To avoid getting a ‘Installation Failed’ message, you need to change the date before installing :
date {month}{day}{hour}{minute}{year}
Set the Mac’s date to a date right around the time of release of the OS, e.g.
10.7 : Mac OS X Lion was released on July 20, 2011.
10.8 : OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012.
10.9 : OS X Mavericks was released on October 22, 2013.
10.10 : OS X Yosemite was released on October 16, 2014.
10.11 : OS X El Capitan was released on September 30, 2015.
10.12 : macOS Sierra was released on September 20, 2016.
10.13 : macOS High Sierra was released on September 25, 2017.
10.14 : macOS Mojave was released on September 24, 2018.
10.15 : macOS Catalina was released on October 7, 2019.
11 : macOS Big Sur was released November 12, 2020.
12 : macOS Monterey was released on October 25, 2021.
When creating an Intel install media on an ARM-based Mac, the OS expects the createinstallmedia executable to be signed before running, but the Apple-made program isn’t. You’ll encounter a zsh : killed. error otherwise. Sign the program with the following :
On OSX, the native ssh-add client has a special argument to save the private key’s passphrase in the OSX keychain, which means that your normal login will unlock it for use with ssh. On OSX Sierra and later, you also need to configure SSH to always use the keychain (see Step 2 below).
Alternatively you can use a key without a passphrase, but if you prefer the security that’s certainly acceptable with this workflow.
Step 1 – Store the key in the keychain
Just do this once:
ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/[your-private-key]
Enter your key passphrase, and you won’t be asked for it again.
(If you’re on a pre-Sierra version of OS X, you’re done, Step 2 is not required. In versions of macOS before Monterey, use --apple-use-keychain instead of -K)
Step 2 – Configure SSH to always use the keychain
It seems that OSX Sierra removed the convenient behavior of persisting your keys between logins, and the update to ssh no longer uses the keychain by default. Because of this, you will get prompted to enter the passphrase for a key after you upgrade, and again after each restart.
The solution is fairly simple, and is outlined in this github thread comment. Here’s how you set it up:
Ensure you’ve completed Step 1 above to store the key in the keychain.
If you haven’t already, create an ~/.ssh/config file. In other words, in the .ssh directory in your home dir, make a file called config.
In that .ssh/config file, add the following lines:
Change ~/.ssh/id_rsa to the actual filename of your private key. If you have other private keys in your ~.ssh directory, also add an IdentityFile line for each of them. For example, I have one additional line that reads IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 for a 2nd private key.
The UseKeychain yes is the key part, which tells SSH to look in your OSX keychain for the key passphrase.
That’s it! Next time you load any ssh connection, it will try the private keys you’ve specified, and it will look for their passphrase in the OSX keychain. No passphrase typing required.
One thing that can be problematic when working with any shared storage is the existence of .DS_Store files on the network share, since these are intended for a single workstation’s use.
Enabling a policy to prevent the creation of .DS_Store files on network shares can speed up directory browsing (as described in this article) and prevent permission errors when moving/deleting files.
To prevent the Mac workstation from creating .DS_Store files on network shares, as well as instruct it to ignore existing .DS_Stores, open Terminal and enter:
When working on network drives with Mac OS X every Mac user will by default create .DS_Store files. Those files are used by OS X to store custom attributes like icon positions. For more info on .DS_Store files read this article.
To prevent those files from being created:
Open up the Terminal
Run the following command defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
Restart your Mac or log out and back in.
Those .DS_Store files will now only be created on local volumes any you no longer have Windows users yelling at you about them. đ
With macOS Catalina, Apple is now using Zsh as the default shell. We love Zsh, but the trusty old Bash shell is still included with macOS, and you can quickly switch back to Bash if you prefer.
Zsh is only the default shell on newly created user accounts, so any existing accounts you have on an upgraded Mac will still use Bash by default unless you change it. Each user account has its own default shell preference.
From the Terminal
To change a user accountâs default shell on macOS, simply run the chsh -s (change shell) command in a Terminal window.
Change the default shell to Bash by running the following command:
chsh -s /bin/bash
Youâll have to enter your user accountâs password. Finally, close the Terminal window and reopen it. Youâll be using Bash instead of Zsh.
Change the default shell back to Zsh by running this command:
chsh -s /bin/zsh
Enter your password when prompted. After you close the terminal window and reopen it, youâll be using Zsh.
You can see a list of included shells you can select by running the following command:
cat /etc/shells
From System Preferences
You can also change this option graphically from System Preferences if you prefer.
Head to System Preferences > Users & Groups on your Mac. Click the lock icon and enter your password. Hold the Ctrl key, click your user accountâs name in the left pane, and select âAdvanced Options.â
Click the âLogin Shellâ dropdown box and select â/bin/bashâ to use Bash as your default shell or â/bin/zshâ to use Zsh as your default shell. Click âOKâ to save your changes.
Bash on macOS Is Still Outdated
Note that the version of Bash (Bourne Again SHell) included with macOS is still pretty outdated, however. If you run bash --version , youâll see that Catalina includes Bash 3.2.57 when Bash 5.0 is the latest version. Newer versions are licensed under the GPLv3 license, while Apple still distributes a version licensed under GPLv2.
In contrast, the version of Zsh (Z shell) included with macOS (check with zsh --version ), is Zsh 5.7.2, which is the latest version at the time of Catalinaâs release.
On OSX, the native ssh-add client has a special argument to save the private key’s passphrase in the OSX keychain, which means that your normal login will unlock it for use with ssh. On OSX Sierra and later, you also need to configure SSH to always use the keychain (see Step 2 below).
Alternatively you can use a key without a passphrase, but if you prefer the security that’s certainly acceptable with this workflow.
Step 1 – Store the key in the keychain
Just do this once:
ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/[your-private-key]
Enter your key passphrase, and you won’t be asked for it again.
(If you’re on a pre-Sierra version of OSX, you’re done, Step 2 is not required.)
Step 2 – Configure SSH to always use the keychain
It seems that OSX Sierra removed the convenient behavior of persisting your keys between logins, and the update to ssh no longer uses the keychain by default. Because of this, you will get prompted to enter the passphrase for a key after you upgrade, and again after each restart.
Ensure you’ve completed Step 1 above to store the key in the keychain.
If you haven’t already, create an ~/.ssh/config file. In other words, in the .ssh directory in your home dir, make a file called config.
In that .ssh/config file, add the following lines: Host * UseKeychain yes AddKeysToAgent yes IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa Change ~/.ssh/id_rsa to the actual filename of your private key. If you have other private keys in your ~.ssh directory, also add an IdentityFile line for each of them. For example, I have one additional line that reads IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 for a 2nd private key. The UseKeychain yes is the key part, which tells SSH to look in your OSX keychain for the key passphrase.
That’s it! Next time you load any ssh connection, it will try the private keys you’ve specified, and it will look for their passphrase in the OSX keychain. No passphrase typing required.
When you take a screenshot with Mojave or Catalina using Command+Shift+3, 4 or 5, you get a thumbnail of the image in the lower right corner for a few seconds.
This can be handy if you want to access the image by clicking it, without needing to find the file.
But if youâd rather not have the thumbnail, you can turn it off.
Use Command+Shift+5 and then click on the Options button that appears in the controls.
