Installing iLife to another Mac

Question

Installing iLife to another Mac

I have an old eMac I plan on selling to a friend. He would like to use it for GarageBand, but with a fresh install of Tiger, I don't want to go through the 'Getting Started' process, but I don't want to give him my copy of iLife.

I am wondering if their is a way to install iLife to the old eMac without going through the setup process? I tried connecting it to my iMac with a FireWire cable, putting the eMac on Target Disk Mode, inserting the disk into the iMac, then choosing to install iLife onto the Target Disk, but the computer wouldn't allow me. What can I do?

Thanks in advanced.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 8GB RAM, 500GB HD

Posted on Dec 22, 2012 6:42 PM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

141,252 points

Dec 22, 2012 7:02 PM in response to iemmanuelwash

iemmanuelwash wrote:

... I don't want to give him my copy of iLife.

You just want to install it illegally?

http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iLife11.pdf

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Answer 2

Dec 22, 2012 9:06 PM in response to John Galt

No, I have a legal copy (as in the installation disc) of iLife 09', which I paid for. I don't want to give it to him, so I was wondering if I could install it without running Tigers 'Getting Started' since I reinstalled Mac OS Tiger. I basically want to give it to my friend like Apple gives us new Macs...

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

141,252 points

Dec 22, 2012 9:50 PM in response to iemmanuelwash

I am confused because it seems you want to give away your eMac in the condition it was when it was new, but with updated software to include Tiger and iLife, but you don't want to give him the iLife disc. Those seem to be irreconcilable goals to me.

It is easy enough to restore a Mac to its original state, by using its original System Install DVD, erasing its disk, installing its original OS and originally bundled applications. That is the correct way of doing things. Installing anything additional requires that you establish a user account, after which you could install iLife in the usual manner.

If you then wanted to recreate the brand new Mac "Welcome" experience so that your friend can set up the eMac as if it were new, and keep the iLife apps installed, and removing the user account with which you installed iLife so that no user accounts would remain, this can be accomplished by booting the eMac in single-user mode. You would remove the user account and delete the file used to indicate the Mac has not yet been configured, so your friend would be greeted with the "Welcome" music and animation.

Is that what you want to do? If so I will need some time to experiment with a Tiger system so that I don't provide incorrect instructions that would mess up your eMac, and require you to repeat what you already did.

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Answer 4

Dec 22, 2012 9:54 PM in response to John Galt

Actualy that's exactally what I wanted to do. I actually have three Macs, my primary iMac and two eMacs I wanted to sell, so I still need my iLife disc after I sell him the computer.

I know this is a complicated question, and might not be easy to explain, but I have time. I'm patient and not new to Tiger or Macs in general. And if this doesn't work out, it's no problem. I'll just set it up for him, since he's a new Mac user anyways.

Thanks!

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,252 points

Dec 22, 2012 10:44 PM in response to iemmanuelwash

If you have more than a passing familiarity with Macs then consider trying this on your own. Beware that I did not do this on my Tiger Mac yet and there may be something I missed, so proceed with caution. If this breaks your eMac you will have to restore it on your own.

Create an Administrator account on the eMac and install iLife in the usual manner.

Then, start the Mac in single user mode and do the following

Mount the filesystem

/sbin/mount -uw /

Load Directory Services (the following is all on one line - no line breaks)

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist

Delete the user account username you used to install iLife

dscl . delete /users/username

Delete the file .AppleSetupDone to indicate the Mac should start up with the "Welcome" animation and new user setup instructions

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

Shut it down

shutdown -h now

This will result in the "new, unconfigured Mac" you seek. Verify that it does - create a new user and ensure the iLife apps you installed work as intended. If you are satisfied with the result, then repeat the above to delete the user you just created, and don't restart the eMac.

I would also be remiss if I did not point out that you are obligated under Apple's license agreements to provide the iLife and OS X discs along with the eMac, and erase any other installations you made with them on your computers.

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