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andintroducing
Level 1 (110 points)

Q: Help Getting the Welcome Screen Up on a Used Mac for Christmas Morning

Hi,

I'm selling a nearly new Mac to someone who is giving it as a present for Christmas. He knows it's got a month's use on it, but it's pretty flawless and new looking.

He wants it to open up more or less like a new machine for his son with the Apple welcome screen and all.

I'm erasing and installing the OS anew to make that happen and I'm going to meet him today to make the sale and then hand it over to him at that time.

How can he at least see the first part of the welcome video when we meet so he knows the machine works and then have us put the genie back in the bottle so his son gets the same experience?

Here's what I tried: I held down the power button when I got to the Country screen (and also once during the welcome video when I was just checking to see if it worked) but then realized I hadn't deauthorized the machine for iTunes playback on my account. I then got back on the machine, finished creating a new user, and then when I got to the desktop it had an error message saying "This machine quit unexpected." The machine remembered my power down and left a little tell-tale sign.

So does anyone know definitively how to get the welcome video playing, show it to someone and then shut down the machine from the Country selection page so that when it starts up again it has the welcome screen.

Not sure I want to just put the system to sleep. Not sure the charge will last til the 25th.

Curious if anyone's ever done this and/or knows for sure how to have it appear near flawless.

And FYI, since there's a separate install disc for applications now, he knows he'll have to go in later and install those, but at least it will be almost entirely the experience of a "new" machine for his son.

Thanks for your help and happy holidays!

15" Unibody Macbook 2.4 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Dec 13, 2008 11:18 AM

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andintroducing

Q: Help Getting the Welcome Screen Up on a Used Mac for Christmas Morning

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  • Helpful answers

  • by V.K.,

    V.K. V.K. Dec 13, 2008 11:54 AM in response to andintroducing
    Level 9 (56,110 points)
    Dec 13, 2008 11:54 AM in response to andintroducing
    first do an erase and install. at the end you'll be prompted to restart. hold the option key at the chime on the restart. this will boot you into the startup disk manager. eject the install DVD at that screen and shut down.

    when you start up the computer next time you'll be presented with the introductory setup screen and video that you so want to see. go through the setup assistant. this will create an admin user and you'll be logged in.

    If you want to reinitiate the setup assistant again after that you can run the following terminal command (copy and paste, please)

    sudo rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

    You'll have to enter the admin password (which you won't see) you've just created (ignore the scary warning message). shut down the computer. when you start it up next you'll see the setup assistant again.

  • by adamb529,

    adamb529 adamb529 Dec 13, 2008 11:57 AM in response to andintroducing
    Level 4 (1,160 points)
    Dec 13, 2008 11:57 AM in response to andintroducing
    You actually can install the software before hand. Create a new account (run the Setup Assistant) and install the software. Once you are done, follow the instructions at MacOSXHints.com to reset the system. In the comments below, paulmob outlines the following, straightforward way to reset the system.

    Steps that worked for me:
    1) Boot mac into single user mode by holding down Command-s at startup.

    2)

    $ mount -uw /
    $ rm -R /Library/Preferences/
    $ rm -R /Users/USERNAME/
    3)
    $ /bin/launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist &
    $ dscl . -delete /Users/USERNAME
    4)
    $ rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
    5)
    $ exit
    6) That's it!


    Another user added the following:
    You should also clean up the admin group when deleting the user account.

    $ dscl . -delete /Groups/admin GroupMembership USERNAME

    That will remove the old username that you are deleting from the admin group.


    Hope you find this helpful!

  • by AK_Mike,

    AK_Mike AK_Mike Dec 13, 2008 11:59 AM in response to andintroducing
    Level 4 (1,225 points)
    Dec 13, 2008 11:59 AM in response to andintroducing
    The only way I know to do what you desire is to.

    1. After you are sure you will not be booting into the installed OS again, boot from the install disk.

    2. Invoke Terminal from the drop down menu.

    3. Remove the following files
    a. /var/db/.applesetupdone
    b. /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb
    c. /Users/(any home directory belonging to accounts you created)

    4. You must have root privileges and to remove folders you use the rm -rf (foldername).

    5. Do a shutdown from the menu and it should eject your disk prior to shutdown.

    Note, just removing the .applesetupdone file will invoke the welcome screen.

  • by V.K.,

    V.K. V.K. Dec 13, 2008 12:19 PM in response to AK_Mike
    Level 9 (56,110 points)
    Dec 13, 2008 12:19 PM in response to AK_Mike
    netinfo is gone in leopard so there is no need to remove it.

  • by andintroducing,

    andintroducing andintroducing Dec 13, 2008 12:25 PM in response to andintroducing
    Level 1 (110 points)
    Dec 13, 2008 12:25 PM in response to andintroducing
    Found an easier way myself:

    Command-Q on the first Welcome page after the video

    Thanks all for the tips!

    Best,
    Chris