[Guide] Creating OS X USB installer using a Windows PC only

[Ratul]

Guide--Creating a OS X installer(Iatkos ML2)from windows only.

Note:This guide is for those who don't have access to a mac and for some reasons cannot install the retail image on virtualbox.

What you will need::::

1.A Windows PC.

2.Two USB Flash drives.One of at least 8 GB and the other of atleast 1 GB.

3.dmg2img,Win32diskimager,and bootdiskutility.

4.Last but not the least,an Iatkos_ML2 image based on OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2.(I cannot provide you the link to download Iatkos. You are on your own in downloading this one.)

NOTE : Iatkos distributions are the modified copies of Mac OS X made to be able to work on a PC. I STRONGLY ADVISE USE THIS TEMPORARILY to set up OS X on your computer and then create a installer from a LEGACY PURCHASED retail image. For more info on Iatkos visit http://iatkos.me

The Steps:::::

1.Connect the 1 GB USB stick on your computer.

2.Run Bootdiskutility,select your USB from the list and click on Format disk.The utility will install clover and chameleon bootloaders on your USB drive.



3.Decompress the dmg2img folder and move the Iatkos_ML2.dmg file in the folder containing the dmg2img.exe file.

4.Right click on the folder containing dmg2img.exe while HOLDING DOWN SHIFT KEY i.e Shift+Right click and select "Open command window here" from the context menu.

5.On the command window type the following without the quotes "dmg2img Iatkos_ML2.dmg" and press enter.This will create a Iatkos_ML2.img file in the same folder.(see screenshot)



6.Now plugin your 8 GB USB drive,Decompress the win32diskimager folder and run the win32diskimager.exe file.Select the Iatkos_ML2.img file created in previous step and your 8 GB USB drive and click on Write.Ignore the warnings.This will write the OS X installer on the USB drive.(see screenshot)



7.Now plugin both your USB drives on the computer on which you want to install OS X.On the boot prompt SELECT THE 1 GB USB DRIVE.Clover bootloader will be loaded and your OS X installer USB will show up on the boot devices list.DONT CLICK DIRECTLY ON THE INSTALLER.CLICK ON "BOOT UEFI MENU FROM CLOVER" FIRST AND THEN SELECT YOUR INSTALLER.Also don't change any of the clover settings.
OS X installer must boot now on your computer.You will see that the installer language is in Russian,you can change that easily by clicking on the first box.

NOTE:Chameleon bootloader cannot detect the USB created by this method.

[mirkolo95]

Where is the "box" to click in order to change the language? I don't get it... 

[ahzhang452]

booting into the clover usb drive got me a blinking underscore on my screen

[Yoyo19]

Where is the option to change the language? 

[naiclub]

I was not forced to convert. DMG is. IMG file anything like it, either. RAW!!

 

[HA3I]

It works! :-) thanks bro

[mindtwister]

Hi , i Did everything as told in this guide, but it does not load Iotkas from the the other USB in clover. When i click right mouse on the boot from external i also see only 1 usb regocnized.  But in the normal boot  menu it finds it. What am i missing ?  also i use the most up to date version of Bootdiskutility , could that be the problem as you use a older one ?  Thanks in advance

[pashoni]

I've installed it this way, and now after new OSX install, I can't boot into OSX without usb drive.

This method messed up my bootloader, and installed it in unknown location.

I have chameleon installed with OSX, but it can't boot normally, only with USB.

[iWin32]

For those who want to know how to change the language, in case you're still following this post: for whatever reason, whenever an OS X installer is used to boot from Clover, the language is automatically selected to some language other than English.  There should be a back arrow from the installer, to the left of where the "continue"  button usually is.  This should bring back the language selection menu.  Select English (or whatever other language tickles your fancy) and hit continue.  This should enable you to continue the installation in whatever language you selected.  I hope this helps!

[neelakantanr]

hi

 

first post in insanelymac; though i am reading various posts in this site;

 

OP has indicated that we need two flashdisks (preferably?) and a modded distro (iatkos...); i would differ

 

You just need one flashdisk (8gb) and a vanialla store app (dmg); you dont require a VM/virtual box nore you need a running mac;

 

how?

