[Guide] Convert your Retail Leopard Disk/image into a self-booting Backup using Boot-132, No Swapping Required! Single layer + bootloader Instructions Added Options

[llauqsd]

This guide will help you create a bootable retail leopard dvd copy from your retail disk or disk image. Only one line of text is edited on the HFS+ partition of the dvd (and even that edit is optional), so the installed system will be as pristine and untouched as if you used the actual disk. Thanks to STLVNUB for his basic instructions and idea to do this.

I will be creating instructions on how to make a single layer backup soon. I just wanted to get this up as soon as possible. If you notice any mistakes, or have any questions, concerns, or suggestions please let me know.

Note 1: Toast 9 Titanium is required for this guide. Versions lower than 9 most likely will NOT work. Toast 7 has been confirmed as NOT working. I am attempting to find a way around this, though it may involve windows .
Note 2: No quotes are required for any of the commands below, they are only there to separate the commands from the instructions.

Part A) Extract HFS+ Partition from retail dvd.
The retail dvd contains partitions a boot camp partition among other things. We only want the HFS+ partition.

1. Insert the disk and open disk utility
2. If you are using an actual disk, In the left sidebar, click "Mac OS X Install DVD" right under the name of your dvd drive.
3. If you have a retail disk image, mount it and click "Mac OS X Install DVD" in the left sidebar, under the name of the disk image.
4. From the top icons, select new image.
5. Save as a "read/write" image.

Part B ) Create modified OSInstall.mpkg to allow MBR installs (optional, you may skip this step if you don't need MBR or will be using a premodified OSInstall.mpkg)
1. Open terminal and type: "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"
2. Restart finder by holding the option key and right clicking (or click and hold the left mouse button) the finder icon in the dock. Select "Restart Finder".
3. In terminal type "xar" to see if xar is installed. *Note* to compile and install xar you will need xcode tools to be installed.
4. If it is not installed (command not found), download it from:
5. http://code.google.com/p/xar/downloads/list
6. Install xar by going to the directory you extracted it to and typing in terminal:

CODE

./configure
                         make
                         sudo make install

7. Create a folder "OSInstall" on your desktop
8. From your Disk image, copy the file /system/installation/packages/OSInstall.mpkg to the folder you just created.
9. In terminal, type "cd ~/desktop/OSInstall" and then "xar -x -f ./OSInstall.mpkg"
10. Move the file OSInstall.mpkg out of your OSInstall folder and back onto the desktop.
11. Open the file in your OSInstall folder "Distribution" in textedit.
12. Delete the line "eraseOptionAvailable='true'" (it's near the beginning)
13. Save and close the file.
14. In terminal, make sure you are in your OSInstall folder and type:
"xar -c -f OSInstall.mpkg *"

Part C) Replace original OSInstall.mpkg with modified file. (Complete this step if you require an MBR installation)
1. Make sure the disk image we created in part A is mounted.
2. Navigate to /system/installation/packages and delete the OSInstall.mpkg file there. Copy the OSInstall.mpkg we created in part B to this folder.
3. Unmount the image.

Part C1) If you want to create a Single Layer DVD. *note* – a single layer dvd will take significantly longer to boot than a dual layer one.
1. Mount your Leopard image if it is not already mounted.
2. In Finder, navigate to your mounted image, and delete the following files/folders:
o /Optional Installs/Xcode Tools/
o /System/Installation/Packages/X11user.pkg

2a. In /System/Installation/Packages, delete all files that are the name of a language, as well as any that are printer drivers.
3. Empty the Trash.
4. Open Disk Utility. Create a new image with these options:
- Volume Name: Mac OS X Install DVD
- Volume Size: 4.14GB (custom)
- Volume Format: Mac OS Extended
- Encryption: None
- Partitions: No partition map
- Image Format: read/write disk image

5. Unmount the newly created image.
6. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
7. Under source, choose the mounted leopard dvd.
8. Under target, choose your newly created image.
9. Cloning options: Backup everything
10. Press Clone and type your password at the prompt.
11. Unmount your original leopard image.

Part D) Create your DFE disk image (skip this step if you already have your own working DFE disk image)
1. Mount generic.iso
2. Copy all files from generic.iso to a new folder on your desktop named "MKIso"
3. Unmount generic.iso
4. Mount INITRD.IMG from your MKIso folder.
5. In the "/Extra/Extensions" folder of the mounted image, add any extensions you need to boot your machine.
6. For all added extensions, right click them and select "show package contents"
7. Open the Info.plist file in textedit, located in either the folder "Contents" or in the root folder of the extension itself.
8. Add:

CODE

<key>OSBundleRequired</key>
                      <string>Root</string>

at the end of the info.plist file, right before the final:

CODE

</dict>
                       </plist>

9. Save the file.
10. Repeat this process for ALL extensions you add to the folder.
11. Unmount INITRD.IMG
12. Open terminal and enter:
hdiutil makehybrid -o ~/Desktop/new.iso ~/Desktop/MKIso/ -iso -eltorito-boot ~/Desktop/MKIso/ISOLINUX.BIN -no-emul-boot

Part E) Creating the final disk image
1. Open Toast Titanium
2. Click the "Copy" Tab
3. Select Disc Image Merge
4. For "Select ISO Image…" open new.iso from your desktop
5. For "Select Mac Image…" open your modified leopard image.
6. Save as disk image.
7. Burn your newly created image!

