Universal 10.3.4 boot DVD from G5
If you're a Mac system administrator, like me you have probably used the restore discs from your newer machines to update and reinstall the OS on machines older than the one the discs were intended for. It's really nice to have OS X on one DVD instead of 3 cds, and you have the benefit of not having to run through so many updates in Software Update. It's a big time saver.
Until recently, you could install the OS from the restore DVDs that came with newer powerbooks and powermacs. You couldn't install the bundled 3rd party software that is included with new machines though because it checked the machine's model number, and if it didn't match up, then no install. This was fine as we're really only interested in having the latest version of OS X on a convenient DVD, not making illicit copies of 3rd party software.
The DVDs that come with the 2nd generation G5s which were just released prevent this however. While writing my in-depth review of the new migration features of Setup Assistant, I had access to a new set of restore DVDs from the G5, but not the G5 itself. When I tried to install on my powerbook, I got this message:
Bundled Software cannot be installed on this computer.
From here, your only option is to close the installer and restart the machine. Bummer.
So I set about to see what had changed in this new DVD. Turns out that there was one major difference in this restore DVD versus the older ones. On previous restore discs, restoring your system was a 2 step process.
1. Start off the DVD and install Mac OS X, reboot, set up your user
2. Use a package installer to re-install your bundled 3rd party apps, classic system folder, and various other goodies.
This second part required a check to insure that you're using a system that can use the software included in the bundle. This allowed the installer to selectively install iDVD on only machines with DVD drives for instance. No big deal here, except that for people who had to return these machines to factory software spec, you had to create a user to install software, then delete the user and all traces of having used the machine. Cumbersome and annoying.
Enter the new restore DVD and the changes that prevent us from using these DVDs as regular OS install discs. For this revision, apple decided to add the bundled software package to the default list of packages installed when first installing the OS. So now instead of having a 2 step process, you can just install everything all at once. Much better for people restoring these machines. Worse for Sys Admins who just want a 10.3.4 DVD for convenience.
TechGoesBoom to the rescue. I'm going to walk you through modifying a new G5 restore DVD to make it function as a normal install DVD. These instructions assume you are currently using 10.3.
1. Pop DVD #1 in your DVD drive. We don't need Disc 2. That has the extra bundled software which we're not concerned with anyway.
2. Open Disk Utility and click on the volume labeled "Mac OS X Install Disc 1"
3. From the Images menu, choose the New option and select "Image from Mac OS X Install Disc 1"
4. Name it whatever you want. I chose test.dmg. Make sure to chose "read/write" as the image format as we will be making changes to it. Do not use "DVD/CD Master". Click save, grab some coffee and wait until it finishes.
5. Once we have our image, go ahead and mount it.
6. The more astute of you have noticed at this point that there doesn't seem to be any folder containing the install packages like previous OS X install Discs. That crafty Apple hid them on you. The "go" menu is your friend. In the finder click the go menu and select "go to folder".
7. Type in "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install Disc 1/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg/Contents/" with no quotes. Feel free to copy and paste.
8. Info.plist is the one we're interested in here. Open this file in your favorite text editor. I recommend BBedit.
9. find the section that says
<dict>
<key>IFPkgFlagPackageLocation</key>
<string>Bundled Software.mpkg</string>
<key>IFPkgFlagPackageSelection</key>
<string>selected</string>
</dict>
10. Delete it and save the file.
11. Unmount the image by hitting the eject symbol next to it in the sidebar or by dragging to the trash.
12. Launch Disk Utility. Your image should still be in it's sidebar. Click on the image and then click on the burn symbol. You obviously need a DVD burner for this.
You now have a 10.3.4 install DVD. What we did was remove the XML pointer that told the installer to try and install the bundled software. Before it will do so, it runs through it's list is packages and makes sure they can all run. The bundled software package checks your machine against an approved list. If it doesn't meet up, it won't run, and so the OS installer won't run. None of the other packages do this check, so by removing this one, we get the go ahead for an install.
Disclaimer: Obviously don't install Mac OS X on machines for which you don't have licenses. This walkthrough is not meant to enable piracy, but to prevent users from having to install around 200mb of software updates that are required after a bare install of 10.3 from a retail CD. To paraphrase the iPod, Don't steal OSes. This method worked fine for both my Powerbook and my Mirrored Drive Doors G4. Let me know if you guys hit any snags.
Posted by Joe Mullins at June 12, 2004 12:51 AM | TrackBackI've tried what you wrote and went through six DVDs trying to get it to work on my dual 500 mhz G4. When I reboot, the burnt DVD is not recognized as a bootable disk even when I assign startup disk to choose that DVD. =( Help?
