LisaList2
General Category => LisaList2 => MacWorks Plus II => Topic started by: bmwcyclist on October 03, 2025, 09:19:59 pm
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How to make an Apple Profile Emulator (ESProfile) Volume.
Video Version:
https://youtu.be/eMKSRDPwqc4 (https://youtu.be/eMKSRDPwqc4)
Details:
Instructions for creating a BLANK profile.image file.
If you want a larger volume to use with your Apple Lisa profile/widget emulator such as the ESProfile, Pocket Beagle, Cameo/Aphid or ArduinoFile or similar these steps should assist you.
Credit: Sigma7, Ried and AlexTheCat
What you will need:
Lisa Computer able to run MacWorks II+
ESProfile
SD card (high speed FAT32)
MacWorks II+ install floppy image (or actual floppy)
Step 1
Create a raw file that will be used to create the disk image.
Images SHOULD be able to be created as large as 4GB but I have not and likely will not verify that.
If you want an image that will work with older versions of MacWorks 40mb might be the limit.
On a Windows machine from CMD (for a 100mb image to drive F:)
C:\Users\Tim>fsutil file createnew f:\profile.image 103914496
Or if you are NOT making an image larger than 100meg you can use the online file generator:
https://pinetools.com/random-file-generator
Use 103914496 as the BYTES size
If you wish to make an image larger than 100mg use the following method to determine the number of bytes for the image:
eg. say you want a 100 MB drive = a logical size about 100,000,000.
Dividing by 512, that makes 195312.5 logical sectors.
Dividing by 256 (to make a 'round' number) that's 762.9395 groups of 256 blocks. Rounding up to 763 groups of 256 we have 195328 blocks.
Multiplying by 532 bytes per block makes the raw file size 103914496 bytes
Step 2
Copy the raw file to your SD card making sure it is named profile.image
Step 3
Insert the SD card into your ESProfile and make sure the GREEN LED is on when the ESProfile is powered up.
Step 4
If you can boot to MacWorks II+ from another drive do so then mount the MacWorks II+ installer boot disk.
Alternatively, boot directly from the MacWorks II+ floppy.
Step 5
Run the MW+II install program (I used version 2.5.0)
Step 6
At this point you SHOULD get a menu allowing you to select the ESProfile that has the raw profile.image file on it.
Follow the steps to initialize your drive file. For a 100mb file it took my external ESProfile about 40 minutes to get through the “(this will take a few minutes)” screen. I read that the internal ESProfile cards might be faster but I have yet to verify this.
After the “(this will take a few minutes)” screen you will be prompted to install MW+II on the drive image and in a few minutes you should get a success message. When I used a file of the incorrect size for a profile it made it this far and then gave an error.
If you do NOT get the options from the MacWorks utility to select your ESProfile drive try booting off of a MacWorks+II floppy image if you have not already done so.
As a work around you can boot the Lisa with a premade profile.image file in the ESProfile then switch the DS card out for the one with the raw profile.image file and press the reset buttion on the ESProfile and make sure the LED goes solid GREEN.
Step 7
You should now have a new formatted profile.image file.
I recommend making a few copies so you don’t have to go through this again. Don’t forget that if you intend to boot from this file you will need to install a good working System Folder and make sure the folder is “blessed” (showing the correct System Folder Icon).