[Jay794]

Hi, I've been following this forum for a while, but only signed up today. I am fairly good with computers, dual bootin and linux etc, however I'm new to OSX.

My situation,

I have a retail Snow Leopard Disk, and a USB DVD Drive, few USB Drives, oh and a Dell Mini 1011 or 10V, whatever you want to call it. But no access to a mac.

I tried installing OSX on my Advent 4213 Netbook and it failed, driver problems I think. But anyway, to my questions

1. Do I need to use Netbook Installer if I'm doing a retail install via DVD? or can I just run NBI once OSX is installed, before first reboot?

2. Can I/Do I need to, run NBI in "Live Mode" as in use a BootCD and run NBI from a USB Drive, from the OSX Install page, like you do when use partition using Disk Utility

3. Can someone point me in the direction of:

A) A good/easy Dual Boot tutorial for Win 7 and OSX. My Mini has Win 7 Starter, but I've got a Win 7 Home Edition disk that I'm going to use to upgrade.

B) A good/easy tutorial to install OSX without access to a mac.

I know these questions have probably been asked 1,000,000 times before, but as I said, I'm a noob to this forum and I haven't found my way around yet

[wigwoman]

All the answers are here. I managed it dead easy with a few hours browsing here.


I only installed OS X, not windows but it was dead simple. No BIOS flashing or anything like that on my A06. Restored SL to a flash. Patched the flash then installed. Ready to go. . . That simple.

Dual boot can't be too much harder.

[BrianMc]

Originally Posted by wigwoman

I only installed OS X, not windows but it was dead simple. No BIOS flashing or anything like that on my A06. Restored SL to a flash. Patched the flash then installed. Ready to go. . . That simple.

Dual boot can't be too much harder.

It's only slightly more tricky as Snow Leopard doesn't like to install into an MBR disk partition - but that just involves replacing a couple of files on the image of the SL install CD with ones easily obtainable on the net. Also Windows software to shrink the Windows partition will be required!

[grassle]

I installed OS X into a small partition, then copied it to an external drive using gparted from a Linux live cd. Then reformatted the targed disk during the install of XP, leaving space for the OS X partition that I copied back later. IIRC I had to run NBI once from an external OS X after that, then everything worked.

[Jay794]

Thanks for the info guys, but your just confusing me, any chance you can answer the questions in a list format?

[JnC]

Originally Posted by Jay794

3. Can someone point me in the direction of:
B) A good/easy tutorial to install OSX without access to a Mac.

This ought to help you with your 3.B) :
NetbookInstaller 2: USB Mac Installation via Any Operating System | Guides | OS X | mechdrew

I installed from a Mac, so followed a different set of mechdrew's directions. He's a magician - everything went easily following his directions and guide to the letter. I suggest you take a look at the link.

J

[Jay794]

Thanks, can I do a retail install straight from the OSX DVD without a mac? using a bootdvd?

[underwhelmed]

Originally Posted by Jay794

Thanks, can I do a retail install straight from the OSX DVD without a mac? using a bootdvd?

It would depend on the version of Snow Leopard disc you have (10.6.0 or 10.6.3) as well as the USB DVD drive you are using. Not all DVD drives will work. People are having issues with the 10.6.3 disc.

Have you looked at this guide?-
NetbookInstaller 2: USB Mac Installation via Any Operating System | Guides | OS X | mechdrew

[Jay794]

Yes I've looked there. Is it possible to put NetbookCD or NetbookInstaller/Maker on a USB drive as I have an external dvd drive but no spare discs. Also I have a retail copy of Snow Leopard 10.5.6 I think

[underwhelmed]

Originally Posted by Jay794

Yes I've looked there. Is it possible to put NetbookCD or NetbookInstaller/Maker on a USB drive as I have an external dvd drive but no spare discs. Also I have a retail copy of Snow Leopard 10.5.6 I think

OK Jay794, I am always happy to help someone to Hackintosh their mini, but you need to figure out what you are using before anyone here can help you.

So, you are wanting to use a USB key to install instead of the DVD drive you previously mentioned, is that correct? The link provided above tells you how to do that using any operating system.