10.9.3 Netboot Image

[jamesdurler]

Hey guys,

I have created a 10.9.3 net boot image on a VM. It seems to work perfectly fine with any newer hardware (i.e anything that already comes out of the box with 10.9), however anything prior to 10.9 attempts to net boot but then just gets the prohibited sign.

Has anyone else seen anything similar to the issue I am describing?

[NowAllTheTime]

https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=9836

This is the thread you're looking for. The issue is with a change in the size of the kernelcache file between Mavericks and earlier OS versions. The kernelcache file exceeds a tftp file size limit (~32mb) in the firmware of older Macs. There are a few strategies recommended in the thread for how to modify the NetBoot image's kernelcache file to be less than 32mb to boot older hardware, YMMV in terms of which one works best for your environment.

[jamesdurler]

Thanks @jasonaswell , i'll take a look at that now

[NowAllTheTime]

No problem. I hope it helps :)

[rtrouton]

This issue looks like it may be fixed in 10.9.4's System Image Utility. I just built a 10.9.4 diskless NetBoot with SIU which booted both a Mid-2010 Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and a 2013 Retina MacBook Pro.

[spowell01]

I just created my first 10.9.4 netboot image with SIU and its working fine on brand new hardware, but I'm still getting the prohibited circle/slash icon on all of my older hardware, even 2012/2013 stuff.

[spowell01]

Turns out the kernel cache file was sitting at exactly 32MB for my 10.9.4 NBI created via SIU. I went ahead and ran the commands to generate a new kernel cache file and it put a new cache file on my desktop that was about 12MB. Replaced the 32MB kernel cache file with the smaller one and voila, all of my 2009-2013 macs are net booting from the latest 10.9.4 SIU net boot image.

Big thanks to jamfnation....i don't know where we would be without such a great resource.

[CasperSally]

Has anyone encountered strange kernel panics with 2010-2011 macbooks when using 10.9.4 Netboot (I made sure kernel cache file was small when rebuilt with 10.9.4 SIU.. it was under 20MB)? If you reboot, it usually goes through fine but I've seen it takes 3 tries.

Because of this, I used Netinstall Creator but we're seeing the same issue there as well.

Frustrating.