Want to dual-boot windows 7 and OSX Lion (maybe triboot with ubuntu)

[brownix]

Ive read some dual boot threads but the three that ive seen on here started in 2009
so i wanted to make a new thread instead of asking on those (if anyone was asking)

ask u can see on my computer specs i have 2 500gb hdd
currently i am uncomfortable installing lion on to the data drive or the c drive
since i do not have the confidence about doing this

but i have a 40gb hdd lying around and want to install onto it and dualboot my windows 7 and lion

i would prefer a detailed guide thank u
starting from the beginning so i know i didnt miss anything since im a slight noob
ive done ubuntu, 8 and xp installations on virtual box but i want to do the hardcore mac stuff like editing and want to use all the hdd space, cpu and ram i need for it
that the reason i want to dual boot lion and 7

i have read this guide and it explains most things by limneos
/*
[FONT=&quot]I have dual boot Windows 7 and OSX 10.5.6.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

All you need to do is first , install Windows 7. Then, create a new partition for your osx within Windows 7 , format it as fat32 or ntfs and set to to be "active".

Then run the osx installation and before you start the install, go to Utilities and "disk utility" , select the partition you created from Windows 7 and format it as Journaled (don't delete it!).

Then, install as you would normally, selecting this partition as your installation target. (don't forget to customize your OSX installation with the necessary drivers for you system.)

After installation is complete, you will need to repair your Windows 7 boot loader, cause you probably won't be able to boot Windows 7.
Insert the Windows 7 installation DVD, at the first installation screen select your language etc, and at the second screen select "repair computer".
This will bring the Windows 7 boot loader back, so you can boot Windows 7.

Now you won't be able to load osx!
So boot in Windows 7, and unhide your hidden 200MB partition:

1. In disk management, assign a drive letter for your 200MB hidden partition.

2.Download EasyBCD and add a new boot entry, select MacOS, Generic X86, Add, Save. That's it.

You can now have dual boot with Windows 7 and OSX[/FONT]
*/

and would like someone to change it to my needs or create a better one for lion, since this was for 10.5.6

thanks to u all

 

[JaidynM]

Nope, that guide looks about right. As long as you're dual booting with Windows 7, that guide should stay the same no matter what version of Mac OS X you are using. I have a triple boot with W7, W8 and Ubuntu so a triple boot should work fine on yours too. The only thing I would be worried about is space. Triple booting on a 40GB hard drive gives you roughly 13GB for each OS.

 

[brownix]

Nope, that guide looks about right. As long as you're dual booting with Windows 7, that guide should stay the same no matter what version of Mac OS X you are using. I have a triple boot with W7, W8 and Ubuntu so a triple boot should work fine on yours too. The only thing I would be worried about is space. Triple booting on a 40GB hard drive gives you roughly 13GB for each OS.

if there is nothing to change then im gonna continue with it, and space isnt a problem, with 2tb external, and 2 500gb internal on my laptop, lol
ill be able to make one of the mentioned above my main installation drive correct?

 

[brownix]

but id appreciate all the pre-steps to this guide so i know im not missing anything

 

[JaidynM]

Yes, you should be fine. As long as you use three separate partition, it'll work fine. Personally, I would use the internal hard drive as I'm not sure how well OS's perform on externals. As for the pre-steps...

Just shrink your main partition:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2672-partition-volume-shrink.html

Then with the unallocated space create a new partition:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html

 

[brownix]

thats all i need to do for pre-installation?
wow, ive done that many times with ubuntu but it didnt load... ill see if i did something wrong and post again
and would i have to remove both my hd's when im at the installing the osx/ubuntu stage? or can i have them in and there wont be much problem except for the mbr being screwed and using the installation cd to fix it?

 

[brownix]

InsanelyMac Forum > OSx86 Project > Notebooks
nightalon
Aug 26 2011, 04:12 PM

I succeeded doing a triple-boot. It's tricky.

Here's how:

*Turn on Discrete Graphics in your BIOS (no Optimus, no auto-detect) and also Legacy BIOS only (these new v2.0 EFIs are not compatible with Apple's v1.1 EFIs)
*Use the latest version of TonyMacx86's iBoot to boot the Retail Snow Leopard 10.6.3 DVD (please pay for this)
*Boot with the arguments: -v "GraphicsEnabler"="No" after booting up from the iBoot CD using F12 to select the proper boot device (please note that kernel panics do sometimes occur at this point; keep trying until it works; I disabled TPM, WiMAX and unused boot devices in case that helps)
*Install Snow Leopard on a new partition on a GPT-formatted disk
*Use the 10.6.7 Combo Update after booting into your new install
*Install MultiBeast without DSDT; USB 3.0, GraphicsEnabler=No, new boot-loader, SMBIOS=MacPro3,1, FakeSMC, NullCPUPowermanagement, e1000, VoodooPS2
*Use an Auto-DSDT generator to give you a DSDT.aml file (use the "generic" profile) and drop it in root (the / directory at the root of your boot partition)
*Follow the Lion update instructions via 8 GB partition on tonymacx86.com using xMove
*Install Windows 7 on another partition that you designated as "MS-DOS Format" in Disk Utility (you will still have an EFI/GPT/MBR hybrid setup at this point) Note that it must be in the first 3 partitions on the disk
*Load Windows 7 from iBoot
*Install EasyBCD and use the MBR (yes, I know the setup still has some EFI/GPT components in it, but this was what worked for me) option to add MacOS to your Windows bootloader
*Load the Lion installer partition from iBoot, and then from the MBR OS X boot option you created with EasyBCD in the Windows Bootloader
*Install Lion over your Snow Leopard install
*Again use the iBoot->EasyBCD-modified-Win7-bootloader->Chimera-bootloader to get into your new Lion install
*Change GraphicsEnabler=Yes in your com.boot.Apple.plist in your Extra directory
*Delete the extra Installer partition via Disk Utility
*Install a MacBookPro-based SMBIOS.plist config with MultiBeast
*Boot into Ubuntu 11.04 on a LiveCD(/DVD) (You can optionally install Ubuntu at this point, but make sure to install the bootloader to the partition only, and not the whole disk)
*Delete the first EFI partition with fdisk (you can leave it present in the GPT records...it won't hurt anybody there)
*Optional: create a 4th, storage partition and use mkntfs to format it NTFS, which is read/writable in all 3 OSes
*Use fdisk to mark your Windows partition as NTFS (type 7) again, and set it active/primary/bootable, if necessary
*Congrats! Your disk is now bootable, and you can access Windows and MacOS from the Windows Bootloader. (Feel free to add GRUB2 via EasyBCD if you installed Linux as well.) You may need to format your new Storage partition from Windows if Windows doesn't recognize it. This will not destroy your configuration. You may also need to reinstall the Linux GRUB2 bootloader, since it will now be configured to boot from the wrong partition. Do this with a grub-update /dev/sda* from the Ubuntu LiveCD/DVD where * is your Linux partition. grub-install failed for me.

Notes:
1. I have a few strange directories in my Windows root from when I tried to repair my Windows boot-config. I'll have to delete these later via Linux since they are write-protected.
2. The reason the MacOS bootloaders such as Chimera, AnVL, and Chameleon won't be seen by your ThinkPad is that your ThinkPad's BIOS/EFI sees the EFI partition and gives up instead of trying to boot. This is to induce you to boot in EFI-only or Legacy-then-EFI mode in case you installed Windows 7 in EFI mode. Basically you are trying to boot an MBR-style bootloader on an EFI-formatted disk, so the ThinkPad EFI/BIOS freaks out. We get around this by deleting the EFI partition in fdisk in Linux (this is good, anyway, since it allows for a 4th, non-extended partition for storage, since Windows will only see 4 primary partitions, even if GPT technically allows for more).
3. Don't try to use integrated graphics in MacOS just yet. They need to be supported in the bootloader, and this community-based work is not yet complete. Quadro 1000M and 2000M drivers are built-in to Lion, so use them.
4. The TrackStick does not work with the version of VoodooPS2 in MultiBeast. I have not tried other options.
5. You may want to add in a battery indicator kext.
6. You will need to hack your BIOS if you want WIFI in MacOS; I am currently working on this. There was a hacked version of the 1.22 BIOS, but it is no longer available. (see mydigitallife forums) None of the ThinkPad WIFI cards (Realtek, Intel, etc.) are supported in MacOS; you will need a Broadcom or Atheros-based card for it to be recognized as an AirPort.
7. You will need to remember to switch your graphics in the BIOS before booting, depending on which OS you want to load

UPDATE: Hacked BIOS available on MyDigitalLife forums. Allows Atheros and Broadcom half-height WIFI cards.

 

[brownix]

i find that guide and its pretty detailed but im not sure if i really need to follow everything and its kinda confusing...

