Make Your Regular Mac a NetBoot Server!

Step 13 Build A NetBoot Image From A Bootable CD...

Building a bootable image from a CD is and entirely different process. Bootable CD's are built in a similar fashion as NetBoot images to save space on the CD. What we need to do is locate the data we need on the CD and build our Netboot image from there.

This process requires the use of Terminal to get the necessary parts. It's not too difficult, but can be daunting... We're going to build a NetBoot copy of the OS X 10.4 Install DVD. Other Bootable CDs will follow pretty much the same procedure. I am adding notes as to how to get the i386 parts when we do this with the OS X 10.5, Panther (Universal) DVD.

We'll start out by creating the necessary folders. Logged in as Root User, In the NetBootSP0 folder, create a new folder named, 10.4_Install.nbi. If creating a Universal Install then inside that folder, create another folder called i386 for the Intel boot files.

Insert the OS X Install DVD into your drive and launch Disk Utility. Select the Install DVD and click the New Image icon. Set the Image Fomat to compressed and save it as System in the 10.4_Install.nbi folder (picture 1).

Leave the DVD in the drive, we're going to get most of our files from it.

We need to locate the files we need first. The first file we need is easy. It's in the main window of the drive and is called mach_kernel (picture 2). Make a note that it's located at /Volumes/Mac OSX Install DVD/mach_kernel. This will become our mach.macosx files. Launch Terminal and enter the following (all commands in picture 5):

cd /Volumes/Mac OSX Install DVD
ditto mach_kernel /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.4_Install.nbi/mach.macosx

or for a Universal CD:

cd /Volumes/Mac OSX Install DVD
lipo -extract ppc -output /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.5_Install.nbi/mach.macosx mach_kernel
ditto mach_kernel /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.5_Install.nbi/i386/mach.macosx

The 'lipo' command allows us to extract only the PPC code from the kernel. The next line uses 'ditto' to duplicate the entire kernel because Intel Macs still need some of the PPC code.

Next, we need to locate the Kernel Extensions file. On most CDs this will be located in /System/Library/Extensions and will be called Extensions.kext (picture 3). If you can't find it there, there will be a plist file in the /usr/standalone folder that will have the path to the actual file in it. Verify where it's at and then go back to Terminal and enter:

cd System/Library/Extensions
ditto Extensions.kext /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.4_Install.nbi/mach.macosx.mkext

or for Universal CDs:

cd System/Library/Extensions
lipo -extract ppc -output /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.5_Install.nbi/mach.macosx.mkext Extensions.kext
ditto Extensions.kext /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.5_Install.nbi/i386/mach.macosx.mkext

And now, the booter files. They should be located in seperate folders at /usr/standalone (picture 4), so enter the following into Terminal:

cd /Volumes/Mac OSX Install DVD/usr/standalone
ditto ppc/bootx.bootinfo /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.4_Install.nbi/booter

And for Universal CDs, add:

ditto i386/boot.efi /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.5_Install.nbi/i386/booter

Now all we need to do is create or copy a NBImageInfo.plist. The easiest solution is to steal it from a previously created NetBoot nbi folder. You're welcome to create your own, but it's a lot easier to edit one that's already there. Just Option-drag the file from another nbi folder to this one.

Open the NBImageInfo.plist with Property List Editor (picture 6).

Create needed entries ppc and/or i386 under Architecture.
Change the Description appropriately.
Change the Index to a unique number under 4096.
If IsEnabled is set to No, change it to Yes
If IsInstall is set to No, change it to Yes
Change the Name appropriately.
Change (or create if necessary) osVersion to 10.4

Everything else should be fine. Save your work and NetBoot your other Macs! See the next step...

Comments

[dermodyr]

I cant find any bootx.bootinfo on 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard).

[virtualground]

In picture 8, it looks like the "booter" file should be inside the "10.4_install.nbi" folder. The command "ditto ppc/bootx.bootinfo /Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/10.4_Install/booter" places it into another folder called "10.4_Install", without the .nbi extension. Should the booter file be in this separate folder or is it a typo?

[LasVegas]

You're right! It was a typo. Thanks.