How to Install Mac OS X 10 3 (Panther) on Your Windows PC

11/09/2008 • 11:00 am

How to Install Mac OS X 10 3 (Panther) on Your Windows PC

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

It is possible to install Mac OS X on your Windows PC. A small software package called PearPC emulates the Mac hardware on your PC. You can even install many Mac programs.

1 Steps
2 Things You’ll Need
3 F.A.Q.
4 Resources
5 Tips
6 Warnings
7 Related wikiHows

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Steps

Decompress the PearPC archive into a directory such as “C:\PearPC”.
Create your ISO file from the Mac OS X 10.3 installation CD 1 using your favorite burning/ripping software. You can find documentation at the software’s website for creating ISO image files.
Save the ISO file to the PearPC directory as “macosx10.3.iso”.
Install the PearPC Control Panel and start it up. Click “File”>”Create Virtual Hard Drive”. When the window opens, under “Hard Drive Size”, move the slider till you get the virtual size you want. 3GB is plenty to install the operating system.
Click “Browse”. Browse your way to the PearPC directory, and save the HD image as “MacHD3GB.img”. Once you’ve done that, click “Create Hard Disk”.
Click “File”>”New Configuration File” with the PearPC Control Panel. A Wizard pops up.
Now that you’re looking at the Wizard window, click “Continue”. Next to “PearPC Specifics”, click “Browse”, and find “ppc.exe” which is in the PearPC directory you extracted it to. Use which ever one of the icons you want to.
Under “Primary IDE Device”, click “Browse”, and find the hard drive image we just created, “MacHD3GB.img”.
Under “Memory Size” move the slider to how much virtual RAM you want Mac OS X to have. You can get by with 128MB, but 256MB or 512MB is better. Its ok to set this higher than the amount of actual RAM you have installed in your computer.
Click “Continue”.
Under “PearPC Additional Options”, set the video mode you want. If you are using 1024×768 with Windows, you can you can use it for PearPC. You must pick “32″ for the color depth. There is a small bug in the PearPC Control Panel, that if you pick “16″, PearPC will not start. For “Video Driver”, put either “video.x”, or the full path to the file, which should be “C:\PearPC\video.x”. CPU PVR should be set to “G3″. That’s the PowerPC processor you going to emulate. Even though you can pick “G4″, don’t, PearPC won’t work. Leave “Fullscreen Key Combo” and “Mouse Grab Combo” to their defaults.
We’re not going to setup Networking with this howto, so leave “Enable Networking” unchecked.
Leave everything else on this window the default. Click “Finish”.
On the last window, enter a name for this PearPC configuration. Just name it “Mac OS X Panther”. For location, leave the filename pearpc.cfg, but save it in the same directory as PearPC, which should be “C:\PearPC”.
Click “Finish”.
Unfortunately, the PearPC Control Panel isn’t perfect. We need to make a small change to the pearpc.cfg file we created with it. Open My Computer, and browse to your PearPC directory. Open the file “pearpc.cfg” with Notepad. Add these 3 lines to the bottom of the file (without the asterisks):
- pci_ide0_slave_installed = 1
- pci_ide0_slave_image = “C:\PearPC\macosx10.3.iso”
- pci_ide0_slave_type = “cdrom”
Save the file and close Notepad.
Now its time to run PearPC and install Mac OS X. Double-click the “Mac OS X” icon in the PearPC Control Panel (or whatever you named it). This starts PearPC. You’ll be given a couple options on which drive to boot from, the HD, or CDROM. Choose CDROM.
Mac OS X 10.3 should start installing itself. When prompted, choose to format the HD. THIS IS NOT YOUR ACTUAL HD, BUT THE VIRTUAL 3GB HD.
Follow all the instructions. Once Mac OS X 10.3 has been installed, you’re done! You can now run OS X at any time by running the PearPC Control Panel and clicking the Mac OS X icon. From now on, choose HD instead of CDROM. Once the OS has been installed, you don’t need to select the CDROM ISO again.

Things You’ll Need

PearPC – You get that at Sourceforge. Just pick a mirror and save the file on your Windows Desktop.
PearPC Control Panel
Mac OS X 10.3 ISO – You need to create an ISO image of the Mac OS X 10.3 installation CD (you only need CD 1). You can create ISO files with IsoBuster, Ahead Nero, Alcohol 120%, and many other CD burning/ripping programs. Some of these programs can be downloaded off their website and used for a trial period (i.e. long enough to make the ISO file). You can get Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” for less than $50 here.

F.A.Q.

Q: Isn’t Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) the latest version?
- Yes it is, but installing Tiger requires additional steps. I’ll explain that in a different article. (Currently Leopard is the latest now)
Q: Where do I get OS X 10.3 if its an old version?
- A: Auction websites like eBay, or classified listings like Craigslist.
Q: How fast does it run?
- A: Very fast if you select the 1gb option for how much memory the emulation will have, but it depends how much RAM you have on your PC. Recommended 1 or 2gb .
Q: Can I keep Windows XP installed on my computer?
- A: Yes, you have to. PearPC is emulation software that runs under Windows or Linux.
Q: Is this the real thing, or does it just make Window XP look like OS X?
- A: It’s the real thing. Mac OS X runs inside a Window (or fullscreen) while running Windows.
Q: Can I surf the web using PearPC/Mac OS X 10.3?
- A: Yes, you will have to setup networking which I’ll explain in a different howto.
Q: Can I watch videos and listen to music using PearPC/Mac OS X 10.3?
- A: Yes and no. You can watch video (although it will be slow), but PearPC doesn’t support audio yet.

Resources

The PearPC is a great place to find out more. You can find it at www.pearpc.net.

Tips

Once Mac OS X 10.3 has been installed, you can edit the pearpc.cfg file, and change the line that reads ‘prom_bootmethod = “select”‘, and change it to ‘prom_bootmethod = “auto”‘. PearPC will not prompt you select from the HD or CDROM for booting. It will automatically boot the HD image. You can also edit the pearpc.cfg file from the PearPC Control Panel. Click “File”>”Edit Configuration File”, click “Continue”, and change “Boot Method” to auto.
Type ALT+RETURN to switch from window mode, to full screen.
Click F12 to switch from the Windows mouse, to the Mac OS X mouse.

Warnings

This topic violates the EULA with Apple, Inc.

Related wikiHows

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Filed under: Komputer , 10.3, Apple, Macintosh, Panther, PearPC