Installing from USB flash/key/thumb drive...using Windows only tools Options

[Gruffy]

Hi there!

This is a small copy & paste from a post I did at the Aspire One forum for how one can create a USB flash drive to contain the OSX installation DVD. Using this method I have installed OSX on the Acer Aspire One without the need for a USB connected DVD. This will most likely work on other machines that can boot from USB and I wanted to share it here. Maybe you have some kind of guide like this before, but I have spent many hours on "search" and "google" until I found a complete step by step guide. This method is done without the need to have access to any OSX computer.

All in all what you need do is:
- Create a MBR on the USB drive
- Copy the ISO to the USB drive
- Change the "ID" of the USB drive-partition to "AF"

There are several steps you need to execute, and keep extreme caution to the ordering of the steps to fully make this work. I.e. follow the numbered sequence...


Step 1:
Make sure you have all that is needed..
- One Vista (or possibly XP) computer...but I have only tested on Vista.
- One ISO of OSX, in my case I used the "iAtkos v5i"
- USB Flash drive LARGER than the intended OSX-ISO you are using. In my case a 4GB was enough for "iAtkos v5i".
- Download the "Leopard hd install helper v0.3". Google is your friend here... Possibly it exists on these forums also?
- Download "unetbootin-windows-282.exe"...google is your best pal yet again...

Step 2:
Format your USB Flash to FAT32 in Vista. I.e. right-click and format.

Step 3:
Start unetbootin and select "Distribution" to "FreeDOS", version "1.0". Make sure to select your newly formated flash drive, in my case "G:". Hit "OK" to have unetbootin do its thing.
This step is purely done to have a "Mater Boot Record" to be written on your USB drive...

Step 4:
Using Vista explorer, delete all files from your drive, in my case "G:".
Doing this will remove the "FreeDOS" files, but keeping the MBR...which is what we want.

Step 5:
Use the "ddmac.exe" in the "Leopard hd install helper v0.3" tool to "copy all iso stuff" to the new drive. This tool is not in English and a little buggy...but keep "clicking & selecting" until you get the "Start" button to be enabled and you have the correct disk selected.

The following text is taken from an MSI Wind blog (http://blog.binaryfactory.ca/2008/12/insta...om-a-usb-stick/):

In the first field, browse to your previously downloaded OS X Iso.

Select the USB drive as the destination. You will get a warning about the driver, ignore it.

In my case, I unchecked boot.ini – you would leave it if you were running the tool directly on the Wind to install from another partition.

Leave the other checkboxes checked, then click Start (the only button).

Sometimes, start is grayed out. Browse to the ISO, check and uncheck a bunch of stuff and it usually becomes available. Browsing to the ISO, unchecking the "write" box (between the destination pull-down menu and the start button'), choosing the destination and checking Write again seems to be a good combination most of the time.

Once you click start, it will take around 10 minutes, and the progress bar isn't a big help. It helps if your USB Stick has a LED, because the app does not take much CPU and you could think it has died. Be patient, grab a cup of coffee..

Step 6:
When the ddmac.exe has done its thing...now start a command prompt from Vista and start the "diskpart.exe":
- Execute a "list disk" to find your USB drive, then select it with "select disk 2" where "2" was my USB drive...make sure this is correct for your case!
- Then do a "select partition 1" to select the first (and only!) partition on this disk.
- Then do the magic stuff: "set id=af" to make it have correct ID (else it will not work...)
Exit "diskpart" with an "exit".
This step is done to change the partition id to "AF" which is needed for the USB drive to actually boot.

Step 7:
No insert your USB into your computer and reboot it. Make sure to enable booting from USB in your BIOS (or by holding a key like F12 etc down). This step is different depending on the machine you are booting from and hence you need to find out how this works for you.

Have fun and hope it works for you as well!

/Gruffy

[dltv]

Can you post the link to the Aspire One forums.. I would like to see the feedback on this post?

I just purchased a Dell Mini 9 and will be installing OSX. I too do not have a DVD rom drive or another Mac pc to use. I plan to use my Vista Desktop to assist me in my adventures.


