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How to Convert a MacOS X 10.5 Leopard Upgrade DVD into a Retail MacOS X 10.5 Leopard

Posted in Apple by Dan at 1:35 am

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Recently buying a few new Macs I found that Apple bundles a special crippled “drop in” Leopard upgrade disc that requires an installation of MacOS 10.4 on your Mac. Considering that I format my Macs right out of the box this crippled upgrade DVD doesn’t really work for me - which then forces me to purchase a retail copy of Leopard. Hardly fair!

Here is how to convert that crippled MacOS X 10.5 Leopard “Drop In” DVD into a regular retail MacOS X 10.5 Leopard DVD. Mind you this is NOT TO be used for any illegal distribution and should only be used within your “fair use” rights of your licensed media.

  • Put your licensed Leopard Disk in DVD Drive
  • Start Disk Utility
  • In Disk Utility Select New Image
  • The New Image Dialog will pop up. Leave everything at default setting and set Volume Size to “8.0 GB (DVD+R DL)”
  • Select the Leopard DVD on the side pane of the Disk Utility and Click Restore
  • Set the source as the Leopard DVD and destination as the Newly Created Disk Image

Now wait. This process will take a VERY long time.

  • After it is done, eject the DVD
  • Now you must show some hidden files on your Mac. To do that you will need to open your Terminal (in your utilities folder) and type the following commands:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles True

  • Press Return then type in the next command:

Killall Finder

  • Press Return

    • This will show all hidden files.

  • Go into the newly created Leopard Image on your desktop
  • Navigate to /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/CDIS/
  • Right-Click on “Mac OS X Installer” and Click on Show Package Contents
  • In the New Window goto Contents/Resources and DELETE the “CheckForOSX” File
  • Now just rename the DMG Volume to Mac OS X Install DVD using the Get Info Dialog
  • Now burn this image

Thats it now your crippled upgrade DVD is the equivalent to a retail DVD.

Thank you to faithful reader TIM for sending in this tip!

32 Comments, Comment or Trackback

  1. blkdragon

    Hmmm…

    I’ve yet to come across a Leopard Drop-In DVD which ISNT a full, retail copy of Leopard.

    To date, I’ve never seen a Leopard Drop-In DVD asking for a pre-installed version of OSX, 10.4 or otherwise.

    …there’s also an alternative way to do it:

    1) Insert your Leopard Drop-In

    2) Open disk utility

    3) Select the Leopard DVD (not the Device, the DVD) in the left hand pane

    4) Hit on “New Image”

    5) The image format should be “DVD/CD Master”, with no Encryption

    6) Choose a save location, and go!

    It’s as easy as that, hope this helped.

    DISCLAIMER: THIS METHOD IS NOT TO BE USED FOR ILLEGAL PURPOSES. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

    Dec 29th, 2007

  2. Tom

    Why do you format your Macs upon purchase? Dude, its not a Dell.

    Dec 29th, 2007

  3. Nigel

    @Tom. Probably just to be safe. I format mine because the store I used to purchase them from (until they closed, now I purchase from Apple Online Store) because they used to set them up and install the updates.

    I liked to set them up with my .Mac straight away and watch the pretty movie.

    Dec 29th, 2007

  4. Nate

    Wow, I was actually in the same situation when my MacBook came in recently. Thanks for the tip, I probably should’ve figured it out myself.

    Dec 30th, 2007

  5. Murray

    I just upgraded from to Leopard using CPU Drop-in DVD (product # 22691-6040-A) a few minutes ago and I was just thinking about how I would have preferred to do a clean wipe-and-install.

    Next time I’ll try this, thanks!

    Dec 30th, 2007

  6. Ramon

    Thankx! My drop-in dvd DOES require a pre-installed version of OSX, 10.4, so this is helpfull!

    Dec 31st, 2007

  7. Blackjackburger

    “I’ve yet to come across a Leopard Drop-In DVD which ISNT a full, retail copy of Leopard.

    To date, I’ve never seen a Leopard Drop-In DVD asking for a pre-installed version of OSX, 10.4 or otherwise.”

    The Leopard Drop-In DVD ie upgrade DVD was issued to those owners who had bought a new Mac in the month prior to leopard’s launch at a knock down price.

    The fact you do need a copy of 10.4 installed is a pain in the ass

    Dec 31st, 2007

  8. Spidermac

    Excuse me Dan, I don’t understand one thing. How i’m going to burn a dvd if the image is about 8 GB?! I can’t burn DVD of 8 GB, only for, isn’t? Is the only step that i don’t understand. Thanks very much.

    Spidermac, from Barcelona.

    Dec 31st, 2007

  9. Yonghwee

    I prefer to install it on an external HD and boot it off firewire. Great tutorial though!

    Jan 2nd, 2008

  10. Henning Harms

    hi, to do the same with the Tiger Upgrade DVD, which file would I need to delete? I didn’t find any “CheckForOSX” File.

    Jan 4th, 2008

  11. Lex

    spidermac this is what you need

    http://www.verbatim-europe.com/index/product.php?cat_id=255&sub_cat_id=265&pid=8&lang_id=1

    DVD+R Double Layer

    Jan 7th, 2008

  12. Geoff

    Like Henning Harms, my Mac OS X Leopard CPU Drop-in DVD Version 10.5 doesn’t have the “CheckForOSX” File either. However, it does check for “OS X v10.4 or later” and on first attempt it says this “could not be found”. When I go back and try again it succeeds on all subsequent attempts.

    Jan 8th, 2008

  13. Lex

    @ GEOFF
    look harder!!! you have to look for it manually!!!

