Mac Hack: Install Leopard on a PC

Filed under: OS Updates, Macintosh, Apple

Mac Hack: Install Leopard on a PC

by Brad Linder Oct 28th 2007

Once upon a time trying to install OS X on a PC was like trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. The operating system just wasn't designed to run on Intel processors. But now that Apple is releasing Intel-based Macs, you can install Windows on a Mac, and with a little bit of hard work and license-breaking, you can install OS X 10.5 on a PC with an Intel processor.

Don't expect everything to work properly. You might be missing drivers for graphics cards, audio, or even WiFi. But the installation process doesn't look too complicated. Basically you download an illegal disc image (which we would never condone doing), patch it, install the operating system from a DVD and then throw another patch at it.

Once again, if you really want Leopard to run properly on your hardware, your best bet is to buy an Apple computer. But we're still pretty impressed that the OSX86 hackers were able to figure out how to install the OS on non-Apple hardware before Leopard was even officially released.

[via Daily Apps]

Tags: intel, leopard, os-x.10.5, osx86

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

visat said 4:30PM on 10-28-2007

thank you for ever

kojo87 said 10:12PM on 10-28-2007

get it to run on AMD and i'll be interested. i would like to be able to boot into OSX if i wanted to but im not gonna abandon Vista.

i never really understood why Apple never let PC users in on their OS. MS allowed for Windows to run on Macs. if OSX really is that much better than Windows shouldn't you make it available to everyone and not just your hardcore customers who like spending twice as much on your shiny Apple hardware than an equal PC? i never really has anything against the actual OS, just how overpriced the hardware is and the smug nature of the company and its customers in general.

Peter L said 3:45PM on 11-30-2007

Kojo - what do you mean when you say "Windows on a Mac"? Sure, MS Word and Excel have always been available on a Mac (in fact they were on a Mac in GUI form long before MS got around to a GUI for DOS, which we now know as Vista), but the Windows OS has never been supported by MS on a Mac platform, and I am personally unaware of anyone who has done the work to hack the Windows kernel to run on anything but an Intel platform. Since Mac started shipping on Intel you have been able to run up Windows instead - but why would you?

MacOS/X is at least a generation ahead of Vista as an OS - it gets that just by being UNIX at it's core, but the UI and integration leave all things MS for dead.

TxdoHawk said 10:14PM on 10-28-2007

Kojo, you have to understand, Apple's success in the market is precisely because they have the hardware market locked down. You can't buy Apple hardware without Apple getting a big fat cut of the check.

Apple of course will argue that the locked-down hardware promotes a stable computing environment, since in working with the platform, you only have to develop for a small subset of hardware. Which may be true. But let's be honest here, at the end of the day they run the computing side of their operation the way they do because it assures them profit, no matter what kind of market share they snag. Can you really blame them?

acgla said 10:14PM on 10-28-2007

@kojo It works on amd too...

Raphy said 10:14PM on 10-28-2007

*installs over Vista*

Shibathedog said 10:15PM on 10-28-2007

This is being worked on to an extent that I have complete confidence that it will be working almost flawlessly sometime soon.

Oh and you don't HAVE to download an illegal disc image. You can always go out and buy Leopard and then rip your own image. Supposedly there is some line in the license agreement that says you can only install it on apple hardware. But I have a feeling breaking that would only void your warranty/support. Even if it is illegal because of that, I have a suspected loophole. Put some mac hardware in your PC, its then mac hardware :P

I wouldn't mind using a mighty mouse :P (Note: This probably doesn't cut it, if it does it would be cool though)

Comacozi said 10:15PM on 10-28-2007

Prediction: Apple Updates Leopard. Computer is now an over sized paper weight.

Other Prediction: Apple Updates Leopard. Apple logs where you live. Steve Takes your soul.

Other Other Prediction. It Just Works?

Aron said 10:16PM on 10-28-2007

this looks like it could work actually.. you could get the drivers and setup keys!

http://www.xtremegadgets.net

baz.karim said 10:16PM on 10-28-2007

Boo. We shouldn't be burning, copying, installing this crap man. I'm sure Leopard is awesome but there's a word for doing all this---stealing. None of us, well, most of us, would not walk into some store and steal a copy of Leopard off of the shelves. Downloading the iso and burning it is no different.

