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

  1. Download the Snow Leopard 10.6.8 Combo Updater v1.1 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399)
  2. Download Server Admin Tools 10.6.8 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1403)

Create the Snow Leopard Disk Image

  1. Insert your Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (or 10.6.0) install disk in an optical drive (of the 10.6.8 host mac)
  2. Open Disk Utility (in the Applications/Utility folder)
  3. Select the Snow Leopard install disk from the offerings in the left side of the window
  4. Find the menu selection that is something like "Disk Image from...."
  5. Specify the destination and click save
File:DiskUtility Create System Disk Image File.png
DiskUtility System Installer Image File creation

"The Procedure"

Part A. Creating the NetImage

  1. Mount the base source image (Mac OS X 10.6.3.dmg - created from Box Set Installer in “Creating the Snow Leopard Disk Image:)
  2. Launch System Image Utility (from Server Admin Tools you downloaded)
  3. When source (from mounted image) appears in SIU screen, click Custom button
  4. Drag "Customize Package Selection" from Automator Library window to location between existing "Define Image Source" and "Create Image"
  5. Drag "Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" from Automator Library to location between "Customize Package Selection" and "Create Image"
  6. in the "Customize Package Selection" section:
    1. expand the "Mac OS X" triangle
    2. elect options desired
    3. collapse the "Mac OS X" triangle
  7. Mount the appropriate update image (Double click MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.dmg)
  8. Copy the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg package to a new local directory (Desktop/parts/)
  9. drag the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg icon from local directory to the Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" section of the SIU window
  10. In the "Create Image" section:
    1. select the type "NetRestore"
    2. set the "Installed Volume:" field to "Macintosh HD" (no quotes, can be any name)
    3. select the "Save To:" location (will be faster to a second local internal disk) (not faster to another partition on the same disk)
    4. set the "Image Name:" field to "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore"
    5. the fields "Network Disk:", "Description:", and "Image Index:" don't matter unless one is going to use results on a NetBoot Server
  11. click the Run button
  12. 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

  1. Find the directory created in the above process, named as in A.10d above (Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore.nbi)
  2. In this directory are three files:
    1. i386
    2. NBImageInfo.plist
    3. NetInstall.dmg
  3. Mount the NetInstall image (double-click the NetInstall.dmg file)
  4. Navigate into the Contents of the package, to: System/Installation/Packages/
  5. Copy the System.dmg file out to desktop or other work location
  6. Rename System.dmg to meaningful name, such as "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg"
  7. 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
  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. Launch /Applications/Utilities/DiskUtility.app
  4. Select the computer hard drive (typically "Macintosh HD")
  5. Click on the "Restore" tab
  6. Click on the "Image..." button to specify the "Source"
  7. Navigate to /Users/Shared/ and select the "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg" file
  8. Drag the computer hard drive volume (Macintosh HD) to the "Destination" field **(note: grab the volume, not the disk!!)
  9. Enable the "Erase destination" checkbox
  10. Click the "Restore" button
  11. In the ensuing "Are you sure?" dialog, click the "Erase" button
  12. Authenticate with the local admin credentials
Install via command line
  1. boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in B.7
  2. open Terminal
  3. find the restore target device specification
    1. run the command "diskutil list"
    2. look for a 650 MB partition, labelled "Recovery HD" (likely disk0s3)
    3. the target partition should be immediately prior to the "Recovery HD" partition
    4. for a new computer with a 500 GB drive, this partition should be labelled "Macintosh HD", with a size of 499.2 GB
    5. make note of it's Device Identifier, likely disk0s2
  4. 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
    1. the "--erase" parameter; it indicates a block-copy operation
    2. If the process seems slow, likely the "--erase" option was omitted and
    3. the copy is being done as a file-copy operation. Quit (ctl-c) and
    4. 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)