Has anyone figured out how to make install media (DVD/USB memory) for the 2011 Mac Mini Lion build (11A2061)? This would involved capturing the Internet recovery image downloaded from Apple to the system recovery partition. I imagine this is somehow possible but I have yet to see any information about this. Hopefully soon!
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Possible to create 2011 Mac Mini Lion (build:11A2061) install media?
- Thread starter belltree
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I'm interested in this as well. I have the 11A511 GM Final version and came close to doing a clean install until I remembered the fact that the mini and the Air have 11A2061 and 11A2063, respectively, as their native "version" of Lion. :roll eyes:
I think the only difference is BootCamp 4.0, which is more advanced in the 11A206x builds. Hopefully, Apple will put every Mac on a level playing field.
Also, I lost my Recovery HD partition (the hidden one) when I clone my hard drive over to the SSD. Anyone have a quick tip as to how to get it back?
I think the only difference is BootCamp 4.0, which is more advanced in the 11A206x builds. Hopefully, Apple will put every Mac on a level playing field.
Also, I lost my Recovery HD partition (the hidden one) when I clone my hard drive over to the SSD. Anyone have a quick tip as to how to get it back?
Apple has released a utility, http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 . it will run you through the steps of making a USB/DVD recovery medium. 
Apple has released a utility, http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433 . it will run you through the steps of making a USB/DVD recovery medium.
Thanks for your reply but all this does is allow you to create recovery media to start an Internet Recovery of Lion. What I want to do is to be able to make an install disk of Lion for the 2011 Mac Mini/Macbook Air.
When the above kb was first released I thought it was exactly that, a utility to allow you to make your own install media but sadly it is not.
It also needs you to have the Recovery HD (the hidden recovery partition) intact, which, in my case, is no longer there after I did a clone, installed my SSD, and cloned back. Again, this has to do with the mini and Air only. I had made myself my own Lion USB stick well before Lion was even released when I had the 17" MacBook Pro, but unfortunately, the Mac mini and the MacBook Air have what I read are referred to as "slightly advanced versions" as compared to the rest of the pack, which runs 11A511.
That said, I believe it only has to do with BootCamp, which on the mini and the Air helps you make a bootable Windows 7 USB stick from a Windows 7 ISO and even adds the specific drivers for the mini and the Air right onto the USB stick. Pretty nifty, I must say.
These are growing pains that will be addressed by Apple eventually, but it creates a problem for us now. I also read somewhere in a blog or article that specifically Mac mini and MB Air users may be eligible for a free USB recovery stick due to the aforementioned issues, but again, it doesn't help us out right now.
I wonder if we could get our Recovery partition back by backing up our stuff, wiping out our boot drive and then launching Internet Recovery from startup. I'm sure that the machine type and/or serial number are sent to Apple's servers, but it remains to be seen if the Internet recovery will download the correct build for us mini users, 11A2061, or for the MacBook Air, Lion build 11A2063. We shall see...(cause Imma try it out right now )
EDIT: We basically need a Lion Recovery Assistant but without having to have the Recovery HD intact. Like I said, I'll try the Internet Recovery after wiping out my boot drive to hopefully get the correct Lion build (11A2061) and hopefully it will also re-build the Recovery HD (the hidden recovery partition) for us.
I'll be back...
That said, I believe it only has to do with BootCamp, which on the mini and the Air helps you make a bootable Windows 7 USB stick from a Windows 7 ISO and even adds the specific drivers for the mini and the Air right onto the USB stick. Pretty nifty, I must say.
These are growing pains that will be addressed by Apple eventually, but it creates a problem for us now. I also read somewhere in a blog or article that specifically Mac mini and MB Air users may be eligible for a free USB recovery stick due to the aforementioned issues, but again, it doesn't help us out right now.
I wonder if we could get our Recovery partition back by backing up our stuff, wiping out our boot drive and then launching Internet Recovery from startup. I'm sure that the machine type and/or serial number are sent to Apple's servers, but it remains to be seen if the Internet recovery will download the correct build for us mini users, 11A2061, or for the MacBook Air, Lion build 11A2063. We shall see...(cause Imma try it out right now
)EDIT: We basically need a Lion Recovery Assistant but without having to have the Recovery HD intact. Like I said, I'll try the Internet Recovery after wiping out my boot drive to hopefully get the correct Lion build (11A2061) and hopefully it will also re-build the Recovery HD (the hidden recovery partition) for us.
I'll be back...
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Yes but my ultimate goal is to be able to create a DVD or iso image of Lion build 11A2061 just as 11A511 (downloaded via app store). I do not believe that 11A2061 is any different other than it has the drivers specific to the 2011 Mac Mini. Here's to hoping we can find a way!
