacBook in November, put in a new 500 GB HDD, then tried unsuccessfully to use a retail copy of Leopard purchased in 2007. My belief is that you cannot install OS X from retail DVDs stamped before the release of the new hardware. This makes sense as the software wouldn't be aware of the hardware because it was written a year before the hardware was created/configured and is probably the case with the Leopard Server DVD and the new Mac mini.
Serge said 11:33AM on 4-08-2009
A call to Apple support returned the same resolution Stephen suggested. The upgrade did work (twice) when I installed the Server OS on top the client OS installation. So I suggest to start from scratch by doing an erase/install from the client DVD that came with Mac Mini, then upgrade with the Server DVD.
The reason provided by Apple Support was, the Server DVD up to 10.5.4 doesn't have the drivers for the new Mac Mini.
Chris Ullrich said 1:22PM on 4-08-2009
@Stephen Doing an upgrade from Client to Server on these brand new Mac Minis resulted in endless restarts after the upgrade completed. According to the Apple folks I spoke to, you cannot do a straight upgrade from Client to Server on these Minis. It doesn't work.
Vik said 9:50AM on 4-08-2009
Regarding Ben's problem:
The problem is that if you reply to one of your mom's emails (where I'm presuming she uses her last name), mail.app automatically adds the last name in your address book because it thinks thats the way we like it. Therefore 'mom' will become 'mom smith'.
I've been looking for a solution to stop this for a long time but haven't been able to. There used to be an option in tiger to change this behaviour but it seems to have been lost in leopard.
Reply
bil said 10:05AM on 4-08-2009
i have my parents in my address book with their full names, but add a nickname of "mom" or "pop" that way i can type them as i like in Mail.app but if i print an envelope the actual name is used.
tukan said 9:47AM on 4-08-2009
Is it possible to automatically sync a folder from your Mac to a server and then have an online access to it via web or preferably iPhone app? I've tried both box.net and ZumoDrive and they are great but offer no automatic syncing and Amazon S3 (with JungleDrive) gives me no remote access to files. Are there any other options (possibly free so no Mobile Me :)?
Reply
stefano said 10:18AM on 4-08-2009
Dropbox does exactly what you need. And it's free for storage space up to 2GB. Otherwise, Microsoft Live Mesh offers something similar, with 5GB free.
MattH said 10:07AM on 4-08-2009
there is always drop box, although there isn't an iphone app for it yet, so that option is out.
stefano said 10:19AM on 4-08-2009
the iphone web app is pretty good though
Vik said 10:11AM on 4-08-2009
@bil
The problem for me actually goes deeper than just replying to emails. I keep my iphone in sync with my MBP through mobileme. So every time I reply to one of my mom's, dad's or wife's emails, their last names get added automatically and updates my phone with those names. Very annoying behaviour.
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JKT said 10:53AM on 4-08-2009
With regard to the answer to John's server-on-Mini question, why did you have to use an external USB drive? I re-read your response and substituted "internal HD" every time you said "external USB drive" and couldn't see a reason why it wouldn't work. Except maybe the part where you say "I applied the latest combo update to the server software on the USB drive", but you don't specify that you booted from the (still untouched) internal HD to perform that step. Is that so?
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Mike said 11:11AM on 4-08-2009
How can I prevent certain or all known wireless networks from joining automatically on my Mac? For example, I have my wireless network at work entered into my network settings so I don't have to remember the key, but I don't want to auto-join the network when I open my MBP. I would prefer being able to selectively enable auto-joining for certain networks only like many Windows-based wireless managers can do.
If this can't be disabled, isn't this a security flaw for less-aware users? Somebody throws up an ATTWIFI access point and SSL Strip and Mac users would join automatically if they had ATTWIFI in their network list.
Reply