How do you make file changes using DVD terminal?

[FreeOSX]

Today I ran a sudo nano on com.apple.Boot.plist in the SystemConfiguration folder and now I can not get past the Darmin screen where you can enter the boot options...All I changed was the screen res and platform...All seemed to cause not problems when entered from the darwin boot options. If I type -s or anything else, the screen does a quick refresh and the line to enter options is blank again. I can hold enter down enter and the screen keeps refreshing but I never can get past the darwin boot options screen. So, I figured I would boot into the DVD, run terminal from there and sudo nano com.apple.Boot.plist and remove the changes I made. Well, that is not so easy. I am not too sure how to change the terminal so it is working of the HDD instead of the DVD (mount /volume/mac). I tried the mount, I can see what is on my mac HDD, but I can not get into SystemConfiguration and I am not even sure if I will have permissions to do anything anyway. Sudo and nano come up as "command not found". Any help would be appreciated so I do not have to reinstall OSX again.

[hecker]

You need to enable read/write functionality for your HDD first, like this:

(boot in single user first)

mount -u -o rw / (remount your boot partition into read/write mode)

 

Now you can make changes and save the files normally.

 

hecker

[FreeOSX]

Thanks hecker,

 

At this moment, I am actually unsure even how to see what drives are attached to the system, id them, switch to the drive I need to make changes to, then set read and write permission. When I boot off the DVD using -s, it mounts the DVD (disk1s3). What commands do I type from there to see the the name of the HDD, mount or go into it, and then gain read and write access?

[hecker]

Ah, you're booting from the DVD.

You might want to try running your DiskUtils from the install DVD and mount your HDD from there.

After, you can open a terminal window and use the commands I gave you. I pulled this from the back of my head and I am sure there's a more elegant way to do this.

 

Gotta run to the supermarket now! I'll get back to you later.

 

hecker - On the run...

Edited February 26, 2007 by hecker

[FreeOSX]

Hello hecker,

 

I booted into the DVD, open disk utility and it show volume mac mounted, went in to terminal and typed "mount -u -o rw /" . I keep getting illegal option -- r. Is there more to type than "mount -u -o rw / "? I need to get into volumes/mac so I an edit the boot list. Also, how would I edit a text file? ...nano comes up as command not found if I type that at the prompt right now. I took a screen shot of where I am sitting right now.

 

[hecker]

I think the Disk Utility already makes the drive read/write enabled so It was probably wrong to tell you to use the mount command. Sorry for that.

Try modifying the file using the console app called "vi".

Using vi is a little cryptic though. You must enter ":" and a switch after that to access commands.

To input text type :, i (without the comma) and enter. To quit vi and save your settings type :, wq (write, quit) or w to just write.

 

If you want to learn about vi, type the following: man vi

 

hecker

 

PS: Write back if you encounter any problems or the disk is still not writable.

Edited February 26, 2007 by hecker

[FreeOSX]

Hello Hecker,

 

I am hitting the same dead ends I had yesterday. All I know to do in the terminal is cd /Volumes/mac. Then I ls it, and try to cd to where I need to go and that does not work. I need to get to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist I can cd into Library, but I can not go any further than that (Preferences - says it does not exist - see screens), so I assume it is because I do not have permissions to do so.

 

[hecker]

I need to get to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist I can cd into Library, but I can not go any further than that (Preferences - says it does not exist - see screens), so I assume it is because I do not have permissions to do so.

 

I noticed you are typing:

cd /Library

cd /Preferences

etc.

 

If what you want is to get to the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration, then you need to type the following:

cd /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

- or -

cd /Library

cd Preferences

cd SystemConfiguration

 

The / symbol represents the root directory of your drive, thus you cannot cd into /Preferences because there is no such folder in the root directory. You can cd to any location independently of where "you are" in the file structure (FYI: your current location can be revealed by typing the command pwd), so there is no need to type cd one time after another.

 

Just type cd followed by the target location and you're done.

 

hecker

 

PS: A little extra tip. If you press the TAB button after typing the first letters of a file/directory, osx will "auto-complete" the rest of the word for you. If there are more than one files that match your input then you will be presented with a list from where you can choose from.

As a side option, you can use the autocomplete function to guide you as you type your cd command and make sure you enter valid directories/files.