    Jan 8th, 2008

  14. schokkie

    Hello,

    i tried this trick, but when it comes to deleting this checkforosx file, I go to ‘volumes’ as specified, but find 0 files in there…
    Where did it go wrong?

    thanx in advance,
    schokkie

    Jan 10th, 2008

  15. schokkie

    and even in the original dvd I find the folder ‘Volumes’ to be empty. How is that possible?

    thanx in advance
    schokkie

    Jan 10th, 2008

  16. Rexx

    Hello,

    You do not actually need to burn a DVD, just see this:

    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=380408

    Enjoy,
    Rexx

    Jan 14th, 2008

  17. Brian1502

    Guys. Check System/Installation/CDIS/Mac OS X Installer ….Click show contents…then you’ll find your file in there. HOpe this helps

    Jan 14th, 2008

  18. Klod

    I followed the steps mentioned above but could not find the CheckforosX-file, after looking around I found it in /System/installation/CDIS/ view package Os X installer:
    Contents/resources.

    Good luck

    Jan 15th, 2008

  19. chris

    Hi,

    First of all i want to thank you for the explanation.

    Secondly i had a few questions abou the image.

    In the first method by Dan, he mentions to make a image, but then something about restore, i dont seem to get that part.

    The second method works fine for me, but should i delete the “CheckForOSX” file?
    And how should i burn the image to a DL- dvd ?

    thanks a lot for your help

    Chris

    Jan 18th, 2008

  20. chris

    Hi again,

    I tried to make a image as mentioned in the first method.
    I found the checkforosx file, but when i want to delete it it shows two messages:
    1. Are you shure?
    When i press OK, i get:

    2. The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for ChecForOSX

    any advice ?

    thanks

    chris

    Jan 18th, 2008

  21. Henning Harms

    Hi again, I might have been misunderstood.

    Can anybody point to where the checkforosx file is located on the TIGER Upgrade DVD?
    Regards
    Henning

    Jan 19th, 2008

  22. Henning Harms

    On the TIGER Upgrade DVD I found the file here: System/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg/Contents/Resources/CheckForOSX
    However I couldn’t delete the file. I get an error that I don’t have “sufficient privileges”
    What can I do?
    Regards
    Henning

    Jan 19th, 2008

  23. Vince

    Hi now all my hidden files are showing all the time even when i do a restart :-(
    Can someone please tell me what command do i use in the terminal to hide everything again and let my osx tiger look like it normally does.
    thanks a million in advance.
    Vince

    Feb 2nd, 2008

  24. Triolo

    Hi there…

    In response to Dan’s tutorial I would like to ask a question. Instead of having to use the terminal to show the hidden files, couldn’t I just use some of those small freeware programs available that do the same job? The advantage for me as a Unix/Terminal ignorant would be that I could switch from showing the hidden files and hiding them again (I can see Vince has the problem of not being able to hide the files again).

    Do I really have to use the terminal???

    Feb 6th, 2008

  25. shaun

    to hide the files again just type the same but replace true with no

    Feb 7th, 2008

  26. peet

    Hi

    i followed every step and the copied dvd seemed te be allright. Except it doesn’t appear to boot. When i open the dvd in Finder i can double click on Install OSX and then ‘restart’. The computer keeps booting from harddrive….? Also holding the ALT key during startup only shows my harddisk partitions (bootcamp/osx)
    Did i forget to do some action to ensure wether the disc would be bootable….?

    Feb 11th, 2008

  27. Hans Anderson

    ALoha,

    I’ve just installed Leopard on my PowerBook G4. It installs, restarts, but gives me a blank blue screen instead of a desktop. Multiple restarts don’t help. It appears to be a fast enough processor. Any suggestions? ( I’m glad I didn;t install on my working computer, I’d be up s creek without a paddle.)

    Thanks,

    HAns

    Feb 19th, 2008

  28. V

    So I was fooling around with a blank hard drive and upgrade leopard disc, somehow I was able to fool the computer (just through selecting options, I think i formatted the hard drive (erased it) and then I saw an “install leopard” here option and I did) so when it’s done I’m going to try it again.

    Feb 20th, 2008

  29. V

    Alright, I figured it out. Put the disc in, then erase the drive, then the “select a destination” comes up, click on the drive and click “options” and the option to “install mac os x for the first time” comes up, no upgrade necessary.

    THIS IS ON MY UPGRADE ONLY DISC! Hope it works for you

    Feb 20th, 2008

  30. Michael Dodd

    You can do a “clean install” of Leopard with this DVD.. You can completely erase your HardDrive and install it from this DVD. The ONLY problem is you must have OS 10.4 installed to do this. It will scan for that first. Then you have the option to do a clean install, or exit out of the installer, running Disk Utility to format, then going back to the installer (it only checks the first time you run the installer.. not the last time). Doing a Clean install is an option with this DVD in the installing options.

    Feb 21st, 2008

  31. Thierry de Montblanc

    All ok until i find the OSX installer in the system /installation/ CDIS/
    But then: how do you “right click” witout a mouse?
    I ve got the information on the file by selecting it and go to “file, get information” but didnt find the content/ resources to delete the ” check For OSX”

    Where is that window? How to show this dialog box!!
    Very frustrating to go to that very final point and be unable to do it.
    Thanks for help!
    Thierry

    Feb 23rd, 2008

  32. Thierry de Montblanc

    Self answer for my previous question:
    1/Select file OSX installer
    2/Right click = Ctrl Click : then the full menu appears with Show package contents/ resources and finally the ” check for OSX” which can be deleted by click and drag to the trash!
    Many thanks Dan,

    Thierry

    Feb 23rd, 2008

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