[How-to] Vista + OSX native dual boot on a PC w/ Vista multi-boot method by cbmkgd

[craigeexx]

do you install osx first or vista first?

 

oop's sorry, just figured it our for myself

[cbmkgd]

his guide is way too complicated to me, copy a osx image to a partition and use linux live CD to do that...

woot...a giant headache is coming...

I'm quite sure he meant "First of all install Mac OS X 86 to one of ur harddisk partition", and not "First of all copy the Mac OS X 86 image to one of ur harddisk partition". I'll ask him.

[dilnalomo]

it says on his blogspot blog:

 

First of all copy the Mac OS X 86 image to one of ur harddisk partition, ofcourse 'af' formatted. Getting the image is ur headache not mine..use linux live cd to do this!!!

 

he said it himself, there's going to be a headache.

 

lol.

[cbmkgd]

Getting the image is ur headache not mine

I think that means finding the install dvd image, on torrents/p2p, for which he can't legally give links.

Or indeed maybe he's talking about the old deadmoo image which you had to dd...

Anyway, it's his problem to correct or not.

[cbmkgd]

Well, rewrote my guide again...

 

My original procedure was the right one: the file ntdetect.com is needed after all for AOSS to recognize Vista.

 

Here's what confused me: when I removed ntdetect.com (as suggested by Vik's blog) Vista was still recognized by AOSS and still booted. So I thought it wasn't needed.

But I just found that in fact, if you remove not only ntdetect.com, but also boot.ini and ntldr, AOSS was still recognizing Vista in its menu, and could boot it well!

 

Was scratching my head for a few minutes, did some more tests (booting, rebooting, etc... *sigh*), and finally found that those three files (and not a subset of these) were truely needed for AOSS to detect Vista, but that once this is done, AOSS had all the information it needed, and doesn't really need the three files anymore.

 

AOSS keeps information about Vista bootsector and partition in the file bootwiz.oss (as well as a backup copy of Vista's bootsector), in the main BOOTWIZ hidden folder. It only needed a temporary nudge in the right direction to get these informations.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

[Maine_Coon]

cbmkd guide worked fine with Vista RC2.

 

Now triple-boot (XP, OS X, Vista RC2) on both Dell Inspiron 9300 and 700m.

[dilnalomo]

i assume you used the 32bit version...

i am wondering: does the 64bit version works?

[Maine_Coon]

I used 32 bit version, I don't have 64 bit machine.

[dilnalomo]

ha, cbmkgd's guide worked for me. ^^

[cbmkgd]

Where you skeptic?

 

I now have no doubt Acronis will easily support Vista. In fact, they should enhance AOSS so that advanced users can have as much liberty as GRUB in pointing to specific partitions we know are bootable.

[Maine_Coon]

Another success:

 

Dell XPS m1210 Core 2 Duo SATA laptop 3-boot:XP, OS X, Vista.

 

"Easy as Dell"

[dilnalomo]

Where you skeptic?

 

nah, just happy that it worked for me.

[XanthraX]

Stupid Question:

 

Till now I use only the darwin bootloader to chose booting between OSX86 and WinXP, no chain0, no AOSS. How? Booting from the OSX86 DVD, creating at least 2 partitions (first for OSX HFS+ and second for WinXP - Fat32). Then restarting the computer, installing WinXP (reformating the Fat32 partition to NTFS), after installing XP, rebooting with the OSX86 DVD, installing OSX in the dedicated partition (created first) and editing com.apple.Boot.plist

Now, the stupid question is: Can I do the same with Vista? Have I success on the Dual-boot?

[cbmkgd]

the darwin bootloader recognizes vista.

Make the osx partition active again after the vista install; this will make you boot with darwin bl, and vista (or some item) should appear in the menu.

[marliwahoo]

This method worked for me. I now have OSX and vista dual booting using the darwin boot loader. The key issue was having acronis disk director format OSX partition as primary fat32. After that use the OSX disk utility to reformat to hfs.

[dilnalomo]

This method worked for me. I now have OSX and vista dual booting using the darwin boot loader. The key issue was having acronis disk director format OSX partition as primary fat32. After that use the OSX disk utility to reformat to hfs.

 

cool! did you use vista rtm?

