[Oscar]

I know much of this will be considered common knowledge for many regular members of this forum. But I thought I'd post it anyway for the newcomers.

If you are new to Hiackintosh, check out this thread before you install: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/gene...osh-101-a.html

~~~

This Guide will show you how to prepare your OS X Installation USB drive to be used with the Dell Mini 10v, or Dell Mini 9. It requires the use of a Mac. If you do not have access to a Mac, use this guide instead: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/mac-...mac-guide.html

~~~

What you'll need:

A Dell Mini 10v, or Dell Mini 9
OS X Install DVD (currently 10.6.3)
A Mac (with DVD drive) running Snow Leopard (10.6 and higher).
A USB flash drive at least 8 gig
Netbookmaker (currently 0.8.4 RC1): NetbookBootMaker 0.8.4 RC1. - Project Hosting on Google Code

~~~

Insert your OS X install DVD into your Mac's DVD drive.
Connect your USB flash drive to your Mac's USB port.
Open Disk Utility.



Select your flash-drive. Select the partition tab. From the Volume Scheme drop-down menu, select 1 partition. Click on options. Select Master Boot Record, click ok. Click apply. This will make your flash-drive bootable.

When partitioning completes, Select the restore tab.



Drag the OS X Install DVD icon to the source field. Drag your flash-drive to the destination field. Click restore. On the warning dialog, click erase. This will write the installation files to the flash-drive. It may take a while, so be patient; take a break. When this process completes, your flash drive will have been renamed to "Mac OS X Install DVD." Quit Disk Utility when done.

If you haven't already done so, download and unzip netbookmaker: NetbookBootMaker 0.8.4 RC1. - Project Hosting on Google Code.

Open NetbookMaker.



It will automatically detect your flash drive. Make sure that Mac OS Install X DVD is selected, and click Prepare Boot Drive. This will copy some necessary files to your USB. They will be hidden, so don't look for them.

Quit NetbookMaker when it completes bootdrive preparation.

Eject your flash drive, and disconnect it from your Mac. You are now ready for the Installation.

~~~

Installation:

