The Official Dual Booting Thread

[Arsenetar]

Is There anything like this kind of loader yet??

This would be perfect for my wife's Wind running Win XP and soon to be OS X.

 

Thank you,

Jon

The screen you see with the OS selection is the osx bootloader at least that is what I would call it, I dont know of anyway to have it show up by default on boot.

 

rEFIt should be able to do what you want, assuming it works the same way it does no mac hardware, I don't know what you have tried but you should just be able to download the installer dmg from the rEFIt site:rEFIt website. Just boot into OSX and then run the installer from the dmg, next time you boot you should get the rEFIt menu, if not look at the information on the manual install on their site. The installer has worked for me on macbooks fine. I dont see why it would not work on PC hardware... but then again I am no expert on what osx stuff works on PC hardware. Its worth a try though, should take no more than 5 to 10 minutes. Let me know if it works.

 

EDIT: If the installer doesn't work you just have to run the enable.sh script.

Open terminal, type:

 

cd /efi/refit/

 

then

 

./enable.sh

 

you then have to type your password, and reboot it should work then...

[amartin44]

I have multiple boot, i only did install OSX86 following these instructions osx86 guide, and the darwing bootloader does the rest. I'm booting from 5 differents OS (different versions of some).

[TBizzle]

I am trying to install and everytime it starts to install it says it cannot install a certain folder, and then tells me to restart and re try the installation or continue the installation.

 

Why is this? Help please..!

 

Does this have anything with the kernals? I am not sure what those are or what I do with them, I have read the read me text and was kind of confused by it...sorry for being a noob.

 

Thanks in adavance!

 

 

tyler

[seangibbz]

I was planning on making a triple boot with the following:

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Mac OS X Leopard

Ubuntu 8.10

 

I was gonna get a Dell Studio 15 with the following:

ATI Radeon 3450 Video Card

4GB RAM (At Least)

Bluetooth /w BlueTooth travel mouse

intel core 2 duo 2.5 GHz Processor

 

From what I understand, I get the newest OSX x86 CD, boot it, repartition my system into 3 parts, 1 Mac Journaled, 1 NTSC, 1 EXT3. I install OSX, with intel, on the journaled part. Then restart with Windows install CD in the drive, install on NTSC part, then lastly, install Ubuntu on the EXT3. Also I should add the MAC OSX title to the GRUB Menu. And I plan on installing GNU GRUB. Does this sound right? Also, what patches would I need and how would I get them. I know a ATI 3450 Driver is in the works, but I've heard of these things called kexts. What are they, and how do they work? Would I need any?

[phandrew]

I currently have iPC 10.5.6 installed next to windows 7 using Chameleon 2rc1 bootloader( love the gui) I want to install linux as a triple boot without using grub and make ubuntu 8.10 bootable through chameleon. is this possible currently?

[bigonroad]

Ok, So i had xp installed. thats hd0.

Then i installed mac os onto the first partition on hd1.

And then i installed linux onto the back end of hd1.

 

Linux installed grub, from which I can boot into windows or linux BUT, I cannot boot linux.

 

I inserted the line below:

 

What should i change

 

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

root (hd0,0)

savedefault

makeactive

chainloader +1

 

# inserted this line

title Mac os

root (hd1,0)

savedefault

makeactive

chainloader +1

 

I have also tried:

title Mac os

rootnoverify (hd1,0)

makeactive

chainloader +1

 

and:

title Mac os

root (hd1,0)

chainloader --force +1

 

Any ideas?

 

Chris

[thebestguru333]

I am not very knowledgeable in the dual boot subject, so i need some assistance.

Having the intention of dual booting i set up my hard drive in the following way.

 

I have one hard drive. 640 gb.

 

i installed os x leopard and while doing that, i made 3 partitions with disk utility.

partition 1 = mac os x 45gb (this is my drive for mac os)

partition 2 = FAT32 shared drive to share my files between windows and mac. 75gb

partition 3 = free space (i left this for windows) 450gb

 

so now what action should i take to install xp and be able to boot both of them.

[Frenchie4111]

Can Someone Help:

I just installed OS X onto my computer which is a Gateway t-1616. I got it installed and booted into Leopard. I like it but i cant boot into my WIndows anymore.

