Using CreateOSXInstallPKG Scenario (not an in place upgrade)

[nigelg]

I want to create a customised OSX Installer that I can use with Casper imaging to get a really clean install of OSX onto each mac. My workflow would be to get the latest point release, use CreateOSXInstallPKG to bundle it with a couple of packages and roll it out using Casper Imaging. Is it the case that this method can only be used to upgrade a mac to a newer operating system as opposed to installing on a formatted disk? How would I use Casper Imaging to get this pkg to install against a blank hard disk?

[gregneagle]

You have to boot from an alternate volume, erase the target volume, then install the package created by createOSXinstallPkg.

Rich Trouton wrote up how he did it use DeployStudio: http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/installing-mac-os-x-10-8-x-on-an-erased-hard-drive-using-deploystudio-and-createosxinstallpkg/

If Casper Imaging can do something similar, you can probably adapt the ideas.

-Greg

[nigelg]

It isn't working so far. Netboot should count as an alternate volume? I erase the target volume in the imaging configuration and install the pkg telling it to make the target volume bootable and restart but it doesn't create a bootable volume.

[gregneagle · Accepted solution]

"install the pkg telling it to make the target volume bootable and restart"

What does this mean? Just install the pkg and restart. Do not bless the volume or make any other changes. Installing the pkg sets the volume up in a very specific way so that the OS X installer will run at reboot. Any workflow step that attempts to bless the volume or "make it bootable" will break that configuration.

[mpermann]

@nigelg, when I used @gregneagle's createOSXinstallPkg to install Mac OS 10.9.1 over the top of an existing OS using a policy I had to choose the Reboot option "Currently Selected Startup Disk (no bless)" to get it to work correctly. I don't see anything equivalent to that option in Casper Imaging. All I see is a check box for "Reboot to "Name of Drive"". Maybe unchecking that option may prevent Casper Imaging from doing a bless command on the volume and messing up the boot process. I can't say though as I have never tried it. I've been using MagerValp's AutoDMG https://github.com/MagerValp/AutoDMG? to create my fresh OS installs and it works very well.

[nigelg]

If the package does its own blessing then that makes more sense. I was just left with a bunch of files on a drive and nothing to boot. I will have another go - if its possible then i would prefer to use this method. Thanks for the advice and I will let you know if it was successful.

[JPDyson]

@mpermann That "No Bless" tip - was that recommended somewhere and I missed it? I never set that before, and in testing, we've seen some sporadic issues where the package would run, but the install wouldn't start on reboot.

[mpermann]

@JPDyson, @gregneagle mentioned that a couple posts up. It's also mentioned to in the documentation that comes with the software. But honestly I only figured it out by trial and error. The "Reboot to" option in the policy interface in the JSS is what I ended up messing with to get it to work properly. I think when you create a policy it defaults to "Current Startup Disk" which must also include a bless command as when I had that option selected I could never get the policy to work correctly.

[nigelg]

I have created my installer and net booted and run the installer at a blank partition using terminal and then rebooted. It reboots to the correct partition and goes through the installation but when it gets to the end it says "install failed - osx could not be installed on your computer. the installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. contact the software manufacturer for assistance. click restart to return to your previous version of osx".

When i reboot, it loads back into the new osx install and presents the setup screen asking for account details/time etc etc. When i get into the OS, disk utility says the disk is fine (using verify) and the jamf quickadd.pkg that i added to the install package has run as the machine is enrolled.

But at least its bootable. Checking the installer.log file for reasons why it isn't holding together

[rtrouton]

@nigelg,

You mentioned that you added a QuickAdd package to the OS X install package. Did you add that using CreateOSXInstallPKG, using the --pkg option?

If so, that may be why your OS X install process is failing, as the OS X install process doesn't deal well with third-party installer packages that have preinstallation or postinstallation scripts.

To help address this, I've built a tool called First Boot Package Install.pkg that enables packages to be installed at first boot. I have a post on it here:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/first-boot-package-install-pkg/

[nigelg]

@rtrouton,

Thanks, that has worked a lot better and the package has completed successfully. Still got some work to do - the quickadd pkg isn't creating an account I can use to log in but it might be the way I have it configured. But I can now install a clean OSX 10.9 with settings. Really good combination of tools. the windows guys here are jealous

[JPDyson]

@rtrouton We love that little tool for our Mavericks upgrades; we bundle Java 1.6 (sigh) and a script-only package to disable the iCloud prompt. Makes our self-service upgrades easy.