This Guide assumes you will be using Mac OS X as your only OS. You will be formatting your drive, so back up anything you want to keep. If you wish to continue using your current OS, follow a Dual Boot guide instead. For Windows users wishing to Dual Boot, follow this guide: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dual...dual-boot.html

~~~

First you will have to make a few changes to your Mini’s BIOS. Turn it on, and get into the BIOS settings. (On the Mini 10v press F2).



In the Advanced tab,



USB Legacy Support and Bluetooth should be enabled. USB Wake Support should be disabled. Use the arrow keys to highlight, use F5/F6 to toggle ‘enable/disable’. Press (F10) to save the settings and Exit BIOS. Turn off the Mini.

Connect the OS X Install USB and power up. Press F12 to get into the BIOS boot screen, choose USB, press enter.



You will see the Install USB as a startup option, as well as the your Mini’s internal drive. Use the arrow keys to select the Install USB, press enter.



The installer will take a few minutes to load. Once it loads click through the first three screens; a language selection screen, an information screen, and a license agreement screen. After that, you will see a drive selection screen.


This screen will show your available drives.

From the task bar, choose Utilities/ Disk Utility.



Select your internal hard-drive. From the right, click the erase tab. Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format. Click erase. A warning dialog pops up, click erase to confirm. This will make your Mini’s drive available to install OS X to. When formatting completes, quit Disk Utility, and select the newly formatted drive to install to.



Click install. Note that you can customize your installation.
Installation will take about an hour, so take a break. When it completes, your mini will restart and boot you into Mac OS X.

Post installation:
You may have issues with sound, wifi, and bluetooth not working properly. Usually running NBI again will solve this. There should be a copy of it in your applications folder.

Most users will also want to upgrade. For that you will need a different version of NBI. Download it here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/863180/Netbo...212351.app.zip

The usual update path is : run NBI / do the update / Run NBI again.

If you have persistent issues with sleep, bluetooth, or sound, read the respective threads.

Also read the update threads carefully as the update experience varies for different users, ranging from painless success, to frustrating failures leading to non-booting machines. Back up before attempting updates. I wish you much success.

Enjoy.

[jimithing]

Hey so I used your method to install OSX 10.6.3 with my macbook on my dell mini 9 and it all worked great, then all the sudden today it wasnt working, it wouldnt get wifi, and weird things happened with the top bar so I restarted and it wouldnt start... it just went to the dell screen then a black screen with a little white bar spinning, so I put the usb drive back in and tried to erase and re-install, it makes it halfway through the install and then nothing.... what do I do? Please help me! I am new to this and extremely frustrated after searching through here for hours I have nothing... im about to throw this thing out the window.

[Oscar]

I feel you.


But...
Unfortunately, it sounds like you may be experiencing drive issues. Though I'm not at all versed in the world of ssd.

Try using disk utility (from the installer) to verify the disk and see if it finds any problems. If so, try the repair option.

Other than that, not sure what to suggest.

Also, the guide is essentially the gizmodo guide (the one they wrote up for the 10v), with some minor, adjustments. I only really posted it because I couldn't find one that was as clear on this forum. If you see that guide referenced, it's pretty much the same. You can google it if you'd like , it's still up on their site.

GL

[jimithing]

No... the drive is fine... it shows up as 16gb still... and everything works as you posted it would until halfway through the install... it says its failed and to contact the software developer or whatever... ha which would just be awesome...

No offense but If you don't know that a method works, nor do you have any experience with that method, why exactly are you posting it on here?

---------- Post added at 11:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 PM ----------

Also you claim this install method to be "common knowledge to everyone on here" so if that is so is there anyone besides yourself that has any knowledge or know how as to what the hell might be going on here... this is extremely frustrating... I searched many methods and came across this one finally, it was the newest posted and most straigh forward so I ordered a mini 9 for 200 dollars and bought the snow leopard and usb for another 50 or so... so now im in the hole 250 dollars and I have a useless peice of plastic...

I would appreciate any help you can give me or if you can put me in the right direction... thanks

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by jimithing

No... the drive is fine... it shows up as 16gb still... and everything works as you posted it would until halfway through the install... it says its failed and to contact the software developer or whatever... ha which would just be awesome...

No offense but If you don't know that a method works, nor do you have any experience with that method, why exactly are you posting it on here?

---------- Post added at 11:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 PM ----------

Also you claim this install method to be "common knowledge to everyone on here" so if that is so is there anyone besides yourself that has any knowledge or know how as to what the hell might be going on here... this is extremely frustrating... I searched many methods and came across this one finally, it was the newest posted and most straigh forward so I ordered a mini 9 for 200 dollars and bought the snow leopard and usb for another 50 or so... so now im in the hole 250 dollars and I have a useless peice of plastic...

I would appreciate any help you can give me or if you can put me in the right direction... thanks

Actually, the method works. As I understand your situation, you got it to work yourself... And later something went wrong.

While I can't deny you are having trouble with it, I can't help if you you're not even willing to follow the suggestion to check the drive.

I would also suggest you check in the mini 9 section of the forum to seek help from members with specific experience with your particular hardware.

Also, try rebuilding the partition table: format the entire drive as ntfs, with MBR partitioning table, and then format back to Mac OS extended journaled. I know of a related issue that is solved by doing so. Maybe it will work for you as well.

Again, GL

[jimithing]

Sorry.. I don't mean to sound unappreciative.. I was just extremely frustrated last night.

Anyway, can you maybe give me a step by step explanation on how to format the drive in MBR and whatever... I have no idea what any of that means... haha..

I'm most definitely a noob at this whole deal...

Thanks man.

[Oscar]

Ok.

So, use disk utility to erase the drive. In the partition tab, select one partition. Click options and choose MBR partition table. (same as you did to prepare the USB) format to fat32. (just remembered can't format to ntfs with osx installer, but fat32 should do.)

Repeat the process except now pick guid partition table, and format to OS X extended journaled, and w/ a bit of luck you should be able to install OS X to the ssd after you've done this.

Hope this helps.

[renatus]

OK,
I'm about to dive in as well. I just got myself a mini 10v, and I'm feeling the jitters about doing it. I have a retail copy of os 10.5, will these instructions work the same for that as well or should I be using a different procedure or different version of "netbookmaker". Also can I use a 16 gb sd card out of a usb reader instead of an actual USB flash drive? Does it matter?
I'm adventurous and willing to try this, but also not inherently a computer hacker type, so it's a little daunting to do this operation for me. This is the most recent post I've seen anywhere about "hackintoshing" so it feels most trustworthy to me. I worry that versions of netbook maker that are for download in some places will not be current enough to work for me, and I'm not experienced enough to do lots of patching and such. Anyway,
any advice about a 10.5 installation would be nice if you can. I might still get snow leopard later, but I was thinking I'd try it with 10.5 first to see if I can do it.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by renatus

OK,
I'm about to dive in as well. I just got myself a mini 10v, and I'm feeling the jitters about doing it. I have a retail copy of os 10.5, will these instructions work the same for that as well or should I be using a different procedure or different version of "netbookmaker". Also can I use a 16 gb sd card out of a usb reader instead of an actual USB flash drive? Does it matter?
I'm adventurous and willing to try this, but also not inherently a computer hacker type, so it's a little daunting to do this operation for me. This is the most recent post I've seen anywhere about "hackintoshing" so it feels most trustworthy to me. I worry that versions of netbook maker that are for download in some places will not be current enough to work for me, and I'm not experienced enough to do lots of patching and such. Anyway,
any advice about a 10.5 installation would be nice if you can. I might still get snow leopard later, but I was thinking I'd try it with 10.5 first to see if I can do it.

I think this should work for you. You might need NBI .8.3 instead. But not sure. The sd card will do fine, it's even bootable from the slot on the 10v.

Check out this thread for other considerations: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/gene...osh-101-a.html

Note, afaik, this will not work with the oem OS X disk you got with your Mac.

U may have to get the 10.6.3 disk. It's $30 well spent.

[underwhelmed]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Note, afaik, this will not work with the oem OS X disk you got with your Mac.

U may have to get the 10.6.3 disk. It's $30 well spent.

No, it won't work properly, and on this forum using OEM equipment discs is considered theft.