I plan to get OSX running and then will purchase a copy of OSX Leopard.



What I do not understand is why the need for all of these tools.

If i am not mistaken diskpart will create a MBR on a usb flash drive...

I am wanting to bet that this may work.
From a Windows XP / Vista PC prepare your USB key so the mini-9 will recognize it and boot whatever is installed on it.

To do this you have to follow the following steps:

On a desktop machine with a DVD Rom drive put in your copy of Windows Vista or in my case Mount a Virtual drive with daemon tools of OSX Leopard

Do a Start --> Run --> CMD
At the command prompt type:
"diskpart" (I think this will work to create the USB MBR)
"list disk" (see if your disk is listed)
"select disk 1" (assuming this is your usb key it could be disk 0 etc)
"clean"
"create partition primary"
"select partition 1"
"active"
"format fs=fat32"
"assign"
"exit"

Now we need to copy the DMG contents to the USB drive Now that the MBR has been setup.

I assume d: DVDROM drive e: is the usb drive

Now xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\
When that is done simply reboot your mini-9, select 0 for boot options and select USB, your computer will boot and load from the USB key much faster than a DVDROM

Hi there!

This is a small copy & paste from a post I did at the Aspire One forum for how one can create a USB flash drive to contain the OSX installation DVD. Using this method I have installed OSX on the Acer Aspire One without the need for a USB connected DVD. This will most likely work on other machines that can boot from USB and I wanted to share it here. Maybe you have some kind of guide like this before, but I have spent many hours on "search" and "google" until I found a complete step by step guide. This method is done without the need to have access to any OSX computer.

All in all what you need do is:
- Create a MBR on the USB drive
- Copy the ISO to the USB drive
- Change the "ID" of the USB drive-partition to "AF"

There are several steps you need to execute, and keep extreme caution to the ordering of the steps to fully make this work. I.e. follow the numbered sequence...


Step 1:
Make sure you have all that is needed..
- One Vista (or possibly XP) computer...but I have only tested on Vista.
- One ISO of OSX, in my case I used the "iAtkos v5i"
- USB Flash drive LARGER than the intended OSX-ISO you are using. In my case a 4GB was enough for "iAtkos v5i".
- Download the "Leopard hd install helper v0.3". Google is your friend here... Possibly it exists on these forums also?
- Download "unetbootin-windows-282.exe"...google is your best pal yet again...

Step 2:
Format your USB Flash to FAT32 in Vista. I.e. right-click and format.

Step 3:
Start unetbootin and select "Distribution" to "FreeDOS", version "1.0". Make sure to select your newly formated flash drive, in my case "G:". Hit "OK" to have unetbootin do its thing.
This step is purely done to have a "Mater Boot Record" to be written on your USB drive...

Step 4:
Using Vista explorer, delete all files from your drive, in my case "G:".
Doing this will remove the "FreeDOS" files, but keeping the MBR...which is what we want.

Step 5:
Use the "ddmac.exe" in the "Leopard hd install helper v0.3" tool to "copy all iso stuff" to the new drive. This tool is not in English and a little buggy...but keep "clicking & selecting" until you get the "Start" button to be enabled and you have the correct disk selected.

The following text is taken from an MSI Wind blog (http://blog.binaryfactory.ca/2008/12/insta...om-a-usb-stick/):


Step 6:
When the ddmac.exe has done its thing...now start a command prompt from Vista and start the "diskpart.exe":
- Execute a "list disk" to find your USB drive, then select it with "select disk 2" where "2" was my USB drive...make sure this is correct for your case!
- Then do a "select partition 1" to select the first (and only!) partition on this disk.
- Then do the magic stuff: "set id=af" to make it have correct ID (else it will not work...)
Exit "diskpart" with an "exit".
This step is done to change the partition id to "AF" which is needed for the USB drive to actually boot.

Step 7:
No insert your USB into your computer and reboot it. Make sure to enable booting from USB in your BIOS (or by holding a key like F12 etc down). This step is different depending on the machine you are booting from and hence you need to find out how this works for you.

Have fun and hope it works for you as well!

/Gruffy