 

I installed Leopard using Leo4AllyV4.1 AMD only

 

Now i can boot into OS X but i can not boot into Windows, when i select windows from the boot loader it says:

"Cannot Access Device"

 

i cant figure out what boot loader.... i know it says Darwin when i load up my Comp, idk if thats the bootloader, and yes all of my OSes are on the same hard drive. And The Formats of my Hard Drives are as follows:

OS X: Mac OS Extended

Windows 7: NTFS

 

Anyone?

[cunning plan]

A quick unrelated post for anyone using a P5K mobo - during startup if you tap the F8 key a nice little dialogue box with a quick selection for hard disks comes up, it will boot whatever you select and saves you having to scroll through BIOS / reselect HDD etc..

 

The other thing is that it does not adjust the primary boot drive, its just a one-off selection to boot a different drive so it does not mess with your prefered setup.

 

[Stellair]

Are there any guides that explains the method to dual boot osx & xp with software raid0 for osx and a separated disk for xp?

[theaskanison]

If you read the manual of mount_ntfs it says:

 

man mount_ntfs
  .
  .
  .
CAVEATS
  This utility is primarily used for read access to an NTFS volume.  See
  the WRITING section for details about writing to an NTFS volume.
  .
  .
  .
WRITING
  There is limited writing ability.  Limitations: file must be nonresident
  and must not contain any sparces (uninitialized areas); compressed files
  are also not supported.

 

I tried to mount in readwrite without success

 

It is possible! Go to the apple web site and search NTFS and follow the instructions. Basically you need to install 2 softwares and your done!

Worked for reading my internal NTFS drives from OSX.

[Harkoni]

Solutions for the most common problems dualbooting Vista and a recent MAC OS X86 Leopard version.

 

Key words: chain booting error, OS operating system missing, Windows vista, dual boot, iDeneb 1.3, Leopard 10.5.5, Time machine, OS not found.

 

I made this guide as a summary for some common booting problems, written by myself as OSX86 newbie for newbies with booting problems who need a clear and simple description of solutions for booting problems. To be clear: I don't know anything of the Unix or MAC OS X terminal language or how it exactly works. This is just a summary of solutions which are not developed/invented by myself. Sorry for my english btw cuz my native language is dutch, I'm from Belgium.

 

I'm just a big fan of MAC OS X who wants to use this great OS fulltime on PC. But as so many I encountered some serious troubles which took me many many hours to solve. This could have been much easier to fix if there was some simple summary/guide of these solutions. Now there is so much information on the fora especially on insanelymac and the Osx86 wikiproject and I'd like to thank all the contributors and people helping or posting solutions. But the problem is that lots of these solutions are hard to find or too technical for people not knowing much of the background of Mac OSX86, like myself. That being said, here are the solutions which worked great for me and hopefully will for other people too.

 

 

Solution : chain booting error applies to: 2 partitions on 1 disk: MAC OS X and Vista:

Dual boot vista and a new version Mac OS X, e.g. iDeneb 1.3, Kalyway etc (with iPC 10.5.6 you'l need to download the chameleon bootloader files en put these on USB stick as explained further on).

 

Sorry for those with Windows XP or an old OSX86 Tiger, don't think this guide can help you.

 

1. Chain booting error (after Time machine restore)

 

Source

 

all credits and respect for this solution go to Store2000!

 

I think it's almost 100% sure that you get a chain booting error after a Time Machine system restore. That's because Time Machine changed your boot settings so the darwin bootloader can't find the correct information for booting, so Time machine does more than only just restoring your raw data of your OS X partition.

Requirements for this workout:

a. your OSX86 installation DVD (e.g. Kalyway, iAtkos, Leo4All, iDeneb: i have and prefer iDeneb 1.3: Mac OS X leopard 10.5.5)

 

b. the codes written down here to write in the terminal window when booting from you installation disk, so print these lines out or write them down.

 

(c. a USB stick partitioned in FAT32 or HFS+ if you don't have a recent installation DVD of OSX86, so when you have a installation version WITHOUT the chameleon bootloader.)

 

Step by step:

---->'This is for if you DONT have a new version of OSX86 with the chameleon bootloader: you can check that at startup of your OS X: it says; Darwin/Chameleon bootloader, something like that. If you do have chamelon bootloader, go to next section -----

 

 

1. Download Chameleon bootloader from:

because the link is I give a hint: google for: chameleon + osx86 + 2.0 RC1 is out : >click link next to '' You can get the binaries here " >Click on 'alternatively you can click here...'.

