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 recommendBBedit.
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 |TrackBack