Imaging Error when installing OS update on top of same OS?

[duffcalifornia]

So, my team is using Imaging to image laptops that will be given to students for personal use and for personal property. We are trying to get our image in a way that satisfies all stakeholders, and I'm running into an error that I'm hoping somebody has seen and can verify.

The machines shipped with 10.12.3, so we included the 10.12.4 update into the image. Finish the image, turn the machine on, get the "Imaging is finishing installing software" screen, then it goes to setup assistant as expected. Find something somebody doesn't like, tweak the image a bit, wipe the machine, reinstall the OS via Recovery Partition (which we learned puts the last installed OS on), image, and the outcome is different: rather than the Imaging screen appearing, then going to setup assistant, setup assistant starts and then the Imaging screen appears after account creation which absolutely won't work.

Are we experiencing this because we're trying to update to the OS that's already on the machine? Or some other reason?

[psliequ]

Could you describe step by step how image tweaking is performed? What tools do you use to make the final image and deploy it? Are you using an imaging configuration to apply 10.12.4 or is it a monolithic image with the update pre-installed?

[duffcalifornia]

@psliequ So, we're using imaging. We've built a configuration that includes the following:

• Firefox
• Chrome
• Reader
• VLC
• Free antivirus
• Office 365
• macOS 10.12.4 update from Apple

The process is: Image machine with imaging, somebody (team or stakeholders) doesn't like how the process works - let's say the AV doesn't activate. Boot to recovery partition, erase partition, reinstall OS from recovery partition. Make necessary change to configuration, re-image using Imaging.

The first time we do that process on a machine, the "Imaging is finishing installing software" screen appears as soon as you turn the machine on, which is our desired result because we tell imaging to run Setup Assistant and then the owner of the machine gets it and it's like it's fresh out of the box. On subsequent imaging runs, the Imaging screen appears after an account is created, which is not acceptable.

I think this is because contrary to what I thought, installing the OS from the recovery partition places the last OS that was installed on the machine back on there, which means I'm trying to install the 10.12.4 update on top of 10.12.4. I was hoping somebody could confirm.

[psliequ]

Gotcha. It's possible. Recovery changed a bit with 10.12.4. See this for reference.

[duffcalifornia]

@psliequ Did a confirmation test: Imaged a machine that has 11.5 on it with the complete configuration including the OS update; everything went fine. Put it back in target mode, installed just the 12.4 update via Imaging, got the error.

TL;DR: Imaging an OS version on top of itself causes odd (but not fatal) imaging behavior.