Macos Big Sur Usb Installer

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Boone Southern

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Jun 30, 2024, 8:10:21 AM6/30/24
to heysandbenchkan

because I have to test my OS X app with an older Mac OS X version (to make sure it is still compatible) I would like to setup a VM with an older OS X Version (El Capitan or Yosemite) using Parallels desktop. In order to create the VM a need the installer package.

I can see the older OS X versions in the Mac app store app in the list of my purchased apps, but when I click the downlaod button a message appears: "This version of OS X 10.10 cannot be installed on this computer" ...

About that warning tho...the MAS assumes you're trying to download and install, not just download. Without a computer properly configured to follow thru with an actual install as part of that process, you're stuck.

I'm stuck in the same situation. I'm unable to find anywhere where I can get a legitimate copy of El Capitan or Sierra to run in Fusion. The Mac App Store refuses to vend me these old copies on my Mac. I can't believe Apple have chosen not to provide these via Apple Developer resources; these are an essential thing for macOS developers. I'm going to end up having to get these via a torrent at this rate.

Should I do the update via System Preferences>Software Update in all of them, Or can I do the Software Update in one computer, copy the Install macOS Big Sur.dmg from that computer to all the Applications folder in all the remaining computers and then run the Software Update.

I have done the bootable installer in the past. I know I can do a clean install of the mac using this approach, But I don't remember if there was an option to just update the OS (and leave my users and files intact). Do you know if that is possible?

Cool. Although I have done it once in the past, I did it with 2 macbooks of the exactly same model and specs. I was not sure if we can do this with any mac though. I was wondering if the installer would have slightly different files when downloaded on different computers.

Well, with a clone, you already have the old OS and all your files on the external drive. Get an external hard drive, plug it in, launch Disk Utility, erase the external (nothing that is included is needed) and format it Mac OS Extended and GUID partition scheme (that makes it bootable).

Download either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper and install it. CAUTION: CCC seems to have a stable version for Big Sur, not sure about SuperDuper. But they both work in Catalina, so check to make sure you're good. So, your external is plugged in, launch CCC, look at the instructions, choose the external drive and hit clone. When it is finished (initial one takes a bit longer than an incremental backup). you can test it to make sure it works. Choose to restart choosing the external, wait for it to boot up and check it out. It should be a complete copy/clone of your internal drive. When done testing, boot back into the internal drive, and you can eject the external.

To choose a different disk to boot up with, you can either hit the D key for the startup manager and choose it there or go to System Preferences > Startup Disk > choose the drive to boot from (you need to log in after clicking on the little lock).

When ready for Big Sur, upgrade on the internal. Test it out; if something isn't working well or some other anomalies, boot back into your external, got to Disk Utility in recovery mode and wipe your internal drive. Then reverse the process and clone everything back to your internal.

Adding the .app File for macOS to Jamf Admin - this is not possible, you can't drag and drop an app file into Jamf Admin.
Adding the .app File for macOS to Composer - this is not possible, you can't create PKG file from app file, it gives you tiny 16MB file. You have to always create DMG for macOS files.

This is what we did eventually. However, the JAMF document suggests to create .PKG file which produces a 16MB .PKG file, this doesn't sound right as we were expecting the full 12GB+ full installer in .PKG format. Anyways, will use the .DMG file now. The difference is that on the target computer, the .PKG would have gone to /Applications folder however the .DMG will end up in /..../WaitingRoom folder.

@khurram @sgiesbrecht There is no need to waste time packaging the macOS Big Sur or Monterey installers. Apple has already done that for you, and the Mr. Macintosh site provides download links for those installers:

Ever since the softwareupdate command got the --fetch-full-installer option, that approach has been a pointless exercise. Composer doesn't handle very large packages well.

/usr/sbin/softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 12.1

works fine for me. I've used this to pre-cache Install macOS Monterey.app on every compatible Mac not already on macOS 12. A caching server really, really helps with bandwidth here, too.

Lots of useful info in this article, including a link to Armin Briegel's nice little Download Full Installer app which downloads InstallAssistant macOS packages which can be deployed straight to Jamf. -a-clean-macos-with-one-button/

We are doing --eraseinstall from High Sierra to Big Sur. We have now achieved it by making .DMG file using Jamf Composer and dropped it in Jamf Admin and then Cache to the target computers and install the cache with a --eraseinstall command in the policy. This is working for us. Would like to know if there is a better way. Once we are beyond 10.15.x we will be able to make the most of the direct download and install macOS updates/ upgrades.

For those older OS's that don't have --fetch-full-installer as an option of softwareupdateyou could download with a script like this. Note this is just a rough proof of concept and I haven't tested the $4 and $5 bit but I thought it would be nice to have it easily changed.

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The error suggests I need to supply admin username and password via
--user, an admin user to authorize installation.
--passprompt, collect a password for authorization with an interactive prompt.
--stdinpass, collect a password from stdin without interaction.

I managed to get the upgrade to Monterey running on an M1 macbook via Self Service with the help of a script from , it was originally created for upgrading to Mojave but I made some adaptations to get it running for Monterey.

You will need to create the installer package and have it within the self service policy, the install macOS Monterey.app has to be available for the script to work. Got it here: -full-installer-update/

M1's need the user to enter thier creds in order to do upgrades. No looked at the script your using but its not hardcoding creds in, or the user isnt typing thiers it wont work. Some one gave me a link to this script when i asked somthing similar: GitHub - grahampugh/erase-install: A script that automates downloading macOS installers and erasing ... i have tested this on a m1 with moterary and it works. It will prompt the user to enter in thier password, then will download the installer and run the upgrade

Likewise also interested. Has anyone had any success using 'Download and Install updates' from JAMF Pro work to a Monterey upgrade? I have not at this time. I am not even seeing the Monterey upgrade enumerated in the Software Updates section of each computer.

The all the new MDM commands are there to support this in macOS 11/macOS 12, however I don't think all the new abilities are quite yet supported by Jamf.
I suggest joining the beta for 10.34 to see what's coming to make our lives easier around doing the updates/upgrades

Life for admins would be far easier if MDM commands could be called direct from the Jamf Binary, then they can be made into a normal policy rather than using a mass action
I would recommend up voting this feature request:
-I-22444

I have a fleet of iMacs I need to push this too but unfortunately, it looks like this will only work if a user is signed in to the machine. Is there a way for me to push this for idle iMacs that are stuck on the login screen?

This is sold. I did notice that the user has to be the secure token holder for this to work. Also, has anyone been able to get the Monterey icon to show up? It originally showed up but now doesn't seem to show up in the Jamf Helper splash screen.

Works like a charm on my M1 test Mac, love it. This is the new upgrade process (at least until Jamf exposes this in Jamf Pro, easily / as a feature, macOS Monterey has been ready for it)... I assume either a password box will not be invoked on Intel Macs, or it just is ignored / does not matter.

I have had success running your script from the local machine. Question do I need to install the macOS installer ahead of time or will this script do all the work, downloading and then installing, and upgrading the computer? Just making sure so I can build in a step to do this if needed.

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