Install Mac OS on PC. How to install an old version of OS X from a flash drive Reinstalling mac os on a macbook pro

Mac OS X Yosemite - the system presented by Apple in 2014. This is the most current and advanced Mac OS among the systems offered by the manufacturer of Apple technology. We invite you to find out how it is done installation from scratch. We will also look at the issue of reinstalling the Yosemite system itself to restore factory settings.

What is the best way to install the system?

Mac OS X Yosemite is available in the Appstore. There are two options for installing it:

  • On top of the old system;
  • Clean installation from scratch.

You have the option to install Mac OS X Yosemite directly on top of the old OS X Mavericks. This is advisable if you value current state file system, installed programs and their settings. All data will remain in the same place, changes will only affect the operating system. But the performance of many programs may be impaired. Compatibility and update issues can cause a lot of inconvenience.

Installing from scratch eliminates many system problems. Factory settings will be completely restored. This will help get rid of excess installed applications, unnecessary data, etc. Let's look at this process in more detail.

Installing Mac OS X Yosemite from scratch

A clean installation places the system on a formatted partition. hard drive. Another option is to use a new drive. The key step is backup critical data from your hard drive. You are invited instructions for installing the system from scratch.

System boot

Download OS X Yosemite from the AppStore. We don’t launch anything or try to install anything. We need a system image. Installation is carried out using bootable flash drive.

Creating a USB flash drive

After downloading the update from the Appstore, proceed as follows:

  1. Let's launch disk utility;
  2. In the left panel, select the drive, on the right, go to the “Disk Partition” tab;
  3. In the "Partition Scheme" menu, select "Section 1". The disk name is "Yosemite" and the format must be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
  4. Go to "Options", select the GUID partition scheme. Click "Apply".
  5. Disk Utility begins formatting the flash drive.
  6. From the "Utilities" folder, launch "Terminal".
  7. To create a flash drive, run the following command:
  1. Enter the administrator password.
  2. It will take 10-15 minutes to create a bootable USB flash drive.
  3. After the procedure is successfully completed, reboot the Mac. When loading, hold down Alt.
  4. You are ready to install Mac OS X Yosemite.

Installing Yosemite

After creating a flash drive and rebooting the Mac, follow the instructions:

  1. Go to the "Downloads" menu and select "Mac OS X Installer".
  2. You need to open Disk Utility and select the disk with the system to format. Go to the "Erase" tab.
  3. In the "Format" menu, "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" must be selected, and the name of the disk is written.
  4. Click "Erase", thereby starting the disk formatting process.
  5. Close Disk Utility and open the Install Mac OS X section.
  6. We specify the Yosemite boot disk and start the installation process.

Starting the installation process involves following the installer's instructions. Select the necessary parameters, the system will soon be ready for use. After installing Mac OS Yosemite, you can start using the system from scratch or transfer files from " Time Machine".

Reinstalling Mac OS X Yosemite

If OS X Yosemite is already installed, you may need to reinstall it in the following cases:

  • System failures;
  • Errors when installing updates;
  • Disk cleaning;
  • The need to restore factory settings.

So, let's answer the question, how to reinstall Mac OS X Yosemite. To do this you need to erase Mac data and reinstall the system. Don't forget to create backup copy valuable files. To restore factory settings, you need to use the built-in recovery disk. To reinstall the system, an Internet connection is required, as well as a connected power adapter.

Parallel installation of Mac OS and Windows may be required in various cases. Two users on one computer, Windows is required to run certain programs and games with maximum performance, etc..

Methods of parallel use:

  1. Installing operating systems on different hard drives. In this case, we will make the selection at boot by pressing the F12 key at boot and selecting the specific hard drive on which Mac OS X or Windows is installed.
  2. Installation and selection operating system using the bootloader. We will look at the example of using the Clover bootloader, but if you wish, you can use any bootloader for Hackintosh that is more familiar and convenient to you.
  3. Installing Windows on a Parallels Desktop virtual machine. In this case, you get Windows as a program running on Mac OS X. Performance in this case is slightly reduced, since two systems are running simultaneously. you can read our article.

Installing operating systems on different hard drives

The simplest, but at the same time effective way combining two systems. When used this way, all PC settings are taken by Windows directly from Bios, which does not lead to even a minimal decrease in performance.

