How to downgrade to/emulate/triple boot OS X 10.8?

I don't know if this belongs to OS X 10.9 or not but I will post it here.
I have got an old program I need to use using my OS X 10.9.3 macbook pro and it kept crashing. I believe it's something to do with OS X 10.9.3. so I want to emulate OS X 10.8 in VMWare Fusion (Yes I think it's "legal"),triple boot OS X 10.9.3,10.8.4 and Windows 7 (got custom windows 7 dual boot without bootcamp already) or downgrade to OS X 10.8 (I prefer emulation over downgrade, since I got the new iTwerks).
BTW it says check if it's compatible or something.
BTW partition table:
EFI|OSX10.9|Windows7
Edited to add triple boot as an alternative for me
Edited to add something

You can run Mountain Lion in a virtualization solution, providing the underlying operating system is OS X on Apple hardware. As you are on Mavericks, I would use the most recent VMware Fusion version. Adding compatible memory to your Mac will not void your warranty.
If you previously purchased Mountain Lion from the OS X App Store, and the same Apple ID is associated with your MacBook Pro, then you can download Mountain Lion installer again. You will likely need to create a USB stick installer and aim Fusion at it.

Similar Messages

Tutorial - How to triple boot OSX, Linux and Windows 8.1 with a shared Data Partition without any third party Win / OSX softwares

This is not a question, but rather a personal guide that has proved to be running successfully.
I would like to thank numerous sources, including Christopher Murphy's suggestions at:
Re: Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition
Before proceeding, there are certain concepts needs to know:
Why Boot Camp does NOT allow further partitioning of drives after Windows has installed?
Answer: Because the way Apple configures the Mac to be recognized as non UEFI capable system on Windows.
Quote from Christopher Murphy based on the above line:
However, Windows on Macs right now use CSM-BIOS mode in Mac firmware that presents BIOS to Windows rather than EFI. Windows thinks it's on a BIOS computer, and therefore mandates the use of MBR for boot disks, rather than GPT. So that's why we have this hybrid MBR+GPT approach on Mac with Windows on it. You inherit the limitations of MBR, which is four primary partitions.
So what does it means?
It means that OSX + EFI + Recovery HD + Boot Camp partition = 4 primary partitions and thus any attempt to modify the disk will render booting issues of either system.
For more info on GPT (GUID Partition Table disks VS Master Boot Record or MBR in short, you may visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.a spx)
So, how to overcome it?
The general guideline is to install ALL GPT ready OS first then create a Data partition, before installing Windows (Which is again, NOT supported GPT due to EFI configuration by Apple where end-users are not able to modify it).
Interestingly, since Mac Pro 2013 Late supports only Windows 8 and above, thus it is not known if this CSM-BIOS applies to it or not.
Do take note that GPT disks in Windows can only be booted when the system meets the 2 requirements:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.a spx#gpt_faq_win7_boot
1) Windows x64 version (Which is a must for newer Macs. If you cannot go to Boot Camp 5, then you need Windows 7 x86 or 32bit version)
2) UEFI system. However, Windows sees all Macs (With the possibility of Mac Pro 2013 Late is an exception. To be determined) as BIOS, or rather NON-UEFI system.
In short, booting on GPT disks is not possible for Mac in Windows.
Summary,
It is tested that a combination of the following will not work:
- OSX + Windows + Linux
- Windows + OSX + Linux
- Windows + Linux + OSX
Usually it can create the system un-bootable or OSX refused to install due to the system does not recognize such partitions and / or Disk Utility refused to format a free space. An example screen-shot is provided below:
The error message is shown as
Title: "Failed to erase volume" Message: "Failed to wipe volume, as an error occurred: MediaKit has reported that the device does not have enough free space to execute the requested operations."
The second thing is about the preparations we need.
1) 1X Windows 7 or 8 DVD or USB thumbdrive
1A) If you uses a DVD to install, you will need another thumbdrive to load the BootCamp drivers for Windows as well as may requires an external DVD drive for newer Macs
2) 1X Linux DVD of your choice. Personally I choose Fedora 20.
So ready? Let's go.
1. Using Disk Utility, shrink the OSX's partition size to what is needed. For me, I give OSX 150GB. Do NOT create any new partition.
Disk Utility should see something like below whereby only OSX partition is left with desired disk space. The remaining space are to be unused disk space for the moment.
Note: Click on the top most item that should start with the size of your HDD / SSD. Then clicked on "Partition" and specify the desired OSX size. Hit "Apply" after that.
2: Download Boot Camp drivers only via Boot Camp Assistant. The USB thumbdrive shall be used later after Linux's installation.
Boot Camp Assistant should see this:
I have only selected "Download latest Windows Support Files from Apple"
3. Insert Linux DVD, reboot Mac into EFI mode (The left most first "EFI mode").
Note 1: Before rebooting, please plugged in an Ethernet adapter because Wi-Fi drivers is not installed.
Note 2: For Thunderbolt adapters, it must be plugged in before reboot as hot-swapping is not supported under Linux. More on the tips at the end of this article.
Note 3: Press and hold "Option" after the screen turns black. Release Option key after you see the image as below:

