51 replies to this topic

[Dr. Hurt]

Problem:
After installing Windows 7, Chameleon disappeared and only Windows 7 is booting.

Cause of the problem:
Windows 7 installer deletes Chameleon's boot0 from the MBR and sets the windows Partition active.
Old Chameleon installers (using os x fdisk) erases the NT disk signature from the MBR breaking windows bootloader.

EDIT: I have made a Windows friendly installer for RC5 that makes this much easier. Just boot OS X using boot cd, reinstall Chameleon using new installer, restart and you should have Windows and OS X dual-booting. Easy as that.
http://www.insanelym...howtopic=201850
==========================================================

If you insist on doing it manually, read below.

Steps:

1- Start OS X with boot CD/USB
2- In terminal:

fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX (X = HD number, usually 0)
flag Y (Y = the OS X partition number, usually 2 - one being the EFI partition)
write
exit

3- Install Chameleon 2 using installer.
4- Now chameleon should start and boot OS X without the boot CD. Windows won't boot.
5- In OS X terminal:

fdisk -e /dev/rdiskX
flag Z (Z = windows partition number, should NOT exceed 4)
write
exit

6- Boot Windows DVD, and repair the bootloader.
7- Reboot, and you'll boot into Windows automatically, again.
8- Use diskpart to make OS X partition active. run>cmd

Diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 2
active

9- Reboot. Now Chameleon should start and switching Windows and OS X should work

[mickles]

Dr. Hurt, on May 11 2009, 11:03 AM, said:

After a LOT of testing, I have found out the following:

1- Installing Windows 7 removes Chameleon and makes the PC only boot Windows (like Vista).
2- Reinstalling Chameleon 2 gives a black screen at boot and Chameleon doesn't even start - nor does windows. (Windows 7 messes up the MBR so Chameleon doesn't boot properly).
3- Repairing Windows start up using DVD gets us back to step 2.
4- Reinstalling Chameleon and Updating the MBR using OS X built-in fdisk destroys the Hybrid GPT/MBR table but at least Chameleon now loads - windows still doesn't.
5-Windows DVD start-up repair does not even detect Windows installation because fdisk wrote only a protective MBR entry and turned the partition table into a PURE GPT (non-hybrid) table.

I hope this information helps the Developers modify Chameleon 2 or the fdisk included with it to allow it to install properly after Windows 7 installation.

I managed to get this working by doing the following:
1. Format in disk utility, formatting the intended win7 partition as FAT.  Note: the win7 partition must be within the first three partitions (which is 4 with the efi system partition) for it to work in the windows 7 installer, since the mbr side of the hybrid can only have 4 primary partitions.  Any partitions beyond that are lumped as unallocated space.
2. Install Windows 7 by formatting your intended partition in the installer (as NTFS).
3. Install easyBCD 2.0 beta in windows 7, and add an osx entry (this may or may not be necessary, not sure).
4. Install Chameleon to the EFI system partition (see post in first page of Chameleon thread in new releases forum)
5. Install osx to whatever partition you designated for this (note: I did this by opening OSinstall.mpkg in my current leopard install)
6. At this point, if you boot up, you should still get the windows 7 bootloader.  To switch over to chameleon, you need to mark your osx partition active (or maybe the efi partition works too).  Before doing this, your windows 7 partition should still be active.

I'm also trying to get ubuntu on this setup though, and it seems like gparted is making the disk pure gpt (or so gptsync seems to say).  This means that while chameleon still works, when you try to boot windows 7 from it, you get a boot\BCD error.  

If anyone has any ideas on the ubuntu problem please let me know.  I've had chameleon dual booting win7/osx and dual booting ubuntu/osx, but I can't seem to get unbuntu to play nicely with windows.

Also of note: when you install ubuntu, on the last screen of the installer which presents the summary of the intended installation, click the Advanced button, and change the grub install location from hd(0) to hd(0,4) where 4 denotes the partition you're installing ubuntu to counting from zero.  This will prevent grub from being installed to the MBR.

[greythorne]

Can you do away with EasyBCD and just use Chameleon 2 as the sole bootloader to boot OS X, Windows and Linux?

If i follow by using EasyBCD then i will have 2 bootloaders first is EasyBCD then Chameleon.

Any help on this?

Thanks.

[mickles]

greythorne, on May 19 2009, 03:50 AM, said:

Can you do away with EasyBCD and just use Chameleon 2 as the sole bootloader to boot OS X, Windows and Linux?

If i follow by using EasyBCD then i will have 2 bootloaders first is EasyBCD then Chameleon.

Any help on this?

