Fisrt time mac user, dumb question about a .dmg file

[kromatic]

i just copped a mac mini, im loving the mac os, well, my the first thing i did was download firefox to my desktop (firefox 1.0.1.dmg) i double clicked and went on with the installation, now i have another file called firefox on my desktop

this is the problem, when i try to delete the files it doesnt let me, it says the program(firefox) is in use, even though i quitted out of firefox, another thing, i know i cant delete the new file called firefox, so i tried moving it to my home folder (how do i Cut and Paste)?

 

[edesignuk]

OK, if you have Firefox open, close it (completely!). Drag the Firefox app from the mounted dmg in to your Applications folder. Now eject the dmg. When you want to run Firefox launch it from your Applications folder.

dmg's are disk images. When you double click one it will mount it as if it were a hard disk or CD. You should copy the contents from the mounted disk image to your hard drive, then eject the disk.

 

[Blue Velvet]

It's a disk image. Double-clicking on the original file mounts a virtual disk on your desktop (a white disk-looking thing).

To get rid of it, drag it to the trash or key Apple-Backspace

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Normal installation of Firefox: When you open the .dmg file a virtual disk will appear on your desktop. On that there is one file called Firefox. Drag the Firefox app to your Applications folder (or wherever you want to have it). Now you can "eject" the virtual disk on your desktop (the white disk like icon).

If you have additional files scattered around you probably has done a small error. The most common ones is to make an alias instead of copying the app over or even just start the app from inside the virtual disk, either way the virtual disk will remain.

Another beginners mistake is to close the window (using the red/grey X or cmd-w) and believe that the application is quitted, it is not (check if the Firefox icon in the dock has a small triangle under it, then the app is still running, even if all its windows are closed...)

Edit: Beaten to it, I got to start typing faster... 😉

 

[kromatic]

thanks, that did the trick. now if i want to uninstall firefox, i just have to go to the application folder and delete the firefox icon right?

 

[Blue Velvet]

thanks, that did the trick. now if i want to uninstall firefox, i just have to go to the application folder and delete the firefox icon right?

Yes.

If you want you could also do a search with anything with 'firefox' in the name and trash those as well... just in case there may be some stray preferences or similar...

 

[Tuned MP5T]

Ok I'm having the same problem. But I'm a bit confused, on the desktop there's virtual disk and the .dmg file. Which one do I drag to my application folder? How about if I wanted to add it to to the dock?

 

[4409723]

Ok I'm having the same problem. But I'm a bit confused, on the desktop there's virtual disk and the .dmg file. Which one do I drag to my application folder? How about if I wanted to add it to to the dock?

You drag the application inside the virtual disk to your Applications folder. Then, when it is done copying, drag the copy in the Applications folder to the dock.

You are then free to 'eject' the virtual disk and delete the .dmg file.

 

[jonat8]

I made that mistake when I first started using OS X 😉 Downloaded MSN Messenger and ran it from the disk image. It seemed to work fine so I thought nothing of it, until I rebooted and couldn't find it again! After a while (and a bit of cursing...) I figured out that you had to drop the program into the Applications folder.