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Can't remote install Mac OS X Server - Snow Leopard 10.6 using Windows machine as DVD - Last Modified 2011-06-09 14:49 UTC - Created 2011-06-09 14:49 UTC

I have a Mac Mini that came with Snow Leopard 10.6. This Mac Mini doesn't include a DVD/CD drive. I wanted to configure it with RAID which requires booting from the install DVD.

According to the documentation for Mac OS X Snow Leopard you can using a Windows host's (or another Mac) DVD drive to remote install the OS again.

Turns out the documentation is not for Mac OS X Server but only the non-server edition. You can't use a Windows host to remote install the Server edition of Snow Leopard as the DVD contains no Windows files on it (I looked at it with ISOBuster to make sure).

I called Apple Enterprise support about this. Your best bet is to get a USB/Firewire DVD drive or use another Mac instead. Another option might be to boot from an 8GB+ USB thumb drive, but I haven't tried it.