vbetts Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Are there any guides to dual boot with windows already installed? Or, is it as easy as creating another partition with Windows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bikedude880 Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 See the glorious WIKI! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbmkgd Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Firstly there's the OSx86 Project Wiki where you'll be able to find information about your system compatibility and some tutorials. Then there's The Official Dual Booting Thread where you'll find long discussion on the subject, with many successes and failures. Also there is the XP + OSX 10.4.4-10.4.7 native dual boot How To where you'll find a popular guide that uses particular partitioning and boot managing software. Good luck! /edit: ah! the bikedude is quicker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted September 12, 2006 Author Share Posted September 12, 2006 I've had OsX86 on my computer before, but certain programs I needed wouldn't work on Mac, and at the time there was nothing for the Radeon 7500, or Intel 845. But, now there is, so I'm okay now. I just want to keep Windows on my machine, and use mac once in awhile. But, thanks. This REALLY helps me.=D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
br0adband Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Sometimes it's easier just to answer the f00kin' question: Yes, you can, and here's how. If XP is already on the drive, do this: Make some space for OSX using a partition tool like Acronis Disk Director or Partition Magic. Make a Primary partition of that free space you create, format it FAT32 (NOT NTFS). Once it's created, go install OSX. When OSX gets to the installer screen, click Tools on the menu bar, select Disk Utility. Highlight the partition that's formatted with FAT32 - you know, the one you just created before you ran the OSX installer. Click the Erase button - DO NOT CLICK PARTITION because it's already partitioned, there is no reason to use Disk Utility to partition the drive since the partition(s) already exist. All you need to do is Erase (reformat) that FAT32 partition, which Erase does when you click it and select MacOS Extended (Journaled) for the filesystem, then proceed. Using Disk Utility to partition an already partitioned hard drive can cause you to lose every bit of data on it meaning your Windows partition and everything you treasure. So don't do it. Just Erase the FAT32 partition and reformat it as MacOS Extended (Journaled). When the Erase/format is done, close Disk Utility and proceed with the install. After it installs, OSX will be the default OS - if you need to boot into Windows again, press F8 after the boot and POST and you'll get the Darwin boot menu. If you need to redo the menu, read the Wiki or do a search here at the forum for Darwin boot and you'll get the info on how to modify the Boot.plist file to do the things you want. Hope this helps... bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 I just partitioned my HDD, and going to set up Os X in a few. So, the only thing I really needed was just a partition manager. That helps more.Thanks, again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbmkgd Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Sometimes it's easier just to answer the f00kin' question.My third link answered his question about a guide, including the use of acronis disk director for partitioning. Sometimes its good to redirect to the main resources where this question has been answered in extenso, including all the problems that are encountered and their (attempted) solutions. But of course, redundancy has its advantages too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 Well, another problem arose. Instead of using acronis os selecter, I used the default system os selecter. Mac Os X86 is listed, but when I try to boot it, it just goes back to the os selector screen. I used chain0, put it in C:/, and moddified my boot.ini. Any idea what to do? I'm thinking it's the same problem I had before, but I need to make sure on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbmkgd Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 A well-known problem. Press F8 rapidly after selecting osx in the ntldr menu; you should then see the darwin bootloader menu options, and then select your osx. Later you can then edit a file to make the timeout longer on the darwin loader (more about this in the The Official Dual Booting Thread I linked above). Another option is to make osx partition active; the darwin bootloader will take care of things. Please refer to the links I gave, they contain much information about all this, they are quite informative, especially The Official Dual Booting Thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 Okay, is it most likely is the fact the partition isn't active. Well, thanks to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinkman Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Look the easiest way to dual boot is to load OSx86 on to your system. Make sure that works, then load windows back on to you system. Once the are both loaded on your system and working put the OSx86 install CD in and boot from it. Once booted from the CD use terminal to set your OSx86 partition to active. then all you have to do is reboot. Press f8 to boot into windows. If you would like more time at boot to select an os the go in to OSx86 and edit the boot.plist and add a time out to the amount of desired time you would like then you can select which os to boot otherwise OSx86 is default. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U.C. Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Use Acronis for dual booting, great partition manger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted September 19, 2006 Author Share Posted September 19, 2006 Use Acronis for dual booting, great partition manger I've got the problem fixed. But, I'd rather not pay for Acronis, or download it. Plus, it didn't work on my computer. It just sat there and idled, even after I had both OS' on the computer. Didn't work. Now I use the Vista boot loader, works for me atleast. Stayed there when I deleted Vista. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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