User:Almage
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This is the page where we will post "The Procedure" to create a Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 v1.1 NetRestore System Image
"The Procedure"
HowTo - NetRestore - Install Mac OS X 10.6.8 on new Mac delivered with Mac OS X 10.7.0
NOTE: this only applies to Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, and iMac computers that originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.6.x.
**Current Macbook Air and Mac Mini computers cannot be downgraded.
Preparation
Required resources:
- a computer, running Mac OS X 10.6.8
- Snow Leopard retail installation disc (Mac OS X 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 Box Set)
- Snow Leopard 10.6.8 Combo image file (free download from Apple Support Downloads)
- System Image Utility 10.6.8 (free download from Apple Support Downloads)
Download Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore
- Download the Snow Leopard 10.6.8 Combo Updater v1.1 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399)
- Download Server Admin Tools 10.6.8 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1403)
Create the Snow Leopard Disk Image
- Insert your Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (or 10.6.0) install disk in an optical drive (of the 10.6.8 host mac)
- Open Disk Utility (in the Applications/Utility folder)
- Select the Snow Leopard install disk from the offerings in the left side of the window
- Find the menu selection that is something like "Disk Image from...."
- Specify the destination and click save
-
DiskUtility Create System Disk Image File.png
DiskUtility System Installer Image File creation
"The Procedure"
Part A. Creating the NetImage
- Mount the base source image (Mac OS X 10.6.3.dmg - created from Box Set Installer in “Creating the Snow Leopard Disk Image:)
- Launch System Image Utility (from Server Admin Tools you downloaded)
- When source (from mounted image) appears in SIU screen, click Custom button
- Drag "Customize Package Selection" from Automator Library window to location between existing "Define Image Source" and "Create Image"
- Drag "Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" from Automator Library to location between "Customize Package Selection" and "Create Image"
- in the "Customize Package Selection" section:
- expand the "Mac OS X" triangle
- elect options desired
- collapse the "Mac OS X" triangle
- Mount the appropriate update image (Double click MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.dmg)
- Copy the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg package to a new local directory (Desktop/parts/)
- drag the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg icon from local directory to the Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" section of the SIU window
- In the "Create Image" section:
- select the type "NetRestore"
- set the "Installed Volume:" field to "Macintosh HD" (no quotes, can be any name)
- select the "Save To:" location (will be faster to a second local internal disk) (not faster to another partition on the same disk)
- set the "Image Name:" field to "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore"
- the fields "Network Disk:", "Description:", and "Image Index:" don't matter unless one is going to use results on a NetBoot Server
- click the Run button
- when the dialogs appear, ignore the text and click OK for proper completion (this does not appear until completion of the image creation)
Dialog text: "Image creation in progress. Cancel the image creation to proceed"
Part B. Post-process to create Restore Image
- Find the directory created in the above process, named as in A.10d above (Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore.nbi)
- In this directory are three files:
- i386
- NBImageInfo.plist
- NetInstall.dmg
- Mount the NetInstall image (double-click the NetInstall.dmg file)
- Navigate into the Contents of the package, to: System/Installation/Packages/
- Copy the System.dmg file out to desktop or other work location
- Rename System.dmg to meaningful name, such as "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg"
- copy this .dmg file to external, bootable, Snow Leopard 10.6.8 system disk (install in /Users/Shared/) (OR, you can leave this on the host computer, if it is running 10.6.8 to use for a TDM restore later).
Part C. Install Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on new MacBook Pro or Mac Pro
Install via DiskUtility GUI
- Connect host computer (where your “Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg” is saved) and new Lion Mac (iMac, MBP etc) via firewire and start-up the host in Target Disk Mode - TDM (power up and hold down “T” key until firewire symbol flashes across screen). OR boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in step B.7
- Boot the new Lion Mac while holding down “option” key. This will boot to a screen giving you the option of which start-up disk to use, select the orange Firewire TDM drive.
- Launch /Applications/Utilities/DiskUtility.app
- Select the computer hard drive (typically "Macintosh HD")
- Click on the "Restore" tab
- Click on the "Image..." button to specify the "Source"
- Navigate to /Users/Shared/ and select the "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg" file
- Drag the computer hard drive volume (Macintosh HD) to the "Destination" field **(note: grab the volume, not the disk!!)
- Enable the "Erase destination" checkbox
- Click the "Restore" button
- In the ensuing "Are you sure?" dialog, click the "Erase" button
- Authenticate with the local admin credentials
Install via command line
- boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in B.7
- open Terminal
- find the restore target device specification
- run the command "diskutil list"
- look for a 650 MB partition, labelled "Recovery HD" (likely disk0s3)
- the target partition should be immediately prior to the "Recovery HD" partition
- for a new computer with a 500 GB drive, this partition should be labelled "Macintosh HD", with a size of 499.2 GB
- make note of it's Device Identifier, likely disk0s2
- issue the following asr (Apple Software Restore) command:
sudo asr restore --source "/path/to/restore.dmg" --target /dev/disk0s2 –erase
(replace "/path/to/restore.dmg" with the path to the location and name used in step b.7)
- this process proceeds and completes quickly, about 3-5 minutes. This is due to
-
- the "--erase" parameter; it indicates a block-copy operation
- If the process seems slow, likely the "--erase" option was omitted and
- the copy is being done as a file-copy operation. Quit (ctl-c) and
- examine the command used...
Apple Tech recommends leaving the Restore partition alone, and installing in the "Macintosh HD" partition only
Commands for Geeks
related commands for geeks to know:
- asr
- diskutil (diskutil -list to see partitions)
- hdiutil
Contributors
- Tech Harmony (need one say more?) - zirkenz (a digger with great curiosity) - Josh1565 (a producer of fine leather-bound texts) - almage (a wandering musician and student of wonderment)
