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[Mac OSx86] External USB Drive Native Install Guide

Description:

Use Mac OS X on an ordinary PC without Apple hardware! Use this comprehensive step by step guide to install and boot a fully functional Mac OS X installation from an external USB/thumb drive or FireWire drive.

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ISO Copyright Notes

Various hackers have released hacked ISO torrents that can be installed on PCs. However, this violates the Apple EULA agreement and there are legal issues with using the ISOs. The legal ways to obtain a copy would be:

1) Become an Apple Developer ($500 membership)

2) Buy a real mac, deactivate the copy of OS X and install it on a PC (this way would be pointless because the whole point is to run OS X without getting a mac). This way also somewhat violates the EULA because the agreement says that you can't run OS X on non-Apple hardware.

Its best to get a legal copy of the ISO because then you can install the software without worry about malicious software or about the software phoning home.

With that said, lets begin.

Note about FireWire Drives: This same guide can be used to install to a FireWire drive as long as your BIOS supports booting from FireWire devices.

This guide will walk you through step-by-step on how to install and boot Mac OSx86 on an external USB drive connected to an ordinary PC.

Note: For the demonstration with screenshots, we will be using VMware and the Uphuck 1.4iR3 ISO.

What you need:

Processor that supports SSE2 and/or SSE3 instruction sets (check using CPU-Z for Windows)
One working unused USB port
BIOS that supports booting from USB devices
A DVD burner to burn the ISO
An external USB drive/Thumb drive with a storage capacity of at least 6GB that is formatted as FAT32
USB Keyboard and Mouse OR PS2 Keyboard and Mouse (both have to be same type)
A pre-patched Mac OS X ISO image (see above statement regarding copyright)

Recommended ISOs:

Mac OS X 10.4.8 [JaS AMD Intel SSE2 SSE3 PPF1 + PPF2] - For Intel and AMD/SSE2 or SSE3
Uphuck 10.4.9 v1.3 Universal DVD - For Intel and AMD/SSE2 or SSE3
Uphuck 1.4a and 1.4i series - Intel Only/SSE2 or SSE3
Kalyway 10.4.10 V1.0 - Intel SSE3 only
Kalyway 10.4.10 V.1.1 PPF1 - For Intel and AMD/SSE2 or SSE3
XxX 10.4.10/10.4.11 - Intel SSE2/SSE3
Tubgirl 10.4.10 - AMD SSE3 only
Kalyway 10.5.2 - Intel AMD SSE2 SSE3
Leo4Allv3 - Intel AMD SSE2 SSE3

Check hardware compatibility:

Before installing OS X you have to check if your hardware (other than processor) is compatible. To check this, go to the OSx86 Project Wiki and view the HCLs (Hardware Compatibility Lists). If your hardware is supported, then you're OK. If any of your hardware is on the Incompatible List, then you know that the component or in some cases the entire system will not work with OS X.

Note: If you encounter problems or errors anywhere throughout the procedure, please skip straight to the troubleshooting section.

Step 1: Burn the ISO

Use burning software such as Nero to burn your Mac OSx86 pre patched ISO onto a DVD-R disc.

Step 2: Boot from DVD

Insert your burned DVD into your drive. Turn on your USB External drive (make sure its formatted as FAT32!). Make sure that your BIOS is set to boot from CD/DVD first and reboot the computer to boot into the OS X DVD.

Step 3: Formatting the drive

If the OS X DVD successfully boots, you should get to a language screen like the one below:

(click to enlarge)

Choose your language and click the blue arrow button to proceed to the next step.

(click to enlarge)

Here, click the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility. Wait for it to gather the hard disk information.

(click to enlarge)

As shown by the screenshot above, follow these steps:

Select your USB external drive device from the left menu (Make sure you select the right device!)
Click the Partition tab
Set the Volume Scheme to 1 Partition
Give the partition a name
Set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Make sure the size is correct and that it matches your drives capacity

Now click the Options button to bring up the menu below:

Note: Some DVDs may not have the options button. If you can't see an Options button, then skip the step with the options button and continue to partition. However, if your computer (that you are sure supports booting from USB) does not detect the bootloader and you need the DVD to boot the install, then get a DVD with the Options button, follow the necessary steps to format and partition with that DVD and install using the DVD you were planning to use.

(click to enlarge)

As shown, select the Master Boot Record option and click OK. Click the Partition button and then click Partition again in the box that comes up. Wait for your drive to be partitioned (it shouldn't take long) and proceed to the next step.

(click to enlarge)

Once partitioning is done, follow these steps:

Click you new volume from the left (e.g. OS X USB in this case)
Click the Erase tab
Click the Erase button and click Erase again in the dialog that pops up

Wait for the Erase process to finish (it should only take a few seconds). Then. click the Disk Utility menu and choose Quit Disk Utility to return back to the Welcome screen.

