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Mac os x system image utility

Create a NetBoot image

Its uses are diverse - you can boot up a simple operating system designed to deploy OS X images to multiple computers at once I recommend the excellent, free DeployStudio for this sort of work , you can serve up a vanilla OS X install disk, or you can use the System Image Utility another of the Server Admin Tools to capture a pre-configured OS X environment that can be served to many clients at once - the latter is particularly useful in classrooms, computer labs, public-use kiosks, and anywhere with a lot of Macs that need to look and act the same, since getting a clean instance of the OS is as easy as rebooting the system.

It was a little extra work, but was totally doable. As we discussed before, Granted, this problem will affect only a subset of Lion Server users - those who use NetBoot and need to support both the newest Macs necessitating a recent Once everything is enabled, you should see your new NetBoot image as an option in the Startup Disk preference pane on your client Macs.

This includes every product updated by Software Update: OS X versions Introduction Installation Server. Overview and Setup Open Directory: There are three different types of NetBoot images: The secure boot chain also prevents replacing the system with an image from another device.


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It is conceivable that Apple wants to implement a secure boot system on future Macs as well. Current Macs probably do not have the hardware required to implement this. This has been coming for a long time. Even though APFS is not, as originally predicted, the direct culprit.

System Image Utility

It is still end-of-the-line for imaging. However, the news is not entirely dire. Apple has been surprisingly forthright about the direction they want to go. While the documentation is a bit lacking, there are instructions on what the solutions for Mac System Adminstrators should be.

Imaging is Dead… Long Live the Installer! – Scripting OS X

The four supported means of installing and upgrading macOS and the firmware for Macs are a clear direction of what needs to be done. However, Apple is a bit shy on how administrators can and should implement them. This will work in some deployments where users are in control of their Macs. Even when the devices are enrolled in an MDM, users are still administrators and in control. Administrators can use reporting tools, to determine which Macs are capable of installing High Sierra and not upgraded yet. You can even use reporting tools to gather information on the firmware and whether it matches the latest version.

How to automate image creation using the System Image Utility

You can then instruct users with email or notifications to download the High Sierra installer and initiate the upgrade themselves. You should warn them to have a current backup and that the process might take some time, so it should be run overnight.

Mac OS X El Capitan: Creating a Secure Disk Image

If you have a software management system in place, you can use that to load the macOS Installer application on the clients and notify the user when it is ready. If you have blocked access to Apple Software Update Servers or redirected clients to a local, managed Software Update Server, clients might not get the complete installer application. Greg Neagle has a great post on this. This might speed things up a bit, though it does not really change the process. As system administrators we want to automate the process, so that it ideally does not require any human interaction.

That way we can replicate the process hundreds and thousands of times. Ideally, we also want to inject some custom steps into the process. Apple provides two means of achieving both of these steps, and some open source tools are providing solutions as well. You can customize the process and even add your own installer packages, scripts or profiles.

You can even automate the NetInstall process to a point where, once you have chosen the NetInstall volume when holding the the option key at boot the remaining process is without interaction. Though this is a dangerous choice, as it might simply wipe and re-install Macs. Use the other limitation options such as by MAC address or hardware type to keep this safe.

It works mostly but seems exceedingly slow. Also some admins have reported problems with adding mulitple packages, profiles or scripts for configuration. When mounted on a Mac, it will the High Sierra installer applications, and double-clicking it will start the proper installation process.

Any additional packages, profiles or scripts will be included with this custom external install application as well. When you already have a management system Munki, Jamf, Filewave, etc. At first glance the supported means of installing macOS seem to be at odds with managed client workflows, since they require user interaction.

Add the new images to your NetInstall server To make your new images available as NetInstall images you need to move them to the location the NetInstall service expects to find them: Open the Finder on your server. Click the Go menu and select Go to Folder. Drag the two images into the NetBootSP0 folder. Open the Server app. Verify that you have three images in the Images section of the NetInstall service.

Select the NetBoot image.

Create custom network images

To make sure everything is working correctly: Open System Preferences on your client computer. Remember, it needs to be on your Ethernet network. Select the Startup Disk preference. Verify that you can see all three of your images.


  1. How to create NetBoot and NetInstall images | Macworld.
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  7. OS X NetInstall. How to master the NetInstall service. Mastering the NetInstall Service: Network and system How to create your first NetInstall Image.