Edited November 15, 2006 by dilnalomo

[marliwahoo]

cool! did you use vista rtm?

 

 

Yes, I did use the rtm.

 

I think the big issues for dual booting are getting boot.ini copied from the xp cd to the partition where you will install Vista and the correct partitioning for OSX. My first attempt osx install failed (i think) because I didn't format the second partition when I created it in acronis. I only formated it in disk utility. It worked only when (while in acronis) I formated to fat32 then changed it to hfs in disk utility with the OSX install cd.

[dilnalomo]

thanks a million! you just saved me a hell lot of time, i was going to test this with vista RTM...

[GFOnyX]

I tried the guide and it works 100%.I now have a dual boot laptop with Vista RTM Build 6000 (16386) and OSX 10.4 Tiger.Many thanks!!!!!!!!

[THo04]

I used dilnalomo's guide and got a problem =(

 

After installing Vista RC2 successfully, I followed the guide here: (Using Acronis Disk Suite) http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=11339

to install the second OS, OSX!

 

I am using the AMD 10.4.8 OSX version.

 

However, after I installed OSX, the Acronis OS Selector did not startup as it should have (Step 6 in the second guide). Instead, the Darwin boot loader loads up with two options: Windows and Mac OSX. The OSX option boots up fine. However, when I select the Windows option, I get the error "Vista cannot boot because \Windows\System32\winload.exe is either missing or corrupt.

 

I ran a cmd line through Vista repair, and it shows that winload.exe is there... What happened?!?!?

[dmk]

I'm hoping for a bit of assistance here as well.

 

I can't seem to get Acronis to see my Vista partition. And I swear it worked before, I've just done a couple reinstalls since.

 

Vista is on first partition, active.

 

OSX is on extended partition, active.

 

Acronis only sees OSX86 partition. All partitions are one on drive, in a laptop.

 

Any ideas? Acronis boots/works fine, and if I press F8 when I select OSX I do get Darwin's boot loader giving me the OSX/Vista choice (and if I pick Vista it DOES boot it).

 

I have added the proper boot.ini, ntldr and exe file to the root of C:\ (the Vista drive).

 

Help??? Suggestions? Would setting OSX inactive work?

 

BTW - Using Acronis to attempt to smart detect OS's (Vista) by searching for an MBR does not work.

[cbmkgd]

Haven't tested with RTM yet... too busy with other things, eg myzar 10.4.8 and OSX LiveDVD.

Maybe MS changed something with RTM.

 

I'll test this later this week.

 

btw, exe? you mean .com, right?

 

And OSX is on Extended partition AND Active? Logical partitions can't be active, afaik.

 

Please post here order and type of partitions with what they contain (eg which os)

 

Oh, and by the way, if the darwin bootloader works well, why not stay with it and dump acronis os selector?

 

I gave the guide for acronis users for Vista (which I'll test if it works on Vista RTM), but in no way would I propose it as first choice.

[dmk]

Actually Darwin would be fine, I just can't seem to find the settings to get it to start up by default and give me a countdown and choices. I have to press F8 a bunch to get it to show, really fast too or OSX starts right up. Also is there a way to make the darwin bootloader display different things or is it pretty much uncustomizable?

 

I tried the Timeout key in boot.plist but the bootloader still doesn't show.

[cbmkgd]

Also is there a way to make the darwin bootloader display different things or is it pretty much uncustomizable?

 

I tried the Timeout key in boot.plist but the bootloader still doesn't show.

I don't think there's colorfull customization of darwin's bootloader (nor of windows' ntldr). But it's just there for a few seconds after all, no need for eye candy, is there?

 

As for the Timeout in boot.plist, I assume you followed instructions found in the wiki (or similar). If so, I don't know what's the matter.

 

Again I'd like to see your partition order and type (primary, logical) for both os's. Also post the boot.ini you made and placed in your Vista's root folder (c: ).

[PsychoSync]

I used an app called EasyBCD wich is compatible with Vista and OSX86 to multiboot with Vista's multiboot menu. It was real easy, I have 2 Hard drives in my PC, the primary has vista on it and the second is divided like this: 1st partition 120g storage, 2nd 30g for Tiger. EasyBCD makes a folder on vista's drive called NST that has the Mac master boot record file in it, i had to move this folder on the HD containing OSX in order to make it work.