Mac OS X For U

Here is my solution for OSx86 users who would like to Dual or Triple boot Mac OS X, Windows, & Linux on the same Machine.

Important

It is highly recommended to backup all existing data before proceeding below!

1). Download and Burn a bootable copy of Acronis Disk Director

2). Assuming that your hard drive is fully formated with zeros, insert your Mac OS X Disk and press ENTER when the disk starts up.

3). Select your language and in the next screen, go into Disk Utility.

4). Create one HFS+ Journaled partition dedicated to Mac OS X.

5). For the remaining space, set that as Free Spacen–> Before you commit the changes, in options, choose the MBR Partitioning Scheme.

6). Quit Disk Utility, and quit the installer.

7). Now, insert your Acronis Disk, and go into disk’s safe mode when the menu appears.

8). You will see the already created Mac OS X partition, but the remaining Free Space is unallocated.

9). Create one NTFS partition using that Free Space, This NTFS partition is only for Vista/XP. Create other necessary partitions after setup is successfully completed. (NOTE: If you are planning to use Linux, you will have to leave some Free Space, Do NOT create an Ext3 partition YET)

10). Now is the time to reinsert your Mac OS X DVD.

11). Select the appropriate packages and install on the OS X partition you created.

12). After installation, heres a tip, you can quit the registration by simply doing Command-Q.

13). After configuring your post-installation, it is optional if you want to install the latest kernel, 9.2.2.

14). The main thing now, is to go into disk utility again, and format the NTFS partition you created for Windows Vista as FAT (MS-DOS).

15). Now it is time to insert your Windows Vista DVD.

16). When you get into the partition selection, highlight the partition you created in Disk Utility (FAT). Format that partition as NTFS.

17). Now you should be able to install Windows Vista without any problems. Note that this will overwrite the existing MBR that Mac OS X configured initially.

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For Users dual booting just Mac & Windows on one disk, Read Below!

For those who would like to triple boot, skip the following steps & resume after step 21. Come back to these steps after completing step 29/30.

18). After installation is complete, and after confirming that your installation is successful, restart and insert your Mac OS X DVD.

19). Instead of Booting in the DVD, press F8 and boot with -s.

20). To use the Darwin bootloader, you will have to write a new MBR. Follow the commands below-

21). Now after reboot, you should see the Darwin bootloader active again, and when you press enter, Windows NTFS will be the foreign O/S installed on your system in addition to Mac OS X. By default, after 8 seconds, Darwin should boot off the Mac OS X partition. However, you can always select the Windows Vista partition anytime you have to access that O/S.

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22). Insert your Linux DVD after you are done installing Windows Vista

23). Follow the prompts as you go along until you select your leftover unpartitioned HD space.

24). Create an Ext3 partition for this installation, instead of swap.

25). Proceed to the bootloader configuration, and select GRUB.

26). If Mac OS X is not on the configuration list, add the boot information manually by going into “edit” or “add“.

27). After doing this, GRUB will automatically detect your Mac OS X partition and add it to the grub.conf file after the installation is complete. You really don’t have to edit the .conf file, only if you want to change the appearance of the name, timeout seconds, and the default O/S to boot into.

28). Proceed with the installation for Linux (any distribution you like).

29). After installation is complete, you should be able to see three options to choose from the GRUB bootloader list.

30). Windows Vista will be displayed as Other, unless you change this manually to Microsoft Windows Vista manually in the grub.conf file.

/* If you are going to tri-boot Mac OS X, Windows Vista, and Linux, do steps 18-21 in Darwin after selecting Mac OS X Leopard from the GRUB Bootloader. That way, by default, the Darwin will boot Leopard instead of Windows Vista. Because chances are the default value may be set to Vista. Therefore, performing those steps should resolve your problem if you face any. */

After all of these procedures are completed, you should be able to enjoy the most of your system on just one hard drive.

Enjoy, WinLinMac01