(sorry administrators but isn't that chameleon bootloader free and open source? anyway, just posting their 'link' to help people out, nothing more)

 

 

Copy these files from the i386 folder to a USB stick (Warning: your USB stick must be partitioned in FAT32 or HFS+):

boot0

cdboot

chain0

boot

boot1h

fdisk

 

2. Boot from your osx86 DVD, choose 'Terminal' from the 'Utilities' menu on top of the menu bar. Plug in your USB stick.

3. Type in next commands and press 'enter' after each command (Commands are written in bold):

• fdisk /dev/rdisk0
  

(this is to check the number of your HFS+ partition. If your HFS+ partition is on your second hard disk type: fdisk /dev/rdisk1 ; if you are sure in which disk and partition os x is installed you can skip this command)

 

• cd /Volumes/<your USB stick>/
  

(Fill in the name of your USB stick in the <your USB stick> without the <>)

• fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk0
  

(type rdisk0 or rdisk1 depending on which disk your MAC installation is on, for most persons it is the first and only disk, so rdisk0)

• dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk0s2
  

(again; depending on which disk and partition your MAC OS X is written to, that's what you can check in the table produced by the first command: so you see number 2 next to the line of your hfs+ partition; type .../rdisk0s2, is it number 1 then it becomes .../rdisk0s1 etc.)

 

• cp boot /Volumes/<Name of your MAC OS X installation disk>/
  

(fill in the name you gave to the disk where you installed your MAC OS X, in my case I gave it the name MAC OS X Leopard and so my command was: cp boot /Volumes/Mac OS X Leopard/)

• exit
  

4. You can quit terminal and quit the 'MAC OS X installation program' and restart computer. Don't forget to take your intallation DVD out of the DVD player the moment your computer restarts.

 

 

---> In case you DO HAVE a newer osx86 dvd installation disk WITH chameleon bootloader-----

 

 

1. Boot from your osx86 DVD, choose 'Terminal' from the 'Utilities' menu on top of the menu bar.

2. Type in next commands and press 'enter' after each command (Commands are written in bold):

 

• fdisk /dev/rdisk0
  

(this is to check the number of your HFS+ partition. If your HFS+ partition is on your second hard disk type: fdisk /dev/rdisk1; if you are sure in which disk and partition os x is installed you can skip this command)

 

• cd /usr/standalone/i386/
  

• fdisk -f boot0 -u -y /dev/rdisk0
  

(type rdisk0 or rdisk1 depending on which disk your MAC installation is on, mostly it is your first and only disk, so rdisk0)

 

 

• dd if=boot1h of=/dev/rdisk0s2
  

(again; depending on which disk and partition your MAC OS X is written to, that's what you can check in the table produced by the first command)

 

 

• cp boot /Volumes/<Name of your MAC OS X installation disk>/
  

(fill in the name you gave to the disk where you installed your MAC OS X, in my case I gave it the name MAC OS X Leopard and so my command was: cp boot /Volumes/Mac OS X Leopard/ )

 

 

• exit
  

 

3. You can quit terminal and quit the 'MAC OS X installation program' and restart computer and don't forget to take your intallation DVD out of the DVD player the moment your computer restarts.

 

So this is it. Worked flawless for me, so this way you can use and trust a perfectly working Time machine backup and restore. So it's simple, after you made a system restore from your DVD installation disk, restart the computer still with the installation DVD in it and go to the terminal window and do the steps described above.

 

 

EDIT: If you have installed Chameleon Bootloader 2.0 as I did the previous steps are correct, but won't be enough. What you should do to make it work again after the steps already described in chapter 1:

1. Leave Boot DVD inserted and boot again from DVD.
   
2. Make HFS+ partition active (see section 2.3 of this guide) with the terminal of install DVD.
   
3. Leave boot DVD inserted, reboot and don't push anything this time, so don't boot from the DVD. After countdown finished, you won't see a bootloader yet but thanks to the boot DVD inserted it will find your partition and start your MAC OS X normally. We're not completely done yet because at this point you always have to let your boot DVD inserted when starting up and you still don't have our dual boot (MAC OS X and Vista) choice back.
   
4. So simply reinstall chameleon bootloader 2.0 (again, because the donwloadlink is by forum administration, I'll give a hint; google for chameleon + 2.0RC1 + installer) as you 've done it the first time. Take boot DVD out of PC and restart. Everything should back as it was before...
   

2. ' Operating system missing ' message

 

 

Some people suggested on insanelymac another 'simpler' solution for the chain booting error. The simple solution was to make the MAC OS X partition active again. I don't want to throw a stone to anybody but this doesn't seem to work for anyone and even worse, this also destroyes the vista bootloader. So I can understand that a person with not that much experience facing the problem of a not working MAC partition with the chain booting error, and after making the partition active getting the error 'operating system missing' or 'OS missing' or 'no operating system foud' messages go into panic mode. There is no need to. The next step by step guide explains how to restore your vista en mac bootloaders.

 

 

2.1 Repairing vista bootloader

 

Requirements: Vista recovery disk : download for free from:

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vist...-disc-download/

 

You need a torrent downloader for this. Burn this image on a DVD. Can't go more detailed in my explanation with explaining what a torrent is or how to burn it to a CD or DVD. Lots of forums exist with good information about these topics. Under the article of the Neosmart website you can find links to this information too.

 

Credits and respect for this solution go to Microsoft.

Some people might not like that but I simply got this information from an article from the Microsoft knowledge base from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392 . I'll keep this guide short, extra information found in your language in the knowledge base article of Microsoft.

 

1. Boot with your Vista recovery disk inserted, press a key to boot from DVD and wait a few minutes till everything is loaded. Choose your language and keyboard type en choose on the left bottom corner; repair my computer, click next. If these's no windows partition shown just click next en choose command prompt. This puts you in DOS window.

 

2. Now we will first make your vista partition active: type the following DOS commands which are written in bold and press 'enter' after every command:

• Diskpart
  

• List disk
  

(shows all the disks on your pc, in next step you choose the number of the disk where your vista is installed on, so change 'n' to that number, in my case it was disk 0)

 

• Select disk n
  

• List partition
  

(shows the partitions on the selected disk, next step fill in the number of your vista partition in 'n'.)

• Select partition n
  

• Active
  

(makes your selected vista partition active, in my case is was partition 1)

• Exit
  

3. Now you have to restart your computer en let the recovery disk inserted in the computer. Again boot from CD or DVD, wait few minutes, choose language and keyboard, choose 'repair computer' and now your vista partition should be listed. Select it en let it repair automatically, so here you don't have to go to the DOS prompt window. Reboot (don't forget to take vista recovery DVD out) and here you are, you've got vista and the vista bootloader back. I think 90% of the people will be helped with the above solution. If not, see next:

In case your vista installation still isn't listed and so cannot be repaired automatically:

Click 'next' en select again 'command prompt' like in step 1 of this section 2.1.

Type following commands:

• Bootrec.exe /fixmbr
  

• Bootrec.exe /fixboot
  

• exit
  

restart and don't forget to take your Recovery CD/DVD out.

 

 

If you still have the problem not being able to boot in vista or getting a bootloader, repeat step 1 to get in the DOS window. The next command will create a complete new boot record so if you had for example a dual boot window vista and MAC OS X at startup this will be gone, only vista will be repaired now. Don't worry, in the next step is shown how to recreate the dual boot vista-Mac OS X. (if you have other boot partitions like Ubuntu I can 't help you with that, you should check a forum to add your ubuntu partition to the vista bootloader). I'm almost 100% sure that when applying this last step should bring you back to vista. Type in the dos command prompt the following commands:

• Bootrec.exe /rebuildBCD
  
• Exit
  

2.2 Make system dual boot with vista bootloader

 

Ok, now in 2.1 is explained how to get back to vista bootloader and if you followed all the steps your active partition (wich tells which system must be booted at startup) is Vista. If you had to use the rebuildbcd command then your dual boot vista bootloader is gone so you can 't boot MAC OS X partition yet. Follow the next steps to make a dual boot vista-Mac OS X with VISTA bootloader:

 

All the credits and respect for this method go to jjhare at insanelymac and monkey420!

For a little more explanation with each step but basicly same as this step by step guide;

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2461/os_x_t..._chain0_method/

 

Ok here we go:

 

1. Copy the 'chain0' file from your MAC OS X installation DVD to c: (so you get c:\chain0 . If you can't find the chain0 file download it from: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Chain0

 

2. In vista, go to: start > programs > accessories > right click on Command Prompt and choose "Run As", choose Adminsitrator account and enter password. You should look at a DOS window now.

 

3. Type in the following command in the dos prompt window. Commands are in bold. Hit enter after each command.

 

• bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Mac OS X"
  

• bcdedit /enum active
  

(you should see a enumerated list after this command: the long number under MAC OS X between {} is what you need in the next command.)

 

• bcdedit /set{GUID} PATH \chain0
  

(you should replace {guid} by the number you see after the second command under the MAC OS X entry, something like: {b3009909-aca0-090-099909} )

• exit
  

Now you should start up with a dual boot vista and MAC OS X and a standard countdown time of 30 seconds when you restart. If you want to put MAC OS X as standard selected OS instead of Vista ; again in command prompt type:

• bcdedit /set {bootmgr} default "{GUID}"
  

(as we know from previous ;you should replace {guid} by the number you see after the second command, something like: {b3009909-aca0-090-099909} )

 

 

2.3 booting with Darwin/chameleon bootloader intead of Vista bootloader

 

All the credits and respect for this part go to Rammjet on insanelymac!

 

Requirements: MAC OS X installation DVD if you can't start MAC OS X partition.

 

In 2.1 is explained how to repair a completely broken vista bootloader. Via 2.2 you can add MAC OS X to vista bootloader. This explains how you can boot directly to MAC OS X with the darwin/chameleon bootloader.

It's just a matter of making your MAC OS X partition active instead of the vista partition. You can do this in the terminal when running MAC OS X or by the terminal window of your MAC OS X86 installation DVD. In mac os you find the terminal window in Programs>Utilities>Terminal. Type the following commands (commands are in bold):

• sudo -s
  

(after that give in your password en press enter)

 

• diskutil list
  

(check which disk nuber has the MAC OS X partition)

 

• fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0
  

(with rdisk0:0 or 1 is your disk number, not partition number; in my case it was 0 but when disk numer is 1 use rdisk1)

 

• p
  

(check on which partition number is MAC OS X)

 

• f 1
  

(with 1 or another number is the number or your partition you checked just before, in my case it was 2 so command was: f 2)

 

• write
  

• y
  

• exit
  

Remove install DVD and reboot. So now you should see immediately the darwin loader when you start computer. After 5 seconds of choice when you do nothing, you start in the marvellous OS X.

 

I hope with this guide to give some solutions to the most common problems of 'chain booting error' and a dissapeard vista or darwin bootloader. Never forget to backup your entire partition with Time Machine or with a image backup creator in Windows like Acronis True Image Home. Both work perfect for me.

[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!

[PeterRobi]

Hi,

I've tried to make OS X and WIN XP dual boot from the same hard drive, but with little luck. The steps:

 

1. XP was already installed on a primary partition

2. Installed OS X on a logical partition

3. OS X boots but only with the DVD in (why?). XP can't be booted.

4. Made XP partition active. Booted in XP.

5. Copied chain0 to XP partition root, and made the modifications to boot.ini

6. In the boot menu if i choose XP it boots up, if i choose OS X: "NTLDR missing"

 

So if i want to use the other operating system I need to change the active partition.

I can live with OS X needing the DVD, but I'd really like not to have to change the active partition all the time.

I wouldn't like to format my hard drive also.

 

Thanks in advance.

[cmmcnamara]

I have Windows 7 RC installed already and have now set aside, 40GB for Mac OS X and Linux Mint, 20GB each. I am attempting to use the Boot 132 method, but I cannot install OS X because it complains about my MBR and wanting me to use GUID. Is there anyway around this requirement such as a file to drop in the Boo 132 iso or something?

[Harkoni]

Hi,

I've tried to make OS X and WIN XP dual boot from the same hard drive, but with little luck. The steps:

 

1. XP was already installed on a primary partition

2. Installed OS X on a logical partition

3. OS X boots but only with the DVD in (why?). XP can't be booted.

4. Made XP partition active. Booted in XP.

5. Copied chain0 to XP partition root, and made the modifications to boot.ini

6. In the boot menu if i choose XP it boots up, if i choose OS X: "NTLDR missing"

 

So if i want to use the other operating system I need to change the active partition.

I can live with OS X needing the DVD, but I'd really like not to have to change the active partition all the time.

I wouldn't like to format my hard drive also.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I think the problem is that you used a 'logical partition' instead of a 'primary partition' for your OS X installation. You can create up to 4 primary partitions on 1 hard disk. Problem should be solved normally when installing on a primary partition.

Gtz

 

I am not very knowledgeable in the dual boot subject, so i need some assistance.

Having the intention of dual booting i set up my hard drive in the following way.

 

I have one hard drive. 640 gb.

 

i installed os x leopard and while doing that, i made 3 partitions with disk utility.

partition 1 = mac os x 45gb (this is my drive for mac os)

partition 2 = FAT32 shared drive to share my files between windows and mac. 75gb

partition 3 = free space (i left this for windows) 450gb

 

so now what action should i take to install xp and be able to boot both of them.

 

A hint; you don't have to use the 'old skool' FAT32 partiton system for using it with both operating systems. Mac OS X is pretty advanced and can perfectly read and write the newer and better NTFS partitoning. So the best thing is to partition partition 2 in NTFS and install NTFS 3G from http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/ in MAC OS X. It enables you to write in NTFS when using MAC OS X. It's free and opensource. A faster (and I think better program) is Paragon NTFS for mac OS X 7.0. Its not free but I sure you'll find some ways to get that program...

 

I would also give MAC OS X a little more space in case you' re intending to use it more and more as your first operating system.

 

And don't forget to install windows XP/vista or whatever first and only after that installation starting the MAC OS X installation.

 

Gtz

 

BTW; http://tgrounds.blogspot.com/2008/10/osx-l...1055-on-pc.html : is a great guide for beginners to make an installation from scratch. Good luck with it. Let me know if you succeeded. I used the same installation DVD iDeneb 1.3 as in the guide. I'm very happy with it as you can read here

[cain.]

I currently have a problem with dual-booting Win7 and OS X on my Wind U100.

They both work perfectly per se, but I do not seem to be able to get Chameleon 2 to work as the sole bootloader:

After installation of Chameleon, if the HFS+ partition is flagged to boot, only a blinking cursor appears and nothing happens. If however I flag the NTFS partition to boot (and it uses the Win 7 bootloader), I can choose between Windows 7 and OS X just fine, and if I choose OS X there, Chameleon works as intended with the GUI and everything...

 

I would of course love it if I could just have Chameleon show up when I start the computer and not have to deal with the Windows 7 bootloader first... I already searched google and Insanelymac, but could not really find anything that fit my problem

[E.C.H.O]

guys...

Im downloading this iAtkos v1i or something...they say its really easy and 1 step install. i have an Intel PC with 2 GB RAM and 512 Graphic card,9400GT Nvidia'.

I have 2 hard discs and i plan to dual boot Vista and Leopard..i.e VISTA ON ONE AND LEOPARD ON ANOTHER HDD

however i have many questions....

 

1. what will happen to my current data...

 

2.will i be able to uninstall or overwrite Leopard later in the future win any Windows version

 

3. will all my graphic cards and sound cards fuction on it...i have 9400GT Nvidia and Soundblaster creative Sound card...

 

4. will the USB and CD DVD drive work

 

5.will there be any issue in particular and wil i be able to abort or revert the process.....

 

 

 

THANX A LOT GUYS IN ADVANCE

[Harkoni]

guys...

Im downloading this iAtkos v1i or something...they say its really easy and 1 step install. i have an Intel PC with 2 GB RAM and 512 Graphic card,9400GT Nvidia'.

I have 2 hard discs and i plan to dual boot Vista and Leopard..i.e VISTA ON ONE AND LEOPARD ON ANOTHER HDD

however i have many questions....

 

1. what will happen to my current data...

 

2.will i be able to uninstall or overwrite Leopard later in the future win any Windows version

 

3. will all my graphic cards and sound cards fuction on it...i have 9400GT Nvidia and Soundblaster creative Sound card...

 

4. will the USB and CD DVD drive work

 

5.will there be any issue in particular and wil i be able to abort or revert the process.....

 

 

 

THANX A LOT GUYS IN ADVANCE

 

 

All right. Here we go.

 

1. How much GB are your hard disks? What I would do is: make 2 partitions on the first hard disk, one for vista and one for OS X and keep the second hard disk for data, partitioned in NTFS. Don't worry, Windows (of course) and also MAC OS X van both perfectly handle (read/write) NTFS file system (you need Paragon NTFS for MAC 7.0 for that, get that the same way as you're downloading iAtkos...). Why 2 partitions on 1 disk? I don't know much about it but read a lot of people have problems wih the windows or chameleon bootloader when OS X and Vista are on seperate disks.

 

2. Because you need to use a seperate partition for your OS X installation, you can simply delete that partition in Windows. After that, you'll need to repair your vista bootloader with the vista recovery disk if you used the chameleon bootloader before. It's piece of cake and fail proof, but always make sure, even at this moment already you have a vista DVD with the recovery console on it. If not, you can download it from here:http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vist...-disc-download/

 

and burn it on DVD. It's compatible with all languages and all versions of Vista. Needed this DVD for about 10-15 times by now. So you can always return to your vista when things go wrong.

 

3. You can check hardware compatibility on the OSX86 wiki project: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

Check your version and hardware under 'Hardware'. You really need to do that first to be sure that it will work on your motherboard (or that another OS X version would work better) and the kexts (= 'drivers') you need to install extra included with the DVD. I think a good version is iAtkos 5.0. Or search for iDeneb 1.3, is also good version with extra kexts included, I use that one. iAtkos 1.0 seems to be a really old version??

 

4. Same here: first check all your components on osx86 project. It will really help you to find the right kexts or to choose the right kexts straight from the DVD when installing OS X. The newer the installation version, the more Kexts already included so less work(and troubles) for you after installation...

 

 

5. As long as you ALWAYS have the vista recovery disk (or even 2 in case one is unusable because of a scratch or something) burned on a CD/DVD you'll always be able to repair vista bootloader in a few simple steps without any other trouble. But make really sure when applying code in the OS X terminal window that you choose the right disk and partition number of your MAC OS X installation.

In my case for OS X installation it's disk 0 (first and only disk) and partition 2 (because I had vista installed already on the HD which is the first partition, so Vista had number 1).

 

For repairing vista bootloader of chameleon bootloader I wrote a little guide. Even when your PC of vista seems completely messed up (I've seen it all) and you're about to throw your computer out of a window, no worries, it can be fixed in a few minutes. Just make sure you read/print the guide in advance and make the preparation like always having the vista recovery disk and the OS X installation DVD with you.

 

A installation guide will be needed too: you can find some on the OSX86 wiki page or use this one:

http://inihilist.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/...and-fool-proof/

 

Good luck with it!

[nuevo9]

Will I be able to avoid these problems simply by installing the operating systems on different drives, or will it still cause bother?

[nuevo9]

Will I be able to avoid these problems simply by installing the operating systems on different drives, or will it still cause bother?

 

It really is just a yes/no answer I'm looking for on this one.

[nuevo9]

Guess I'll just have to wipe my hard drives and spend hours with trial and error.

[Harkoni]

Will I be able to avoid these problems simply by installing the operating systems on different drives, or will it still cause bother?

 

Which problems exactly do you mean? Those with the bootloader, windows bootloader or chameleon bootloader?

 

My best (and seems most of the people here) have the best experiences with installations (Windows / MAC OS X) on different partitions (Windows in NTFS and OS X in HFS+ extended (journaled)) on 1 and the same hard disk.

[8jwong14]

I installed OS X on a separate hard drive. I used the bootloader built into Windows.

 

Copied the chain0 file from

 

/usr/standalone/i386/chain0

 

to

 

C:\chain0

 

Then added

 

C:\chain0="Mac OS X"

 

To my Windows bootloader. It works flawlessly. When I turn the computer on, I get a menu for

 

Windows

Mac OS X

 

I can choose either, and once I select and press enter, it automatically boots into the desired OS. No other settings required.

Thanks, this worked for my PC too.

[Pyrokenesis_17]

Hey there, I love the compillation of different "guides" here but have I overlooked one using the new Chameleon RC1? For some reason I'm having a hell of a time getting it to work properly!

 

I'm trying to quad boot win 7, win xp, leopard and ubuntu 9.04, on one harddrive. I reformatted, and I have access to a different Leopard installed on IDE, but that's for testing right now. I'm also trying to get leopard vanilla, but that's a different story. How does one install PC EFI 9 and chameleon bootloader? Do we install on an "efi" partition? Do we install to HFS partition? (In the customize screen) or do we install it on the boot sector? I may be talking smack since I don't quite know the function of chameleon, does it replace the darwin? Does it go to darwin? Someone willing to clear this up?

 

Thank you!

Alex G