Part 1: the dilema:
I work at a non-Apple-owned mac retail/service store and we keep getting people in that need to run 10.6 The last volley was a graphics design shop that got their building struck by lightning, requiring replacement of almost two dozen imacs, that were running the usual assortment of not entirely current pro software like quark, creative suite, etc, that were not compatible with Lion. Insurance pays for the machines but not the 20 grand to upgrade software to 10.7 compatible.
So as a solution I took a 10.6.3 retail installer (the latest snow retail available) and used it on an older imac to install to another hdd. I then ran the combo updater on it remotely, so it was still in pre-setup condition but was 10.6.8. This allowed it to boot on new macs that would not normally boot the 10.6.3 installer. We imaged that and used it to restore to all the new imacs.
It appears to have gone without a hitch. So this first part is just an FYI on the why and the how.
Part 2: installing Lion on a machine (or many machines) without an internet connection:
This involved downloading the installer, and extracting it to a bootable format. Somehow it seems to know the difference between being downloaded and living on a (8gb) flash drive. Anyway it is able to immediately run the installation without having to "contact apple" for anything, nor download the actual installation image. Very useful. Customers that bring in proof-of-purchase for Lion we are installing for them while-they-wait. (some live out in the boonies and can't possibly download it)
Part 3: the server:
Here's where it gets interesting. We're several versions behind on our point of sale software, which requires 10.5 or earlier on the server and the clients can go back to 10.4. But changes on Apple's GSX require us to update to a newer version that requires the server be on an intel. So we had to store use a new mini, that came with 10.7. The specific version of POS we wanted to install maintained support for powerpc on the terminals. We did our restore-to-10.6.8 trick and got that working, but the POS installer caused several problems with the server. Most of them were fixed with a permissions repair, but file sharing is down and I can't figure out how to fix it.
So we're just going to bite the bullet and upgrade the mini back to 10.7 and replace several terminals too. But that would be too easy! When I double clicked the 10.7 installer to reboot, it said the machine wasn't eligible! OK then, I'll just boot off it. No I won't, it just shut off on me. OK then, verbose boot. Shortest verbose boot I have EVER seen, three line asterist-framed banner telling me that this machine can't boot this version of OS X. Funny that, it SHIPPED with it.
OK then, to the basement, will just use the restore discs. No, I won't. There aren't any. OK I give up. Call applecare. Explain situation. He confirms that no machines that ship with lion come with restore media. He says apple either is or will be shipping 10.7 on a flash drive. (doesn't know status) So I remind him that this machine is already flat-out refusing to boot off it. Hmmm.
Then he reminds me that the 10.7 restore partition may still be on the hard drive. Praise the Lord, it is. And so now we are hopefully going forward without butchering our POS server. What a mess.
He also confirmed that there are a lot of people having problems like this. AND it sounds like Apple isn't going to let us get those install flash drives at wholesale, they'll only be available from Apple at retail price. (meaning we buy them at retail, and have to mark them up)
Thanks, Apple.
