[HowTo] Enable all features of iLife '06 (themes etc) by faking that you have 10.4.4 installed.

[dkelley]

[uPDATE]: This fix also makes your software update tool think you have a real intel mac running a real (non-hacked/cracked) OSX 10.4.4, and it will allow you to download and run the 10.4.5 updater (and probably other things in the future). This is a BAD IDEA - just don't do it! The 10.4.5 updater needs to be hacked (presumeably) to work with your hackintosh, or at the very least you must be running a real install of 10.4.4 (currently being hacked by Maxxuss...), otherwise you'll end up with a broken operating system. Nobody really knows what will happen on a maxxuss-modified 10.4.4 system yet with the 10.4.5 updater, but the updater will definitely break your 10.4.3 system even if you follow my advice below to make it "pretend" to be a 10.4.4 system.

You've been duly warned!

[/uPDATE]

 

To enable all of the features of the iLife '06 suite (and probably other software from apple in the future), type the following command from a terminal (applications/utilities/terminal.app):

 

sudo pico /system/library/coreservices/systemversion.plist

 

enter your administrator password, then you should see a short xml file that you can edit.

 

change the "productbuildversion" string to 8G1165 and the "productuservisibleversion" and "productversion" strings to 10.4.4, as in the following example (in pico use the cursor keys to move around):

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>ProductBuildVersion</key>

<string>8G1165</string>

<key>ProductCopyright</key>

<string>1983-2005 Apple Computer, Inc.</string>

<key>ProductName</key>

<string>Mac OS X</string>

<key>ProductUserVisibleVersion</key>

<string>10.4.4</string>

<key>ProductVersion</key>

<string>10.4.4</string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

To save and exit from Pico, type:

 

ctrl-x ("exit")

y ("yes - save modified file")

enter ("choose default filename to overwrite")

 

choose file==>exit to quit terminal.

 

now check your "About this mac" apple menu to see that it thinks you're using 10.4.4. Try running imovie and you'll be able to use themes now. It really works. Apparently this hack helps with installing the latest java version too or something like that.

 

Credit for this hack goes to the people throughout the forum who originally posted bits of this in different places. All I did was put it together in a clear step-by-step tutorial. I hope this is helpful, and thanks to the originator of this hack (whoever it is) for such a great idea!

 

Also, just for the record, what the heck was Apple thinking by disabling a couple of fancy features in such an easy-to-get-around way? Surely that isn't their motivation for getting people with hackintoshes to buy the real thing ("oooooooooooooh, I NEED imovie themes so badly, and it's all that's missing from my hackintosh"). Just my two cents worth...

 

dkelley

[R. Bear Helms]

I think Apple knows their protection scheme is weak, but also it could be there are some OS resources which come into play if you put iMovie through its paces and make it do everything which may cause a crash down the road. Usually you don't just check an OS version, you also rely on things unique to that version (and beyond).

 

But judging from how weak the TPM module was hacked out of the dtk releases, it may just be that Apple lacks anyone with significant copy-protection background.

 

But I think sooner or later, they're going to make that TPM lock certain universal binaries to the iMac Core Duo, if they haven't already locked up the OS itself.

[dkelley]

I think Apple knows their protection scheme is weak, but also it could be there are some OS resources which come into play if you put iMovie through its paces and make it do everything which may cause a crash down the road. Usually you don't just check an OS version, you also rely on things unique to that version (and beyond).

 

That's what I was thinking - I know that it works perfectly now, I created a dvd using imovie and idvd of my family, using imovie's themes enabled from the hack above, and all worked perfectly. So it honestly seems like a cheesy feature disabling trick from apple. Almost like they're trying to make it look like the themes are part of 10.4.4, and not part of ilife '06. I wonder if their marketing anywhere says something about 10.4.4 offering new themes?

 

Actually, I bet it's related to that. since 10.4.4 is an upgrade for ppc mac users as well (on powerpc macs), and ilife '06 is an upgrade for ppc mac users too, this means ppc mac users who have 10.4.3 or older and install ilife '06 won't get all of the features of ilife '06 without upgrading to 10.4.4. Sort of like Apple's trying to motivate people to keep up with the latest OS version or else miss out on neat features in new software.

 

I expect that the hack I posted above will therefore work for ppc macs as well running 10.4.3 or older. Someone should try it...

 

dkelley

[billman424]

i have done this but i still cant do anything in imovie

[dkelley]

i have done this but i still cant do anything in imovie

 

Please expand on what you mean by "can't do anything in imovie". All this is supposed to do is enable movie design using themes in imovie, but this will only work on a system where imovie '06 is already working.

 

Maybe I didn't make things clear in the original post, but this only works for iLife '06 (iMovie '06, iDVD '06, iWeb, Garageband 3, iPhoto '06, etc). Are you maybe trying to run imove '05 instead? I don't believe the '05 version works properly or at all for many people.