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Guy's "OVERKILL HACK" for making an OSx 10 Tiger DVD Universal

This is for complete Mac idiots, like myself. I describe this hack as "overkill" for the following reason: according to one post, on the net, two of the three edits which I propose here are not neccessary, if the third edit is performed. By the time I tried the method described on this page, however, I had wasted a mountain of expensive, dual-layer DVDs - when this actually worked I thought it best to (a) write this down, and (b) not worry about wether or not I'd made a couple of superfluous edits. I know one thing with certainty: I tried a lot of different things, based upon various posts around the net, and the following steps work - other hacks did not work.

Just for the record: I knew zilch about Macs 6 weeks ago - I don't know a whole more, now. Even though I've run a linux server. for years, I did not know that Macs were built on BSD linux. You will need a small amount of specialized knowledge (using the Vim editor) and access to a secondary Mac to make all of this work (this reflects my experience....of course).

I was working on a black Mac Book that I'd been fighting with for 5 weeks - the model number, or "build" of the unit, is still something of a mystery. Maybe I'll determine just which model this is, eventually. The entire drive had been wiped clean and overwritten with XP (this, of course, was an Intel Mac). Regardless of the exact model of Mac Book you're using, the hack on this page (used in conjunction with some downloaded DVDs) should allow you to install OSx 10 Tiger. In fact, this should work on other models as well (besides the Mac Book).

I my case I downloaded the retail DVDs, already converted to the .iso format, from a bit torrent site. And, by the way, there were numerous posts on that site that told folks they could successfully make the edits I will describe on this page by opening the disks on Windows, editing files, etc. That, my freinds, is utter horseshit - doing this will destroy such disks......

>> General Steps I Took:

  1. Copied DVD 1 to an old iMac G3
  2. Mounted DVD1 and performed the hack/edit ON THE MAC using VI, from a terminal....
  3. Copied ths ISO file (DVD1) back to a Windows machine (the only computer that I had available with a DVD burner), burned DVD1 the with Nero, and everything worked perfectly......
  4. And, by the way, I removed the hard drive from the laptop and prepared/formatted it using a $20 USB/Sata laptop enclosure that I bought at a local shop. If you're new to Macs there are directions, at the bottom of this page, for how to prepare your hard drive for this sort of installation (it was all new to me),

I am repeating myself but here are a few points that I really want to stress:
  • Regardless of how you get the retail DVDs you cannot jerk around making any edits to these discs on a Windows machine - contrary to what anyone tells you, it will destroy them....
  • You will need access to any, other Mac to make these edits and have them work.
  • I could not make these edits work using any sort of mac GUI text editor; you should know how to use the Vim editor to complete this process...

>> The NITTY GRITTY:

  1. This step used to provide a link to some torrent files - long since dead - that would help you get your hands on some OSX retail DVDs. I feel certain that, with a little investigation, you'll find these rascals on some torrent site. If you already have the disks, of course, you're all set. And remember, if you find them for download, these are 2 dual-layer DVDs - don't plan on downloading them in an evening
  2. To repeat myself, once the DVDs are downloaded, DVD 1 must be mounted and "modified" on a Mac - period.
  3. Once the files have been downloaded get good 'ol DVD 1 to a Mac box that's working.
  4. If you're new to Macs, like me, the next step is a breeze. We need to mount the DVD 1 image file which we can do, on a Mac, by simply double-clicking on the file.
  5. Now find Utilities > Terminal and open a shell.
  6. I would suggest becoming root, at this point, although it may not be neccessary. The root account is disabled, by default, in Macs; I am not going to get into how you enable this account. Do a search for "enabling the root account" on Google, or wherever. To be perectly honest, it was simple, but I don't recall the protocol.
  7. Now change directories to /Volumes/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg/Contents
  8. In this folder you'll see the OSInstall.dist file, Just for good measure, I chmodded this file to 777.
  9. Open the OSInstall.dist file, with VI, and make the following changes:

    • Right near the top, you'll find a line that looks like this:
      var badMachines = [’iMac’,'PowerBook1,1',’PowerBook2,1', ‘AAPL,Gossamer’, ‘AAPL,PowerMac G3', ‘AAPL,PowerBook1998', ‘AAPL,PowerBook1999'];
      We're taking no chances here - change it to this:
      var badMachines = [''];

    • About three quarters of the way through this same file (as I recall) you will find a line that looks like this:

      installation-check script="hwbeInstallCheck()"/
      Change this line to the following:
      installation-check script=""/

    • Near the very bottom of the file you will find a line that looks like this:
      var hwbeSupportedMachines = ['MacBook2,1'];
      Change this line to:
      var hwbeSupportedMachines = ['iMac4,1','iMac5,1','iMac6,1','MacBook1,1','MacBook2,1','MacBookPro1,1',
      'MacBookPro1,2','MacBookPro2,1','MacBookPro2,2','Macmini1,1','MacPro1,1','PowerBook6,5','MacBook2,1'];

      VERY IMPORTANT: Regarding the last edit (the bulleted item, just above), the line break appears on this web page simply because of the length of the text; you CANNOT HAVE A LINE BREAK in this portion of the script. Furthermore, if you're using Vim, you won't get a line break. Also, typing that line was so tedious I just included the MacBook machines (because I knew that I was dealing with some variety of Mac Book). You can include all of these units - or whatever else you'd like to try - if you feel like typing all of this stuff (and more).

      BY THE WAY: Supposedly, if you simply perform the middle edit listed above the other two are meaningless (therein lies the redundancy - I wasn't taking any chances!).

      Now, save your edits (no lessons in VI here - Google that stuff if you're unfamiliar with VI commands), eject the Volume, and burn the DVD witha dual-layer burner. I copied it back to my Windows machine. I guess you could burn it right on your Mac if the unit you're using has a dual-layer DVD burner.

    That's the whole deal, other than preparing your Mac hard drive for a new installation. I didn't know where to start. Anyway, here's what I did: I went to the local computer store and bought an adaptor so that I could remove the laptop hard drive (SATA) and connect it, via USB, to the old iMac G3. The Mac mounted the volume and then I went to Utilities > Disk Utilities (see graphic, below) and - first - selected the SATA drive and erased the rascal.

    Then, I chose OPTIONS and, because I was preparing this for an Intel-based Mac, I chose GUID.

    Then, I simply returned to the main Disk Utilities Menu and hit the Partition button. I put the hard drive back in the Mac Book and the installation went without a hitch - I've found nothing that doesn't work.