 

[JaidynM]

I'm not sure I got that post either. So don't worry, you're not alone. Okay, here's what you should do. Instal Mac OS X on that 40GB hard drive that was lying around. That way if anything screws up, your main hard drive will be alright. If the Mac OS X installation works, format the hard drive and then partition it. Once again, install Mac OS X but install it in a dual boot with a different OS such as Ubuntu. We can use this as a test drive in case anything goes wrong.

 

[brownix]

i dont understand the kexts i shud use

 

[JaidynM]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by 'kexts'.

 

[Kari]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by 'kexts'.

Apple

Kext could be described as a Mac OSX "anti-theft" tool. As you are certainly aware, what the OP wants to do is considered piracy. Mac OSX EULA specifically forbids use of it on any other computer than Mac.

Extract from SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MAC OS X

...
2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.

... You are granted a limited, nonexclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Applebranded computer at any one time.
...​

Kari

 

[JaidynM]

Oh, right. I didn't realise. I'd always though it was illegal until what John said over on VF.

 

[Kari]

Jaidyn, please understand I'm known as a tighta** when it comes to piracy, both here and in the real life. I am not ashamed nor do I feel I should change my attitude, to be more tolerant. I've had my share of conflicts because of this quite black and white opinion, again both in here and IRL.

For me EULA is EULA, something I agree when I buy a product. I am quite proud when I can honestly say (and proof, welcome to check) that not one of our household computers (7 ATM) has not a single peace of software that has not been completely 100% legally aquired.

An example of my way to see Mac OSX EULA: We have two Macs (Angie's toys), a MacBook and an iMac. That means we have two legally bought Mac OSX install DVD's. As a legal owner of these medias, I have used them to install Snow Leopard to a VirtualBox virtual machine to test networking between Mac and our Windows server and PC's. When I had found the correct settings and got Mac vm connected to the network, I deleted the vm and used that knowledge to connect Angie's toys to our home network. For me, my tighta** way to think, this was OK because A) I had a legal install media, no HackIntosh and B) I only did it on vm because I felt it was easier to use one PC to these network tests, guest and host using same mouse, keyboard and display.

I have a clear policy which I follow always when I see these posts asking about HackIntosh. In my opinion it is against EULA thus piracy. The situation would be a little bit different if there was a way to get a 100% reliable proof that the member asking this had a fully legal, purchased copy of Mac OSX. Because this is not possible, I'm voicing my opinion always when I see these posts. If an OP has a Mac he has no need to install Mac OSX on a PC. If not, the MAc OSX is 99% sure not kosher. For me, that's piracy.

My previous post was in no way meant to be against you or critisize you. You are clearly one of the good guys here, I like your posts and style and have great respect for you. My post was and is nothing more than my opinion, a quite subjective opinion that is.

Kari

 

[brownix]

thnx kari for another opinion

 

[JaidynM]

thnx kari for another opinion

Thanks for the info. I'll remember that.

@brownix
Are you still going through with the OS X dual boot? Or simply going with a Windows 7 and Ubuntu installation?

 

[brownix]

i may try both, but first see if ubuntu works

 

[JaidynM]

Okay. Post back when you decide and/or when you install the new OS. I would also highly recommend installing the new Windows 8 which is completely free and legal. You can find a tutorial on how to install it in a dual boot with W7 below.
How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 8 and Windows 7 or Vista

 

[Pete4]

I have working triple boot and didn't read one word of those convoluted tutorials. What I did was disconnect all hard drives except the one I want the system to install and install it. Then get the second drive connected and disconnect everything else and install the second system and etc etc. During boot all I have to do is press F8 (could be different on your MB, if the MB supports it of course) to choose boot up drive and it works great, never giving me any trouble, that is until MS, in their infinite wisdom (or is it stupidity?) came out with shadow copy to use for system restore (anybody has any good reason why ????), so now every time XP mounts Win 7 drive I loose all restore points there. Of course MS came with another convoluted fix for this (I guess it was too much work to make win xp recognize Vista/Win7 shadow copy in SP2 or SP3??)to disable Win7 drive in win XP using regedit. I think I'm just going to buy internal mounting bay with off switch and just switch Win7 drive off if I want to boot XP. That should also eliminate step going into BIOS to choose boot drive. I have no problem booting up, I have no problem taking system drives out at will and never encounter boot up issues because one drive is out, like you will using MS method, when 1 drive is used to to boot all other systems.