How to: Try MacOS X 10.1 Server with no Internet connection

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after64k
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Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:37 pm

How to: Try MacOS X 10.1 Server with no Internet connection

Post by after64k »

I decided to test out Mac OS X 10.1 Server on an old iMac G4 with no network connection for the fun of it. The problem with that plan? The Setup Assistant or just "Assistant" in this build requires a valid IP, subnet, and router/gateway address on Built-in Ethernet, or else, it won't proceed at all. So, I decided to try an old trick, as I actually just wanted to play with it (i.e. didn't want to serve anything)... and it worked! For the IP, I just used localhost (127.0.0.1), with 255.255.255.0 as the subnet, and 127.0.0.1 as the router. It appears that this is a quick solution to get around Assistant nicely. This also worked with the prompt for AirPort as well; I haven't tried this on any other releases of OS X Server, but it may work there as well. I'm just mentioning this tip for anyone that wants to evaluate or test it out somewhere for educational purposes, curiosity, nostalgia, etc. and hope it helps.

sparcdr
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2016 6:57 am

Re: How to: Try MacOS X 10.1 Server with no Internet connect

Post by sparcdr »

This post reminds me of the time before Apple used its own solution to integrate nis and dns resolution using the same system. But of course pointing everything to the machine can bypass those problems. This trick works on pretty much any machine because the hosts lookup method can resolve to itself as it's required per RFC on any tcp/ip connected os going back many years.

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