Bill Detwiler: Using the App Store to install OS Ten Lion onmultiple machines, means you'll be doing a lot of waiting for the files todownload. Luckily, there's a way to download the update once, but install it onmany machines.
I'm Bill Detwiler, and during this episode of TR Dojo, I'llshow you create a bootable flash drive from which you can install OS Ten Lion.
When Apple launched OS Ten Lion, they did so exclusivelythrough their online App Store. The days of visiting your local Apple retaillocation and walking out with a DVD were gone.
Two months after Lion's release, Apple began selling it onUSB flash drives, like this. Unfortunately, ordering one of these drives fromthe Apple Store will set you back $69, that's a $40 premium over Lion's $29download price tag.
Luckily, you don't need to spend the extra cash. If youalready have a spare USB flash drive, that's 8GB or larger, you can use it asOS Ten install device. Here's how.
First, purchase and download OS Ten Lion from the App Store.Once downloaded, a Lion icon should appear on your Dock and in the Applicationsfolder. If the Lion installer automatically appeared, close it.
Now open the Applications folder and right-click (orcontrol-click) the Install Mac OS Ten Lion package and choose Show PackageContents.
When the Finder window appears, navigate to the/Content/SharedSupport/ folder and select the InstallESD.dmg disk image file.This is the file that we'll need to create our bootable flash drive.
Now open the Disk Utility and drag the InstallESD disk imagefile to the Disk Utility sidebar. At this point, you could burn the image to aDVD. But, installing Lion from a USB drive is faster, and I think easier.
Before you restore the disk image to our flash drive, Irecommend you reformat it. So, insert the drive, select it from the DiskUtility's left pane, and click the Erase tab. Then select the appropriateformat (I used Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click Erase.
Now that the flash drive is ready, we need to unmount itspartition. So right-click the partition under the actual drive and selectUnmount.
Then, select the InstallESD disk image file in the leftpane. The Restore tab should be active. If not, select it. The disk image fileshould be shown as the source.
Drag your newly-formatted flash drive into the destinationbox click Restore. The transfer process will take about 15 minutes.
Now that we have our Lion USB install drive in hand, usingit is a snap. Just plug the drive into the machine that you're going to installLion on and restart it while holding down the Option key. This will load theboot options screen. From here you can select the USB drive and run theinstaller.
During the process, your computer will still request thelatest updates from Apple's servers, but this will take much less time thandownloading the entire Lion update.
Well that does it for this edition of TR Dojo. For moreadvice on deploying and supporting Macs, iPhones, and iPads check outTechRepblic's Apple in the Enterprise blog.
And as always, for more teachings on YOUR path to becomingan IT Ninja, visit trdojo.techrepublic.com, sign-up for our newsletter, or followme on Twitter.
Thanks for visiting the TR Dojo.