 

Installation procedure for Mountain Lion 10.8.2 without using a MAC / virtual machine.

a 16 or 8gb gb flash disk; original store app (OS X 10,8.2 Install.dmg)

1) 7zip
2) CVAD bootdisk utility (Version 2 170b or later)
3) Transmac and PCdmg (both trial versions of Acute systems, optional)
4) MacDisk 7.6 demo version (to change the name of volume and copy some mac files of unwieldly names)
5) Partition minitool home version (for multipartitioning of the 16gb or 8gb  disk)
6) Notepad++ (not windows notepad)

Methodology:

Basis:
a) create a clover boot loader in the flash disk
create a "start up" or pre-install partition on the flash disk using BaseSystem.dmg
c) enter in the installer of the MAC OS X and use the disk utility to create a USB installer partition by restoring InstallEsd.dmg; modify for the MBR installation
d) exit and restart clover boot for installing the Mountain Lion
e) after successfull instatllation, enter in the safe mode, create a user, remove the graphics kexts and restart with minimal
f) modify by adding suitable kexts

Detailed Steps
Extracting InstallESD and BaseSystem and mach_kernel
1) using 7zip open the dmg file (alternately PCdmg can be used); go to the resources and SharedContent; inside you will find "os x install.dmg"
2) Extract this to a folder called ML (in the root); (avoid long names for the folder as, 7zip, Transmac and PCdmg are limited by 255 characters for a file name);
3) Now again using 7zip open the dmg; this may have four sections; look for 3.hfs (or 2.hfs) and extract this 3.hfs to the ML folder.
4) when you open this 3.hfs (using Transmac or pcdmg or 7zip) this will have a hfs+ volume named "Mac OS X Install ESD"; this will be about ~5 gb. extract this InstallEsd.dmg
5) Again using 7zip (or transmac, or hfsexplorer or pcdmg)  open the dmg extracted in step 4 above. Extract the BaseSystem.dmg (a compressed file of ~430 mb)
5A); again using 7zip extract the 3.hfs partition in this dmg (this will be about ~1 gb in size); or using the transmac (or hfsexplorer) expand the compressed file
5B) copy the mach_kernel from the InstallESD.dmg (step 4 above) and copy to the expanded dmg and save it as BaseSystemStarter.dmg
6) download the MBR patch (ZIP or pkg containing the osxinstall.mpkg and osinstall files and extract them to a suitable folder)
7) now using the CVAD bootuitility, format the 16gb (or 8gb) disk (select the confirguration in the options tab, set Multipartiton, 124mb boot, Fat32-LBA, 8092 sector alignment);
8) once the formatting is done, "Select  Eject disk" ; physically remove and re-insert; (check window is able to recognise the 124 mb partition and its files)
8A) Now select the Disk from the  BootUtiltiy; go to the Part2 (which will be marked as 15.0 GB Fat16 <No Name>' and select Restore partition;
8B) Now select the BaseSystemStarter.dmg (from step 5 B above) and restore it to Partition 2.
8C) Now if you check the BootUtility it will show Part1: 124 mb (FAT32LBA), Part2: 1.21 gb (HFS/HFS+);
8D) again eject the disk and close the utility.
9A) Using Partition Wizard (home edition),  you will find that the second partition is 1.21gb listed as "Other" (HFS is not recognised by MiniTool); and that 14.8 GB is remaining unallocated;
9B) Now Create a Primary Fat32 parition (say ~6gb) in the unallocated space.
9C) Close the miniTool and again physically remove and re-insert;
======
10A) Now open the 128 mb partition (Clover) in the windows; it will be the only visible partition of the disk in the windows system.
10B) Go the EFI folder and the subfolder Clover (EFI /Clover); open the config.plist file in Notepad++
10C) look for "<string>ru:0</string> " ; change the language to English: <string>en:0</string>
10D) Look for the boot-args: <string>-v npci=0x2000 slide=0 NoKexts</string>; probably set "  -v -f and npci0X3000 withKexts "
10E) Search in the net for the following Kexts for Mountain Lion (NullCPUPowerManagement.kext, ApplePS2Controller.kext and AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext);  copy them to the EFI/Clover/kexts/10.8/ folder.
10F) i also added kexts for the Lan (Atheros)
10G) Now the above steps produce the vanilla "starter" usb; (using the MacDisk, we can rename the volume name of partition 2 as Mac OS X starter )
===============
Now you can boot the machine, select the USB using F12 (or F10 as the case may be); this will boot to the MAC interface;   this will not allow "installation" on MBR hdd; so we can attempt a mod for MBR drives
============
11) Boot the machine using the USB and in the Installer section select the Disk Utilities
12) select the USB partition FAT32 ( (the first partition will be clover, the second will be called Mac OS X Base System and the third will be the empty partition that you created in steps 9B above)
13) Now Erase the partition to Create a new MAC OS X partition (name it as OS X MBR installer)
14) Now select the option for "Restore"
15) browse to the BaseSystem.dmg ( extracted in the steps 5 above) and select this as source
16) Select the newly created mac partition (step 13 above)
17) confirm restore (and create the Mac OS X Base System)
==============
18) quit the disk utitiliy and quit the installer;
19) reboot to the windows
20) Using 7zip (or transmac, or hfsexplorer) open the InstallEsd.dmg (or 3.hfs) in step 4 and copy the "Packages" folder and mach_kernel to a temporary location
21) using Transmac open the third partition (the restored partition of ~6gb size with 1 gb of Mac OS X base system)
22) go to System/Library/ and delete the "packages" link; copy the "packages" folder from the temporarty location (step 20 above) (this is ~3.6 gb and will take some time)
23) add the mach_kernel to the root of the partition
23A) now replace the OSinstall.mpkg in the "packages" folder with the downloaded MBR patch file
23B) replace the /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Frameworks/OSInstall.framework/Versions/A/OSinstall with the OSinstall file from the downloaded MBR patch
24) Now the flash disk has the clover boot, Starter partition and the installer partition!
================
25) Start the machine using the usb and select the installer partition for MBR install