I wonder if the new mini and air really have a recovery partition, has anyone found it yet?
I copied the visible partition from my original HDD to an SSD after booting into internet recovery (used Disk-Utility from there) and after rebooting from the SSD I was able to create a USB recovery stick using the tool provided by Apple.
I´ll check out that original HDD on a non-mac to try and find the recovery partition when I am back home.
I copied the visible partition from my original HDD to an SSD after booting into internet recovery (used Disk-Utility from there) and after rebooting from the SSD I was able to create a USB recovery stick using the tool provided by Apple.
I´ll check out that original HDD on a non-mac to try and find the recovery partition when I am back home.
I just pulled the oem hdd cloned it to an ssd and put the ssd in the mini.
the pulled hdd has all the info including any hidden partitions.
I don't mind the idea of using the net for recovery but it takes hours on my connection. So i have the oem hdd and a few copies. plus I have the current ssd cloned with superduper.
Apple should have sold a usb with the mini as a boot disk. there i said it. the recovery on the net is too slow for many of us.
the pulled hdd has all the info including any hidden partitions.
I don't mind the idea of using the net for recovery but it takes hours on my connection. So i have the oem hdd and a few copies. plus I have the current ssd cloned with superduper.
Apple should have sold a usb with the mini as a boot disk. there i said it. the recovery on the net is too slow for many of us.
Alright, I just finished my Time Machine backup and am cloning my boot drive (which is my new SSD as of today ) which isn't necessary but it won't take long and I like to be consistent.
As for having a USB stick from Apple, this is what I meant by "...we won't have to wait for the $69 USB Lion stick to become available, nor will it cost us $69". You can have it sent to you for free and right now.
Of course, I don't want to wait until Apple sends me my stick. I want to be able to make my own today if possible. I'm totally behind Apple nixing the optical drive and support that decision 100%. I won't burn a DVD to use it as a recovery solution. I'm only interested in a USB recovery stick, because even if you have a 100Mbps downlink internet connection, if the network is down, you won't be able to use Internet Recovery. Not that that happens more than once in a blue moon but I remember distinctly that last time it went down (that I'm aware of anyway), it was at the most inopportune time. Good thing I have a 5Mbps down/1.25Mbps up cellular connection to tether with.
) which isn't necessary but it won't take long and I like to be consistent.As for having a USB stick from Apple, this is what I meant by "...we won't have to wait for the $69 USB Lion stick to become available, nor will it cost us $69". You can have it sent to you for free and right now.
Of course, I don't want to wait until Apple sends me my stick. I want to be able to make my own today if possible. I'm totally behind Apple nixing the optical drive and support that decision 100%. I won't burn a DVD to use it as a recovery solution. I'm only interested in a USB recovery stick, because even if you have a 100Mbps downlink internet connection, if the network is down, you won't be able to use Internet Recovery. Not that that happens more than once in a blue moon but I remember distinctly that last time it went down (that I'm aware of anyway), it was at the most inopportune time. Good thing I have a 5Mbps down/1.25Mbps up cellular connection to tether with.
if one's doing a reinstall of the whole operating system using the recovery function, there's an installESD.dmg downloaded to the targeted partition. just when the recovery system is finished with downloading it will restart the mac. now hold the option key pressed and boot from an external drive (which needs to have the correct build of 10.7 installed of course). then you can copy the installESD.dmg to wherever you need it and later use it to restore the whole thing to a DVD or USB stick. i wanted the non-server version of lion to be installed on my 2011 mini server, took the installESD.dmg from the 2011 MacBook Air (Build 11A2063) works perfect!
regards,
michael
regards,
michael
Seems like we discussed this in a previous thread as well.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1208309/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1208309/
Working on a solution as we speak...I will let you know what I come up with. Thanks
Ryan
SOLUTION
Requirements: Another Mac with a FireWire 400/800 Port (In the case it has FireWire 400, you will need a 6pin to 9pin cable as the Mini only has FireWire 800)
This solution does require you do redownload via Lion Internet Recovery the InstallESD.dmg that has the correct build (in this case Build 11A2061). Once the download is done via Lion Internet Recovery and the Mac Mini begins to restart, you can shut it off.
Plug in a FireWire 400/800 Cable into the other Mac. Once that is done, power on the Mac Mini and immediately press and hold [T]. This put the Mac Mini into Target Disk mode.