For the unfortunate part that did not make it on time to edit the images:
9. Install the Windows Support software from your CD/USB drive to gain full functionality of your computer. Reboot and go to Windows again.
Note 1: You may choose to eject disc at this point of time. For Apple SuperDrive users, you will need to wait until the drivers (i.e. Boot Camp support files) is installed and rebooted before ejecting is reasonably possible (As I failed to figured out how to right click without the drivers)
Note 2: Unlike Windows 7 on KBase article TS4599 Keyboard/trackpad inoperative, black screen, or alert messages when installing Windows 7, USB stick can be plugged in after the Windows installation is done. This is because Windows 7 (And probably Windows 7 with SP1 DVD) does not have a built in USB 3 drivers when it was released back in 2009 where USB3 has not arrived then.
Note 3: Due to TPM, Bitlocker is not supported without the use of thumbdrives.
10. Using Disk Management to determine the given drive letter for the DATA partition (DO NOT DELETE and RECREATE partition or else you can goodbye to booting Linux and OSX). Disk Management will not allow you to format it as exFAT / FAT32 in graphical way.
Note: You may remove or modify some of the disk letters in Disk Management. However, do NOT remove / modfify the drive letter for the partition with 200MB size in HFS. This is because it will disallow booting of Linux and neither could Windows nor OSX can do anything EXCEPT to reinstall Linux only.
11. Open Command Prompt in Administrator Mode (Important!!), and key in the following command:
format F: /FS:exFAT
Give this volume a label after it has successfully formatted before hitting "Enter" again.
Note: Mine Data partition was assigned as F drive. Please make necessary adjustment to "F:" should your Data partition is assigned to other letters.
12. After that, Setup your Data partition structure as you like.
Tip: Minimally create the important folders such as:
- Music
- Documents
- Movie (Videos)
- Downloads
- Pictures
All these folders are commonly used by the 3 OSes. I do NOT recommend changing of /home (OSX and / or Linux) and / or user home directory (Windows) either partially or as a whole.
This is because of compatibility issue.
On a side note, iTunes Media Library used in OSX and Windows are NOT able to be use interchangably due to hard-coded path used.
13. Useful troubleshooting in Fedora / Linux:
With references to these:
http://chaidarun.com/fedora-mbp
http://anderson.the-silvas.com/2014/02/14/fedora-20-on-a-macbook-pro-13-late-201 3-retina-display/
http://unencumberedbyfacts.com/2013/08/16/linux-on-a-macbook-pro-101/
I would like to highlight a few important points:
1) Wi-Fi driver:
http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
Note 1: The sound driver should be installed at Out of Box Experience. However, the Wi-Fi is not.
Note 2: Install both free and non-free repository. By the way, some other software like VLC can only be found after the Free Repository is installed.
Search for "akmod-wl" in Gnome-Package-Installer in order to install Wi-Fi drivers
Note 3: For those who do not have Ethernet adapters and their Mac does NOT have a built-in Ethernet port, it is recommended to get one. This is because Fedora 20 does not have a good support for iPhone USB tethering. Unsure for Andriod / Blackberry / Windows Phone users.
2) Grub Menu:
It will show several options to boot into OSX, even of the capability to boot into x86 or x64 mode. However, neither of them is bootable except Linux and the rescue.
Hence, it is recommended to remove the items by hand in this file:
/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg
Command to be used:
"sudo gedit /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg"
Parts to be removed:
- For any extra kernels, delete the target entry by locating the line "menuentry" under "/etc/grub.d/10_linux" sector to one line above the next "menuentry".
It is recommended to keep one main kernel, and one recovery at the minimal.
- For other OS, delete all the entry (Since neither it can works) under "/etc/grub.d/30_os-prober" sector without removing the lines starts with ###.
Auto Mount exFAT partition:
- After installing extra packages for exFAT support (Since it is not supported by Fedora 20 from a default installation), you may wish to edit "/etc/fstab" in order to mount the exFAT partition during boot time.
Command to be used:
"sudo gedit /etc/fstab"
Add the following line in gedit:
UUID=702D-912D /run/media/Samuel/DATA exfat defaults 1 2
Note 1: For DATA partition, OSX & Boot Camp partition, Fedora defaults mounts under: "/run/medua/<Username with case sensitive>/<Partition Label Name>"
Note 2: UUID is unique ID. You can find out the UUID by:
Step 1: First determine the DATA partition number:
"sudo gdisk /dev/sda"
Step 2: Determine the UUID of this partition number:
"sudo blkid /dev/sda8"
Reference 1: http://manpages.courier-mta.org/htmlman5/fstab.5.html
Reference 2: http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/short-tip-get-uuid-of-hard-disks/
3) Overheating CPU
Solution is to issue the following command in Linux terminal: su -c "echo -n 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo"
4) System resumes immediately after suspend
Solution is to issue the following command in Linux terminal: su -c "echo XHC1 > /proc/acpi/wakeup"
5) What does not works well out of box:
- Both GNOME and KDE's fonts are too small to be readable for out of box experience. Additional configuration is a need. (Some of the info can be found on "More Tips" later)
- Thunderbolt hotplugging is NOT supported under Windows and Linux so far. Neither FaceTime HD camera works as well.
- The red light in Headphone jack is always on. I do not have luck in switching off the light without losing the sound.
Note 1: It is determined that the module "snd_hda_intel" is used by both cards (HDMI and normal output)
Note 2: It is also known that blacklisting it can switch off the redlight at the price of muting the system.
Note: Based on this article, http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1574
A Mac (Except Mac Pro) needs servicing when there is a red light while the system fails to detect internal speakers. However, this article does NOT applies to this issue.
5A) More Tips:
Install gnome-tweak-tool for more customization
Search for: "gnome-package" to install:
Install Gnome Package Installer for advanced package repository
Install Gnome Package Updater for advanced updates to be install (Whereby Fedora's App Store alike might not show the relevant updates)
14. Verify if disk is still GPT:
Use Gdisk to determine if the disk is pure GPT:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1742682
Command: sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda (The entire hard drive)
You should see the MBR is "Protective" instead of anything else.
15. Congrats, the system is ready for triple boot. (I forgot to eject my Windows DVD when the photo was taken)
Note 1: You cannot set the default startup disk in Linux due to the lack of Boot Camp Control Panel in Linux.
Neither is changing startup disk recommended in Windows due to the inability to display correctly.
For me, I click "Cancel" whenever I am on this tab (Feel free to make other Boot Camp adjustments in other tabs).
Only OSX I know that can show the startup disk options correctly.
Note 2: For some reason, OSX likes to auto mount the EFI partition everytime it boots up. It is not known to have any issue for ejecting other disks or mounting disks via Disk Utility.
Note 3: It is not determined if any Firmware or System upgrades will cause issues. It is only known that all 3 OS's regular updates should not be an issue.
System Updates excludes Mac OSX 10.9.3 updates to OSX 10.9.4 type as I had done it on a OSX 10.9.4 Mac or Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Update 1 since my Windows DVD comes with Update 1.
System Upgrades refers to OSX Mavericks to Yosemite, Fedora 20 to Fedora 21, Windows 8.1 Update 1 to Windows 8.2 / Windows 9 for that matter.
Note 4: Reset SMC and / or PRAM will NOT affect your ability to boot any of the OS (OSX, Recovery HD, Fedora & Windows 8)
Yup, that is it!

