Providing OS X Upgrades via Casper’s Self Service

To help the folks in my shop keep their Macs updated to the latest version of OS X, I’ve been providing a Self Service-driven OS upgrade option via Casper for the past couple of years. For a high-level overview, here’s how the process looks for El Capitan from my folks’ perspective.

1. Launch Casper’s Self Service application.

2. Locate the El Capitan Upgrade option

3. Click on the Install OS X button.

4. In the next window that pops up, they’re given important information about the OS upgrade and need to click again on the Install OS X button.

If their Mac does not have sufficient free space available available on their boot drive, they receive a warning message and the upgrade process stops at this point.

If their Mac’s boot drive has sufficient free space available, they receive a message that OS X 10.11.x is downloading and preparing for installation. Once all preparations are complete, their Mac will automatically reboot to begin the installation process.

5. Once the Mac reboots, the OS upgrade process runs. Once completed, the Mac reboots.

6. Following the reboot, an automated post-upgrade process runs. This process will update the Mac with all available Apple updates along with applying my shop’s preferred settings for the new version of OS X.

Note: This process may involve several reboots, depending on what Apple updates are needed. Once the post-upgrade process completes, the Mac will reboot again.

7. Following the reboot, the Mac will boot to the login window. At this point, the OS upgrade process has been completed and it is OK to log in and begin working again.

To see how I’ve set up this workflow using Casper and other tools, please see below the jump.