Mac OS X Server 10.2: NetBoot Does Not Work for Mac OS 9 Clients

Symptom

The NetBoot software installation is successful, but Mac OS 9 client computers cannot start up via NetBoot.


Solution

Restart the server. The Installer does not force the server to restart, but NetBoot will not work until the AppleFileServer process is restarted.

If the part number of the NetBoot installation CD is 0Z691-3990-A (printed on the CD), there is an additional issue in that the images are not installed with the proper type and creator. This CD is included with Xserve computers that included Mac OS X Server 10.2. Follow these additional steps to correct this issue:

1. Log in with the root account. If you need help with this step, see technical document 106290, "Mac OS X: About the root User and How to Enable It".
2. Open the Script Editor application (/Applications/AppleScript/).
3. Enter the following into the script window:

on open filelist

    repeat with x in filelist

        tell application "Finder"

            set file type of x to "dimg"

            set creator type of x to "ddsk"

        end tell

    end repeat

end open

4. Save the script as an application.
5. Navigate to:

/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0/MacOS92Default.nbi

6. Drag "NetBoot HD.img" and "Applications HD.img" onto the application created in step 4.
7. Delete all the client shadow files, if any. They are located at:

/Library/NetBoot/NetBootClients<X>

This is true for all Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volumes, where "<X>" is a number.