Ellis Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I currently have Windows 7 installed on my 500GB hard drive, and I've been thinking about buying an 80GB SATA hard drive to install Snow Leopard on. I currently have it in a virtual machine, but I'd like to get it working properly and have a decent amount of space free. I was just wondering what the process would be like to get it installed on a separate hard drive without re-installing Windows. Would I still have to use a boot-loader? Would it still mess up the Windows install? Thanks. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
an1r0n Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Well, if you know what you're doing, there shouldnt be any problems. Just do read all important guides here on insanelymac and then try installing. When you get new hard drive make sure that you mark it primary (the first one which will bios try to boot). then install snow leopard, bootloader, kexts etc. My experience is that after successfull install of Mac OS X go to bios and mark Windows disk as primary but do not touch bootloader. Bios will boot windows without even seeing Mac disk. Then go to cmd and diskutil, and mark Mac disk as primary. Thats the most important thing, often people dont do this and thats why they get messed up windows instalation. After that go again to bios, select Mac disk as primary. Now with bootloader (chameleon prefered) you can choose your OS without any fear of messing things up I hope you understand what I am trying to tell. It's important to "tell" windows which disk is primary. I learned this hard way, after 5-6 corrupt installs : ) Hope it helps, cheers! an1r0n I currently have Windows 7 installed on my 500GB hard drive, and I've been thinking about buying an 80GB SATA hard drive to install Snow Leopard on. I currently have it in a virtual machine, but I'd like to get it working properly and have a decent amount of space free. I was just wondering what the process would be like to get it installed on a separate hard drive without re-installing Windows. Would I still have to use a boot-loader? Would it still mess up the Windows install? Thanks. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411528 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 OK, thanks. But when and how do I install the bootloader? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411537 Share on other sites More sharing options...
an1r0n Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Thats why I wrote that you surf insanelymac and check out all tutorials for info! Installation of bootloader depends of way you install mac os x. Some methods require "recovery" mac partition from which you install directly Mac OS X, there are some USB guides (best way, installing from USB) and more. Please check tutorials sections as there is really huge amount of info there. OK, thanks. But when and how do I install the bootloader? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411540 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamorgen Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 OK, thanks. But when and how do I install the bootloader? Hey Ellisbodds, I spent about two months trying to figure out how to best do this. There are about 10 different walkthroughs that claim they work, but I only came across one that worked for me. I'm not saying the others don't work, but I'm sure a great deal depends on your machine. What I recommend, if you want to use Chameleon as your bootloader (graphical interface) vs Windows BL or a Linux bootloader, use this walkthrough. You can ignore the Dell 10 mini specific options (unless you have a Dell 10 mini), but everything else worked perfectly for me. As far as installing OSX, I recommend either Empire EFI or Boot-132. For some reason, but best result for me was to install with Boot-132, reboot after install with Empire EFI, use the post install installer to install Chameleon, Extras, etc. At that point, update to the latest Chameleon (RC4), which you can get an easy installer from Tony Mac x86. He regurlarlly updates the Chameleon installers. For now, probably stick with RC4. RC5 is in beta, but still has some issues. At this point, you'll install windows (you'll probably have to delete the partition you set up earlier, create a new one, reboot, and start the Windows boot process over). Once Windows is installed, reboot, use your boot disc to boot into Mac, set the mac partition as active, reboot with boot disc into Mac, reinstall Chameleon, done. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411547 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 Is there any way of doing it without re-installing Windows / formatting the Windows partition? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411552 Share on other sites More sharing options...
branflan Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Is there any way of doing it without re-installing Windows / formatting the Windows partition? I have a dual boot Snow Leopard & Windows 7 installation with the same setup that you are trying to do. I had Windows 7 preinstalled and working fine already. 1. Disconnected the Windows HDD 2. Enabled AHCI in BIOS and installed OSX via Empire EFI on alternate HDD (primary channel). 3. Installed bootloader and plugged Windows HDD back in. The bootloader will show both OS's and you will be able to select. One problem I did have was switching to AHCI which windows did not like. So I had to do this: - Set BIOS back to IDE - Start Windows - Run Registry Editor - Go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci - Change the "Start" value to 0 - Reboot and go to BIOS immediately - Set BIOS to AHCI Windows will start up and load the AHCI drivers. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411647 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richdave Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 So I had to do this: - Set BIOS back to IDE - Start Windows - Run Registry Editor - Go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci - Change the "Start" value to 0 - Reboot and go to BIOS immediately - Set BIOS to AHCI Windows will start up and load the AHCI drivers. Sweet! Will this work for VISTA too? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1411654 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richdave Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Sweet! Will this work for VISTA too? I changed this reg value in bot VISTA x64 and W7 x64 and both are now happy with AHCI enabled in BIOS... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1412374 Share on other sites More sharing options...
branflan Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 I changed this reg value in bot VISTA x64 and W7 x64 and both are now happy with AHCI enabled in BIOS... Good Deal! Figured it would work in Vista as well. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/210942-the-process-of-dual-booting-os-x-and-windows/#findComment-1416851 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts