As Apple releases new Mac models equipped with T2 chips and Secure Enclave, it is unlikely that these future Mac releases will be supporting NetBoot.įor Mac admins using NetBoot-based workflows to set up their Macs, what are the alternatives? Apple has been encouraging the use of Apple’s Device Enrollment Program, which leverages a company, school or institutions’ mobile device management (MDM) service. However, Apple’s release of of T2-equipped MacBook Pros in July 2018 which also could not use NetBoot has made Apple’s direction clear.
With NetBoot not being available for the iMac Pro but still available for other models, it wasn’t yet clear if NetBoot-based workflows for setting up new Macs or rebuilding existing ones were on the way out. The iMac Pro is still able to boot to Internet Recovery, which provides a way to repair the Mac or reinstall the operating system in situations where the Mac’s own Recovery volume is missing or not working properly.
The one exception was Apple’s Internet Recovery, where Apple is providing a NetBoot-like service to provide access to macOS Recovery. Along with the new Secure Enclave protection provided by Apple’s T2 chip, the iMac Pro brought another notable development: It did not support booting from a network volume, otherwise known as NetBoot.
To use installr to install macOS and additional packages on a T2 Mac, you'd boot into Recovery ( Command-R at startup), mount the installr disk, and run installr. Installr is particularly useful with Macs with T2 chips, which do not support NetBoot, and are tricky to get to boot from external media. To control the order, you can prefix filenames with numbers. The startosinstall tool will work through the packages in alphanumerical order.
This means that if software installed by one or more or your packages requires a restart for full functionality, it won't be fully functional when the High Sierra installer completes its work. Startosinstall in High Sierra ignores additional package's RestartActions. The installer system passes the target volume in the third argument ( $3) to installation scripts. You should check that pre- and post-install scripts do not use absolute paths to the current startup volume. If your packages just have payloads, they should work fine. startosinstall will fail with an error if given component-style packages to install. This means that packages you use successfully with bootstrappr (or Imagr or Munki) won't necessarily work with installr those other tools can install component-style packages. Important: startosinstall requires that all additional packages be Distribution-style packages (typically built with productbuild) and not component-style packages (typically built with pkgbuild). Ensure all packages you add can be properly installed to volumes other than the current boot volume.
PackagesĪdd desired packages to the install/packages directory. This must be a "full" installer, containing the Contents/Resources/startosinstall tool. macOS InstallerĬopy an Install macOS application into the install/ directory. If you are preparing a fresh-out-of-the-box machine, consider NOT reinstalling macOS and just installing your additional packages. Installr is designed to run in Recovery boot (and also possibly Internet Recovery), allowing you to reinstall a machine for redeployment.
Upon completion of the macOS install, these tools take over and continue the setup and configuration of the machine. Typically these are packages that "enroll" the machine into your management system. A bare-bones tool to install macOS and a set of packages on a target volume.