Sierra Imaging Issues

[Chuey]

thanks in advance for reading.

I recently got in 30 new 2017 iMacs with Mac OS Sierra (10.12.5 Build 16F2073) pre-installed.

I have my own 10.12.5 Build 16F73 image built with AutoDMG that has been working on older models of Macs (anything not shipped with Sierra). This image works great on those models and I've had zero issues with deployment.

I attempted to image a new 2017 iMac and the image process completes successfully in deploy studio but when booting it shows a circle with slash through it. I'm assuming this is happening because the build versions are off and the ones I just got in have a higher build number than my image.

Even when I log into my developer account only 16F73 is available for me to download.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this?

[Cornoir]

I experienced a similar issue which was due to the iMac's Hybrid drive, basically to fix it after you re image the iMac boot from a external Sierra 10.12.5 hard drive and do First Aid on he drive and then reboot and see if that helps.

[mm2270]

Those Macs likely come with a custom build that isn't available as a standalone download, meaning it only comes with those Macs. I'm not sure what to tell you here other than, it's not the first time we've seen this. You may have to capture an unbooted OS from one of those Macs to use as the build to use in DeployStudio, instead of what you're currently using. This is just one of those annoying things we run into when Apple insists on shipping machines with custom builds and drivers instead of the standard OS build we can get from the App Store.

[Chuey]

@Cornoir I've attempted this. So I imaged the iMac with my 10.12.5 build 16F73 as well as an external Lacie. When I attempt to boot to either the Mac OS or Recovery partition on my Lacie - circle with slash :/

[bumbletech]

If you're using AutoDMG images, you could likely make a thin workflow without a whole lot of work:

Copy your workflow, add in a "Target selector" at the beginning and remove the "Partition" and "Restore" actions. Assuming every other action us running off of "Previous task target" for the target volume, you should be all set.

This would let deploy studio run packages and scripts on top of the OS that's already installed. No need to pull an image down from somewhere.

[Chuey]

@mm2270 I'm familiar with taking the new iMac out of the box, setting it up, and capturing that with DeployStudio but I've never captured an "unbooted" OS. How could I do that?

@jbourdon Interesting. So this would just utilize the pre-installed OS that came shipped with the iMacs? Really the only things I have DeployStudio doing is naming the machine, binding the machine with a script I wrote, and installing the "QuickAdd" package.

[bumbletech]

@Chuey Yes. Also, it sounds like you could move over to a DEP workflow without a whole lot of fuss.

[Chuey]

@jbourdon I've been considering this a lot...I have experience with DEP with iPads but never have worked with laptops or desktops.

[hunter990]

As @mm2270 mentioned it's more than likely a custom version. When I find these I usually capture them to use as my new OS image since they contain everything for other system and include the custom pieces as well.

Easiest way for me to get a copy is use the new system and download a copy of the OS from the Mac App Store. I have found it evaluates the system the OS is being downloaded for and that what you get. To package the OS I typically use AutoDMG as it's been pretty rock solid.

That being said we really don't use that OS for much. We apply everything as @jbourdon mentioned through DEP. If a system needs a rebuild we typically use the internet recovery tool to pull the OS back top the system and run enrollment on it again. The packaged version of the OS is only there for an extreme case and nothing more.

[Chuey]

@hunter990 I've opened app store but when I attempt to download macOS Sierra it states it's already installed so I cannot download. Probably head towards DEP although I always like having an image.

[hunter990]

Really? As soon as I can test it I will try again. I've always got the dialog letting me know it's installed and do I want to download anyway.

FYI, even if you are not ready for DEP I would recommend looking into thin imaging. You are still utilizing the OS that comes on the system and just executing polices to run after the system is imaged. As I mentioned this can be an enrollment trigger or just a recurring trigger. I typically only use the enrollment one for immediate need and recurring for policies that can wait for a little bit to hit the system such as certain apps, etc. I don't even build configurations in Casper admin anymore.

[TTN]

hunter990, are you sure you could download macOS Sierra 10.12.5 for the build 16F2073? I got the same message that Chuey got "macOS already installed". When clicking on OK, the popup disappeared without any downloads.

[alevinsteindps]

TTN and Hunter: Same thing here. Also having trouble mounting the the newest 13in Macbook Pro in Target Disk Mode to potentially grab 16F2073 build of 10.12.15. Will keep you posted if I am able to figure this out. Need to rollout 15+ of this model before tomorrow. :(

[Chuey]

@TTN @alevinsteindps Since DEP is the future - I've decided to just suck it up and go with Prestage enrollments. It works great - although one thing I hate is that if it fails to install the configuration for your org you have to re-install MacOS Sierra ... I was told from my JAMF Technical Account Manager that it stores some cache on the machine and it will continue to fail until MacOS is re-installed. I had issues with enabling account settings payload and check boxing "skip account creation". I had to remove that payload - reinstall the OS from Recovery and then it worked. Apparently there has previously been a PI on similar issue.

If DEP is not an option you may want to look into what @jbourdon said. If you're using DeployStudio you can leverage the pre-installed MacOS Sierra and scripts to setup the machines. It was a few posts up. @mm2270 stated there is a way to "...capture an unbooted OS..." but I'm not familiar with that. I've only ever setup the machine and then used deploy studio to capture what I setup.

