New Mac Mini - need to do headless install but can't

Question

New Mac Mini - need to do headless install but can't

Ok. I just picked up a new Mac Mini on Black Friday sale, and have an existing iMac.

The iMac is connected wirelessly to my router, running Mountain Lion 10.8.2.

The Mini is connected via ethernet cable to the iMac.

I've looked at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4938 and the basic issue is --

for physical reasons, I cannot connect the Mac Mini to the router via ethernet to get a DHCP address.

I've tried setting up Internet sharing from Wifi to Ethernet... however, I'm not seeing the mini on the Router, which is not surprising.

This appears to be the key to getting the Mini to appear in the Finder on the iMac, so I can get started with setup on the new Mini.

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Nov 25, 2012 12:50 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Nov 25, 2012 2:07 PM in response to William H. Magill1

I'm not seeing the mini on the Router, which is not surprising.

There's no reason why you would see it. In that configuration, the iMac is acting as the gateway to a subnet. Your border gateway knows nothing about it.

This appears to be the key to getting the Mini to appear in the Finder on the iMac, so I can get started with setup on the new Mini.

No, it's irrelevant to getting the mini to appear in the Finder on the iMac. What exactly are you trying to do?

Reply

Answer 2

Nov 26, 2012 7:13 AM in response to Linc Davis

Linc Davis wrote:

No, it's irrelevant to getting the mini to appear in the Finder on the iMac. What exactly are you trying to do?

I thought the message title was pretty self explanatory:

New Mac Mini - need to do headless install but can't

As it turns out (I finally got through to Apple Support) -- the answer is ... It can't be done.

It is simply NOT possible to do a headless install (with no keyboard/mouse) of a Mac Mini UNLESS you bought the high-end Mac Mini with OSX Server pre-installed.

Once you have initially conifigured the Mac Mini -- setting up an Admiistrative User, Networking and Sharing, you can then access the mini "normally" through the Finder and use Screen Sharing for any further access.

One thing which DOES work: you can use the HDMI port and your HDMI equiped TV -- you don't need a monitor as such (and all of the assorted necessary "dongles" to convert to the "correct" connector.

BTW, you DO need to have the Mini receive an IP address from your router via DHCP (or however you assign your IP addresses) and to be on the "same network" as the "master device," my iMac in this case, to be able to appear in the Finder in order to use Screen Sharing. (Note: That sentence is very generalized and implies many different answers depending on your network structure.)

Reply