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donjames

macrumors member
Feb 20, 2015
89
7
Henderson, Texas
Create El Capitan Install and Recovery DVD

WARNING: The disk will not boot in the moment. I'm working on it.

Hello again,

yesterday I took the time to upgrade the guide to El Capitan and to include the information on the volume UUID provided by Melanie_T. I also tried to format the commands in a better way as donjames suggested. So here are the updated instructions:

0. What you need:


1. Create an empty disk image:

Code:
hdiutil create -size 16674816b ~/Desktop/DVD
hdiutil attach -nomount ~/Desktop/DVD.dmg

Take note of the output, you will need it in the following commands. In my case it's '/dev/disk2'

2. Partition disk image and create one volume for the installer:

Code:
diskutil partitionDisk /dev/diskX 2 GPT HFS+ INSTALL_EL_CAPITAN 6936723456B "Free Space" "Free Space" R

Replace '/dev/diskX' with the actual output from 1., in my case '/dev/disk2'

3. Create the installer partition:

Code:
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/ --volume /Volumes/INSTALL_EL_CAPITAN/

4. Create the missing text file:

Code:
hdiutil attach -nobrowse /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg
diskutil info /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD

Take note of the value of volume UUID, in the case of Mac OS X 10.11.3 it's '782B5304-0249-36D0-97FA-D39A7A22EE32'. Create a text file with your favorite text editor and enter the following code:

Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "[URL]http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd[/URL]">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Product URL</key>
  <string>x-osproduct://volume UUID/OS%20X%20Install%20Data</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Replace 'volume UUID' with the value of volume UUID from above and save the file as '/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/.IAProductInfo'

5. Unpack the Lion Recovery Update v1.0:

Code:
hdiutil attach -nobrowse ~/Downloads/RecoveryHDUpdate.dmg
pkgutil --expand /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion\ Recovery\ HD\ Update/RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg ~/Desktop/RecoveryHDUpdate/
hdiutil detach /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion\ Recovery\ HD\ Update/

6. Create a recovery partition on the disk image right behind the installer partition:

Code:
~/Desktop/RecoveryHDUpdate/RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg/Scripts/Tools/dmtest ensureRecoveryPartition /Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/ /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg 0 0 /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.chunklist
hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/

7. Make recovery partition visible:

Code:
diskutil list /Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/

Look for the enumeration of the recovery partition 'Recovery HD', you will need it in the next command. In my case it's '3'

Code:
asr adjust --target /dev/diskXsY -settype Apple_HFS
diskutil mount /dev/diskXsY

Look at 1. for the actual value of X, in my case '2'
Look at the previous command for the actual value of Y, in my case '3'. So together it's '/dev/disk2s3'

8. Finish work?

Actually we should burn the image at this point and we would be done. But there's one glitch: We had to use GPT for the dmtest tool. Unfortunately I've not been able to burn a DVD with GPT AND two partitions. The partitions are always missing on the DVD (not on the disk image, just on the physical DVD). So as a workaround we have to move stuff to a second disk image with MBR or APM...

9. Workaround the GPT DVD glitch:

Code:
hdiutil create -size 16674816b ~/Desktop/DVD-fix
hdiutil attach -nomount ~/Desktop/DVD-fix.dmg

Take note of the output, you will need it in the following commands. In my case it's '/dev/disk3'

Code:
diskutil partitionDisk /dev/diskZ 2 APM HFS+ fix_INSTALL_EL_CAPITAN 6936723456B HFS+ fix_RECOVERY_EL_CAPITAN R

Replace '/dev/diskZ' with the actual output from the previous command, in my case '/dev/disk3'

Code:
asr restore --source /Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan --target /Volumes/fix_INSTALL_EL_CAPITAN --erase
asr restore --source /Volumes/Recovery\ HD --target /Volumes/fix_RECOVERY_EL_CAPITAN --erase

Code:
hdiutil detach /dev/diskZ

Look above for the actual value of Z, in my case '3'

10. Finish work!

Code:
hdiutil detach /dev/diskX

Look at 1. for the actual value of X, in my case '2'

Code:
hdiutil burn ~/Desktop/DVD-fix.dmg

I hope this helps! In case you see some optimization, just let me know. I think it would be nice to minimize user interaction, but I'm not going into sed or awk now ... and of course would be much better without the workaround for GPT ... so if you know how to burn GPT with two partitions to DVD ...