Thanks.

Yea, though easybcd isn't really a bootloader per se, just a way of editing vista/win7's.  If either of those have only one entry in the boot list, then they will boot directly without showing the choices screen.  


You can have the chameleon be the default boot by setting the osx partition active instead of the windows one.  Then when you boot windows from chameleon you'll just get the windows boot animation screen.

More details here:
http://www.insanelym...howtopic=165899

[merkaba]

i have Windows 7 RC and OSX 10.5.7 dual booting on my EliteBook 8530w laptop with no issues. This is what i had to do to get it all working properly...

-Install Windows 7 RC first
-Within Windows 7, create a partition FAT32 or NFTS for your OSx86 install
-Download EasyBCD and install it (don't do anything with it yet)
-Now install OSX, and use that partition you created from windows. Obviously format it using the disk utilities and  make sure it's Journaled
-Once OSX is done installing your Windows 7 will not work, boot off the Windows 7 DVD and click on the option at the bottom to repair windows
-Use the Console Option (last choice)
-type the following:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 0 (this should be the 100 or 200 MB partition that Windows 7 creates)
active
exit
exit

-Now your back at the main repair menu, select the repair automatically option (it's the top choice)
-It will now properly repair your windows 7 install and will allow you to boot into windows, but your OSX install will be broken
-Now right click on My Computer -> Manager -> Disk Management
-Assign a letter to your 100 or 200MB partition
-When that is done it should show up in My Computer and not be hidden
-Now open EasyBCD and make sure to run it as administrator
-Go to Add/Remove Entires -> Add an Entry -> Mac -> Type: Generic X86 PC -> Name: OSx86 (or whatever name you want)
- MAKE SURE YOU SAVE at the top!

Thats it, reboot and you should be all set!

[d00m42]

In the first post (step 4), what commands do you need to execute to make Chameleon not just appear with a totally black screen when you try to install it to the EFI partition?

[detroitbg]

I had Windows 7 installed on the first partition and iDeneb v1.3 on the forth partition (same HDD) working just fine with Chameleon v1.0.3 (or 1.3) if I'm not mistaken.
After standard installation of Chameleon 2.0 I receive a black screen with blinking cursor!
After reinstalling Mac OS I installed Chameleon 2.0 removing the extra .kexts from the installation and everything works just fine!

[matthieu/ergosteur]

I'm triple-booting Ubuntu, Leopard and Windows 7 and didn't really have any bootloader issues. I created 3 100GB partitions using Acronis Disk Director which didn't let Windows 7 create its 100MB partition. Then I installed Windows 7, then Ubuntu 9.04, then iATKOS 5i, then Chameleon 2.0. Chameleon allows me to pick which OS to boot and everything works great.

Just thought I'd share.

Edit: I just noticed the topic says GPT.... my install is MBR...

[marietto2008]

Hello,

after a LOT of testing I've found my way making a working dual boot between windows 7 and Leopard (I'm using the original Leopard Retail (I've found the dmg image file),not the cooked versions)

1) boot the pc with the iso boot-132

2) at the prompt insert the original leopard installation disk n. 1 (if you like leopard,buy it,as I do)

3) when it says to you that it is unable to install,press ok and open disk utility

4) take the dmg image file of leopard retail from usb pen n.1 and restore it on the usb pen n. 2

5) using the gpt scheme,make 2 partitions on the disk,the first with hfs journaled and the second with fat file system and reboot

6) boot the pc with the iso boot-132 again and choose to boot from the usb pen where you have
restored the dmg image file of leopard retail

7) install leopard retail on the first partition and reboot

8) install windows 7 formatting the partition with fat into ntfs

9) boot again with boot-132 and configure leopard

10) install chamaleon 2.0

11) edit the file com.apple.boot.plist located on /yoursystemvolume/Extra if you want to have the
gui (with chamaleon 2.0 you can do it,by following this guide :

http://www.geniusbar...;articleId=452)

12) copy the file AppleIntelGM950.kext or something like this,it depends on your motherboard from /System/Library/Extensions to /yoursystemvolume/Extra/Extensions

13) at this point,nor windows or leopard are working,don't panic,use again the boot-132 disc and boot leopard installed on the first partition of your disk

14) install PC_EFI V9 Chamaleon 1.0.12 (it is inside the Uistaller package),with a boot delay time of 30 seconds

15) now everything will work,but you have no gui. if you want to have a boot gui,you have to install again chamaleon 2.0

I've found that this way works good for me. Using this procedure I've installed Leopard and Windows Vista in dual boot.