Step 4: Installation

You should be back in the Welcome screen in screenshot 2. Click the Continue button to proceed to the following screen:

(click to enlarge)

Depending on your DVD, this page may or may not have important information to read. If there is info, its recommended that you read it. Once you're done. click Continue. On some DVDs, a dialog pops up asking whether you agree or disagree to the EULA. Click Agree if it pops up to continue to the next step.

(click to enlarge)

Choose the volume that you formatted earlier and click Continue.

(click to enlarge)

This part is extremely tricky. It is recommended just to choose the Main System/Essential System Software and the patch for your CPU (if it exists) and then install drivers later. But its your choice. You could go for the recommended approach and just do as stated above or you could go all out and install the drivers for your hardware devices as well. If you need help, see the Troubleshooting Section at the bottom.

Make your selection and click Install.

(click to enlarge)

A box will pop up saying "Checking your Installation DVD". Click Skip to save time. Wait for installation to complete and a Restart button will appear. Click Restart to shut down the installer to boot OS X (but before OS X boots, you need to follow the below step)

Step 5: Booting from USB Drive

When installation is done, after clicking the Restart button, don't wait for it to boot into OS X. Instead boot straight into your BIOS.

Note: To get into BIOS, usually the key to press will be displayed on the logo screen (e.g. Press Esc to enter setup). If not, check your motherboard/computer manual on how to do this

Now you will have to set the computer to boot from USB. Every BIOS is different so you may have to check the manual. On the test machines Phoenix Award BIOS, we had to:

Go into the Boot tab
Go into the Hard Disk Priority option
Set the USB drive as the first boot device by pressing PgUp
Press F10 to save changes and reboot

Make sure you've set it right and save changes and boot into OS X.

Enjoy OS X!

If you encounter problems booting, then go to the Troubleshooting section below:

Troubleshooting

Due to the vast variety of errors you may encounter, we cannot list all the solutions here. Here's how you can get help:

First of all, you need to know the error messages you are getting. To do so, boot OS X in verbose mode. Heres how:

Restart the computer to boot OS X, and before OS X starts to load, keep tapping F8 on your keyboard. If you did it right you will
eventually get to a prompt that says:

boot:

Type in:

-v

And press enter. Post up the error screen and/or record down any errors you get. Send the errors along with your support request. Once you know the error you are getting, here are 3 methods to get support:

1) Post a topic at the InsanelyMac Forums asking for help
3) Send a support request to PCWiz through this form so we can help you
4) Try and solve the problem yourself by looking for info in the OSx86 Project Wiki

Thanks for using this guide and enjoy OSx86!

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a guest said:

	... Very nice job thanks
	report abuse vote down vote up

February 13, 2008
Votes: +0

Tom said:

	Works for Leopard? Will this method work for Leopard also? (Using iATKOS v1.0 R2 on a Formac Disk Mini 120GB USB/FireWire drive)
	report abuse vote down vote up

March 12, 2008
Votes: +1

a guest said:

	... Any idea on installing Mac on an External Hard Drive without a Disc (I can't burn DVD)
	report abuse vote down vote up

March 26, 2008
Votes: +0

Justmous said:

	... Good&veryGood work ! Can you post the md5 of any//all .iso files ? 1000 thanks ! nb: useful to be sure that i have the right iso . ;-)
	report abuse vote down vote up

March 28, 2008
Votes: +0

Aneta said:

	... Will this method work for Leopard also?
	report abuse vote down vote up

March 31, 2008
Votes: -1

pcwiz said:

	Yes Yes it works for Leopard too.
	report abuse vote down vote up

March 31, 2008
Votes: +1

pcwiz said:

...
Sorry I forgot to answer a few questions.

Anonymous,

You could try imaging the disc to a USB flash drive (5GB flash drive at least) and then installing from that, no guarantees it will work though.

Justmous,

The MD5 should be mentioned in the place where you got it from.

Brian,

As long as you format and partition the RIGHT drive, you have my word that it won't touch your internal drive. Just do everything carefully and make backups before proceeding.

April 04, 2008
Votes: +2

Brian Again said:

...
My 16GB flash drive is a POS and it won't install (i think the drive is just garbage). I have an external hard drive, formerly the primary hard drive on a new deceased computer. It has a primary partition(with a copy of WinXP) and 2 extended partitions. I want to try to install OSX into the second partition(right now it's 50GB but I can make it smaller if I need to). Will I be able to do this, or will it give me some errors because of Windows. I guess I can find that out on my own. What I really want to know is, can I use an exFAT partition not a FAT32? I can't format the 50GB as FAT32, maybe if I tried a smaller space it'd work.

