by Graham Pugh

WARNING. This is a self-destruct script. Do not try it out on your own device!

erase-install.sh is a script to erase a Mac directly from the system volume, utilising the eraseinstall option of startosinstall, which is built into macOS installer applications since version 10.13.4.

The erase-install.sh script can be downloaded directly from GitHub. If run as a standalone script, it will download installinstallmacos.py if required for the workflow.

You can also run the script directly from GitHub using the following command from Terminal or with a remote management tool that allows script execution. The sudo command can be left off if executing from root prompt or through remote management tool that executes commands with root privilage.

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grahampugh/erase-install/master/erase-install.sh | sudo bash /dev/stdin <arguments>

Alternatively, a (signed) package is available which already contains installinstallmacos.py, avoiding the need to download it during script operation. See Releases.

You can make your own version of this package by cloning this repo, plus the grahampugh/macadmins-scripts and MunkiPkg and running the make command.

If run without any options, the script will not perform the erase. This means that the script can also be used to pre-cache the installer, or simply to make it available for the user.

So, if run without any options, the script will do the following:

1. Check if an installer is already present in the working directory of this script from a previous run.
2. If not, check if an existing macOS installer is present in the /Applications folder. If present, checks that it isn't older than the current installed version.
3. If no valid installer is found, a forked version of installinstallmacos.py is downloaded (if not previously downloaded or installed in the working directory). This is used to download the current macOS installer that is valid for this device (determined by Board ID and Model Identifier). The installer is compressed and placed in a .dmg in the working directory.

For more information on the forked version of installinstallmacos.py, see grahampugh/macadmin-scripts

There are a number of options that can be specified to automate this script further:

1. --erase runs the startosinstall command with the --eraseinstall option to wipe the device. The parameter --confirm can be added to present the user with a confirmation dialog which must be accepted to perform the erase process.
2. --reinstall runs the startosinstall command to reinstall the system OS on the device (without erasing the drive). Use this for upgrade/reinstall without losing data.
3. --move moved the macOS installer to /Applications or to a specified path if it isn't already there.
4. --overwrite deletes any existing downloaded installer and re-downloads it.
5. --update downloads an installer only if it is newer than the cached one.
6. --replace_invalid downloads an installer only if the cached one is invalid for use on this system (usually because the version of the cached installer is older than the current system)

If the --erase or --reinstall options are used, and additional packages are placed in the folder specified by the variable extra_installs, which can be overridden with the --extras argument, these packages will be installed as part of the erase-/re-install process. These packages must be signed.

For macOS 10.15 Catalina or greater, experimental support is added for softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer. This new functionality can be used to replace the use of installinstallmacos.py using the --fetch-full-installer option. It will set the seed catalog supplied with the --seedprogram argument, using macOS's built in seedutil command. The --fetch-full-installer option can be used in conjunction with the --overwrite, --reinstall, and --erase options.

For macOS 11 Big Sur or greater, experimental support is added for downloading a macOS Installer pkg. This is taken from Armin Briegel's adaptation of installinstallmacos.py at scriptingosx/fetch-installer-pkg. Use the --pkg option to download a package. This can be used in conjunction with --move (will extract the package so that you end up with an Installer application in /Applications), --erase and reinstall.

In the event that the installinstallmacos.py script that's downloaded via this script isn't working or is out of date, using the option --force-curl will force a redownload when erase-install runs.

• Run the script with argument --help to show the available options, then stop.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --help

• Run the script with argument --list to check the available installers. This will download installinstallmacos.py and list the available updates, then stop.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --list

• Run the script with no arguments to download the latest production installer. By default, this is stored in a DMG in the working directory of the installinstallmacos.py script. If an existing installer is found locally on the disk (either in the default location, or in /Applications), and it is a valid installer (>10.13.4), it will not download it again.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh

• Run the script with argument --overwrite to remove any existing macOS installer found in /Applications or the working directory, and download the latest production installer. By default, this is stored in a DMG in the working directory of the installinstallmacos.py script.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --overwrite

• Run the script with argument --replace_invalid to remove any existing macOS installer found in /Applications or the working directory that is older than the current system, and download the latest production installer. By default, this is stored in a DMG in the working directory of the installinstallmacos.py script.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --replace_invalid

• Run the script with argument --update to remove any existing macOS installer found in /Applications and download the latest production installer, but only if the latest poduction installer is newer than the cached one. By default, this is stored in a DMG in the working directory of the installinstallmacos.py script.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --update

• Run the script with argument --samebuild to check for the installer which matches the current system macOS build (using sw_vers), rather than the latest production installer. This allows the reinstallation of a forked or beta version that is already installed on the system volume.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --samebuild

• Run the script with argument --sameos to check for the installer which matches the currently installed macOS major version. This basically filters by version, and looks for the latest build matching the version. Useful if you want to avoid upgrading during erase-install, but don't want to have to specify a particular OS.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --sameos