How can I triple boot with OSX, Windows XP, and Windows 7 RC?

Here's the short story:
I have OS X 10.5 and Windows XP on an internal drive.
My goal is to install the Windows 7 RC on a bootable external drive connected through eSATA
Currently:
I used Winclone to copy my XP partition (with a different-looking desktop) onto the external drive to test if I could boot from it. Seems the EFI boot sequence recognizes the external copy in any case. Picture here: [http://img171.imageshack.us/i/library5991.jpg> (ignore the backup hard drive)
When I select the Windows icon on the left, it boots the internal drive partition. However, when I select the icon on the right, it also boots the internal partition.
Is there any way I can manipulate the BIOS emulation to chose between the two drives? Would clearing the internal Windows partition let it default to the external one? Would just installing Windows 7 RC resolve the issue?

Hi KWarp,
here a guide on how-to triple boot OSX, XP and Vista http://guides.macrumors.com/Triple_Boot
Replacing Vista with Windows 7 should be no difference.
To my knowledge Windows can not be booted from an external harddisk and I don't think that Microsoft has changed that with Windows 7 (although I like to be wrong on that ).
Intel-Macs don't have a BIOS but use its successor EFI.
Tools for 'fumbling' with EFI are restricted to Apple Technicians.
Regards
Stefan

How to triple boot (MacOSX / Win7 / Linux) a MacBook Pro (Retina, late 2013) with Refind

ok it's not a question, it's an howto.
You do it at your own risk. No failure reported so far, but I'm not responsible for anything.
If you try to multiboot your MacBook Pro (MBP hereafter) you may face a new complexity. With on partition, Bootcamp does a pretty amazing job installing windows. But when you want to partition your disk in your own way, Bootcamp may fail to install windows and another third OS. You may also want to have a share partition between your OSes, hence have multiple partitions. Most of this tuto should also work for Windows 8 and for other Macbooks.
Problem 1 : Bootcamp does it with one partition that it divides in two and allow to setup Win7. Not all time though since some user reportidely have problems to get USB 3 support and the keyboard and mouse are non working during the install / setup phase.
Problem 2 : Windows 7 is not able to install itself to a GPT partition and needs an Hybrid MBR. Bootcamp does this, but just for a Dual OS setup. So to make the magic happen in a multi OS environment, you'll have to do want bootcamp does, manually.
Step 1 : Download the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant from Apple and flash it to a USB stick. (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433)
Step 2 : Reboot, holding the option key (aka CMD, left of spacebar) down, to trigger the boot menu options. Start the usb drive with OS X recovery and enter the partition tool. Create 3 to 4 partitions, suiting your tastes. Just put windows partition first and I recommend to put the partition sharing data across OSes second, MacOS 3rd and Linux Last for example. MacOS and Linux are fine with pretty much every setup, Windows need the 1° usable partition.
Step 3 : Migrate your Macos using the same tool (google it for details) or Reinstall MacOS from the recovery partition. (more about migration here, but there are better tuto on this)
Step 4 : Start your MacOS and create a bootcamp USB stick with the bootcamp tool. You need an ISO from Win7 (or Win 8) and a drive of at least 4 GB. Bootcamp will most likely complain about the fact that it will not be able to install 7 due to the fact that you don't have only one partition, ignore and proceed to the Bootcamp USB stick setup.
Step 5 : Adding the USB3 support to your Win7 installation. Plug your newly created Win7 USB stick to a computer running Windows. In the sources directory, copy the boot.vim on your disk drive and add the drivers that Bootcamp added to your USB stick, in the $WinPEDriver$ directory and follow these instructions to add them to your boot.vim image. Follow carefully every step, it does works. Add the drivers you feel like, commit and copy back your boot.vim image, patched, to your USB stick, in the sources directory.
Step 6 : In your MacOSX, install the GPT fdisk partition tool. You just have to unzip the archive. Win7 is unable to install to a GPT disk, so you will have to create a (dirty) Hybrid MBR. From a terminal, launch GPT fdisk. Carefull here, the Win7 is most likely not the 1st but the 2nd or 3rd because there is an UEFI partition before. Just check before adding them if in doubt, by striking p. Then key in r then h then the number of the partitions you want to add to this hybrid MBR (the Win7 & the Shared one). Accept the type 07 for this partition and type y, n & finally w. (more details here for the fans)
Step 7 : Reboot, keep the CMD key down to trigger the boot option menu. Reboot on the USB stick, install Win7. If it doesn't understand the partition made for it, format it, if needed, from the 7 installer, delete and recreate it.
Step 8 : Install your favorite Linux distro with a USB stick generator. (see here & here). No complex part, except that Grub will most likely scratch your nice Hybrid MBR, rendering Win7 inaccessible. No problem, reboot in MacOS and redo step 6, this will revive your win7.
Step 9 : It's cosmetic but keeping CMD key down to boot is not so practical. ReFind does it just great. Setup is super easy, just kick install.sh from a shell in MacOS. Fine tune decoration and some stuffs later on from the config file.
Step 10 (optionnal) : You want it all, without switching between OSes? Having Windows app running within MacOS is easy, with most native hardware acceleration preserved, using Parallels desktop. It also works with a "simple" Bootcamp Windows setup.
Enjoy your mighty triple boot MBP.

