Dominik Gwosdek: Panther Update CD Hack

If you, like me, were frustrated with the $19.95 Jaguar upgrade disc because it would not work as a full installer (it requires that a version of OS X is already installed, will only upgrade ‘? no clean installs), well, worry no more. Now you can get a clean install of Jaguar.

Here is how to make this ‘upgrade-only’ disc a full installer. The only difference between the ‘upgrade’ disc and the $129 retail version is that the upgrade disc contains a little file that checks for a previously installed version of OS X. With the following method, you get rid of this check file. All you need is a blank CD-R.

(This only applies to Jaguar disc one. Disc two does NOT check for a previously installed OS.)

1. Insert the Mac OS 10.2 Update CD (disc one)

2. Open Disk Copy (found in the Utilities folder)

3. Select ‘File ‘? Image ‘? New Image from Device’

4. Select your CD-ROM drive from the dialog

5. Image as ‘DVD/CD Master’

Now modify the contents:

1. Control-click on the resulting disc image

2. Make certain that the disc image is mounted

3. Navigate with the Finder to ‘System ‘? Installation ‘? Package Contents’

4. Select the ‘Essentials.pkg’ file

5. Control-click on the ‘Essentials.pkg’ file and select ‘Show Package Contents’

6. In the pop-up Finder window, navigate to ‘Contents ‘? Resources’

7. Here is where we find the culprit! Drag the file titled ‘Check for OSX’ to the Trash; close all finder windows.

To burn your fully functional Jaguar disc:

1. Return to Disk Copy and select ‘File ‘? Image ‘? New Image from Device’

2. Select the mounted volume you opened above and create another ‘DVD/CD Master’ image

3. Now select ‘Image ‘? Burn Image’

4. Select the newly modified .dmg file

5. Burn to CD ‘ that’s it!