2015 Macs

[lstrm]

Hi all,

My company recently received the 2015 macs however it's in Paris. I already set up a netboot image for Mavericks and Yosemite however I got the prohibitory sign on both. We're getting ready to image macs in Australia and I'm predicting the results will be the same. If anyone has any ideas, that would be great.

[bpavlov]

The new Macs are running on a different build of OS X Yosemite so you would need to build a new netboot image specifically for those models until the next combo update that supports all models (most likely 10.10.3, no guarantees though). Alternatively, you can try and do thin imaging and not wipe the harddrive at all.

By the way, this also means you need to create a new image for those models as well.

[davidacland]

The 10.10.2 version on those Macs won't be the same as 10.10.2 on upgraded Macs (different build number I believe).

There's always a month or two gap when Apple release new hardware.

We try to use thin deployments only these days, ideally with DEP so we don't have to fight with netboot images, base OS builds etc.

In case you're not using it, definitely try out autocaspernbi from Ben Toms. Saves a load of time creating the netboot image.

There was another thread on jamf nation a few days ago about extracting the installesd from new Macs that will be worth tracking down if you want to go down that route.

[tnielsen]

Thin image, leave the OS and apply packages over it. Trust me on this, you may have to create some scripts to do those little things you might have done to your original base, but it's worth it in the long run.

[lstrm]

Thanks for the responses guys. I figured this would happen. It's just frustrating... Even more so since those new macs reached our intl offices first. Looks like I'll have to go the thin imaging route for now. Thanks again!

[mm2270]

We had the same thing happen to us. One of our international offices received these new Macs from their local distributor and we have yet to have them in hand as we're waiting on initial shipment so we can work them into our setup. Of course clients (overseas) are waiting for them and we don't have anything in place for the techs to use to get them configured.

[bmarks]

I took a calculated risk and used the most recent 10.10.3 beta from Apple's dev site to create a temporary unified NetBoot solution (until the full retail installer is released via the App Store) and I have been successful booting every Air, Retina 15 and Mac Pro (old and new) that we deploy. I have not encountered any issues so far in a high volume imaging environment.

It wasn't the cleanest process, but it worked. On my Mac Pro, I created a partition called NetBoot HD and used an AutoDMG-created 10.10.2 image to restore it. Then, I created a user and installed the AppleSeed config utility so that I could then download 10.10.3 beta. Then, when finished, I deleted the user via single user mode, used Composer to capture the image and used AutoCasperNBI to build the NetBoot image from that base OS.

Again, not ideal, but it works really well. I decided to go this route due to the limitation of the NetSUS appliance with multiple NetBoot images, but everyone's environment is different, obviously.

[johnnasset]

We got a couple of the new MBP 13's .10.10.2 build number is 14C2513 on these new machines and 14C1514 on my late 2013 rMBP 15.

BTW, we thin-image our new machines.

[jarednichols]

If you get your Netboot image to a 10.10.3 beta you should be able to boot them from Netboot. However, you will need the "forked" version of their OS to lay down, presuming you are doing a nuke and pave.

This is why thin imaging is the way to go.

[Chris_Hafner]

@bmarks I agree. I almost always keep a development level NBI on hand just in case. It's not always great but it's generally functional when I'm up against a wall.

[jordanfleuriet]

I experienced the same issue as @lstrm with a set of new 15 in MBP (build 14D2134, identifier MacBookPro11,5). Our base image was the most up to do 10.10.3 but the combo update must not be out yet. Got the "no" sign and unable to start in Recovery Mode. I booted into Target Disk Mode and used another NIB 15in to restore the correct version of the OS via Recovery Mode and restore via block copy.