Just ordered a Retina MacBook Pro11,2 (mid-2014 15", 2.2GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, OSX 10.9.4 Pre-installed - Build 13E28) and have the exact same issue. The first thing I did when i booted it for the first time was enable FileValut2 and encrypt the disk. Though I failed to notice this behavior prior to encrypting the disk, the stuttering/lag happens without fail every time I have logged in from a cold boot, locked screen or sleep. Additionally I have noticed the same stuttering behavior when switching tabs on various built-in OSX applications such as the tabs on the About This Mac > More Info.... (System Information) dialog for example, and similarly other dialogs that experience this behavior of resizing when switching tabs. I was running no other software than About This Mac > More Info ... (System Information) and OSX 10.9.4 itself. The issue happens without fail with and without a USB mouse plugged in.
I am really glad to have found this thread and with such recent posts. I'd love to find out that this is just a software bug that will be fixed when OSX 10.10 "Yosemite" is released. If not, I hope the cause of this bug is determined soon so I can still exchange or have it repaired.
Migflono and Matthew, would you be able to post your hardware specs for comparison?

How do I (safely) upgrade Mountain Lion to Mavericks in a triple boot setup?

When I purchased this refurbished 2011 Mac mini in late April, I wanted to set it up where I could have Mountain Lion, Snow Leopard, and Windows 7 in a triple-boot setup. Knowing that the hybrid MBR setup limits the hard drive to three partitions, I had to get rid of the recovery partition. Somehow I was able to make or keep both a .dmg file of the recovery partition and InstallESD.dmg and to clone these to a USB flash drive. I eliminated the recovery partition, shrunk the Mountain Lion partition, added the Boot Camp partition, and made room for the Snow Leopard partition by further shrinking the Mountain Lion partition. This setup has been working well for me so far.
The discussions I'm seeing about people having trouble with the Mavericks installer wanting to create a recovery partition make me nervous. I don't have an immediate need to upgrade to Mavericks (I use Windows 7 and Snow Leopard more than Mountain Lion), but I would like my third OS to be the most up-to-date version available, especially since Mavericks is free. I'll be making extensive backups of all three partitions on a larger external hard disk I'm putting together tomorrow, so I'll be able to restore everything if I mess something up, but I'd rather go into the process with a fair amount of confidence that it's likely to work without too much tinkering.
Any hints?

The 2010 Mac mini came with Core 2 Duo processors; the 2011 Mac mini had options of Core i5 and Core i7 processors. My Mac mini is booted into Windows 7 at the moment; the Computer window shows that I have an Intel Core i5-2520M processor running at 2.50 GHz. This is the model that came with the discrete AMD graphics processor. The 2011 Mac mini and 10.7 Lion were introduced at the same event; it is highly likely that later versions of 10.6 Snow Leopard included drivers for the new Mac mini in the event that Lion wasn't ready in time. (The similarities of the 2011 Mac mini to MacBook Pro models released before Lion may also be a factor in Snow Leopard running successfully on the Mac mini.)
I expected to have to go through extra steps to get Snow Leopard running on my Mac mini, but as long as I installed it and updated it to the latest version by using my MacBook to access the Mac mini's hard disk in Target Disk Mode, it ran just fine. In fact, one of the first things I did with the Mac mini was the opposite: I booted the MacBook in Target Disk Mode to see if the Mac mini could boot from the 10.6.8 installation on my MacBook's hard disk, and it worked fine. I'm sure there are people who have had difficulties installing Snow Leopard on a 2011 Mac mini (with or without a separate Mac that officially supports Snow Leopard), but I guess I lucked out.
The main PowerPC application that I like to run every now and then is Spaceward Ho!, a strategy game that harkens back to the days of the classic Mac OS (I've been using Macs for twenty years, back to the days of the 68040 processor). The developer of Spaceward Ho! for the iPad has tweeted that it may release an updated version for Intel Macs, but I don't know that it will maintain the "feel" of the classic version.
I recently decided to try the iDVD '06 that came with my MacBook on my Mac mini, and while it's not a PowerPC application, it won't run on Mavericks, so I have to keep Snow Leopard for that purpose. Mainly it's just been a matter of preference: Snow Leopard just feels more nimble than the more recent releases, and it gives me better control over when I save my files (or copies of them).
Also a matter of preference: if I'm running a Windows application, I want to be in Windows. If I'm running a Mac application, I want to be in OS X. I also want all of my resources devoted to the OS I'm running at the current time, not divided between both. I may try virtualization again somewhere down the line, but right now I'm happy enough with Boot Camp.