UPDATED 7/9/2009 : I CAN CONFIRM THAT IT WORKS VERY WELL.

Edited by marietto2008, 08 July 2009 - 11:56 PM.

[IronPlasma]

OSX newb here, attempting a similar setup.

Going with GUID partitioning scheme since I won't be using XP, and a single hard drive.  I want Leopard Retail and Win7 RC to dual boot nicely on the same drive.  I'd like to use Chameleon 2.0 for the EFI partition (kexts) to keep the main Leopard installation vanilla for easier updating.  Do I need to create the ~200MB EFI partition myself in Disk Utility or is that created automatically at some other point?  Should the Win7 partition come first or the OSX partition?  Does it matter?  And after partitioning the drive, which OS should be installed first?  Get Leo setup first then install Win7, or get Windows installed first and then install Leopard and fix Windows later?  Does the install order decide which bootloader will be used to boot the OS's?  (Win7 bootloader vs. Chameleon 2 bootloader?)

Read through many a thread and the answers are still hard to find.  Would appreciate it if anyone could share their knowledge or point me in the right direction...

[peja_]

matthieu/ergosteur, on Jun 14 2009, 05:07 PM, said:

I'm triple-booting Ubuntu, Leopard and Windows 7 and didn't really have any bootloader issues. I created 3 100GB partitions using Acronis Disk Director which didn't let Windows 7 create its 100MB partition. Then I installed Windows 7, then Ubuntu 9.04, then iATKOS 5i, then Chameleon 2.0. Chameleon allows me to pick which OS to boot and everything works great.

Just thought I'd share.

Edit: I just noticed the topic says GPT.... my install is MBR...

i have some questions, if you don't mind
when have you done all the partitioning? have you boot it with hyrens boot or something similar?
how come 'dindn't let windows 7 create its 100mb partition'? can you explain this a bit more?
and what do you mean by 'then iATKOS 5i, then Chameleon 2.0'? isn't that like the same step?

thanks

[PhillMayer]

merkaba, on May 20 2009, 01:54 PM, said:

i have Windows 7 RC and OSX 10.5.7 dual booting on my EliteBook 8530w laptop with no issues. This is what i had to do to get it all working properly...

-Install Windows 7 RC first
-Within Windows 7, create a partition FAT32 or NFTS for your OSx86 install
-Download EasyBCD and install it (don't do anything with it yet)
-Now install OSX, and use that partition you created from windows. Obviously format it using the disk utilities and  make sure it's Journaled
-Once OSX is done installing your Windows 7 will not work, boot off the Windows 7 DVD and click on the option at the bottom to repair windows
-Use the Console Option (last choice)
-type the following:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 0 (this should be the 100 or 200 MB partition that Windows 7 creates)
active
exit
exit

-Now your back at the main repair menu, select the repair automatically option (it's the top choice)
-It will now properly repair your windows 7 install and will allow you to boot into windows, but your OSX install will be broken
-Now right click on My Computer -> Manager -> Disk Management
-Assign a letter to your 100 or 200MB partition
-When that is done it should show up in My Computer and not be hidden
-Now open EasyBCD and make sure to run it as administrator
-Go to Add/Remove Entires -> Add an Entry -> Mac -> Type: Generic X86 PC -> Name: OSx86 (or whatever name you want)
- MAKE SURE YOU SAVE at the top!

Thats it, reboot and you should be all set!

Worked great, thanks for saving my arse!

[grimdeath9740]

merkaba, on May 20 2009, 06:54 PM, said:

i have Windows 7 RC and OSX 10.5.7 dual booting on my EliteBook 8530w laptop with no issues. This is what i had to do to get it all working properly...

-Install Windows 7 RC first
-Within Windows 7, create a partition FAT32 or NFTS for your OSx86 install
-Download EasyBCD and install it (don't do anything with it yet)
-Now install OSX, and use that partition you created from windows. Obviously format it using the disk utilities and  make sure it's Journaled
-Once OSX is done installing your Windows 7 will not work, boot off the Windows 7 DVD and click on the option at the bottom to repair windows
-Use the Console Option (last choice)
-type the following:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition 0 (this should be the 100 or 200 MB partition that Windows 7 creates)
active
exit
exit

-Now your back at the main repair menu, select the repair automatically option (it's the top choice)
-It will now properly repair your windows 7 install and will allow you to boot into windows, but your OSX install will be broken
-Now right click on My Computer -> Manager -> Disk Management
-Assign a letter to your 100 or 200MB partition
-When that is done it should show up in My Computer and not be hidden
-Now open EasyBCD and make sure to run it as administrator
-Go to Add/Remove Entires -> Add an Entry -> Mac -> Type: Generic X86 PC -> Name: OSx86 (or whatever name you want)
- MAKE SURE YOU SAVE at the top!