Once in Target Disk Mode, plug the other end of the FireWire 800 into the Mac Mini and it will mount as another hard on the Mac that you are using to access it. Here you will see that there are files and also an InstallESD.dmg file. That DMG file is what you need to create a restore disk. You can either choose to use a USB Flash drive or external hard drive to do.
I will report back on how my install goes with my newly created USB Flash Drive.....
Ryan
SOLUTION
Requirements: Another Mac with a FireWire 400/800 Port (In the case it has FireWire 400, you will need a 6pin to 9pin cable as the Mini only has FireWire 800)
This solution does require you do redownload via Lion Internet Recovery the InstallESD.dmg that has the correct build (in this case Build 11A2061). Once the download is done via Lion Internet Recovery and the Mac Mini begins to restart, you can shut it off.
Plug in a FireWire 400/800 Cable into the other Mac. Once that is done, power on the Mac Mini and immediately press and hold [T]. This put the Mac Mini into Target Disk mode.
Once in Target Disk Mode, plug the other end of the FireWire 800 into the Mac Mini and it will mount as another hard on the Mac that you are using to access it. Here you will see that there are files and also an InstallESD.dmg file. That DMG file is what you need to create a restore disk. You can either choose to use a USB Flash drive or external hard drive to do.
I will report back on how my install goes with my newly created USB Flash Drive.....
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Yup! It worked! Easier and faster than I could have dreamed of.
Ok, I got it. I am shocked and amazed at how FLAWLESSLY and FAST all of this worked:
First, I backed up via Time Machine and also updated my clone. I use the 2.5" 500GB stock drive from Toshiba for this purpose. This was for "just in case" issues and after I was done, I restarted, so as to be able to boot using my clone. Once everything loaded, into the Disk Utility I went and bam, I clicked on the OWC SSD and hit Erase. Twice. lol...
I shut down my mini, disconnected my USB enclosure that contained my mirror copy, so that there was no chance that the mini could boot from it accidentally. With only my bare SSD connected inside my mini, I hit Command-R to bring about the Lion Internet Recovery. It worked right away and it took all of 5 minutes to download what ended up being the contents of the Recovery HD (the recovery partition which you can EASILY get back this way, just for future reference).
At that point, I chose to do a fresh installation of OS X 10.7 Lion. A quick click on Agree allowed Apple to make sure the mini was eligible for the Lion download and to make sure to download the "correct build". It then proceeded to download the entire OS. It took 46 minutes and again, it never asked for a WiFi password since I was hooked into Ethernet.
It said 46 mins., but it took closer to half an hour really and as soon as the download was finished, the installation began. This is where I literally enjoyed the entire 8-10 mins. that it took to install the ENTIRE OS! I'd never seen anything like it. That SATA III 6Gbps SSD sure is something and when the initial timer announced "18 minutes remaining...", it clicked down to 17, 16, etc., extremely quickly. I should have timed it but I can always rinse and repeat but not until I get that second one and set up a RAID 0. Maybe it'll install in 4 minutes then.
So it rebooted and asked me if I wanted to restore a backup, so I chose the Time Machine backup that I had just updated before this undertaking. The restore was 23GB worth and again, the speed of which the transfer happened was a joy to experience. Finally, after I entered my password, I needed to see if the Lion Internet Installer truly did download the "correct" build for the 2011 Mac mini, build 11A2061. <drum roll> I wasn't even surprised anymore, so yes, it all checked out.
I also checked if the Recovery partition was there now and yes, of course it was. All 650MB worth, so now I can make that OS X Lion USB recovery stick but I'm in no hurry. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter because it took all of five minutes after hitting Command-R for the spinning globe to appear and that's when you're prompted to enter your WiFi info, unless you're hardwired into your modem via Ethernet. Actually, I am hardwired into my Time Capsule, which is connected to my cable modem. Even that works with zero configuration. But I digress...
I definitely got the sense that Apple really thought this through when making the decision of making the upgrade to Lion a download-only affair. The cliche "It just works." would be an understatement to describe this process.
I hope this helps some of you.
Ok, I got it. I am shocked and amazed at how FLAWLESSLY and FAST all of this worked:
First, I backed up via Time Machine and also updated my clone. I use the 2.5" 500GB stock drive from Toshiba for this purpose. This was for "just in case" issues and after I was done, I restarted, so as to be able to boot using my clone. Once everything loaded, into the Disk Utility I went and bam, I clicked on the OWC SSD and hit Erase. Twice. lol...
I shut down my mini, disconnected my USB enclosure that contained my mirror copy, so that there was no chance that the mini could boot from it accidentally. With only my bare SSD connected inside my mini, I hit Command-R to bring about the Lion Internet Recovery. It worked right away and it took all of 5 minutes to download what ended up being the contents of the Recovery HD (the recovery partition which you can EASILY get back this way, just for future reference).
