How Do I . . . ?

Last updated 12/15/03

Ever wonder how to force a Mac to start up from a CD? Or how to rebuild the desktop file? Or - well, any of those things you know can be done, but involve a mystic incanation you just can't recall? Hopefully, this'll help.

For the time being, this is strictly how to do these things, there's no discussion on when you might need to (or not much discussion, anyway.) That's coming later.

The following list is designed to be read as if you've already asked the "How do I . . . ?" part of the question. I didn't want a list of a zillion things starting with the same words - makes it hard to find the one you want.

• Connect to the Mac side of ADM004?
  
  
  1. From the Apple Menu, select "Chooser".
  2. Click the "AppleShare" icon in the left pane of the window once to select it.
  3. In the right pane of the window, click the button labelled "Server IP Address". NOTE: If the "Server IP Address" button doesn't appear, the version of MacOS on that machine is too old to support IP file sharing.
  4. Type macadm004 in the "Server Address" field.
  5. Click "Connect".
  6. Enter your NT Domain username and password. NOTE: If your password is more than 8 characters long, it won't work on the Macs.
  7. Click "Connect".
  8. Select "Mac_Installers" from the next window.
  9. Click "OK".
  10. Close the Chooser.

  There should now be an icon on the desktop named "Mac_Installers", with a small MS Windows symbol stuck to the top of it. Double-click this icon to open it, just as you would any other drive on the Mac.




• Force a Macintosh to boot from a bootable CD?
  
  There are three separate ways:
  
  
  1. If the Mac is already running, put the CD in the drive, and select it in the "Startup Disk" control panel. Restart.
  2. Hold down the 'C' key on the keyboard while the Mac is startting, and get the CD ROM into the drive as fast as possible.
  3. Hold down the Command, Shift, Option and Delete keys while the Mac is starting. This forces the Mac to ignore its hard drive and seek out any other bootable media, so if you have multiple possible boot disks connected, you might miss the CD and boot from something else. It usually goes in the order of LUN first, drive ID second. So if the IDE chain is LUN 0, it'll look there before looking at SCSI ID 0 since SCSI is in this case LUN 1 (the 2nd LUN).



• Log in to a network server?
  
  
  1. From the Apple Menu, select "Chooser".
  2. In the left-hand side of the Chooser window, click the "AppleShare" icon.
  3. A list of available servers will appear in the right-hand side of the window.     Note:   You will only see servers that are within the same building. Connecting to remote servers requires that they be Win2K servers, and will be the subject of a different question.
  4. Click the name of the server you want to log into.
  5. Click the "OK" button.
  6. A dialog box asking for your username and password will appear. Fill in both fields, and click "OK".   Note:   Your password must be 8 characters or less in length. If your password is longer than that, you cannot log in from a MacOS workstation.
  7. A window will appear listing the volumes available to you on the server you just authenticated to. You can select one or many - shift-click to select multiple volumes.
  8. Click "OK". The volumes window will disappear, and the volume(s) you selected will appear on the desktop. These can now be used the same way as any other disk.
  9. Close the Chooser by clicking the close button in the upper-left corner.



• Log out of a network server?
  
  Logging out is accomplished by dismounting any volumes on that server. There's no lingering connection - the connection is tied directly to having a disk volume currently mounted/connected, and therefore visible on the desktop.
  
  To disconnect, drag the volume to the Trash can on the desktop.   Note:   This will not delete any files on the server volume. The Trash can is used for more than file deletion - it is also intended to be used to eject removable media such as floppy disks or CDs, and is therefore also used to "eject" (or disconnect) network drives.




• Reimage a Macintosh?
  
  NOTE: Locations of images will vary from school to school, as will methods used for reimaging. Each location/method is laid out below.
  
  Clear Creek and Tri-North:
  
  
  1. Boot from a bootable CD (see above), preferrably the gray "Software Install" CD that came with the newest iMacs.
  2. Once the Mac has booted, make sure that the AppleTalk control panel is set for Ethernet.
  3. Log into the server where the images are stored (see above). At Tri-North, the name is "Tech Server", and the disk you want is called "Mac Images". At Clear Creek, it's the building server ("Clear Creek Server"), and the images are in the same place as you'd find PC images.
  4. Find the icon for "Apple Software Restore", and double-click it. At Tri-North, it should be at the root level of the "Mac Images" volume. At Clear Creek, it's at the root level of the "Images" folder.
  5. When the program starts, click once to get past the splash screen. At the next screen, select the image you want to use from the list in the upper left hand corner.
  6. Make sure the drive you want to reimage is selected at the bottom of the window. If not, click the "Switch Disk" button until the correct drive is selected.
  7. Click the "Restore" button.
  8. After a moment, a confirmation dialog will appear, asking you if you really want to do this, and telling you that it will take X number of minutes. Click "OK". And the time estimate is always wrong, so you can ignore it.
  9. When the process has finished, you'll see a small dialog that tells you whether the reimage has succeeded or not. Click "OK" in either case.
  10. If the process succeeded, restart the Macintosh by selecting "Restart" from the "Special" menu.
  11. Upon restart, you should either see three control panels open, or be presented with a window explaining that the control panels will open, and what to do with them. In short:
      • Multiple Users: Turn it on.
      • File Sharing:Set a computer name using the MCCSC standard. Do not turn File Sharing on!
      • TCP/IP:Set the same name as you just did in File Sharing.
  12. Make sure that printing is set up as necessary for that location.
  