The method is very easy to implement and does not require special skills. The bootable system is selected via Boot Menu, which can be called up by pressing the F12 key when booting the PC. By choosing a specific hard drive, thereby we determine which operating system we will work on.

Installing Mac OS X and Windows on different partitions of the same hard drive

When using this method, the operating system is selected using the bootloader window. In this article we will look at the example of a bootloader Clover.

You can use any other Mac OS Hackintosh bootloader.

In this method, the installation sequence is very important:

  1. Installing Mac OS X on PC. If you have not done this yet, you can read the instructions in our articles(,). This is important because in Windows environment we will not be able to format the partition in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and this is the most important condition for installing Mac OS X.
  2. Installing the Clover bootloader on your hard drive. You can find out how this is done in the articles on installing OS X listed above. Sometimes, for security reasons, Clover is not installed on a hard drive, but is launched from a flash drive, which in this case acts as a key to OS X. Important! To EFI partition, which on the flash drive was fully configured to boot Mac OS on your PC, since in many cases installation settings and boot have differences.
  3. Windows installation.

Preparing to install Windows

Formatting a partition

In a running Mac OS X system, format the disk partition that is intended for Windows in MS-DOS (FAT) using disk utility. This operation is mandatory in order to installing windows a partition for installation was detected. The Mac OS Extended (journaled) format used by Apple is not recognized by Windows and the partitions will not be detected.

BIOS setup

If, when installing OS X, you had to disable virtualization settings in the BIOS, you must enable them. Without enabling these parameters, the installation will fail in 90% of cases.

By the way, these BIOS settings They are turned off only when installing Mac OS; after installation, you can safely turn them on; they will not affect the startup of the system in any way.

Setting up config.plist

It is very important that the timeout is specified in config.plist before starting the system. Otherwise, you will not have the choice and the system specified in it or the last loaded system (the default setting in Clover) will start automatically.

To do this, open config.plist in CloverConfigurator and change the parameter to 5-20 seconds (if you want the last one to start automatically running system, in the absence of a choice). The value “-1” is so that the bootloader does not start the system automatically, but waits for our choice.

Then we save.

After rebooting the computer with connected, we will see additional icon installing views in the Clover window.

After starting the installation, we format the FAT partition we selected in advance and format it Windows utility in NTFS after which the process is not much different from a regular installation.

Now our Hackintosh is completely ready to install a second system, in our case Windows.

Installing Windows is similar to installing Mac OS.

Greetings everyone! The question is really very useful, but as practice shows, not many users use this method of clean installation of the operating system Mac systems OS X. First, I would like to define what a clean installation of Mac OS is - it is complete reinstallation the same or a different version of Mac OS X to a pre-formatted disk partition.

Why do many people strive for a clean installation?

The answer is simply banal, in order to get rid of all the bugs, changes made and errors of the already installed operating system. Errors can occur due to the fault of the OS itself, for example, due to an error with access rights to folders and files, making any changes to system files when installing programs using the installation method, or through the fault of the user himself, who tried to configure something by forcibly replacing or changing system files. As a rule, such a change entails a number of consequences - the system begins to lag, slow down, and various errors appear during operation.

What you will need for a clean installation of Mac OS while saving data:

  • Flash drive from 8 GB. The size of the flash drive depends on the installation method. If you have a saved Mac OS installation image on your PC or App Store, then you can write it to a flash drive using the terminal (the easiest way), using a disk utility (more difficult), for this you will need a flash drive of at least 8 GB. If there is no image, and you don’t want to use it from a torrent, then it is possible to install via the network using a recovery partition; to create a flash drive with a recovery partition, a 1 GB flash drive is enough - this method is perfect for owners of real Apple equipment; on Hackintosh, problems may arise problems, not always, but still. You will find how to cut an installation flash drive on our website; we have described a lot of ways to different versions Mac OS, so don’t be lazy to look through the sections or use the search.
  • Time Machine backup or installed system on another hard drive partition. After a clean installation, we lose all data: installed and configured programs, photos, music and much more, which takes a lot of time to restore and configure. This is exactly why we need a copy of Time Machine or the system on another partition; in this case, we will extract only the information we need and will not affect system files - the Mac OS installer itself will not allow us to replace them with damaged ones. As a result, we will get a brand new and clean OS, but with our own programs and personal files, documents, photos, videos, music, etc.