• Run the script with argument --os=10.14 to check for the installer which matches the specified macOS major version. This basically filters by version, and looks for the latest build matching the version. Useful during Golden Master periods. Note that for macOS 11+, --os=11 is treated as the major version rather than 10.x.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --os=10.14

• Run the script with argument --version=10.14.3 to check for the installer which matches the specified macOS point version. This basically filters by version, and looks for the lowest build matching the version.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --version=10.14.3

• Run the script with argument --build=XYZ123 to check for the installer which matches the specified build ID, rather than the latest production installer or the same build. Note that it will only work if the build is compatible with the device on which you are running the script.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --build=XYZ123

• Run the script with argument --move to move the downloaded installer to the /Applications folder. Note that this argument does not apply in conjunction with the --erase or f flags.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --move

• Run the script with arguments --move and --path=/some/path to move the downloaded installer to the specified folder. Note that this argument does not apply in conjunction with the --erase flag.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --move --path=/path/to/move/to

• Run with --erase argument to check and download the installer as required and then run it to wipe the drive. Can be used in conjunction with the --os, --version, --build, --sameos, --samebuild, --overwrite, --replace_invalid and --update flags.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --erase

• If the --erase option is used, and additional packages are placed in the folder specified by the variable extra_installs, these packages will be as part of the erase-install process. These packages must be signed. The path to these packages can be overridden with the --extras argument.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --erase --extras=/path/containing/extra/packages

• If both the --erase and --confirm options are used, a Jamf Helper window is displayed and the user is prompted to confirm erasure prior to taking any action. If the user chooses to cancel, the script will exit.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --erase --confirm

• Run with --reinstall argument to check and download the installer as required and then run it to reinstall macOS on the system volume. Can be used in conjunction with the --os, --version, --build, --sameos, --samebuild, --overwrite, --replace_invalid and --update flags.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --reinstall

• If the --reinstall option is used, and additional packages are placed in the folder specified by the variable extra_installs, these packages will be as part of the reinstall process. These packages must be signed. The path to these packages can be overridden with the --extras argument.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --reinstall --extras=/path/containing/extra/packages

-- If the --check-power option is used, the script will check if the computer is connected to AC power. If it isn't, it will wait for a default of 60 seconds for power to be added, and otherwise fail. The default time to wait can be altered by setting the --power-wait-limit option, e.g. --power-wait-limit 180 for 3 minutes.

• Run the script with the --fetch-full-installer argument to download the latest production installer using softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer. This downloads the current latest installer to /Applications (the --move option does not function here). If an existing installer is found locally on the disk (either in the default location, or in /Applications), and it is a valid installer (>10.13.4), it will not download it again. Can be used in conjunction with the --version=10.X.Y, --reinstall and --erase arguments.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --fetch-full-installer

• Run the script with the --pkg argument to download the latest production installer as a package. This downloads the current latest installer as a package in the working directory. If an existing installer or package is found locally on the disk (either in the default location, or in /Applications), and it is a valid installer (>10.13.4), it will not download it again. Can be used in conjunction with the --version=11.X.Y, --reinstall and --erase arguments.

  sudo bash erase-install.sh --pkg

• macOS 10.13.4+ is already installed on the device
• Device file system is APFS

Note that downloading the installer does not require 10.13.4 or APFS, it is just the startosinstall --eraseinstall command that requires it.

To run this script in Jamf Pro, upload the script, and then create a policy to run it. In the script parameters of the Policy, add the desired options, including the --.

For example, to create a policy named Erase and Reinstall macOS which is scoped models of Mac that can run the latest standard build, set parameters as follows:

• Parameter 4: --erase

If you need a particular fork, create a policy scoped to the devices that require the forked build, and set parameters as follows:

• Parameter 4: --erase
• Parameter 5: --build=18A389

If you want to pre-cache the installer in /Applications for use by another policy, make a policy named Download macOS Installer and set parameters as follows:

• Parameter 4: --move
• Parameter 5: --overwrite to replace any cached installer, or --update to only replace any cached installer if a newer one is available, or --replace_invalid to only update a cached installer if it is no longer valid on this system.

If you want to upgrade to macOS 10.14 while 10.13 installers are still available in the catalog, add this additional flag:

• Parameter 6: --os=10.14

Or if you need to specify a particular point release version (say if more than one is available in the catalogue), add this additional flag:

• Parameter 6: --version=10.14.3

Once the installer is in place in /Applications folder, you can create another policy using the same script to perform an in-place upgrade using the --reinstall option, without erasing the system.

erase-install.sh allows you to specify values to command line options in two ways, either with a space or with an equals sign, e.g. --version 10.14.3 or --version=10.14.3. If using Script Parameters in Jamf Pro, please ensure you use the equals sign, e.g. --version=10.14.3.