At that point, I chose to do a fresh installation of OS X 10.7 Lion. A quick click on Agree allowed Apple to make sure the mini was eligible for the Lion download and to make sure to download the "correct build". It then proceeded to download the entire OS. It took 46 minutes and again, it never asked for a WiFi password since I was hooked into Ethernet.
It said 46 mins., but it took closer to half an hour really and as soon as the download was finished, the installation began. This is where I literally enjoyed the entire 8-10 mins. that it took to install the ENTIRE OS! I'd never seen anything like it. That SATA III 6Gbps SSD sure is something and when the initial timer announced "18 minutes remaining...", it clicked down to 17, 16, etc., extremely quickly. I should have timed it but I can always rinse and repeat but not until I get that second one and set up a RAID 0. Maybe it'll install in 4 minutes then.
So it rebooted and asked me if I wanted to restore a backup, so I chose the Time Machine backup that I had just updated before this undertaking. The restore was 23GB worth and again, the speed of which the transfer happened was a joy to experience. Finally, after I entered my password, I needed to see if the Lion Internet Installer truly did download the "correct" build for the 2011 Mac mini, build 11A2061. <drum roll> I wasn't even surprised anymore, so yes, it all checked out.
I also checked if the Recovery partition was there now and yes, of course it was. All 650MB worth, so now I can make that OS X Lion USB recovery stick but I'm in no hurry. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter because it took all of five minutes after hitting Command-R for the spinning globe to appear and that's when you're prompted to enter your WiFi info, unless you're hardwired into your modem via Ethernet. Actually, I am hardwired into my Time Capsule, which is connected to my cable modem. Even that works with zero configuration. But I digress...
I definitely got the sense that Apple really thought this through when making the decision of making the upgrade to Lion a download-only affair. The cliche "It just works." would be an understatement to describe this process.
I hope this helps some of you.
Great work guys but correct me if I am wrong the procedures you outlined do not result in an actual install media of Lion (build:11A2061). Is this correct?
@belltree:
you're wrong. following my instructions you'll get 11A2061 or 11A2063, depending on what kind of machine you're doing this.
you're wrong. following my instructions you'll get 11A2061 or 11A2063, depending on what kind of machine you're doing this.
Too bad someone couldn't upload both builds... This is the clincher for me to get a Mac Mini, finally a way to do an offline clean install.
Now that the Lion USB Thumb Drive has been released by Apple can anyone yet confirm that it can be used for "from scratch" install of Lion without an Internet connection?
that's precisely what it's for - for those who don't want to download. but if you can download 4gb, just follow what rw3 instructed a few posts earlier and save yourself $69.
Anyone willing to host up a copy of 11A2061? I have a Mini Server and want to install non-server Lion. And yes, I realize I could just not use the server components on the stock install, but I'd rather go the non-server install route.
Edit: Never mind, I got what I needed.
Edit: Never mind, I got what I needed.
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I wonder why those of us who have a valid license for OS X Server, the Mac AppStore does not reflect as much, i.e. the Server app does not show as Installed, whereas the regular OS X Lion does display Installed. Nor is Server tied to my Apple ID, unlike Lion as well as iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand). Pretty lame, huh?
If you have a Mac Mini Server 2011, the Server license is tied to the hardware it is running on. Apple didn't have to give an AppStore copy of the surviving iLife Apps (iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband) away to purchasers of Macs with Lion pre-installed, but they chose to.
Don't worry. If you have a Mac Mini 2011 Server and need to reinstall Mac OS X via Internet Recovery you'll download and install an InstallESD.dmg of Mac OS X Server.
Don't worry. If you have a Mac Mini 2011 Server and need to reinstall Mac OS X via Internet Recovery you'll download and install an InstallESD.dmg of Mac OS X Server.
Yes, I realize all of that, as I have done it about five times already to get my SSD RAID going. And why wouldn't Apple give us iLife '11 as part of new Mac's that come with Lion pre-installed? iLife '11 is very much a part of new Mac's, whether it's Lion or Lion Server.
I find it annoying that I can't just download OS X Lion (the NON-server version) from the AppStore and make my own bootable USB Flash drive, nor can I specifically choose OS X Lion as opposed to OS X Lion Server using Internet Recovery. I had to go through not-so-legit channels to accomplish exactly that. Also, when you look at the Mac mini server page on Apple's Online store, it clearly states that the Mac mini server comes with OS X Lion, OS X Lion Server, as well as iLife '11.