How to: Downgrade from OS 9.2.1 to OS 9.1 or Earlier

Been looking everywhere for an answer...
I have a PowerBook 2400c, won't boot into anything over OS 9.1. I have installed onto a hard drive OS 9.2.1 and now I have just learned it is not compatible with pre-G3 machines. I get an error message when trying to boot into OS 9.2.1 on the 2400c that the system is not supported, and it is overlayed the OS 9.2 Boot Window.
Since I only have a full, retail OS 9.2.1 install CD, and nothing earlier, I am looking for a way to downgrade it to OS 9.1. I tried to just install the 9.1 update overtop the 9.2.1 system, but it will only install it overtop OS 9.0-9.0.4.
By the way, and this is just for information, OS 9.2.1 is installed on a CF card. I boot my older machines with Systems installed on CF Cards: they are inserted into the PowerBooks via a PCMCIA/CF Card adapter. They all work great, and this is in no way a cause of the problem.
So does anyone know how to downgrade OS 9.2.1 - OS 9.1 when one only has (1) Full OS 9.2.1 retail install CD (2) OS 9.1 Update Installer???
Thanks.

Move the card onto a system where it is usable, and then run the patched version of the 9.2.2 update on it. The Mac OS 9.1 updater can't downgrade a 9.2 or newer system; that capability requires a Mac OS 9.0 or 9.1 CD.
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Is this the best way to Triple Boot?

Hi all, I have a had a pickle of a time setting up Leopard...with my triple boot setup.
I am curious if I went about it "properly"or if there is a better way.
Use instructions at your own peril if you wish. I am not responsible for errors or any problems you may have by using my instructions. This is my individual experience. *I am happy if this works for someone* struggling to set up a triple boot, but am posting this more so to see if there are any improvements to be made, or mistakes that need correcting to this method...
I had an Intel MBP (SR) with 3 partitions. Tiger, Vista and Ubuntu but when trying to install Leopard it said it would not install and I would have to change my drive to guid partition scheme.
So, through trial and error this is the only way I could get it to work.Keep in mind I started from scratch with vista and ubuntu, but did make a backup of my tiger drive.
1. BACK UP
2. Wipe everything and repartition internal disk to guid partition map and 1 partition. Install Leopard.
3. Use either disk utility or carbon copy cloner(my purchased copy of SuperDuper is still not able to do what CCC, a free program can do,apparently because they are trying to figure out time machine and are holding up a leopard compat. version, uuughh, but thats a different post...) to clone Leopard to external drive that is set up as GUID partition scheme.Make sure you are able to boot this external.
4. Wipe internal, repartition to 3 partitions using disk utility and MBR partition scheme in this order from top to bottom(in disk utility partition gui);
  a. Leopard partition: OSX extended journaled
  b. Vista partition: I think there is only one option: maybe Fat? Just make sure you select "windows" format (The vista installer will need to reformat this during install anyway)
  c. Ubuntu partition: "Free Space"
5. Then to install leopard, (which apparently won't install on a drive set up as MBR partition scheme, but that is what we formatted the internal drive as anyway) clone the external copy of leopard to the internal OSX partition we just made.
6. Then install vista by booting from install cd. During install you may have to reformat the Windows partition using the windows installer, but it should install fine after that.
7. Then Install ubuntu using live cd/dvd to the internal free space partition, splitting/ formatting the last partition using the ubuntu install/partition tool on the "manual"partition mode(make sure you are using the correct free space partition. I confirmed this by looking at the sizes of the partitions that showed up): "free space" into root and swap partitions if you want. I used ext2 for root
     *Side note:*If you have the same MBP as me you may have to change some setting when booting the live cd: Once the cd loads and you get to the preliminary menu window, press F6 to edit. A command will show up on the screen: You have to erase the last two words starting at "quiet" till end. Then write "allgenericide" in their space, keeping all of the command before quiet.  then press enter. It should then load to the ubuntu desktop where you can click on the install icon.(this took me a long time to figure out. I have also have to do this everytime I want boot into ubuntu, which stinks. Anyone know how to resolve this? (Linux masters?)
8. boot into osx and install rEFIt
Issues:
1. My Leopard partition is not showing up in OSX's startup disk pane in sys pref. but it is booting/ showing up as if it was, if having trouble, try holding option key during startup.
2. I have also had a few issues with rEFIt not starting up as default menu, but when holding option key at startup it will show up. Then gives me the option of OSX, Vista or Ubuntu once selected.
3. And the command thing with ubuntu at every startup I mentioned earlier.Is there a way to write allgenericide as a default or any other way to fix this?
If anyone has a better way of accomplishing this please let me know. I got to this point through a lot of trial and error and I'm not sure if there is a more stable/better way for a triple boot setup...
I would like for the Leopard partition to show up as the osx startup disk in the pref pane, but regardless it is still working.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems boot camp makes the drive into an MBR partition scheme anyway, so I'm curious what others who were already running dual or triple boot, boot camp systems had to do when upgrading their boot camp setups from tiger to leopard. Did it not allow you to install to the MBR partition scheme made by boot camp? Did you have to start from scratch as well?
Thank you in advance for your patience and support.