Posted by: Dave at August 20, 2004 08:19 PMDave:
Not sure what might be going on here. Can you boot from the main DVD you're trying to alter? You may need a firmware update for the machine or the drive.
Have you tried taking the DVD to another machine and trying to boot from there?
Posted by: Joe at August 20, 2004 10:07 PMDear TGB-
With only a little extra concentration and effort on my part, I created my Universal 10.3.4 disk exactly as described. And it worked perfectly! Thanks for the money-saving info.
Seth
Posted by: Seth at August 22, 2004 11:03 PMWell, why not just change the string selected to unselected? Will that work, too?
Posted by: at September 15, 2004 08:17 AMI don't think changing the selected string to unselected would change what we're looking to change here. If we change it to unselected, that simply defaults that package to unselected when you are given the option to select which packages you want to install.
Our problem is, when the main mpkg starts, it checks the eligibility of the machine you're installing on for every package contained in the mpkg. I believe it does this regardless of its default selection state. But I'm not sure, give it a try and let me know if it works, but I suspect it will not.
Posted by: Joe at September 15, 2004 08:28 AMThe problem is, I do not have a G4 around at the moment...
Posted by: cilly at September 15, 2004 08:42 AMhm, can anyone try if changing the flag to unselected will work?
Posted by: cilly at September 15, 2004 10:16 AMI followed step by step the method, but i have the icon of a broken folder as a startup.
You describe the method on a 10.3 user point of view. The name of disk utility is disk copy on 10.2.8 and its features ( burning for example) don't exist on 10.2.8.
So i used toast to burn the modified volume monted from the image.
Is there something wrong doing this way?
Thxs
I just tried this with the 10.3.7 MacMini DVD, and the disk image comes out to 5.27GB, and disk utility says that is too large to burn on a disc.
Is the OS disc compressed somehow or did they manage to overburn their OS discs?
I am about to try this...however the OS is on 2 CD, not DVD...is the procedure the same? When I tried to install it directly it gave me the same error "Bundled software...".
It's a restore disc for a Powermac G5, Mac OS X.
Thanks for this great article and your time.
You my friend, are the proverbial MAN.
Worked like a charm.
I too am wondering how to get past the 4.7 gb limit with my mac mini discs. The image is over 5gb...any ideas?
Posted by: Tim at April 28, 2005 01:34 PMThe way to make the mac mini image work properly on a 4.7GB dvd would be to pare down the packages on the DVD that you won't be installing, notably garageband and iMovie are huge. If you're looking only for the OS, loosing these items is probably the best way to do it.
Posted by: Joe Mullins at April 28, 2005 06:06 PMi can't save over the existing info.plist, even though i chose read/write
what gives? what do i do now?
Posted by: luke at May 17, 2005 02:09 PMi just succesfully burned the thing but i afer i insert in the old g4 and waiting for millions of years i get the
there was an error reading the file osinstall.info
message in the error log
Posted by: luke at May 17, 2005 05:33 PMHow can a universal boot DVD be achieved for Tiger from G5 or other?
Posted by: Jeffrey at May 31, 2005 03:15 PMI have bought a dual 2.0 ghz g5 and have tiger dvd with it. How can i make the dvd to install on my g4 800? Any solution like this "universal 10.3.4 boot dvd"
Posted by: Reza at June 29, 2005 01:18 AMI originally posted this article for systems administrators who needed to do installs or re-installs on large numbers of machines so they wouldn't have to put up with the hassle of swapping CDs or running the numerous software updates after the install. It was never meant to allow people who don't have a legitimate number of licenses to install on any machine they wanted.
Tiger now comes on a DVD, and the number of software updates is currently quite manageable. So the original intent of this article is still pretty much fulfilled.
Creating universal Tiger DVDs from a G5 takes perhaps 2 hours to figure out. But I can't condone it or instruct on how to do it as there is no current legitimate reason I can see to do so. Sorry guys.
Posted by: joe at June 29, 2005 09:05 AMI had trouble with the Redd/write permisions for the file that needed to be modified I ended up
1).- changing the file permisions with the chmod command.
2.- Copying the file to my Desktop
3.- Modifying the file
4.- Copying the modified file to the original directory
However, my image is 6.7 GB... I suppossed that a
DVD+R DL disc should be enough but my iMac with superdrive spits it out whitout recognizing it... Any reason to why this is the case?
http://techgoesboom.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/240
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