 

i am enclosing my three part writeup with snapshots for better understanding!

 

not able to attach the file (pdf format);

 

the links are here:

http://www.osx86.net/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=3987

 

http://www.osx86.net/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=3989

 

http://www.osx86.net/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=4001

[hooda]

Can't wait to try. thanks in advanced..

[gils83]

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/283190-bdutilityexe-make-cloverchameleon-bootflash-with-macosx-distr/

 

[JonathanHan]

or you could just restore to disk with transmac.

[SpiderMonkey]

Worked, up to the point when I ran the iATKOS_ML2 installation...

 

Now it's halted at:

..Loading kernel cache file 'System\Library\Cacheszcom.apple.kext.caches\Startup\kernelcache'...

root device uuid is '.......'

++++++++++++++++++++

 

Any ideas what the problem would be?

[Allan]

Perfect man!!

 

Congrats!! 

[SpiderMonkey]

Perfect man!!

 

Congrats!! 

No need to be sarcastic - I'm stuck here...

[Allan]

No need to be sarcastic - I'm stuck here...

 

sorry buddy, you got it wrong 

 

I give congrats to the author of the topic. @Ratul

 

try use this flag -f

[fusion71au]

How to create a Vanilla Mavericks Installer USB using Windows (Illustrated Guide)

I thought I would post an updated guide for creating a Vanilla Mavericks Installer USB with plenty of photos, seeing that IATKOS M is no longer supported here and many new users from Windows still rely on "distros".  This is a compilation of information from posts found scattered throughout this forum but may not be obvious to hackintosh virgins .

 

 

Requirements

1. 8GB or larger USB stick
2. cvad's BootDiskUtility
3. 7-Zip

4. Transmac (shareware, free trial for 15 days)

5. Paragon Partition Manager Free
6. InstallESD.dmg

 

Summary

1. Create a folder C:\Mavericks in Windows Explorer
2. Obtain InstallESD.dmg and copy into C:\Mavericks
3. Extract BaseSystem.dmg and Packages folder into C:\Mavericks
4. Extract mach_kernel to C:\Mavericks
5. Create Mavericks Installer with BootDiskUtility, Paragon Partition Manager Free and Transmac
6. Install Mavericks with the USB Installer

 

 

Illustrated Procedure

1) Create a folder C:\Mavericks in Windows Explorer

2) Obtain InstallESD.dmg and copy into C:\Mavericks.  This can be from

A] the Official Mac AppStore “Install OS X Mavericks.app”

i) I copied the retail “Install OS X Mavericks.app” from the Applications folder of my Mac Mini’s hard drive to an exFAT formatted USB storage drive using Finder.  The file can then be copied from the USB stick into C:\Mavericks of the Windows machine with Windows Explorer.

ii) Open InstallESD.dmg inside Install OS X Mavericks.app\Contents\SharedSupport with 7-Zip

  iii) Find and copy the other InstallESD.dmg inside InstallESD.dmg\InstallMacOSX.pkg\ into C:\Mavericks

   with 7-Zip

 

B] Download from the internet.  Google "Mavericks InstallESD.dmg untouched" for links

3) Extract BaseSystem.dmg and Packages folder into C:\Mavericks

i) Copy the 3.hfs file inside the InstallESD.dmg to C:\Mavericks (extracted size 5.3GB) with 7-Zip

 

ii) Now open 3.hfs with 7-Zip and find & copy OS X Install ESD\Packages to C:\Mavericks

 

iii) Rename the file C:\Mavericks\3.hfs (5.3GB Size) to 3_1.hfs

iv) Open 3_1.hfs in 7-Zip and find & copy OS X Install ESD\BaseSystem.dmg to C:\Mavericks

v) In turn, open BaseSystem.dmg with 7-Zip and copy the 3.hfs file inside to C:\Mavericks (extracted size =1.2GB)

4) Extract mach_kernel to C:\Mavericks

Open BaseSystemBinaries.pkg in the Packages folder with 7-Zip and find & copy Payload\Payload~\.\mach_kernel to C:\Mavericks

 

 