April 05, 2008
Votes: +1

pcwiz said:

	... Why won't it install?
	report abuse vote down vote up

April 05, 2008
Votes: +0

jtreibick said:

...
I had an issue along similar lines where the installation did not go correctly. During the console portion of the boot it keeps looking for a "root device" and repeats this over and over. At the beginning I see it polling the drive during the usb detection. This seems to me that the installation cannot detect any disk usb or otherwise. I have a Dell Vostro with an internal hard disk and dvd drive using SATA. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

April 07, 2008
Votes: +0

Jon said:

...
I have followed your guide all the way through but have encountered a problem right at the END!! AHHH!! :-p

It installed fine and then restarted, and would not boot onto the external drive, i set it first in the boot sequence but it says. USB Drive: cannot find boot sequence. And now when i try and load in the OSX disc it keeps on asking me to restart and i cannot get into the Installer.

I am very new to this OSX86 Stuff so help would be appreciated.

I am using Uphuck 1.4i R3.
My system is a Dell Inpsiron 1520 Intel Core 2 2gb ram

Onto External Drive Freecom 80gb was FAT32 now Mac Extended Jounaled

Please Help, Jon

April 16, 2008
Votes: +1

Julian said:

	... I have a similar problem as Jon. DVD boot and install go smooth, I set my bios to boot from the external usb HDD, but it seems to ignore this and bypasses everything and boot up windows from my internal drive. What did I miss?
	report abuse vote down vote up

April 17, 2008
Votes: +0

Karen said:

	... I was having the same type of problem even though I set the boot sequence in the BIOS. I had to hit F8, I think, to select which device to boot from. I don't know if this can be done on every motherboard, as I have only seen it on rare occasions.
	report abuse vote down vote up

April 19, 2008
Votes: +0

Jon said:

	... Sorry Karen it didn't work. On my comp i can either set it to boot from USB in the boot sequence, or i can tap F12 and choose a "One Time Boot" from the USB, i have tryed both and still recieve the message USB Drive: Cannot Find Boot Sequence. Anymore help would be appeciated!!
	report abuse vote down vote up

April 21, 2008
Votes: -2

Someoneol2005 said:

...
I went ahead and became very interested in getting OSX to run on my Windows PC. I made a backup image of my PC as is to ensure that I was prepared for any changes. I read this article and it made it seem very easy. I am trying to use the OSX CD that came with my mac and I want to make a patched version of that CD. Anyone have any suggestions? I have dialup so I can't download prepatched. I also was aware of Maxxuss the programmers patch kits but I have no clue where to begin. Please help, I'm 16 but pretty tech savvy (except when it comes to cracking.)

May 03, 2008
Votes: +1

Jon said:

	... Yeh, I'm pretty sure my motherboard is USB Boot Compatible, when it starts I can tap F12, it comes up with a "One-Time Boot Menu" and i have the option of Boot from USB Drive.
	report abuse vote down vote up

May 04, 2008
Votes: +0

retro mick said:

	... Hi all just got Mac OS X working on my UBS drive but i have to pull the my internal hard disk cable out to make it boot . My internal hard disk is a SATA. Its still GREAT
	report abuse vote down vote up

May 10, 2008
Votes: +0

Mark said:

	... I just finished to install OSX onto my External USB Toshiba 160, everything went smooth but though I have a BIOS USB (flash) boot selection it won't do it, any tips?
	report abuse vote down vote up

May 29, 2008
Votes: +1

Eremit said:

	... Good tutorial, I want to give it a shot. Would it work if I used instaed of a harddrive a 10GB USB stick to install it onto? That'd be neat...
	report abuse vote down vote up

May 29, 2008
Votes: +0

scootdizzle said:

	... I am having trouble with this install. When I go to Disk Utility, it doesn't give me my external hdd as an option to select. My external hdd is a 400GB Western Digital plugged in via USB, powered on and everything, but the Mac OSX installer can't seem to find it? It has two partitions, one is NTFS and has a lot of data on it, and the other is an extended FAT32 partition. Any suggestions?
	report abuse vote down vote up

June 01, 2008
Votes: +1

ALIAS.Designer said:

...
Hi there. I've got a broblem with booting Mac from external Hard Disk Drive. First I boot an Mac instaler, than made a Mac External (journaled) partition and started an instalation. When I finished an instalition I run Mac on my computer succesfully. But when I restart my PC I can't run Mac anymore. I tried it many times, but I can run Mac only after instalation. I used 250 GB ex. HDD, dual-core processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1,86 GB), ATI Sapphire X1300, 128 MB Graphic card and 1,5 GB RAM (512 MB and 1 GB). Help me please.