Thanks go to a lot of people who helped me with bits and pieces of their knowledge:


Regards, Mike

Hi Mike,

The dvd installer hangs up when it gets to "Setting up your Mac...".

I shut down the computer by holding down the start button. I then rebooted from the hard drive -- where the operating system was installed. It came back to "Setting up your Mac..." and finished the install.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

Regards,

Don James
 

MikeLiteToo

macrumors newbie
Mar 29, 2015
6
0
open /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg
diskutil info /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD
diskutil eject /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD


This will print out a lot of info, including a Volume UUID

Melanie,

I can't get this to work with El Capitan 10.11.3 right now. The UUID I get from that image is different from the UUID the El Capitan installer creates on an usb key (AEDCE067-D635-3D70-9A73-745F55AD5E35)
What image exactly do I have to look at?

Regards, Mike
 

Joe7dust

macrumors newbie
Feb 16, 2018
7
0
Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a method I've borrowed (and tweaked) from other sites in regards to making a bootable Yosemite installation DVD that works.

Before going any further, I fully know and agree that DVD installation media is old and being phased out and replaced by bootable USB installer media. That's fine. This guide however is for those computer/network technicians who still need AND use optical media for our own systems or customer systems. PLUS it's more economical to have a small CD booklet with each OS X version readily available for quick use.

So if you want to make issue over why I created a DVD guide vs USB, just don't waste your time. :)

So far this is confirmed with Developer Preview 1. Will edit as I confirm with other previews/betas.

Simply open up terminal (Hard Drive - Applications - Utilities - Terminal) and copy and paste each command. Then burn the *.iso file created on the desktop. I had issues burning on the MacBook Pro 13, so I copied it to my Windows PC and used imgburn which works just fine.

I've included comments detailing what each command does... in case anyone is interested.



Mount the InstallESD image to 'install_app' without verifying or opening Finder

Code:
hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ 10.10\ Developer\ Preview.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app


Convert the BaseSystem image to grow with content (UDSP)

Code:
hdiutil convert /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDSP -o /tmp/Yosemite


Resize the SparseImage to 8GB / DVD DL size

Code:
hdiutil resize -size 8g /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage


Mount the SparseImage to 'install_build' w/o verification or using Finder

Code:
hdiutil attach /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build


Remove Packages Shortcut from temp mounted image

Code:
rm /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/Packages


Copy full Packages folder to location of Packages Shortcut

Code:
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/


Copy BaseSystem.chunklist and .dmg from /install_app to /install_build

Code:
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/install_build
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/install_build


Unmount temp mounted images

Code:
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_build


Determine size of SparseImage file and Shrink to min file size allowed

Code:
hdiutil resize -size `hdiutil resize -limits /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage | tail -n 1 | awk '{ print $1 }'`b /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage


Convert the SparseImage File to DVD/CD master (*.cdr type) for export (UDTO)


Code:
hdiutil convert /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage -format UDTO -o /tmp/Yosemite


Delete the SparseImage file

Code:
rm /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage


Move CDR to desktop and rename to ISO

Code:
mv /tmp/Yosemite.cdr ~/Desktop/Yosemite.iso

Now you will have "Yosemite.iso" on your desktop. You can try using Disk Utility, Toast, or even a Windows PC to burn this image. My experience created too many coasters burning this with Disk Utility or Disco. But was flawless on IMGBURN on Windows. Go figure.


I would like to thank and give credit to the two following sites. I took my method from the terminal commands posted by "tywebb13" for creating bootable Mavericks discs, and similar terminal commands by Dan Frakes over on MacWorld aimed at specific Yosemite changes

What a neat thread with handy information. Just wanted to let you know that I have referenced this post in another thread on the forums. Trying to find a way to shrink this down to DVD-R size. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/is-anything-trimmable-from-the-install-image.2117978/
 
Last edited:
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