At first, the process is no different from a regular installation. We insert the flash drive, boot from it, go into disk utility and format hard section disk on which a clean Mac OS will be installed, start the installation. After some time has passed, we will see this window; it is the settings from it that will allow us to save our data!

In this window we need to select the first item - Transfer data from Mac computer, PC under Windows control, Time Machine backup or boot disk. Select this item and click continue.

We choose what we will transfer from installed system on another partition or from a Time Machine backup.

Select the backup date from which you want to transfer data. In my case, there is only one copy, so the list is almost empty. If you use Time Machine for a long time and create automatic copies— the list will be more impressive.

After which we will be provided with a list from which we can choose what exactly we want to transfer. Programs, documents, music, photos, system settings and the like. From this list, select everything.

We select, confirm and wait until the information is transferred to new system. The duration of this procedure directly depends on the volume of data being transferred and speed hard disk.

After which we log into ICloud or skip the step - this is the same as during a normal installation. Account with this method it does not require creation, it will be transferred from the specified location, so the password will be from the same account.

After all this is done, we get the purest Mac OS, but with the full amount of our information and working programs on board, we can immediately get to work, rather than copying, installing and configuring.

Attention hackintosh people. When transferring data in this way, all the kexts that you previously needed to install on the system, such as network, video, for USB, etc. , will be transferred from the copy and will not require re-installation. But if you manually patched ALC or another quest, you will have to repeat the procedure, since the installer will not skip the changed files. You can also delete a blank kext from the Mac OS library and install a modified one taken from a copy using the kext utility.

The second way to transfer data to the OS:

The second method is not much different, the procedure is absolutely the same, but it is already suitable for users who did not use the Migration Assistant during installation. You can also transfer all data from another installed operating system or Time Machine copy. But in a slightly different way.

In this article we will install macOS Sierra to a computer using the BDU program ( Boot Disk Utility) and a special image for this utility. Finding an image for BDU and the utility itself on Google is very easy.

This is the easiest way to install macOS Sierra on a PC computer. True, this method will be simple only for those who have hardware compatible for these purposes. Specifically, you must have a motherboard with the following chipsets: H61, B85, Z77, H77, Z87, H87, Z97, H97, Z170. The processor must be at least Intel Core i3. The video card must be compatible. For example, Intel HD 4000 / 4600, AMD 7850, 7870, Nvidia 640, 650, 660 and so on (Kepler) or Nvidia GT 210.

If you use Fermi video cards (GTX 5XX, 710, 720, 730), then most likely you will not succeed with the installation. These video cards are extremely unstable. I will say the following about Nvidia 730 video cards: this video card can be either Fermi or Kepler. So, if the video card is Kepler, then it will work fine with web drivers. GTX 9XX, 1XXX video cards work only with web drivers.

Attention! If you are using an NVidia graphics card, then masquerade as an iMac 13.1 or 14.2; other devices may have boot problems, since in most cases Apple uses AMD graphics cards.

Remember, the more compatible your hardware is, the easier the installation will be. If you don't have Intel processor Core, but there is, for example, Pentium or Celeron, then you will have to disguise yourself as an Intel Core, and if you have an AMD processor, you will have to use a patched kernel.

Previously I showed the installation using virtual machine with OS X installed from under Windows. Now we will install using Boot programs Disk Utility (BDU), and also try to use the standard config from Clover. Let the bootloader itself determine our hardware. I'll just add the kext to the network.

You can ask your questions about installing macOS Sierra in the comments, but be sure to describe your computer configuration as fully as possible, for example, I will install it on this configuration:

  • Gigabyte GA-Z87m-HD3
  • Intel Core i3-4330
  • 8 gigabytes of RAM (2 x 4 GB, 1600 MHz. Samsung)
  • Intel HD 4600 + Gainward GTX 660 Ti
  • 2 monitors (DVI + DVI), as well as a TV via HDMI.
  • 120 GB SSD from SanDisk.

I also want to remind you that just in case you should have a flash drive with all the kexts and the operating room Windows system, in case something goes wrong and you have to download files or programs. Well, or use another device for this.

Boot Disk Utility runs on Windows. In my case, I will use Windows 10. We will also need an image with macOS Sierra.