  
  Grandview:

  Grandview's image is on an external SCSI Hard Drive, stored in the Tech Office. The external drive is bootable. See the next question below this one for instructions on booting from an external disk.

  1. Make sure the Mac and the external drive are both turned off.
  2. Hook the drive up to the SCSI port of the Mac.
  3. Turn on the drive and let it spin up for 5 seconds or so.
  4. Turn on the Mac, and follow the instructions below for booting from something other than the internal Hard Drive, observing the stated precautions.
  5. Once the Mac has booted, open the external Hard Drive by double-clicking its icon. If the Mac is booted from it, it will be the top-most drive icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
  6. Find the icon for "Apple Software Restore", and double-click it to start the program.
  7. When the program starts, click once to get past the splash screen. At the next screen, select the image you want to use from the list in the upper left hand corner.
  8. Make sure the drive you want to reimage is selected at the bottom of the window. If not, click the "Switch Disk" button until the correct drive is selected.
  9. Click the "Restore" button.
  10. After a moment, a confirmation dialog will appear, asking you if you really want to do this, and telling you that it will take X number of minutes. Click "OK". And the time estimate is always wrong, so you can ignore it.
  11. When the process has finished, you'll see a small dialog that tells you whether the reimage has succeeded or not. Click "OK" in either case.
  12. If the process succeeded, shut down the Mac by selecting "Shut Down" from the "Special" menu.
  13. Once the Mac is off, turn off the SCSI drive and disconnect it.
  14. Turn the Mac back on.
  15. Upon restart, you should either see three control panels open, or be presented with a window explaining that the control panels will open, and what to do with them. In short:
      • Multiple Users: Turn it on.
      • File Sharing:Set a computer name using the MCCSC standard. Do not turn File Sharing on!
      • TCP/IP:Set the same name as you just did in File Sharing.
  16. Make sure that printing is set up as necessary for that location.



• Make a Macintosh start from a disk other than its internal hard drive?
  
  There are 2 ways:
  
  
  1. If the Mac is already running, make sure the other disk is mounted, and select it in the "Startup Disk" control panel. Restart.
  
      OR
  
  2. Hold down the Command, Shift, Option and Delete keys while the Mac is starting. This forces the Mac to ignore its hard drive and seek out any other bootable media. If you have more than one other bootable disk available, it may boot from one other than the one you intended. It usually goes in the order of LUN first, drive ID second. So if the IDE chain is LUN 0, it'll look there before looking at SCSI ID 0 since SCSI is in this case LUN 2.



• Make a program available to the Student or Teacher users under Multiple Users security?

  See Step 5 in the next question, which details making a new program available as part of the installation process.




• Install a program on an imaged Macintosh?
  
  
  1. Log in as "Sysop". If you don't know the password, check with Rick Schmelz.
  2. Read the installer instructions. This way you'll know how/when/if the program needs its serial number, if the Mac must be restarted, etc.
  3. Run the installer. If it allows you the option of selecting a location, the safest place to install a new program to assure that it works properly is inside the "*Other Applications" folder, which is inside the "Applications (Mac OS 9)" folder. If it doesn't allow you to choose the installation location, make sure to move the program folder into the "*Other Applications" folder after the installation process has finished.
  4. Test the program as the Sysop user.
  5. Once the program is installed and you know it runs as Sysop, it needs to be made available to the other users defined on that Macintosh under Multiple Users security.
     1. From the Apple Menu, select "Control Panels" --> "Multiple Users".
     2. Double-click the user for which you want to enable the program.
     3. In the lower left-hand corner, click the triangle next to "Show Setup Details".
     4. Click the "Applications" tab.
     5. Click the "Add Other" button.
     6. You'll be presented with a standard file selection dialog box. Navigate to the program you want to add, and double-click its icon.
     7. Close the user window.
     8. If necessary, repeat the procedure for the other defined users.
     9. Close the main Multiple Users window.
  6. Log out as Sysop by selecting "Logout" from the "Special" menu.
  7. Log in as whichever user you just enabled the program for.
  8. Test the program. Its icon should now be found in the "Item for USER" folder on the desktop, where USER is name of the current user.
  9. If it works, you're done. If not, try manually copying the main preferences file(s) into the individual user's Preferences folder.
     1. Log out, and log in as Sysop again.
     2. Open the Preferences folder, located inside the System Folder, located at the root of the hard drive. Find the preferences file(s) for the program you just installed/enabled.
     3. Copy the file(s) to the Desktop, by holding down the Option key as you drag the file(s).
     4. Close the Preferences folder and System folder. Open the "Users" folder at the root of the hard drive, then open the folder of the User for whom you're trying to make the program work.
     5. Locate and open the Preferences folder inside the User folder. Option-drag the Preference file(s) from the desktop into the user's Preferences folder.
     6. If the OS complains about having to overwrite files, tell it to go ahead.
     7. Repeat these steps for each user who needs access to the program.
     8. Delete the preferences files from the desktop by dragging them to the Trash.
     9. Log out as Sysop and log back in as the User you're testing for, and restest the program. If it works, you're done. If not, contact Rick Schmelz



• Rebuild the desktop file?
  