Thats it, reboot and you should be all set!

This method causes you to go to two bootloaders to reach mac osx, like this:

boot
bcd/windows bootloader loads (choose one of the two)
-choose windows - loads windows
-choose mac os x - loads chameleon
--choose mac osx (or wait for autostart)

I believe there is an option to edit easy bcd to default to the mac option and adjust the autostart time down to zero seconds, that way it still boots thru the tree of options but goes to chameleon almost instantly! not the cleanest way to do it but it works...I just wanted to tell the poster thanks for posting this...great instructions!

only thing different for me was while putting in the command prompt lines I had to select "partition 1" there was no partition 0!

again thanks!

[matthieu/ergosteur]

peja_, on Jul 3 2009, 01:54 PM, said:

i have some questions, if you don't mind
when have you done all the partitioning? have you boot it with hyrens boot or something similar?
how come 'dindn't let windows 7 create its 100mb partition'? can you explain this a bit more?
and what do you mean by 'then iATKOS 5i, then Chameleon 2.0'? isn't that like the same step?

thanks

You're right, I did the partitions with Hiren's boot cd. I think normally if you try to partition with the Windows 7 installer, it creates a small 100MB partition to put some system files. By partitioning with Hiren's first, you avoid this. I say install iATKOS, then Chameleon 2.0, because IIRC iATKOS 5i has chameleon 1.0, and I wanted to use 2.0.

Sorry i took so log to reply, been busy at work lately.

[dekozi]

Hi all,
I have managed to get leopard up and running and i would like to get it to boot with out the cd. The following are the steps that i took to install chameleon but no luck.

1. Downloaded chameleon pkg.
2. Inside terminal: fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0
3. fdisk> flag 2
4. fdisk> update
5. fdisk> write
6. fdisk> exit
7. installed chameleon package
8. Rebooted
9. I login screen/gui with all my partitions
Once i hit enter on my leopard partition, it takes me to the apple screen and it stays there. There's the wheel turning at the bottom of the screen but no activity on the hdd. I'm not trying to get dual boot working (I only have one OS), i just want it to boot into OSX. Please help me.

[MaestroX1]

Is there a way to edit Chameleon 2 such that Windows is the default OS?

[matthieu/ergosteur]

dekozi, on Jul 31 2009, 04:31 PM, said:

Hi all,
Once i hit enter on my leopard partition, it takes me to the apple screen and it stays there. There's the wheel turning at the bottom of the screen but no activity on the hdd. I'm not trying to get dual boot working (I only have one OS), i just want it to boot into OSX. Please help me.

I had the same problem (I think). You want to download the AppleDecrypt.kext or dsmos.kext and put it in your /Extra/Extensions folder.

MaestroX1, on Aug 1 2009, 03:40 AM, said:

Is there a way to edit Chameleon 2 such that Windows is the default OS?

I think you just need to set your Windows partition "Active".

[MaestroX1]

matthieu/ergosteur, on Aug 3 2009, 03:12 AM, said:

I think you just need to set your Windows partition "Active".

That will make it boot via the Windows bootloader. I want to use Chameleon, which will only work if the OS X partition is active (as per my understanding), and have it boot into Windows by default instead of Leopard

[matthieu/ergosteur]

MaestroX1, on Aug 7 2009, 06:00 AM, said:

That will make it boot via the Windows bootloader. I want to use Chameleon, which will only work if the OS X partition is active (as per my understanding), and have it boot into Windows by default instead of Leopard

hmm... just throwing it out there, but maybe if you install chameleon to the MBR? There must be a way because IIRC back in the days of Tiger and the plain old Darwin bootloader, I was using it as my primary bootloader, but was booting XP by default. Not sure how, but I'll try to get this to work on my setup this weekend.

[dekozi]

matthieu/ergosteur, on Aug 2 2009, 05:42 PM, said:

I had the same problem (I think). You want to download the AppleDecrypt.kext or dsmos.kext and put it in your /Extra/Extensions folder.



I think you just need to set your Windows partition "Active".

Thank you matthieu/ergosteur, I got it to work flawlessly with Uinstaller, it worked perfectly. I only selected the "Apply Kext Package", installed, rebooted (which i think did more or less what you've mentioned). After reboot, i installed Chameleon 10 and it' boots into leopard perfectly. Thank you for your help.

Anyone knows how to get my ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3670 (Dell XPS 16) to work? I'm having a tough time with it.