Let's launch BDU and format the flash drive:

Immediately after formatting the flash drive, the latest Clover will be installed on it. And all we have to do is deploy our image with the macOS Sierra operating system to a flash drive:

After we have written our image with the operating system to the flash card, I will upload the kext to the network. This is only needed for my computer and you may also need a kext, it all depends on yours network card. By the way, when using BootDiskUtility, the FakeSMC kext is already in the kexts/other folder, so there is no need to insert it separately.

As soon as the flash card with macOS Sierra is written, we restart the computer and boot from our flash drive (F12). I will load in UEFI mode. I will also specify the -v switch so that the operating system loads in text mode.

If you are using NVidia video card not Kepler, boot with the nv_disable=1 key. If your system freezes at boot, try booting with the -x switch (safe mode).

After selecting the language, we need to format our hard drive or SSD:

We continue installing macOS Sierra as usual:

After installing macOS Sierra, you need to fill out a lot of information:

All basic installation completed. As you can see, it worked for me out of the box on macOS Sierra GTX video card 660 Ti. Yes, this is the best video card I've tried for Hackintosh. Looking ahead, here is a picture for you to “seed”, though it’s El Capitan OS:

What to do after installing macOS Sierra?

After installing macOS Sierra, we will immediately install Clover on our SSD and configure config.plist, the config for each computer must be different, in particular the configs for Ivy Bridge / Haswel and laptops are very different, so it is recommended to read the khaki clover book and do experiments. If your system suddenly stops booting, you can always boot from a flash drive and fix config.plist.

I installed Clover with the following parameters:

You need to install the config on a hard drive, not a flash drive. Basically, if you have only one, then Clover will select it by default. Also remember, the example config above is for UEFI systems, this Clover installation will not work for Bios Legacy.

After installing Clover, setting up config.plist and rebooting, we have a fully working system.

Briefly what I did in config.plist:

  • installed 32MB of memory for Intel graphics in UEFI and registered ig-platform-id 0x04120004
  • enabled P-states
  • dropped extra SSDT tables, because of which SpeedStep did not work for me
  • indicated iMac 14.2 model

Kexts that I used when installing and configuring Hackintosh:

  • FakeSMC.kext
  • RealtekRTL8111.kext - network
  • HDMIAudio.kext - sound on TV

Everything else works out of the box. In addition to the sound motherboard. I didn’t turn it on on purpose, since I use sound on the TV. You can start sound using patched AppleHDA or VoodooHDA.

Remember, the more “correct” your Hackintosh hardware is, the easier the installation will be. Installing a hack on my computer is no more difficult than reinstalling Windows. But if you have specific hardware, for example PCI Wi-Fi adapter, sound card or something else, then in most cases these devices will not work with the hack.

That’s actually the entire installation of macOS Sierra on a regular PC computer.

The principles of operation in OS X are somewhat different from Microsoft Windows, so users who recently bought a Mac are experiencing some difficulties as a replacement for a computer with Redmond OS. If in the USA and Europe people begin their acquaintance with computers with both PCs and Macs, then in our country and the CIS there is no particular alternative. There is a 99% chance that your first computer experience will be Windows. Relearning, as you know, is much more difficult than learning again, but by following our simple tips, you can reduce all the difficulties of the transition to a minimum.

Installing and uninstalling applications

Your first search query in Safari it will most likely be: “How to install programs on a Mac?” This simple operation which you will inevitably encounter is radically different from that in the Microsoft OS. And what’s remarkable is that installing the application will take less time than you will spend on a search query.

Most programs are distributed in dmg archives (images) and are installed in just a couple of clicks:

  • open the downloaded .dmg file (it will be visible in Finder as a removable disk);
  • drag the directory with the application into system folder"Programs";
  • The application will appear on Launchpad in a couple of seconds (pinch gesture to open) and will be immediately ready for use;
  • You can now extract the distribution image in the Finder sidebar and delete the .dmg file;

You can install the application from a .dmg file in any folder convenient for you, but then the program icon will not appear in Launchpad. Therefore, I recommend using the “Programs” folder, especially since that is what it is intended for.

Some applications have their own installer and are installed through it. In this case, you will see a dialog box with buttons “Accept”, “Next”, “Install” (hello, Windows!).

Starting with version 10.7, OS X introduced an application store Mac App Store, similar to the App Store on iOS. It’s even easier to work with; to install, just click the “Install” button on the application page.

