MacOS – How to make a .dmg file

Digging around on Apple Discussions, I found this hint for this problem:

In Terminal.app, execute (all on one line, no carriage return) (does not require sudo)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

A successful run produces no output.

After doing that on my machine (OS X 10.8.2 12C60), the expected behavior for read-only .dmg's momentarily occurs, i.e. when opening .dmg's from Firefox or from the Downloads folder on the Dock, after accepting the license agreement (if one is present,) the Finder window for the .dmg pops to the foreground.

BUT, this desirable behavior only seems to last a matter of seconds before the old behavior (opening under other windows) recurs. Not sure what to make of it. Probably some conflict going on within LaunchServices, either an Apple bug, or maybe interference from some other application.

In my case, I have a lot of third party file-system and UI tools such as PathFinder, DefaultFolderX, KeyboardMaestroX, etc, maybe one of these is to blame.

The simplest way is to just use the ⌥⌘S shortcut to show the Finder sidebar (which has the Applications folder by default), and drag the app there. You can then use the same shortcut to hide it if you prefer.

If you wanted a unique shortcut for copying a file to the Applications folder, you could make a simple service using Automator:

1. Open Automator, and create a new workflow, as a Service.
2. Set the options to Service receives selected files or folders in Finder.
3. Add a Copy Finder Items action, and set the destination to the Applications folder.
4. Save the service, and give it an appropriate name.
5. Open Keyboard Preferences, select Services under Keyboard Shortcuts. Find the service you just created, and assign it a shortcut of your choice.

If you wanted to get fancy, you could expand the service to automatically eject the disk image afterwards, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader.