For a long time, you avoided global software updates on your old Mac, but in the end you couldn’t resist and updated your computer’s operating system to the latest version of macOS Sierra. Unfortunately, after the update, instead of the performance optimization promised by Apple, your machine became, to put it mildly, slow, and the new OS X features, frankly speaking, are not admirable at such operating speeds. What to do? Is it possible to downgrade, for example, from OS X El Capitan (macOS Sierra) to OS X Mavericks?
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Fortunately, it is possible. Apple does not advertise methods for downgrading macOS, but at the same time does not prohibit them, as is the case with iOS.
After installing OS X Mavericks on your old Mac, you will be happy to see that your computer begins to “fly.”
Does your Mac slow down after updating to macOS Sierra (OS X El Capitan)? Install a clean OS X Mavericks
It’s worth noting right away that you can’t restore to OS X Mavericks on all Macs. For example, if you bought a Macbook with OS X Yosemite pre-installed, then the hardware will not allow OS X Mavericks to be inserted for recovery, because this version of the OS was released earlier. The earliest system to install in this case will be OS X Yosemite.
Video instruction:
Save your personal information
In this case, it is NOT RECOMMENDED to resort to backup using Time Machine. Since the backup will be created on the latest version of OS X, it is not a fact that it will be deployed correctly on an older system or whether it will deploy at all.
Ideally, copy the necessary files and folders to an external hard drive.
To avoid issues with Find My Mac and Activation Lock, sign out of your iCloud account in System Preferences. Disabling the feature will happen automatically. The process of removing a device from an iCloud account is described in more detail.
IMPORTANT: Before you begin, be sure to check:
- Is the Mac tied specifically to yours and not to any other?
- Do you remember the credentials (username and password) of your Apple ID. You can check, for example, by logging into this page (from your computer).
The fact is that if the function was activated on the Mac (located along the path: System Settings -> iCloud -> ), then after reinstalling the system (resetting to factory settings), the system will ask you to enter the Apple ID to which the device is linked.
3 . Insert the flash drive into a USB port on your Mac.
4 . Open the system application Disk Utility. Located on the way Programs -> Utilities.
5 . On the left side of the program, select the connected USB drive.
Important: there should be only 1 partition on the flash drive, the partition scheme is GUID.
6 . Select the only partition on the flash drive and press the button Erase in the top menu.
7 . In field Name enter the name of the flash drive, for example, Flash. In field Format select value.
8 . Click Erase and watch the formatting process. This may take a few minutes. When the process is complete, click Ready.
9 . Select the formatted partition of the USB flash drive (in our case the Flash partition), open the top menu Edit and select Restore.
10 . Specify the path to the OS X Mavericks image downloaded in step 2 by clicking the button Image or simply drag the image file onto the window indicating the file path.
In field Restore to… must be indicated OS X Base System.dmg.
11 . Click the button Restore and follow the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive with OS X Mavericks.
The speed of creating a bootable flash drive depends on many factors and averages 20-40 minutes. When the process is complete, click Ready. 
Note: If the recovery procedure fails the first time, try again.
Format your Mac's built-in storage
1 . Restart your Mac using the menu -> Reboot.
2 . During the reboot process, hold down the keys on the keyboard ⌘Cmd And R, after which the Mac will boot into recovery mode.
3 . In the window that appears OS X Utilities select item Disk Utility and press Continue.
4 . Select the partition of the system drive intended for the system and click the button Erase in the top menu.
5 . In the Format field, select a value OS X Extended (Journaled) and press the button Erase.
The process of formatting the system drive partition will begin. When finished, click Ready.
Restore Mac to OS X Mavericks
1 . Insert a bootable USB flash drive containing OS X Mavericks into a USB port on your Mac.
2 . Restart your Mac using the menu -> Reboot.
3 . During the reboot process, hold down the key on the keyboard ⌥Option (Alt), after which a list of drives from which you can boot your computer will appear on the screen.
4 . Select the bootable USB flash drive with OS X Mavericks, it will be called OS X Base System.dmg.
5 . The OS X Mavericks installation process will begin. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Most Mac users upgrade to the next generation of operating system with a simple click of the " Update» in the Mac App Store, although a clean install of OS X is believed to be the most reliable method. In this material we will tell you how to do this.
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How to do a clean install of OS X El Capitan on a Mac by first formatting the disk?
1 . Restart your Mac and hold down the keys while turning on the computer ⌘ Cmd And R.
2 . In the loaded application, select the menu item " Disk Utility" and click the " Continue».
3 . In the left side menu, select the system drive (by default it is called " Macintosh HD") and in the main window go to the " Erase" and format it by specifying the format " Mac OS Extended (Journaled)».
Attention! All data will be deleted from the Mac.
4
. After finishing the formatting process, close " Disk Utility».
5 . Select an item Install OS X in the window " OS X Utilities", if you need to download a copy of OS X El Capitan from the Internet and click the " Continue».
6 . If you plan to use a bootable USB flash drive (by creation), then close the “ OS X Utilities».
7. In the window that appears, click Boot disk...
8 . In the window that appears, select a bootable USB flash drive with OS X El Capitan that was previously connected to your computer and click Reboot.
The computer will reboot and offer installation of the system from the USB flash drive.
It is worth noting that you can also press a button ⌥Option (Alt) on the keyboard when you turn on the computer. A list of available drives will appear from which you must select a bootable USB flash drive.
Most users traditionally switch to a new version of OS X by simply clicking the “update” button in the App Store. Undoubtedly, this is the easiest method, but at the same time it is not always the most effective, since over time many Mac users notice that their system is no longer as fast as it was at the beginning of operation, and updating does not solve the problem.
Users who constantly change and reinstall software on their Mac are especially susceptible to this problem. The reason for the decrease in performance is precisely various system garbage and “residues” from deleted programs that safely remain in place during the update. That is why many people prefer to install a “clean system”.
Things to remember before installing from scratch
First of all, be sure to back up your system. To do this, the standard set of OS X programs includes a wonderful Time Machine utility.
Also be sure to make sure that all your contacts, calendars, mail, etc. synced with iCloud (settings>iCloud)
Clean installation of OS X El Capitan step by step
2. Reboot the Mac while holding down the key option(aka alt).
3. Select a USB flash drive as boot media.
4. After the Mac boots Recovery from the USB flash drive, visually it will happen like this:
open Disk Utility and format the Mac hard drive.
5. To do this, select the hard drive partition in the panel on the left, then in the top panel click erase(do not change the format and name) then click again erase(at the bottom).
6. After formatting is complete, close Disk Utility and select reinstall OS X.
7. In the next window, select only the formatted hard drive and after completing the installation process you will receive a crystal clear OS X El Capitan.
By the way, you can reinstall the system from scratch without bothering with a flash drive. True, you need to have Capitan installed on your Mac before, also from scratch, otherwise the version of the system that came “in the box” will be installed.
So, if such a need arises, then restart your Mac while holding cmd+R, open Disk Utility and format the hard drive as shown above. Then you also choose Reinstall OS X and wait for the installation to complete.
We remind you that this material is provided for informational purposes only. If you are going to reproduce the steps described below, we strongly advise you to carefully read the article to the end at least once. The editors of 3DNews do not bear any responsibility for any possible consequences.
⇡ Introduction
“Hackintosh” is an ironic name for Mac OS X, installed not on an Apple computer, but on a regular PC. This phenomenon became possible when the Cupertino company began migrating its machines from the PowerPC platform to x86 in 2005, and Macs began to be equipped with the same processors and Intel chipsets that are used in personal computers. Since its initial modest victories, the so-called OSx86 project has grown from a hobby of a few enthusiasts into a mass movement with a growing user base. Today, when Apple officially released a new version of its operating system, Lion, it’s time to tell everyone who doesn’t have a Mac, but has an interest in Mac OS X and a desire to experiment, about Hackintosh.
The first questions a person asks when he sees a Mac operating system on a PC: “Is it difficult to install?” and “Is everything working fine?” The answer to both is no. Installation has now been simplified to the extreme, so you can play with Mac OS X on almost any modern computer, but the full functionality is not available to everyone - for a fair share of users, hardware graphics acceleration will either not work, or the network, sound, or something else will fail. Hackintoshes also have big problems with sleep mode. All these difficulties can be overcome, but you will probably have to spend a few sleepless nights. In general, the situation completely copies what happened with desktop Linux distributions a few years ago. However, this is a very flattering comparison both for the hacker community and for Apple itself: given that no one has ever prepared Mac OS X to work with non-native hardware, everything could have been much worse. Yes, some hardware will never run under Mac OS, others will require dancing with a tambourine and a hare's foot. But at the same time, a huge fleet of components either works out of the box or starts after simple manipulations. And software for Mac OS in all cases installs and works exactly the same as on a real Mac. It turns out that he’s not so scary, this Hackintosh.
For those who are concerned about the legal side of the phenomenon: of course, Mac OS X can only be legally installed on an Apple-branded computer, and any other options violate the license agreement. It is also prohibited to modify OS components, not to mention using pirated distributions from “torrents”. However, Apple does not persecute the OSx86 community in any way (although it is suing companies that make money from Hackintoshes), and the means of protection against unauthorized use are in their infancy, and ways to overcome them have long been found. Mac OS X doesn't even require a license key or online activation. After all, hackintosh people advertise this OS for free and secretly dream of buying a real Mac. And the most devoted red-eyed experimenters, who fundamentally prefer Hackintosh, are still lost as potential buyers.
If there is no difference, then why pay more? Or is there?
So, if a small crime doesn’t bother you, and technical difficulties only cause healthy excitement, let’s try installing Mac OS X on a PC together. In this article we will describe two simple ways to install the previous, but still popular version of the OS, Snow Leopard (10.6), and one method for the new one, Lion (10.7). There is no point in installing Leopard (10.5), much less Tiger (10.4). If you like the result, then these instructions will become the starting point for mastering Hackintosh yourself. The last section provides links to popular OSx86 community resources where you can learn from other users' experiences and find solutions to specific problems.
⇡ Preparing Hackintosh
Actually, why can’t Mac OS X just work on a PC and how to overcome these obstacles? Reason number one is that in Macs, not the good old BIOS, but EFI is used as a layer between the OS and hardware firmware, and in order for Mac OS to start, EFI is emulated at the level of a special “hacker” bootloader (by the way , we owe this achievement to a Russian hacker under the nickname Netkas). The most popular and rapidly developing loader today is Chameleon and its derivatives, for example Chimera.
The second reason: Mac OS X has a kext (from kernel extension, remember this term) called Dont Steal Mac OS X. It is required to decrypt the applications that make up what looks like an operating system to the user (Dock, Finder, loginwindow, SystemUIServer and others), based on keys from the SMC chip, which is only available on real Macs. Well, if “there are no legs, then there are no cartoons.” The FakeSMC kext comes to the rescue, which successfully emulates an SMC Device, for which, again, thanks to Netkas. A special bootloader and FakeSMC.kext are all that is needed to boot Mac OS X, if the hardware of the computer is not very different from real Macs.
And this is precisely the third reason. There are no drivers for unsupported hardware under Mac OS X, or there are built-in drivers, but the system cannot use them because it does not recognize hardware with unfamiliar identifiers.
The hardware requirements for Hackintoshes are the same - you need a processor that supports SSE2 instructions, best of all - Intel Core 2 Duo and older. AMD users will have to replace the OS kernel with a “hacked” version, and as a result, there will be problems updating the system from the Apple server. The same applies to netbooks on the Atom platform. Support for AHCI mode on the part of the SATA controller is highly desirable. To install Mac OS X Lion you need 2 GB of RAM, for Snow Leopard one is enough. The first rule for selecting hardware: the more the computer resembles real Macs, the fewer problems. Second rule: the newest and most advanced devices may not work no matter how hard you try, because... hardware support depends primarily on the Mac OS itself (heavy hardware drivers are not written for Hackintosh), and Apple is in no hurry. The site wiki.osx86project.org, which contains HLC (Hardware Compatibility Lists) for different versions of Mac OS X, will help you assess the chances of success.
For installation, it is best to use a separate drive with a SATA interface, and, out of harm’s way, turn off the Windows drive. If you are not afraid to conduct experiments on one HDD with a working operating system, then you will have to create a new partition on it using some disk utility (10 GB is enough for pure Mac OS X). Just keep in mind that during the installation process, the Hackintosh bootloader will be written to the HDD, and then you will only be able to get into Windows through it. There is no threat to your existing data, but a backup won’t hurt either. The disk must be connected to the south bridge port of the motherboard; the SATA controller in the BIOS must be set to AHCI mode. It is recommended to remove overclocking, remove all expansion cards except the graphics adapter in the top PCI-E slot, disconnect peripherals other than the keyboard and mouse, and reduce the RAM volume to 4 GB (if more is installed). If the installation with minimal functionality is successful, then all this can be returned step by step. Too many conditions? Then you can practice on cats, that is, in a virtual machine. There are even ready-made images for various hypervisors on the Internet, although using them will not bring you experience in creating Hackintosh.
We warn readers: although Hackintosh is a completely harmless entertainment that will not break your computer and is unlikely to spoil any data, all manipulations described in the article are done at your own peril and risk. In addition, you need to be familiar with the computer and know what the bootloader, OS kernel and hard drive partitioning scheme are. Well, when you master Hackintosh perfectly, do not agree under any circumstances if your friends ask you to install it on your PC, otherwise you, as an honest person, will have to get married in order to keep this miracle working.
⇡ Installing Snow Leopard from iATKOS 10.6.3 v2
The simplest and most universal option is to install Mac OS X with a specially modified distribution. Since the release of Snow Leopard, such hacker builds have given way to a more elegant solution - installation from a copy of a proprietary disk using a separate boot CD, and this is described below. But users of CPUs from AMD or Intel Atom cannot do without assembly, because... the original Mac OS X kernel (which our English-speaking friends call the vanilla kernel) only supports Intel processors with Core architecture and older, and the build allows you to immediately select the “patched” version during the installation process. And after you have entered the world of Hackintosh through assembly and gained some knowledge, you can create a clean installation, the components of which you have complete control over.
iATKOS 10.6.3 v2 is one of the latest builds released, and despite the rather old version of the OS (Snow Leopard has already been updated to 10.6.8), all the “hacker” software on it is quite modern. After downloading the image (we won’t tell you where from), write it to a disc. Boot from the iATKOS disk and wait until the “hacker” bootloader works and the OS starts.
This process takes several minutes, but if it suddenly takes longer than reasonable limits or displays an error message, it means that something went wrong.
In this case, you need to boot from the DVD again, but on the bootloader screen with the green chameleon, press F8, highlight the optical drive, enter “-x” from the keyboard and press Enter. This is the so-called safe mode, but if you have no luck with it, then you need to boot with the “-v” argument, which will allow you to observe the boot log. At the moment where the process is stuck or the phrase Kernel Panic appears, you can take a photo of the screen and then in a calm atmosphere try to understand what is happening using thematic sites, Google and advice from experienced “hackers”.
The appearance of a window with a choice of language indicates that the download was successful and your system is able to run Mac OS X. We recommend, if possible, choosing the Shakespeare language, since most instructions and problem analyzes on the Internet are written in it.
Scroll through the pages of the installer until the disk selection window appears.
Open the Utilities section in the menu and launch Disk Utility. If you have given a blank disk to Hackintosh, then using this program you need to “partition” it (the Partition tab). To install on a partition adjacent to Windows, the partition is simply formatted in the HFS+ file system (Erase tab). For reliability, it is better to choose the HFS+ Journaled option, and most users will not need the Case Sensitive option.
Once the HDD is prepared for installation, you can close Disk Utility and specify the partition in the installer window. And now the important point is the choice of drivers and settings that allow Mac OS X to fully work on your hardware. The list is opened by the Customize button. All users are advised to look into the Bootloader thread and select the Chameleon v2 RC5 option instead of the default option. Owners of AMD and Intel Atom processors must select a modified kernel in the Patches, Modified Kernels section.
You should not select any “drivers” for the graphics adapter in the Drivers, VGA section. It is better to check the box next to the Graphics Enabler option in the Bootloader Options section - in this case, the bootloader itself will try to activate hardware acceleration. Be that as it may, the OS almost always boots in 2D mode, and if the Graphics Enabler method does not work, then you can try your luck with separate “drivers”. By the way, these are not drivers, but only injectors that allow drivers built into Mac OS X to work with unfamiliar video cards, which is why they are put in quotes.
Select the appropriate package for your network card in the Drivers, Network section - there is a good collection there. For a laptop, the contents of the Drivers, Laptop Hardware section will be useful. You can take some driver for CPU power-saving functions from the Drivers, Main Hardware, CPU Power Management section. The “native” kernel extension called AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext, which carries this function, is prudently blocked in the assembly, because it is only suitable for Intel processors, and even then not for all, and in case of errors it does not allow the system to boot.
Do not check Sleep Enabler in the Patches section - if you need sleep mode, then after updating the OS this extension will still have to be replaced.
The Language Translations section came to iATKOS from the official distribution and contains OS interface localization packages, including Russian.
It is advisable to write down a list of the options that you have chosen, in case the newly installed OS does not start and you have to look for the culprit. Once your selection is made, you can click OK and then Install. Go!
At the end of the installation, the computer will reboot. You can remove the iATKOS disk and boot from the hard drive that we've loaded Mac OS X onto. While the Chameleon bootloader is counting down the seconds until the OS starts up by default, you can press any key and see a list of partitions from which you can boot. If at first there was already Windows on the hard drive, then it starts from a service partition called System Reserved, or directly from its root partition, if the service partition is missing for some reason.
But we can't wait to see Mac OS, right? In this case, we just wait, and if the options were selected correctly during installation, a registration window will appear on the screen, and if the Graphics Enabler option worked, a welcome video will also be shown.
What to do if the operating system gets stuck at the loading stage or displays an error message? The first tip in this case is to boot up and view the log. To do this, you need to stop the bootloader while it counts down the time until the OS starts, select the partition with it, enter the “-v” argument and press Enter. Based on the messages on the screen, you can find the component causing the failure. Then you can try to boot into safe mode with the “-x” argument, and if this is successful, then it is likely that the problem is some kind of kext - a driver or device injector that you checked in the Customize menu of the installation disk, and it needs to be replaced. How to work with kexts is described in a special section of the article.
⇡ Installing Snow Leopard from a proprietary distribution
A “Hackintosh” can also be created using the “native” image of Snow Leopard, which you can even buy to ease your conscience. At the same time, all the software that makes Mac OS X compatible with PC is recorded on a separate disk. But this method is only suitable for owners of Intel CPUs, because both the distribution disk and the copy of the OS that will be installed from it use the original kernel without AMD support. In addition, the unmodified Snow Leopard installer will not allow you to roll the system onto a hard drive partitioned using MBR, and only supports the GUID partitioning scheme. Therefore, the disk with the MBR will have to be repartitioned.
If Windows is already installed there and you are not ready to say goodbye to the most popular operating system forever, then there is a non-obvious solution: using Disk Utility, first partition the disk with a GUID, create its own partition for “windows” and install Windows, and then on the second partition - Snow Leopard. The key word here is Disk Utility. This program, which, as you already know, also runs from the Mac OS X installation disk, creates a hybrid partition with synchronized GUID and MBR. And the MBR is required to install Windows.
So, first we need an iBoot boot disk image and a MultiBeast driver package - the latest versions of both are posted on the website www.tonymacx86.com/viewforum.php?f=125 (registration is required to download). We burn the iBoot ISO image to a disc and boot from it. When a window appears asking you to select a partition to boot, you need to replace iBoot in the drive with the “native” distribution with Mac OS X, press F5, highlight the DVD and press Enter.
The further procedure is completely similar to what is written about assembling iATKOS, only in the Customize menu there are no “left-handed” drivers, but only standard Snow Leopard packages - interface localizations, fonts, etc.
But once the installation is complete, you won’t be able to boot directly from the hard drive, because... the copy of the OS is pristine and no different from what is on real Macs. Therefore, you need to boot from the iBoot disk again and select the partition with Snow Leopad.
If an error occurs, you already know what to do: boot with the “-v” argument and run diagnostics, then try to start the OS in safe mode with the “-x” argument. The tonymacx86 site also recommends the PCIRootUID=1 argument, which can be combined with "-x" and "-v".
If Mac OS X showed a registration window, then it’s time to accustom it to the PC. You need to launch MultiBeast from the archive that we downloaded in advance, and scroll through all the installer pages right down to the component selection menu. Here, all users must check the EasyBeast Install item - which specifies the installation of a minimum set of kexts. To enable support for specific hardware, you should look at the individual branches of the list and select the necessary extensions. At the end of the procedure, the computer will reboot and you can safely boot from the HDD.
In addition to kexts, the Chimera bootloader will be installed on the disk, and if Windows was previously installed, it is loaded by selecting the appropriate partition.
⇡ Installation of Lion
Here's the tastiest thing - the latest version of Mac OS X. So far only Intel users can appreciate it. At the time of writing, Apple has not yet released the source code for the Lion kernel, which means there are no modified kernels. But most kexts written for Snow Leopard work with Lion.
To install Lion, we will need a working Snow Leopard version no lower than 10.6.6, a free partition on a 5 GB hard drive to accommodate the installer files, the Lion distribution (available for $29.99 in the App Store and you know where for free), xMove utility and the already familiar MultiBeast package.
The Install Mac OS X Lion program is launched directly from the running operating system, and as the partition for installation you need to select exactly the one from which Snow Leopard is running, which will not affect the OS in any way. Once the files are copied, you can agree to reboot and log back into Snow Leopard.
Now it's up to the xMove utility. Having launched it, you need to mark the empty partition that we prepared in advance for Lion, and xMove will transfer the files unpacked by the Install Mac OS X Lion program there. If Snow Leopard is installed using the iBoot + MultiBeast method, then just boot from the hard drive and select the partition with “Lion” in the Chimera bootloader menu. If iATKOS or another solution was used for installation, but the bootloader and kexts are also not the latest, then you will have to boot from the iBoot disk. The further procedure completely repeats the process of installing Snow Leopard from a proprietary distribution. Moreover, as a target, you can select a partition with an already running Mac OS X, and then it will be updated painlessly.
⇡ Installing and removing kexts
How can I remove a problematic driver, injector, or add support for devices that did not start after the initial installation? The storage for kexts (kernel extensions) in Mac OS X is the /System/Library/Extensions directory, and they are loaded from a single cache at /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext, where the OS puts only the necessary extensions. But modern Hackintosh loaders (already familiar to us Chameleon and Chimera) can load additional kexts from the /Extra/Extensions directory, and from them their own small cache /Extra/Extensions.mkext is formed. MultiBeast and iATKOS use exactly this scheme, only in the latter case the /Extra directory is hidden. Showing hidden files is enabled using a command in the terminal.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall finder
To install many kexts, just copy them to /Extra/Extensions. But some will not be able to resolve dependencies (there are no necessary extensions in the /S/L/C/c/S/Extensions.mlext cache), and you will have to create a single cache of all “native” and “third-party” extensions in the /Extra directory. which the OS will not be able to remake. The following command does this:
sudo kextcache -m /Extra/Extensions.mkext -- /System/Library/Extensions /Extra/Extensions
Before these files in /Extra/Extensions need to be assigned the necessary permissions. Teams:
sudo chown -R 0:0 /Extra/Extensions
sudo chmod -R 755 /Extra/Extensions
And one more nuance: if, even with the correct permissions, the kext is not included in the cache and is not loaded, you need to open it using the Show Package Contents option in the file’s context menu and view the Info.plist file in the Contents directory. This is an xml file, and at the end, before the closing tags there should be the following entry:
Otherwise, it needs to be added or changed.
Things are a little different in Mac OS X 10.7. Lion uses a different cache format - prelinked kernel. By default, Chameleon does not read it and scans the entire contents of the /Extra/Extensions directory, which slows down loading. The only thing that can be done for now is to create a shared cache in the system directory /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup. Team:
sudo kextcache -c /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache -v -t -K /mach_kernel -- /System/Library/Extensions /Extra/Extensions
And in order for the bootloader to pick up kernelcache, you need to use the “UseKernelCache=Yes” argument at startup. But unlike the contents of /Extra, this file is subject to the operating system, and from time to time it will update it, forgetting, of course, about our “hacker” extensions. A solution to the problem is to move the kexts from /Extra to the /System/Library/Extensions directory and give them the necessary permissions with the commands:
sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions
⇡ OS update
Hackintosh can be updated from the Apple server using the built-in Software Update utility. But at the same time, you need to be prepared for the fact that after the update some kexts will stop working or start causing crashes and you will have to find a replacement for them. Fortunately, developers of popular extensions quickly respond to the release of new versions of Mac OS X. In addition, after the update, you need to rebuild the kext cache by first loading the system with the “-f” argument. Users of AMD processors should make sure that the latest version of the modified kernel is available before updating the OS, or you can leave the old one.
⇡ Bootloader setup
The operation of the Chameleon bootloader or its analogues is controlled by the file com.apple.boot.plist in the /Extra folder. It can be modified manually, but there is also a special GUI utility - Lizard, which can be downloaded from darwinx86.net/software/darwinx86_software.html. It is advisable to enter the screen resolution, loading arguments (for example, the aforementioned “UseKernelCache=Yes”) into the configuration, and for owners of “non-standard” processors the name of the modified kernel file. In iATKOS this is the custom file (look, it is in the root partition of the disk). Also check Graphics Injection if this option helped you enable 3D acceleration.
The 32bit Compatibility Mode option will force the kernel to boot in 32-bit mode, which may be necessary for some kexts. At the same time, support for large amounts of RAM is maintained, and applications can run in 64-bit mode regardless of the kernel. A similar command line argument is “-x32”.
The argument list may also contain special options for individual kexts.
The program automatically opens the file /Extra/com.apple.boot.plist, and if it is missing, it will create it when you try to save changes. This is exactly what will happen with iATKOS, because... This assembly by default stores the bootloader configuration in the system file of the same name /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.boot.plist. This is not correct, so it is best to clear the system file after creating the file in /Extra, leaving only those lines that are shown in the screenshot.
Another Lizard feature is editing the /Extra/SMBIOS.plist file. It contains information about the computer model and installed hardware and helps to present the computer as some kind of Macintosh in the System Information program.
⇡ Peripherals from Apple
A question that worries many people, but they don’t want to spend money on an experiment: do Mac devices like Apple Cinema Display, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad work with Hackintosh? So, the monitor is compatible with any video card equipped with DisplayPort (DP Mini or a full-format version of the port with an adapter is suitable), and both the light sensor and brightness adjustment in System Preferences work. The mouse and touchpad require a Bluetooth USB adapter - some work right out of the box without any additional kexts, and the connection process is again no different from that on real Macs.
⇡ Free swimming
www.kexts.com - a database of original and third-party kexts for Mac OS X.I guess that most people who want to switch to a Mac are hampered by myths about the Hackintosh - a computer that runs Mac OS. Before going directly to the description installing Mac OS X on PC, I will try to dispel some of the myths:
1. Mac OS X will only be installed on processors and chipsets compatible with it from Intel, and video cards only from NVidia. Most of the peripherals will not work.
This was once true, but progress does not stand still, more and more new patches and drivers are being released, and the amount of hardware compatible with Mac OS X is growing every day. Now Mac OS can easily be installed on a computer with a processor that at least supports SSE2, but preferably SSE3, for example, AMD or Intel. Many modern video cards support hardware acceleration, namely Quartz Extreme, Quartz 2d, Core Image, GL. I think now you understand that nothing supernatural is required from your computer.
2. Installing Mac OS X is difficult.
In fact, it’s no more difficult than installing Windows XP; I think it’s even easier if you choose the right kexts and fixes.
3. Mac OS X will not be able to “live” on the same physical disk with Windows.
Maybe! There are 2 options:
— Windows bootloader + chain0 (for example, this is how it is on my computer)
- Acronis OS Selector
So let's get down to business.
Step 1. Preparation.
First, you need to check your computer for compliance with Mac OS X requirements.
The absolute minimum is a processor that supports SSE2. This can be determined by the CPU-Z program ((1.97 Mb)).
Minimum random access memory (RAM) 256 MB, naturally, the more the better.
Not exactly an old video card for AGP or PCI-E, starting from GF4.
If your PC meets the requirements of Mac OS X, we move on.
Many people advise downloading and burning Hiren’s Boot CD. If on the same physical disk where you are going to install Mac OS there are partitions in NTFS format, then it is better to convert them to FAT32 (), because when creating a new partition an error may occur and the FS will become unreadable, but there is another, easier one the way is to transfer your data to another physical disk or flash drive.
For ease of installation, I advise you to print this text so that you can see what to do next at any time.
Having finished with the preparation, we proceed to the second step.
Step 2. Download the installation disk image.
The first step is to decide which version of Mac OS X we need: the latest one at the moment is 10.5. Since our task is to get acquainted with the system, I recommend installing versions 10.4.6 or 10.4.7, because they usually install without much difficulty. And then you can update using combo-update. But you can also try OS X 10.5. Next, go to torrents.ru and write something like this in the search form:
Mac OS X 10.4.6
If the downloaded file is in ISO format, then you can easily burn it to disk, but if it is in DMG format, you will also have to download the DMG2ISO application ((12.29 Kb)) and convert the downloaded file into an ISO image.
Step 3. Burn the image to disk.
You will need a DVD-R or DVD+R disc. You can write through Nero or Alcohol 120%. I think you can handle the recording process yourself. After burning a disc with Windows, several documents of about 150 KB in size will be “visible” on the disk, or maybe nothing will be “visible” at all, this is how it should be.
Step 4. Installation.
Insert the disc you freshly burned into the drive and restart the computer. When the message about starting installation from disk appears on the monitor, press F8 or wait a few seconds and enter the “-v” parameter (without quotes). If you press any other key or continue the installation without this action, then the graphic mode will turn on instead of the text mode - this is beautiful, but you can only find out about errors in the text mode.
There are two most common mistakes:
« system config file ‘/com.apple.Boot.plist’ not found"- there is a problem with the Mac OS X distribution (you will have to download another)
« Still waiting for root device"- most likely there is a problem with the hardware, perhaps some kind of incompatibility.
If the initial boot went without problems, then a blue display (not BSOD) with a wait cursor will open in front of you. Next you will be asked to select a language. Choose Russian (or English, if not). Click on the arrow, after which a menu will appear at the top, select Utilities -> Disk Utility and format the partition in which you are going to install Mac OS X in the Mac OS Extended journaled format.
Sometimes it happens that Disk Utility cannot format this partition in HFS or mount it, then this can be fixed with Acronis. To do this, select the manual mode for changing partitions in Acronis Disk Director Suite and create a partition in FAT32 format. Next, in its context menu, select the item to change the partition type and set the value to 0xAFh (Shag OS Swap). Acronis, of course, will complain that all the data on this partition may be lost and become unreadable, but we have nothing there anyway. :-) Apply the changes and reboot.
After the disk has been successfully formatted, click Continue, read and accept the license agreement, and select the partition you prepared for installation. Next, click Continue. Next, click Settings (Customize) and select the components that you need to install. Particular attention to patches and kexts: you need to install only those patches that are necessary specifically for your system, and nothing unnecessary. Do not install patches for SSE2 and SSE3 at the same time! Install only the one that matches your processor. Click Continue. Then the installation will be prepared and the disk will be checked. The installation will complete by restarting the computer.
Step 5: Complete installation.
After restarting the computer, there are two options:
1. Successful system boot (especially if you use Acronis OS Selector)
2. b0 error. We boot from Hiren’s boot CD and use Acronis Disk Director to make the partition with Mac OS X active. Reboot.
The system boots safely, and you will be prompted to enter this or that information, enter it. The exception is Mac ID - it must be left blank (this may cause a freeze)
P.S. The layout is switched using the Command + Space (ALT + Space) keys
If everything is done correctly, the desktop loads. Hooray! Works!
P.P.S. The administration of this site in no way forces or offers you to install hack builds of Mac OS X; we are against software hacking! When installing a hacked Mac OS X, you are responsible before the laws of your country.