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View Full Version : Is there a way to check when I installed OS X?




mattbray
Apr 23, 2008, 01:47 AM
I am about to do a clean install of Leopard and I wanted to know if there's a way to check and see when I last installed it...



hanschien
Apr 23, 2008, 01:49 AM
I am about to do a clean install of Leopard and I wanted to know if there's a way to check and see when I last installed it...

/var/log/OSInstall.custom

mac-convert
Apr 23, 2008, 01:51 AM
Interesting question, as I was wondering the same a while back and never pursued an answer. But just now I had an epiphany.

Look at the info on the user you created in the Finder. It will show you the date created. Mine is 17 Mar, 2008 - Happy St Paddy's day, and the arrival of my 24" iMac!

mattbray
Apr 23, 2008, 01:51 AM
is that a directory or a terminal command?

LOL.

hanschien
Apr 23, 2008, 01:52 AM
is that a directory or a terminal command?

LOL.

It's a text file.

mac-convert
Apr 23, 2008, 01:58 AM
/var/log/OSInstall.custom

This does provide the same date and time stamp as the Info on the User folder. Or the same thing in reverse!

mattbray
Apr 23, 2008, 02:01 AM
Wow... I was hoping that wasn't true. My Aluminum iMac has become painfully slow in about a month's time. I really think it's Safari 3.1 and 10.5.2 that are causing problems.

I can't wait for my Tiger disks to arrive from Apple. GRRR.

Nermal
Apr 23, 2008, 02:09 AM
/var/log/OSInstall.custom

What are the criteria for that file to exist? I don't have one on my system.

EricNau
Apr 23, 2008, 02:19 AM
What are the criteria for that file to exist? I don't have one on my system.
It's there for me.

Are you checking in Console under LOG FILES > /var/log > OSInStall.custom?

Nermal
Apr 24, 2008, 01:42 AM
So the criterion is "be you"? :)

The file isn't there on my system; there are plenty of files in /var/log but no OSInstall.custom (or OS-anything, for that matter).

richard.mac
Apr 24, 2008, 03:03 AM
yeh OSInstall.custom definitely shows the install date. mine is 2007-10-26 04:59:16 which is correct.

i did a clean install so it may be missing for users that did an upgrade or archive.

to open it copy and paste "/var/log/" into "Go To Folder…" in Finder's Go menu and drag OSInstall.custom onto TextEdit's dock icon.

or for the CLI folks

cd /var/log

nano OSInstall.custom