http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/TripleBoot_viaBootCampI would install Vista before installing Leopard.
That has worked better for me anyway.
And that may make Leopard the default.
In Vista, AppleControl is under /Windows/SysWOW64 if you ever need to get to it (there is also AppleOSSMgr and AppleTimeSrvc )
http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/TripleBoot_viaBootCamp

How to downgrade from windows 8.1 to windows 8

I have a HP Pavilion 15-E016TX Laptop (3rd Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8/ 2GB Graph) that came with windows 8 single language. It recently got upgraded to windows 8.1 without even giving me an option to cancel the upgrade. After the update the system has become a piece of crap. It restarts the desktop screen again and again. When I right click on desktop I can't access the graphics property option or configure switchable property option...It give an error that 'cli' is not found. Even my games are not working properly(its getting Hanged)..
Can you please help me how to downgrade back to windows 8 with detailed steps since I don't have an in depth knowledge about reset or refreshing of systems..
Thank You
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YSRK wrote:
I have a few doubts regarding this..
1. Wil this erase all my data from all the drives...I had a single drive when I brought it at first, I manually partitioned it..
OK. You did not provide that information before. So my previous post was a waste of time. You will need to purchase recovery media from HP. If you had recovery media available and selected factory image recover, it would delete and recreate partitions on the boot drive not the secondary hard disk.
Looking for recovery disks or usb recovery media?
2. What about reset or refreshing the pc. Will it help?
No. Reset or refresh will only refresh to the current Windows 8.1 operating system
3. Is it going to be windows 8 single language again.
It won't work if there is no recovery partition, so you don't have to worry about that
4. How can I stop the installation of windows 8.1 in future.
Modify the Windows update settings. See the following image
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

Installing Linux as triple-boot?

I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but it looks like the best fit.
I have a Mac Pro that runs Mac OS X 10.6.7 and Windows 7 64-bit as a dual-boot system using Boot Camp. This is set up with 2 partitions of a single 1TB hard drive (each OS gets 500GB). Because I am taking a Linux class soon, I have to install Linux. What I want to do is add a second physical hard drive and install Linux on that one, turning my dual-boot configuration into a Mac/Windows/Linux triple-boot configuration. Is this possible? If so, how do I do it?
On a side note, would it be possible to partition hard drive #2 the way I did hard drive #1 (drive #2 is also a 1TB drive) and use the second half for Time Machine? That way, I would have 500GB each for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Time Machine.

install refit,create new partrtion,install linux.That's all it takes

I want to triple boot Have Snow Leopard and XP on separate drives and I want Windows 7 on another drive, can it be done by temporarily removing the xp drive and installing windows 7 on another internal drive?

I want to triple boot my Mac Pro I have Snow Leopard and XP on separate drives (osx on drive 1, xp on drive 2) and I want Windows 7 on another drive (drive 4, drive 3 is used by osx for storage), can it be done by temporarily removing the xp drive and installing windows 7 on drive 4?
I realise bootcamp only allows 2 operating systems and refit could change the size of my current xp drive to accomodate W7, that is not an option here for various reasons one being the drive is pretty much at capacity with only about 30gig free (I work with video so that free space fluctautes quite a bit). I have a brand new drive 4 with 1TB set aside ready for W7 but I'm unsure how to go ahead?
any help or advice would be really appreciated, thanks

Boot Camp is used to support Windows on the same drive.
You can have a different OS on every drive.
You could have Windows 7, Vista, and XP all on one drive if you so choose.
I recommend not putting Windows and OS X on the same dirve when talking about Mac Pro - unless you just need something small and lite.
Remove all your other drives while you install Windows 7.
You could even relocate XP - if you need it even - or recover the hard drive space.
You should always keep 30% free for Mac OS; same for data/media drives.
Considering 1.5TB WD Black $110.... and you want OS X to be on a fast high performance drive as well.

Triple boot in Mac OS X

I learned that dual boot is possible. Now, how about a triple one? I'm asking cause I'm now on Lion 10.7.5 to which I returned after resetting my MBP to factory, but planning to boot up into Mavericks (which I need for some of its newer features), thus having the two serving as my main OSes and testing Yosemite as the 3d one with Mavericks and Yosemite locating on external drive of 1TB. Is it possible to do a triple boot? Won't it kill my machine considering it's still running on 4 GB RAM?
Kindest regards,
I.S.

You can boot from any number of external drives. That is not "Triple" Booting. It's just booting to an external. Double and Triple booting would be the process of making non-native boot partitions on the same hard drive, like one Windows and Linux Bootcamp partitions.
You you can partition the external normally and put any OS X your mac can support on each partition. Hold down the Option key when you startup to choose which one to boot into.

