I just wasted a couple hours with DropDMG who’s author should be credited with the worst documentation ever who seems ever. Apparently his thing is to affect a custom icon, not a background image. Attempting to apply diverse half baked how to’s never worked. This is ridiculous.
Is there any WORKING solution to assign a background image to a DMG ?
I found an announcement of FlashDMG from Dave S in the old forum, but I could not find it anywhere on his page. Dave, if you are here, do you still sell that ? I will gladly buy.
I saw you posted snippets, but frankly I rather buy an app than waste yet more time inferring things.
Good Morning Michel…
Let me dig in my archives and see where I left it.
If I recall it used a ton of AppleScript to do the actual work, and may NOT be COCOA ready…
We use DMGCanvas and have for years. Works well and works well from the command line so we have it automated. You create the DMG template and then you can call it from Xojo or AppWrapper.
Peter… yes that WAS it… do not download that version, I don’t recall what version that was.
Since it has been so long… Here it the most current version for FREE (last compiled on 03-Feb-2013)
If you use it, please test the dmg before deploying it, as things have changed in the OS in the past 3 years
to add an IMAGE background, create it as a PNG and drag it to the file window. It will ask if you want to add the image as a file or to use it as the background. Note Selecting the PICTURE option in the property box will NOT work until there is a picture there
Process:
Open the Preferences
Add your background image to the Layouts tab.
Add licence text to the licences tab.
On the configurations tab, click + to generate a new config.
Choose the licence and background you want to use, the encryption method etc.
Set a custom icon if you like.
Save
I only have one config so it is the default.
I build the dmg by ctrl-clicking the app, and send to DropDMG with default configuration.
Btw, you should try contacting the developer (Michael Tsai dropdmg@c-command.com) if you are running into problems. He is a very responsive and kind person.
What is the trouble not using the Finder to set the dmg root folder background image ?
I created a brand new dmg with Disk Utilities (Disk Utils ?), open the root, copy an image there, set that image as the background image, eject the DMG, mount the DMG and the background image is here.
[quote=271919:@Emile Schwarz]What is the trouble not using the Finder to set the dmg root folder background image ?
I created a brand new dmg with Disk Utilities (Disk Utils ?), open the root, copy an image there, set that image as the background image, eject the DMG, mount the DMG and the background image is here.
(then I ejected the dmg and trashed it).[/quote]
There’s nothing wrong with that, but tools like DMGCanvas make it easier to also position the icons exactly where you want them without a lot of extra code.
They also support Retina fwiw, so making it so the OS shows the correct background is a snap.