Part F) Installing Leopard and the bootloader
1. Install Leopard using your new dvd.
2. Once installation is complete, restart, once again booting from the dvd.
3. When the DVD countdown begins, press F8.
4. Press ESC to choose another boot device.
5. Enter 80 for first hard drive, 81 if you installed leopard on second hard drive.
6. Press enter.
7. Select the partition you installed leopard on and press enter again.
8. Once in Leopard, use OSX86Tools to install the chameleon bootloader.
9. Delete the /boot file at the root of your hard drive.
10. Replace this file with the boot file from Boot-132.
11. Copy the /extra/extensions folder you created earlier to the root of your hard drive.
12. Restart without the DVD and hope for the best. If any errors occur, boot from the DVD again as before and troubleshoot.

Files:
- generic.iso (originally posted by f41qu3
- Carbon Copy Cloner
- OSX86 Tools - http://pcwizcomputer.com/
- Xcode Tools can be found on your leopard/tiger dvd or by registering a free ADC account.
- Modified  OSInstall.mpkg.zip ( 853.33K ) Number of downloads: 1388
(for 10.5.1 disk image, may work with other versions)
- boot132 boot file -  BOOT.zip ( 39.53K ) Number of downloads: 814

[keplenk]

Thanks for the guide!

I'll try it as soon as I get home. I've been waiting for this

Cheers!

[STLVNUB]

Good Tutorial

Have been using a modified Ritalin Patch script to redo mine.
The OSInstall.mpkg for 10.5.1 works flawlessly on 10.5.0.

[PsYkiller]

thanks for the guide.

osinstall.mpkg you uploaded is for 10.5 retail disc or for any other version like 10.5.1 retail disc?

will give it a try and let u know the result. I have 10.5 retail disc.

[llauqsd]

It is from my 10.5.1 retali dvd, but according to STLVNUB above it should work with 10.5. I believe the main difference in OSInstall.mpkg files between versions is the listing of how much space each file takes up. So the installation may say it takes a certain amount of space but actually be a few kilobytes off

[Schweppes]

llauqsd:

I followed your guide step by step, but DVD doesnt boot

What can i do???

[llauqsd]

does anything show up when trying to boot from dvd?

[Schweppes]

NO NOTHING!

Looks like there is no DVD!

[llauqsd]

if you put the disk into the drive while in your existing leopard installation, does anything show up?

[Schweppes]

Yes, OS X Install DVD mounts on desktop.

[llauqsd]

Can you mount the disk image you burned using diskimagemounter (not toast). You should not be able to

In Disk utility right click on the mounted partition and select "information". At the bottom, what partition number does it say?

[Schweppes]

I burned the DVD with Toast (7.1.3) with "Custom Hybrid" (x4 speed) as you say in the guide, not with Disk Utility.

Maybe burning in x2 speed ???

[kevd_hackin]

how do i open the image to change the osinstall.mpkg

thanks

[llauqsd]

if you mean replacing the original osinstall.mpkg with the modified one, it's part C above. If you can be more specific i can try to help more.

[STLVNUB]

It is from my 10.5.1 retali dvd, but according to STLVNUB above it should work with 10.5. I believe the main difference in OSInstall.mpkg files between versions is the listing of how much space each file takes up. So the installation may say it takes a certain amount of space but actually be a few kilobytes off

Didn't realize HOW EASY it was to modify the OSInstall.mpkg.
Just did it and trying it out.
Thanks

[PsYkiller]

i confirmed above method works. infact it did work on my first try.
thanks a lot

but

there is an issue.
i have 10.5 retail disc and i tried your osinstall.mpkg, installation startup and gui was very slow.
i did install on my mbr but at the end after installing everything, installer crashed. manually restarted and everything seems to be fine.
i think it would be a good idea to use respective osinstall.mpkg to avoid such problems.

thanks once again for all this help

[kevd_hackin]

Part C) Replace original OSInstall.mpkg with modified file. (Complete this step if you require an MBR installation)
1. Make sure the disk image we created in part A is mounted.
2. Navigate to /system/installation/packages and delete the OSInstall.mpkg file there. Copy the OSInstall.mpkg we created in part B to this folder.
3. Unmount the image.

how do i navigate to system/installation/packages? What proigram do i use, i can only find languages in my dvd? Sorry I can't be any more specific I can't figure out how to open the image. Thanks

[NSCXP2005]

llauqsd,

When you make your Single Layered DVD guide can you say at what point we insert Boot-132 and the OSInstall.mpkg.

Cheers & Thanks

NSCXP2005

[llauqsd]

how do i navigate to system/installation/packages? What proigram do i use, i can only find languages in my dvd? Sorry I can't be any more specific I can't figure out how to open the image. Thanks

make sure you have done the step in part B to enable showing hidden files. Just use finder to go to /system/installation/packages on the dvd disk image, not on your hard drive.

Let me know if that helps.

@PsYkiller - glad to know it works! yeah it could be the different osinstall.mpkg that is making it slow, but also different kexts can slow or speed up the boot process. Personally I have found a disk with fewer changed extensions loads faster than one with many changes. Of note is that other guides often use prerelease versions of OSInstall.mpkg. like you said, if you can, use the version that comes straight off your disk.

@NSCXP2005 - will do.

[NSCXP2005]

sorry to mither, would it be possible to have a time frame of when the single layered guide will be done?