By analogy with installation, uninstalling an application consists of removing it from the “Programs” folder. We drag the catalog with the application into the “Trash” - and the job is done. If the program has its own installer, then uninstallation also occurs through it.

Interaction with windows. Close or collapse?


Windows users are shocked at first: not only are the window control buttons on the left, but they also work differently. In fact, the “x” button does not close the program, but only closes its window. This is due to the fact that in OS X applications can have several windows and after we close the window the program continues to work. The “+” button does not expand the window to full screen, but scales it to the size of the displayed content.

In order to completely terminate the application, press “Cmd+Q” or right-click on the icon in the dock and select “End”.

It is convenient to monitor running programs using the indicator in the dock. This feature is enabled in system settings, in the “Dock” section.

Also, as of version 10.7, OS X applications can run in full screen mode when the dock and menu bar are hidden. To activate this mode, you need to click the arrow icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

Using multi-touch gestures

One of the main features of OS X is support for multi-touch gestures. There are a lot of them here (I counted more than 10 gestures), and most importantly, thanks to the wonderful trackpad, they work just great.

Opening system settings and go to the “Trackpad” (“Mouse”) section, enable the necessary gestures and watch a demonstration of their operation. Besides banal imitations right button mouse, scrolling and dragging windows, using gestures we can: search for the highlighted word; rotate, scale images; open Launchpad, Mission Control, Notification Center.

Taking a few minutes to learn the gestures will make your work in OS X more productive and much more enjoyable.

Useful functions of the Fn key

Using the Fn button you can get quick access to many system functions. Here are some useful shortcuts:

  • Fn+Ctrl+F2 allows you to navigate the menu without using a mouse;
  • Fn+Backspace replaces the Delete button;
  • Fn+F11 show desktop;
  • Fn+up arrow replaces Page button Up;
  • Fn+down arrow replaces the Page down button;
  • Fn+left arrow replaces the Home button;
  • Fn+right arrow replaces the End button;

These shortcuts are very easy to remember and I recommend using them in everyday work. By the way, there is a tiny utility called CheatSheet that will help you remember and use all the available abbreviations. After installation, it is built into the system and when you press the “Cmd” key, it displays full list abbreviations, available in the open application.

Adding applications to Startup

When installed, some applications are immediately added to the list of programs that will be automatically loaded when the system starts. You can edit this list as you wish for more fine tuning for yourself.

Open “Settings” - “Users and groups” and on the “Login Objects” tab, edit the list using the “+” and “-” buttons. On older poppies it makes sense to remove extra elements, this will speed up the system boot.

Detailed information about your Mac

In a Windows environment, in order to obtain complete information about the computer’s hardware, you have to use third party utilities, like AIDA 64. operating system from Apple, in this regard, compares favorably with its competitor. OS X includes the System Information utility, which gives us a detailed report of absolutely all hardware and software. Here we can see the processor frequency, number of slots and memory type, wifi and bluetooth MAC address, as well as a lot of other service information.

You can find System Information in the Utilities folder on Launchpad or by clicking the Apple icon in the menu bar and selecting About This Mac.

Quickly view files

My favorite built-in feature in OS X is Preview. In the Finder, pressing Spacebar on any file or folder will open a Quick View window. All file types known to the system are supported: images, videos, documents. Close the viewing window by pressing the space bar again. Fast, simple and convenient.

Force termination of applications

It happens that programs stop responding to requests or, more simply put, freeze. For example, you have opened a large number of tabs in Chrome or launched several “heavy” applications. Windows users They are familiar with the shortcut “Ctrl+Alt+Delete”, which they use regularly. In OS X, to bring up the application termination dialog, you need to press “Command + Option + Esc”, here we select the frozen program and click “End”.

This may rarely happen on Mac OS, but if it does happen, you will know what to do.

We enable support for all video formats

Built-in QuickTime supports major video formats and is sufficient for the needs of most users. But if you have a diverse video collection, you will have to expand the list of supported formats. This can be done using the Perian codec pack or by installing a third-party media player such as VLC. Both solutions are free.

Don't forget to make backups

The last piece of advice is banal and hackneyed, but nevertheless constantly ignored. To ensure that your data is always completely safe, use backup and regularly make backups using Time Machine. This will also allow you to experiment with the system without fear, which will be inevitable at first.