June 02, 2008
Votes: +1

Janarthenan said:

	... VERY GOOD GUIDE. Ive installed it successfully on an external HD. but now it boots up into the apple screen with grey background and the apple symbol in the middle with a little spinning thing at the bottom. but after a while it goes black and nothing happens after that.... any ideas. grillzg
	report abuse vote down vote up

June 08, 2008
Votes: +0

SamNC said:

	... Great Guide for a noob like me. I am going to try it!
	report abuse vote down vote up

July 07, 2008
Votes: +0

Nick said:

...
Great guide!!
I just have a couple of questions, does it matter if I have stuff on Usb HDD when installing the OS X, do I lost all the data? and like when already running leopard, where do all saved files go on my HDD? Do I lost all the HDD space, can I still use this as a usb HDD with windows?? My HDD has a Fat32 File system for default. please if someone could answer this i would appreciate it. Thanks!

July 14, 2008
Votes: +1

KennyW said:

...
Just a recapitulation for newbies. Set your PC boot sequence as CD, USB, then hard disk in the BIOS. You need to start up your PC from a pre-patched OSX install CD or DVD disk (Tiger or Leopard). At a stage when the installer shows OR doesn't show your device for installation, choose to run the DIsk Utility from the top menu bar to partition your USB device into single partition of Mac OSX Extended Journaled (FAT32 or DOS not going to work) and MUST choose Master Boot Record from Options or the device won't boot. Proceed back to Installer by quitting the Disk Utility after the formatting. Upon finishing OSX installation and restart, eject and remove the CD/DVD to allow the USB device to boot. However, whether your PC will boot completely into Mac OSX will depend on the pre-patched disk you used and many a times additional drivers need to be sought and installed for full function. The USB device won't show up in Windows because of a different format scheme unless MacDrive is installed.

July 15, 2008
Votes: +2

Sean said:

	... If I make a partition on my external drive, can I install Mac OS X without formatting the entire drive?
	report abuse vote down vote up

July 29, 2008
Votes: +1

Phil said:

	... You must be prepared to completely format (erase) your usb drive.
	report abuse vote down vote up

August 02, 2008
Votes: -1

Jeffrey said:

...
Mark said:
I just finished to install OSX onto my External USB Toshiba 160, everything went smooth but though I have a BIOS USB (flash) boot selection it won't do it, any tips?

=======================================================
=

I had the same problem. Installed it into an external USB drive. Change boot in BIOS to USB boot, but nothing happended.

Then I saw an option in my Bios near where you would change the boot sequence. The option was something like HD boot sequence. In that option was my external USB drive present. I changed the order of HD boot to first boot the USB disk and then the Internal disk.
Saved the BIOS settings and booted in Hackintosh OS X.

Hope this also works for you...!!

August 13, 2008
Votes: +0

Fred said:

...
It is possible to make a bootable USB Pen-drive/Flash-Disk installation disk from "Kalyway 10.5.2 - Intel AMD SSE2 SSE3", ISO and then use it to install Acer Aspire One A110 with it.

I know that's possible because i already did seen some of this Netbooks with MAC OS X on in, what i realy don't know it's how to make a bootable flash disk, and install it from there into Aspire One...
Anyone?

October 26, 2008
Votes: +1

Rabato said:

	... This might be a stupid question so I apologize in advance. Great guide BTW. Is it possible to install iAtkos 5i on a USB pendrive using a laptop with XP and then use that same pendrive, to boot OSX in my Limpus AAO? Thanks.
	report abuse vote down vote up

January 10, 2009 | url
Votes: +0

Daniel E said:

	... Hi PCWiz, Great guide (as always!), but will this work with the iPC release. I'm guessing the answer is yes, but just want to make sure before I use 4.3 GB of my download quota! Thanks, Daniel
	report abuse vote down vote up

February 03, 2009
Votes: +0

iGeo said:

	... I have windows on my C Drive. If i do this will it only format my USB drive and not my c drive ? Like by doing this my windows will be untouched ?
	report abuse vote down vote up

May 21, 2009
Votes: +0

Mike A said:

	... um, will the iLife suite be available once i finally get to boot from the drive?
	report abuse vote down vote up

June 12, 2009
Votes: +0

Mike A said:

	... also, how do i do a dual-boot system thing? (like i can boot from my windows drive, and if i wanted to i could just restart my PC and boot from the USB containing OS X)
	report abuse vote down vote up

June 12, 2009
Votes: +0

BrianFitz said:

	... I installed successfully but my drive wouldn't boot up unless I had the disc in and I had the Bios booting options configured so my usb was in front of my hard drive.
	report abuse vote down vote up

July 31, 2009
Votes: +0