Triple boot with XP and 7

I know that this isn't technically Boot Camp, since I'll be using rEFIt for my boot loader, but I'm hoping somebody in here can help me.
I carved out 3 partitions using diskutil and formatted 2 of them FAT so I could load windows on them. I got rEFIt installed and it is working fine. I installed XP on the last partition (because I read that Windows needed to be on the last one and was hoping 7 was smarter) and verified that it was bootable. REFIt was working fine on it. I installed 7 on the middle partition, but when I choose to boot to that partition from rEFIt it says it can't find NTLDR. The interesting part is that if I pick the last partition for XP, the boot NTLDR shows up and I can select with Windows 7 or the previous version of windows.
What I want to do is get the boot loader for 7 fixed to point to the right partition for NTLDR so that I can use rEFIt to choose my OS. I know that I could just boot to the XP loader and then choose 7, but it isn't a pretty.
Thanks for any input or advice.

Hi KWarp,
here a guide on how-to triple boot OSX, XP and Vista http://guides.macrumors.com/Triple_Boot
Replacing Vista with Windows 7 should be no difference.
To my knowledge Windows can not be booted from an external harddisk and I don't think that Microsoft has changed that with Windows 7 (although I like to be wrong on that ).
Intel-Macs don't have a BIOS but use its successor EFI.
Tools for 'fumbling' with EFI are restricted to Apple Technicians.
Regards
Stefan

Arch, Windows 7 and PC-BSD Triple Boot

Hi Folks,
Thinking about setting up a triple boot system like the one described above. I have had numerous ideas for a partitioning scheme, but nothing seems neat because of the requirement that both Window and BSD need to be on a primary partition.
My basic requirements are:
Arch Linux
separate /boot (as I want to use BTRFS for root)
/root (BTRFS)
/swap (not essential for Arch, as I have 4 GB RAM)
(Is a home required, or can I have a tiny /home for .(config) files?)
PC-BSD
separate /boot (as I want to use ZFS)
/, /var, /usr (ZFS pool)
/swap (essential for ZFS as I have heard it is RAM hungry)
(Is a home required at all. First time with BSD, so not sure how it works)
Windows
1 large C: drive (Easy)
Shared storage drive
(recommendations for the most mutually compatible file system? It pains me to say, but FAT32?)
So, should I go with the GUID partition table so I can just make all of these, or is there some clever trickery? I was considering LVM to make my Arch root and small home, but that does not really solve the four primary partition limit on the MBR.
I should add, I have a working Windows 7 and Arch setup and my main reason for wanting a BSD is so that I have the full gamut of OSes for learning and experimentation. I like the idea of Windows 7, an Arch/BTRFS/Gnome and a BSD/ZFS/KDE...
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Scott
Last edited by well.heeled.man (2011-07-31 00:14:11)

@well.heeled.man
from my own experience i would recommend you pure FreeBSD instead of PC-BSD (even tho they are the same in nature), the main problem is that pc-bsd is somehow not complete .. too many preinstalled stuff, ports witch is 1st thing to learn in FBSD is way too complicated with those jails.. and never the less fbsd + kde is not a good start - better use xfce at most
as for partitions well ...
I think FreeBSD/PC-BSD uses a single physical partition, logically sub-divided to allow for snapshots
yes that is true
as for zfs start learning by use files instead of partitions or harddrives unless you are ready to loose your data O.o
example
cybertorture@ego ~
> sudo zpool status
pool: tank
state: ONLINE
scan: resilvered 32,5K in 0h0m with 0 errors on Tue Aug 2 01:45:54 2011
config:
NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM
tank ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs1 ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs2 ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs3 ONLINE 0 0 0
/home/zfs-spare ONLINE 0 0 0
spares
/mnt/data/zfs-test AVAIL
errors: No known data errors
cybertorture@ego ~
> ll /home/zfs*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs3
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512M 2 авг 1,53 /home/zfs-spare
about GPT, any reason not to use msdos ? maybe you have 2.2+ GB harddive ?
edit: about partitions
sda1 ntfs - windowze
sda2 ext2 - boot (safe bet)
sda3 ufs - fbsd
sda4 - extended
sda5 btrfs - arch
sda6 ntfs - shared storage
Last edited by cybertorture (2011-08-02 00:39:51)

Triple Boot on 2012 MacBook Pro

Hey guys,
I'm trying to get a triple boot installation going on my macbook. I'm kinda stuck now so I had to reach out here for help.
Currently my macbook has 5 partitions.
sda1 = mac boot
sda2 = mac os
sda3 = mac recover
sda4 = partition I created with mac os disc utility for ArchLinux
sda5 = windows partition that was working created with bootcamp
I read over the wiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook
I created sda4, and originally I tried to create three more partitions out of sda4 using cgdisk. The extra partitions I created would never show up so I couldn't mount them... finally I just decided to mount and install /dev/sda4 without a boot or swap partition. I went through the installation as normal.
I also installed refit.
At this point I think i have arch successfully installed on sda4, I just can't boot to it. Refit doesn't recognize the linux partition, it sees the windows, but windows won't boot either, I can only boot to my mac osx parition.
What should I do at this point? what logs and command outputs do you guys need to help me get this working.
Last edited by brarch (2013-02-17 20:11:55)

