System Image Utility error 2 while creating NetRestore Image

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System Image Utility error 2 while creating NetRestore Image

Hello,

I'm having constant error 2s when trying to create a NetRestore NBI Image using the System Image Utility 2 Application (Version 10.11.2 (778)).

NetBoot & NetInstall work without errors, but NetRestore won't work at all. The iMacs I'm using are in target mode and mounted on a Mac OS 10.11 Server.

This used to work beautifully in Yosemite, but now it's a total nightmare...

What am I missing here?

Thanks for any help...

DD

iMac Retina 5K 27" Late 2014

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion, 2.7 GHz, i7, 16 GB

Posted on Mar 2, 2016 11:19 AM

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Answer 1

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newsknight Author

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Mar 8, 2016 6:13 AM in response to Brian Nesse

Thanks for the reply Bry, but I've figured it out.

The NetRestore imaging does not seem to work from the Source Mac being put into target mode and mounted onto another Mac running System Image Utility, you always get an Error 2.

But if you boot from and external and run System Image Utility on the Source Mac, NetRestore will work.

Very strange since only last August (using Yosemite) I was able to create NetRestores with the source Mac in Target mode...

Well Thanks for the input, all the best,

DD

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Answer 2

Mar 3, 2016 7:30 AM in response to newsknight

The first thing you can do is to set the logging level to verbose. This will allow you to figure out which tool (likely hdiutil) generated the error.

If you're only having problems making images from existing volumes, I'd start by verifying the integrity of the volume with Disk Utility, or some other like tool.

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2016 7:38 AM in response to newsknight

Odd. I connected to iMacs, both running the latest OS, via TDM and successfully created a NetRestore image from one to the other.

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Answer 4

newsknight Author

Level 1

2 points

Mar 9, 2016 7:46 AM in response to Brian Nesse

I agree very odd, but it maybe something to do with the source iMac having a Fusion Drive.

I'm upgrading 3 Labs and all the new iMacs have Fusion Drives, and so does the Image Build Mac.

I'm confused, but happy that I have a work around...

Cheers Again,

DD

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Answer 5

Jul 19, 2017 8:25 AM in response to newsknight

For the record, I believe the "error 2" is related to bandwidth problems and I've seen it off and on for several years. Now I typically connect an external drive along with my model machine (the one I'm pulling the image from) which is in target mode and the Mac running Apple Server (the one doing the image creation via System Image Utility). So that's a total of 3 devices connected together. I save the image to the external drive (ideally, it should be saving to an empty partition). Once the image creation process is complete, I drag it to the appropriate location on my server for use with the Netinstall service.

I just got an error 2 again today while creating a new image with the above method. I changed the connection I was using for the external drive from USB 3 to Thunderbolt (all devices connected via Thunderbolt) and the error went away.

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