5) Create the Mavericks Installer with BootDiskUtility, Paragon Partition Manager Free and Transmac:

i) Plugin USB stick

ii) Start BootDiskUtility.exe

iii) Click Options/Configuration, check the Multi Partitioning checkbox and set Boot Partition Size to 200MB.  This will instruct BootDiskUtility.exe to make two partitions on the stick: one for Clover/Chameleon and the other for the restored BaseSystem.dmg

iv) In the main BDUtility.exe screen select your USB and click "Format Disk"

v) When complete, select the second partition on the USB stick, click "Restore Partition" and select C:\Mavericks\3.hfs (size 1.2GB) as the source

vi) Open Paragon Partition Manager Free and resize the second partition of the USB drive to the full size allowed.  Don't forget to apply the changes at the end...

vii) Open Transmac and copy the mach_kernel to the root folder of the second partition to make it bootable

  viii) Delete the Packages “slink” file in the /System/Installation folder and replace it with the

    Packages folder we extracted earlier to C:/Mavericks

 

ix) Optional: If you want to install OSX on a MBR partitioned hard drive, you will need to patch the installer with modified versions of OSinstall.mpkg and OSinstall.  Download the Mavericks MBR patch and use 7-zip to extract both files to C:\Mavericks.   Then use Transmac to replace the relevant files in the Installer partition:

      \System\Installation\Packages\OSinstall.mpkg

      \System\Library\PrivateFrameworks\Install.framework\Frameworks\OSInstall.framework\Versions\A\OSInstall

 

 

x) Clover configuration is required now.  The default config.plist (in the Clover FAT32 partition of the USB) maybe sufficient to boot your machine if you’re lucky.  If not, look at the Clover Wiki, Clover Instructions and Clover Configuration Thread for pointers and edit /EFI/Clover/config.plist accordingly with Wordpad or Notepad.  The Noob's guide is also highly recommended for troubleshooting.

 

The location of the important configuration files for Clover are summarized below

• config.plist--->EFI/CLOVER folder
• DSDT.aml with or without SSDT.aml--->EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched (don't need one if your DSDT is auto patched by Clover in config.plist)
• Kexts eg FakeSMC, NullCPUPowerManagement --->EFI/CLOVER/kexts/<osx version>. NB BootDiskUtility by default already has FakeSMC.kext installed here.  You may need to add VoodooPS2Controller for your laptop keyboard/trackpad to work.

*Useful tip: placing your important kexts in EFI/Kexts/Other &  deleting the 10.6-10.9 subfolders will result in injecting them for all OSX versions.

 

 

6) Install Mavericks with the USB Installer

i) Shutdown computer and reboot with the USB Installer plugged in

      ii) Select "Boot Mac OS X from OS X Base System" in the Clover Menu and press <spacebar>

iii) Select "Boot Mac OS X without caches (and with injected kexts)" and press <spacebar>

iv) You should now see a lot of verbose output before a fairly long wait at the Apple Screen.  Follow the prompts in the Mavericks Installer to select default language, prepare disk with Disk Utility etc ---> complete the install.

v) Boot with the USB stick into Mavericks on the hard drive and install Clover/Chameleon bootloader, copy configuration files etc.

 

Credits

cVaD BDUtility

dmazar's post @ProjectOSX

neelakantanr's post #10 here

All in one vanilla osx install guide

[spakk]

@fusion71au, great job and nice tutorial

This is a great help for users who do not have a Mac or hackintosh

[VincenzoVitale]

Sorry for annoying you,

but when I boot with the 1GB USB with Clover, the display remains black ever

how can i resolve this issue? :(

[chris1111]

@fusion71au

Really Good Guide ! Thanks  

[fusion71au]

@spakk, @chris1111,

 

Thanks guys .

 

@VincenzoVitale,

 

You need to tweak the default Clover config.plist so the boot can complete on your machine.  Clover configuration is really beyond the scope of this thread/guide but some tips -

• Post in the correct section of the forum eg OSX 10.9 installation
• Please post your machine specs in your signature so it is easier for others to help you
• Boot in verbose mode and if you have a problem, post a screenshot if possible
• See the troubleshooting section of the Noobs Guide and the Vanilla Install Guide and also have a look at the Clover wiki.  My guess is that you have some graphics configuration problem but it is impossible to know without more details

Good luck!

[hack.in]

really good work    @fusion71au

[fusion71au]

Updated post #18 with simplified procedure (only 2 partitions required) using Paragon Partition Manager Free instead of Minitool Partition Wizard. 

 

Paragon's tool can create, format and resize HFS+ partitions in Windows and best of all, its free .

[iken2904]

somebody help me ... i use the first steps to install osx mountain lion. Everything its ok but when the logo of apple appears then the icon change to a circle with a line (like the prohibited icon ) and nothing more happen