I was thinking if 10.12.6 was released I could grab that MacOS Install App and drop it in AutoDMG but that's not out yet :/

[alevinsteindps]

@TTN @hunter990 Alrighty. First off: Bad USB-c cable. Since replaced. I grabbed one of the new Macbook Pros, did an internet recovery, target disk mode after the recovery pulled down the files. Used AutoDMG then CasperNBI on my mac to create the nbi for netboot. Grabbed an oob Macbook and preped for Composer BaseOS image. So far so good.

[norweg139]

We did experience same issue.
What I did was:
1. Downloaded macOS Sierra on iMac 2015
2. Copied image of Sierra from iMac 2015 to iMac 2017
2. On new macOS Sierra 2017 created new partition (Data)
3. Booted to recovery and selected newly created partition to be destination
4. After reboot (!) I changed boot (Macintosh HD) and replaced InstallESD.dmg (Volumes/Data/InstallESD.dmg -> /Applications/Install macOS Sierra/Contents/SharedSupport
5. Now I can use AutoDMG and after creating image I also could AutoCasperNBI

End product is working osSierra image and net install (10.12.4) on iMac 2017.

[MikeKraker]

omg Chuey
need your 10.12.5 16F2073 virgin system :-)

[kerouak]

Confused as to why you would install an OS over the top of an already factory shipped OS?

Leave the OS install out of the Image configuration??

Or am I missing something?

[kerouak]

dupe

[kerouak]

DeployStudio??

JAMF PRO?

[MikeKraker]

need it for deployment...

[AV_ITSupport]

It sounds like you have and older version in your deploy studio image.

Every mac has a minimum base that it needs.

Each time a new mac is released a new build os Mac OS is released (containing the new "drivers" for that build).

You can test this by updating the "older" one with a combo updater. target disk it and try to boot a "newer" mac from it. It should boot after that.

If this works you will need to: - image and old mac with the "old image" - update it
- create a new master in deploy studio with the updated image.

to create a image from an Fresh new out of the box mac:
- boot for the first boot off your deploy studio net boot
- create a new master
- this should allow you to image a machine back to factory setting I used this method to put machines back to factory specs when we sold off old mac
I also created a workflow that 0ed out the drive then applied the image.

I hope this helps.

[maristchris]

Yes, some of us, myself included have internal requirements that require monolithic imaging for some deployments. I manage a couple hundred lab macs that use a hybrid imaging workflow...Base image with some settings pre-configured, and some apps that require customization and/or licensing that just works best in this mode, then app customization for the individual labs done via policies. They are then frozen via Deep Freeze.

I ran into this on a Kaby Lake iMac, and was unable to use existing netboot sets. It shipped with 10.12.5 build 16F2073 so I am unable to pull the installer from the app store as it says "you already have this". I will try to use target disk mode to build a functional net boot set and go from there.

Does anyone know if this branch of Sierra will work on older Macs? Is it safe to build the base OS for a variety of Macs on this fork, or would I be better served building a second base image? -Chris

[AV_ITSupport]

@maristchris you will need to update your netboot images to support the new hardware.

one "not so" quick and dirty way you can do this is to netboot an "older mac" with the "newer" mac in target disk mode and change the target destination to the target disked "new mac".

keep in mind this will "allow" you to image the new equipment but you would still need to:

1. have a working image for the new equipment
2. perform all the post imaging tasks (naming , binding, ect)

as for which OS works on the older macs... it depends on the model.

FYI. I used to administer 1000+ macs all different models (labs, trolleys, 1 to1, ect) . I now have a couple hundred.

Also you should be able to go into the purchase history of your App Store account and re-download the installer if you need it.

I hope this helps.
mark p

[maristchris]

Hi Mark, thanks for the response.

The Target mode option isn't viable. I'd still need access to the forked OS installer to build a base image on, at which point I believe I could build a working netboot set.

There are a few ideas in this thread: http://www.deploystudio.com/Forums//viewtopic.php?pid=29503 including using a High Sierra Beta to build the netboot set. The problem I run into with that path is that AutoDMG doesn't see the beta installer app as a valid source file. It throws an error of "Invalid source, cannot find system version"

I am not able to get the Sierra installer in my purchase history for some reason, it only shows the Sierra Beta. Even if it were there for download however, would it be the 2017 (or Kaby Lake, I'm not sure which it correlates to) fork of 10.12.5? -Chris

[AV_ITSupport]

@maristchris another solution you can try using Deploy Studio Assistant to create a netboot set instead.

you would need to:

• do a clean install
• install deploy studio
• follow the steps in DeployStudio Assistant

also:
you can try re-downloading the latest installer from the app store in the macOS Sierra section.

[maristchris]

@AV_ITSupport

I'll try the deploy studio route and see how it works. Do I need to do anything to modify the netboot set to work with JAMF?

As for the installer, that's where everything breaks down. There doesn't seem to be any way to re-download the installer, the app store throws an error saying I already have it (the Kaby-Lake machine shipped with 10.12.5) without any option to simply download it.