Karim Baz

BananaBoat said 10:17PM on 10-28-2007

The idea isn't stealing Leopard, it's making it so that you can run the 120 dollar OS (that you've payed for) without spending over 1000 dollars on an inferior (for the price) piece of hardware to go with that 120 dollar OS. In all honesty though, doing it either way (Downloading or making your own ISO from a disc you own) is probably equally as illegal (Doing it yourself, you'd run into DMCA issues).

Personally I'm happy with XP. Apple can shove it as far as I'm concerned, for not giving people the choice to install the OS on non-mac hardware to begin with. I sure as hell won't be running leopard

therumble said 8:58AM on 10-29-2007

Personally, I'm happy with Linux.

=D

kris said 9:02AM on 10-29-2007

Karim,

this is a commonly held misconceived idea, that has been spread globally with RIAA's (anti-)anti-piracy message 'you wouldn't steal a car':

- there's a minority of "good samaritan"-types who would never do that -- ie. for fear of God/because they believe in reciprocal benevolence/that the universe eventually returns the ir good will;
- that vast majority people wouldn't steal it from a store purely because they're aftaid of the consequences of getting caught -- public humiliation/fines/police record/jail time/etc;

provided the opportunity and ability to take, and desire for any given material object, every human is naturally inclined to 'steal' anything.

for example, if you walked alone down a dark street and found a (brand new OSX Leopard DVD) lying on the ground, you would invariably consider taking it and keeping it, before considering if you should try to return it to its rightful owner.

Jamar0303 said 9:03AM on 10-29-2007

Buy, rip, patch, install, patch- all legal. I like living in China for more reasons than piracy- regulation means that the EULA line about only allowing installation on Apple-branded hardware holds no legal weight. I bought it, I can install it on whatever I want.

~Karolis said 11:32AM on 10-29-2007

Am I missing something or do you actually need linux to patch the image? :-/

bienvenunet said 11:55AM on 10-29-2007

@3&10: The last time Apple tried allowing other companies to clone Apple hardware, it nearly put Apple out of business. It would be nice to see Apple selling Mac OS for any Intel machine. But I don't blame them for restricting it to Apple hardware, given the past. Maybe they will decide that they can make as much money on the sales of additional copies of the OS as they are losing by those people not buying Macs. Apparently they haven't come to that conclusion yet.

DaiMac79 said 1:14PM on 10-29-2007

@bananaBoat: "without spending over 1000 dollars on an inferior (for the price) piece of hardware to go with that 120 dollar OS"

So...all these reports of Intel Macs completely owning off the shelf PCs, you just missed them?

Fairly detailed and succinct video proof (there is more than one video there about this):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDWo4SFs15o

Its obvious there is something to be said about quality engineering, just because your computer specs the same as a more expensive mac does not mean you'll actually get the same performance from it, even in Windows.

lalit nagrath said 11:32AM on 11-01-2007

will it work for AMD?

Bollywood links

Bad Karma said 7:41AM on 11-04-2007

@Banana Boat

1. It wasn't Microsoft who made it possible to run Windows on a Mac, it was made possible by software like VMware, Parralells, and BootCamp. None of which is made by Microsoft.
2. Inferior hardware? I have a MacBook Pro and my friend has a Dell, They roughly the same hardware inside, his processor is 2.16Ghz mine is only 2 but even booting into windows mine boots faster by over 30 seconds. I can open photoshop alot faster then he can. He has trouble logging onto wireless networks, I don't.
Not to mention that he is constantly rebooting when he should be working., because Vista makes his computer that was designed to run it crash, when the Mac runs it smoothly.

I'm not bashing Microsoft here, I use windows at work, I use OS X at home, I believe both have their place on a computer, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I believe you just hate what you don't understand.

connormaxlin said 7:41AM on 11-04-2007

Is it relly leopard or jast look like leopard?

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