  NOTE: If Multiple Users Security or AtEase is turned on, this likely won't work. You'll need to turn off security temporarily.
  
  Hold down the Command and Option keys while the Mac is restarting. Keep holding them until you are asked if you really want to rebuild the desktop. Click "Yes" or "OK".




• Reset or 'Zap' the Parameter RAM (PRAM)?
  
  While the Mac is restarting, hold down the Command, Option, P and R keys on the keyboard. Hold them down until you hear the Mac's startup sound three times to make certain all of the PRAM settings have been reset to defaults.




• Start a Macintosh with all Control Panels, Extensions and Startup Items disabled?
  
  Hold down the Shift key while the Mac is starting, until you see the "Welcome to Macintosh. Extensions off." or "Welcome to Macintosh. Extensions disabled." dialog box appear.




• Start a Macintosh with certain Control Panels, Extensions and Startup Items disabled?
  
  While the Mac is starting, hold down the Space Bar until you see the Extensions Manager window appear. Un-check the Control Panels, Extensions, or Startup Items you want to disable. Click the close box in the upper left hand corner of the window to proceed with the boot process.




• Force A Macintosh to eject a floppy disk that never showed up on the desktop?
  
  There are 2 ways:
  
  
  1. Shove a straightened paper clip into the small hole beneath the floppy drive's access door.
  2. Restart the Mac, and hold down the mouse button until the floppy ejects.




• Forcibly retstart a Macintosh from the keyboard?
  
  Hold down the Command and Control keys, and tap the Power key.
  
  Not all Macs support this, and if the software is badly enough locked up, this might not work.




• Interrupt an operation the Macintosh is performing?
  
  Hold down the Command key and tap the Period key (.) This won't interrupt all operations or processes, but if it's one that can be, this will do it. Please note, this will not force a currently running application to quit. It might cause a quit if it interrupts an application's startup processes.




• Force-quit an application?
  
  Hold down the Command and Option keys, and tap the Escape key. A dialog box will appear, asking if you really want to do this. Click "Force Quit".
  
  A word of warning - this should be used as a last resort, as it sometimes causes the OS to freeze (depending on how badly locked the software was in the first place.) If it does work, you should save your work in all other open programs and Restart.




• Increase the amount of RAM allocated to a program?
  
  
  1. Make sure the program is not currently running.
  2. Click once on the program's icon to select it.
  3. From the "File" menu, select "Get Info".
  4. If you see a dopr down menu near the top of the window which says "General", click it and select "Memory". This is a feature in Mac OS 9. If you don't see that and the three memory fields are visible at the bottom of the window, skip to the next step.
  5. Double click in the "Preferred Size:" box to highlight the current setting.
  6. Type in the new setting. It's measured in Kilobytes, so 1 Megabyte would be 1000 K.
  7. Click the close box in the upper left corner to save the setting.




• Create an alias somewhere other than in the folder where the original file is located?
  
  Under OS 8.5.1 and later, hold down both the Command and Option keys, and drag the original file to the location in which you want to create the alias. This has the added advantage of not tacking the word "alias" on the end of the name of the alias file. This also works for any number of simultaneously selected files.
  
  Under older versions of the OS, the only thing I know to do is create the alias and then move it.




• Set up a networked Mac up to print to an HP Laser printer?
  
  Whether ot not it's possible will depend on a couple of things. Usually, it's not a problem with the more modern HPs.
  
  
  1. Make sure the printer is PostScript capable. By default, the LaserWriter drivers print in PS. To print using another language like PCL requires specialized drivers.
  
  
  
  2. Make certain that the printer or Jet Direct box is configured so that EtherTalk is enabled.
  
  
  Once you're certain of the above, follow these steps:
  
  
  1. From the Apple Menu (upper left corner of the screen, select "Chooser".
  
  
  
  2. On the left side of the Chooser window, you should see an icon labelled "LaserWriter" or "LaserWriter 8". Click once on that icon.
  
  
  
  3. A list of laser printers available on the network should appear on the right hand side of the Chooser window. If it doesn't, check the "AppleTalk" or "Network" control panel (Whichever one is installed) and make certain that "Ethernet" is selected.
  
  
  
  4. Double-click the name of the printer you want to use. The Mac should run through a setup process. If it asks you for a printer type, and you don't see the specific laserjet listed, use the generic postscript driver (either by selecting generic from the list, or clicking the "Generic" or "Use Generic" button).
  
  
  
  5. When the setup process is finished, close the Chooser.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Additions? Send them to rschmelz@mccsc.edu