HalosGhost wrote:Also, I'm not positive of this, but I think Macs can only boot to hfs(+) partitions, even with refit/find. I'm not positive of that, but I'm fairly sure that's the case.
No, you're mistaken on that. HFS+ does have some advantages (you can get boot loaders on HFS+ to show up in Apple's boot manager, for instance), but it's not a requirement.
The Windows boot problem is most likely a result of the fact that Windows requires a hybrid MBR entry, but chances are that entry has been lost and not re-created. Given the partition layout, you'll need to use gdisk to re-create this entry. See the gdisk documentation (to which I just linked) for details.
For Linux, a boot loader is required, and it's not at all clear what boot loader is installed, if any. It's possible to boot Linux on Macs in either BIOS mode or EFI mode. IMHO, EFI mode is superior if it's possible, but it poses problems on some models, so you may need to use BIOS mode. The details of how to get it working depend on which mode you use, and there are multiple boot loader options for each mode. It looks like the wiki covers both modes, with an emphasis on rEFIt and GRUB, but I've not read the whole thing. IMHO, rEFInd is superior to rEFIt, but I'm biased (I'm the one who forked rEFInd from rEFIt). If you install rEFInd and a filesystem driver for whatever filesystem you used for your Arch partition, you should be able to boot Arch directly from rEFInd. You'll need to adjust the boot parameters manually the first time you boot, though, and create a refind_linux.conf file to bypass that need on future boots.

Mac Pro 2010 triple boot (Snow Leopard + Windows + Yosemite)?

Hello All,
This is my first question here, I'm usually trying to find the answer myself, but this time I wasn't able to find anything clear enough to me. So I hope that someone can give me clear and easy to understand answer. I must also tell that my English isn't perfect, but should be more than good enough for communication. :-)
I have Mac Pro 2010, 4 core CPU 3.2 GHz, 6 GB RAM, ATI 5870.
HD Bay 1: WD Black 1 TB - Boot Snow Leopard 10.6.8
(Just to add: I am happy because when I bought my Mac it came with 10.6. I am happy with it, it's stable, and I want to keep it as it is)
HD Bay 2: WD Black 1 TB - Boot Windows 7 x64 (bootcamp, full drive)
(I am very happy how it works, so I want to keep it as is)
HD Bay 3: WD Green 2 TB - for all kind of data storage
HD Bay 4: Was empty until yesterday, but now I have another WD Black 1 TB to put it in - still not formatted.
I would like to install Yosemite on that new drive (first I was thinking about Maverick, but then I saw that some new applications will not run, like Final Cut Pro X, new MS Office, still in beta, plus I would like to use iMessage, etc.), and keep everything else as it is now - absolutelly untouched.
• Is it safe to do it, or I can make some mistake and lose Snow Leo and/or Windows?
• Is position of the drives important? Should I, for example, put new drive in a Bay 3, and move data disk to Bay 4, or it doesn't matter?
• When I download it from App Store, and when installation starts automatically, do I have an option to select to keep untouched everything I have now?
(I don't want even to collect any data from Snow Leopard, like mail settings, bookmarks, applications installed - absolutely nothing, it should run as a totally new comp and without any interaction with Snow Leopard, except ordinary hard disk access, like any other hard drive)
• Will my bootcamp drive be safe, I will still be able to boot from it?
I was also thinking about this:
I saw that it is possible to make bootable USB flash drive with installation. If I do that, and if I phisically unplug all other drives except a new one, then do installation, shut it down, and plug back all other drives, will everything work? Will I have triple boot when I press option key during start-up? Does all this makes sense at all to you?
Finally, does anyone have some experience with Mac Pro 2010 + ATI 5870 with Yosemite? Is it smooth, no problems with graphics or some other things?
I will really appreciate some answer about all this.
Cheers!

Some tips about Yosemite and Core Storage from MacIntouch Reader Reports on Yosemite:
Ric Ford [MacInTouch]
Yosemite's changes have led to questions and confusion about disk formatting and partitioning issues, backward compatibility, and dual-booting Mac OS X 10.6 and Yosemite. Below are a few notes on these issues from an email discussion (questions, tips and clarifications are welcome).
Core Storage changes debuted in OS X 10.7 Lion, with Apple's new FileVault 2 whole-disk encryption and hidden Recovery Partition.
Generally, running OS X 10.7 and up shouldn't corrupt or convert the HFS+ partitions used by pre-OS X 10.7 systems (still supported in later OS X versions). There are, however, a few special cases to beware, and this is where things get confusing. Here are some specific issues:
1) FileVault 2 encryption and "Fusion" drives both depend on Core Storage, so applying those to any partition will render it inaccessible by pre-OS X 10.7 systems.
2) Yosemite's installation process silently converts a partition to Core Storage, incompatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and earlier. Ars Technica's review describes this issue.
3) Running Disk Utility's "repair" function in Yosemite against a Mac OS X 10.6 (HFS+) partition has caused problems in some cases, such as making the Mac OS X 10.6 partition unbootable.
(A search for Core Storage on MacInTouch will turn up more discussion and tips.)
See also:
Core Storage [Wikipedia]
OS X Mountain Lion Core Technologies Overview (PDF) [Apple]
OS X 10.10 Yosemite: Installation [Ars Technica]
File system changes in Lion [Ars Technica]
Can't remove Core Storage from hard drive [Apple Discussions]
How To: Disable CoreStorage on Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) [Symantec]
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/yosemite/index.html#d16apr2015

How to downgrade to/emulate/triple boot OS X 10.8?

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