Try this:

type cd /Lib (press TAB) /Pref (press TAB) /Sys (press TAB)

Edited February 26, 2007 by hecker

[FreeOSX]

Hello hecker,

 

I want to thank you for the tips. The tab and a bitter under standing of the slash is a great help and got me to the folder I needed to be. The only major down fall right now is, I still have no way to use nano or vi to edit it. Is there anyway to do this using a flavor of linux, or some how coying a new bootlist over it. This has become way more complicated than I could have ever imagined just to make a simple change to a text file.

 

[hecker]

Try Vim, pico or ed instead of vi

I will look around to see if I find any other info for you.

There has to be an editor available with the install DVD though.

 

Here is a list with (all?) known osx commands:

http://www.ss64.com/osx/

 

hecker

 

 

Don't feel disencouraged. Some things gotta be learned the hard way, but trust me, it will be worth it

 

hecker

Edited February 26, 2007 by hecker

[FreeOSX]

Hello hecker,

 

Thanks for your help with this matter. I came to the conclusion that at the moment, starting over would be the easy and sure way to go. However, I think this is important for the community to know how to edit the boot files from the boot DVD terminal, since there are so many comments in these forums telling people to edit the test files. I think it is pretty sad that reinstalling was easier than simple editing one text file.

[hecker]

Did none of the editors work?

 

hecker

 

EDIT:

 

Ok, we were almost there

It happens that the editors are contained within a folder in /usr/bin and are not binded by the boot DVD into your environment, so we need to call them directly from the source. Like this:

 

Boot from your DVD and type the following in the terminal:

/Volumes/<yourOSXnameHere>/usr/bin/vi /<textfile>

(NOTICE THERE IS A SPACE BETWEEN THE WORD vi and /<textfile>)

 

Replace <yourOSXnameHere> with the name you gave your MacOSX partition (was it "mac"?) and replace <textfile> with whatever it is you want to edit, for example with the boot file which is in:

/Volumes/<yourOSXnameHere>/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.boot.plist

 

Here's a summary of what you need to do. I will assume your osx partition is called "mac":

-Boot DVD

-open terminal window

enter the following exactly as written below:

 

OPTIONAL STEP: Making a backup file of the target plist file:

cp /Volumes/mac/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.boot.plist /Volumes/mac/com.apple.boot.plist.backup

 

Calling VI and editing the file:

/Volumes/mac/usr/bin/vi /Volumes/mac/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.boot.plist

-modify your text (just type something)

-press escape button (esc)

-press ":"

-enter wq (to write and quit)

Done!

 

Tip: If you screw up and mess your text file, then press ":" followed by "q!". Say no if you are prompted to save the file. If everything goes wrong you will still have the backup (if you made one). To recover the backup enter the following:

rm /Volumes/mac/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.boot.plist
cp /Volumes/mac/com.apple.boot.plist.backup /Volumes/mac/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.boot.plist

Edited February 27, 2007 by hecker

[hecker]

(deleted by author)

 

hecker

Edited February 27, 2007 by hecker

[lord_muad_dib]

@hecker: you got confused a bit

the syntax is not correct at all and not needed in that case

 

when you boot the dvd the / is the dvd itself indeed, not the hdd

 

so there's no need to remount the /

 

automount should work so your hdd should be in /Volumes/yourhdiskname

 

so just cd to it and work from it

Edited February 27, 2007 by lord_muad_dib

[hecker]

@hecker: you got confused a bit

the syntax is not correct at all and not needed in that case

 

when you boot the dvd the / is the dvd itself indeed, not the hdd

 

so there's no need to remount the /

 

automount should work so your hdd should be in /Volumes/yourhdiskname

 

so just cd to it and work from it

 

Yes, of course. Thanks for pointing that out. I just used that because I did not do a thorough research and that is the only thing I found. I will correct the tutorial.

It would be nice though if people would come here to actually help and not just to correct. No harm intended.

 

hecker

Edited February 27, 2007 by hecker

[FreeOSX]

I want to thank every one for their time. I thought maybe the text editor might have to be called from another directory, so that hits it right on. OSX is working good at the moment, still very choppy and I can not get 1280x800 (I posted my laptop under the compaq r3000z topic here and even added it to the HCL Wiki to help others), but when I do try again, I am sure this will come in handy to fix any changes I make to the boot list. Thanks again for your help!!

 

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.ph...Presario_R3000Z