Install Snow Leopard on AMD PC, Laptop

We’ve published several Hackintosh tutorials in the past to let you install Snow Leopard on PC. But we hadn’t been looking into interest of fellows who use AMD Processors. So I decided to write one after I got hands-on Phenom II processor PC.

Before we Begin
You would need a Running Leopard to prepare a restore Disk. It can be any 10.5.x Osx86 distro (Google for iAtkos or any other that you prefer) or you can even get it done from someone’s Mac/PC which has any version of Mac OS X running.

In case you don’t have it, You can follow our Older guide to install Mac OS X Leopard on PC, just choose a OSx86 distro that works on AMD.

Pre-Requisites:
– A Retail DVD/Image of Snow Leopard 10A432.
– An empty partition or drive with at least 10GB free space.
– Download This ZIP (Hardknox) The files used from this archive are highlighted in Red over the tutorial.

Note: There’s a tutorial which is 90% similar to this one and published in Videos. You might want to check it in case you find it hard to follow the instructions below.

Installing Snow Leopard on AMD Turion/Phenom II Hackintosh

Step 1. Mount the Snow Leopard .DMG file, then use Disk Utility and save a writeable .DMG file to your desktop. Un-Mount the Read-Only .DMG and Mount the newly created writeable .DMG.

Step 2. Open the image, click Go In the Top Menu Bar and select “Go To Folder” then type “/Volumes/<Mounted Snow Leopard Install Disk>/System/Installation/Packages.

Step 3. Copy the OSInstall.mpkg to replace the one in the path we navigated to in Step 2.

Step 4. Using Disk Utility, create a new partition, let’s call it “Snowfx”, with “Mac os x Journaled” option. When done, make sure the permissions of the partition/drive are correct by running the following commands in the terminal:
>sudo -s
>chown 0:0 /Volumes/Snowfx

Step 5. Run the “OSInstall.mpkg” file you replaced earlier in the Packages folder. While installing, select the new Partition  and customize the install by removing all the unnecessary stuff like languages, Printers.
This installation would take anywhere between 10-25 minutes. chill out in the meantime.
Congrats, you are half way there. Bear it a bit longer.

Step 6. Run Chameleon RC2 and select the new drive When that completes go into the Chameleon RC3 Folder then into the i386 folder and copy the BOOT file.

Step 7. Run ShowAllFiles and select “Show”. Now you need to replace the boot file in the root directory of the new partition (Snowfx) with the BOOT file from the i386 folder.

Step 8. Next we do some Kext (driver) alterations in order to make it compatible with AMD.

  • In “Snowfx” navigate to  /Extra/Extensions directory and delete “Disabler.kext”.  Next, goto /System/Library/Extensions and  delete “AppleHPET.kext” and “AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext”.
  • Alright, 3 are deleted now we copy 7 into current directory (/S/L/E) from  Snow Kexts Folder. These 7 files are:  AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext, fakesmc.kext, NullCPUPowerManagement.kext, OpenHaltRestart.kext, PlatformUUID.kext, VoodooHDA.kext and VoodooPS2Controller.kext

Step 9. Copy the Kext Utility to your current desktop, then copy the /Extra/Extensions folder from “Snowfx” to your current desktop. Now drag this Extensions folder to Kext Utility app (the one on desktop) to open and repair the permissions of that /Extensions Folder. When done, it creates a new “Extensions.mkext “on your desktop. Navigate to the “/Extra” on “Snowfx” and delete the old “Extensions” directory and “Extensions.mkext”. Then copy the new “/Extensions” Folder and “Extensions.mkext” from your desktop to “/Snowfx/Extra”.

Step 10. Run DSDT Patcher from the DSDT folder. In the patcher for OS options select Darwin/Mac OS X and for patcher options select Apply DSDT to “Snowfx”

Step 11. Copy smbios.plist to /Snowfx/Extra and copy “com.apple.boot.plist” file to your current desktop, open it and look for “mach_kernel”. Add “.test7” to the end of it as show below:
“<string>mach_kernel.test7</string>”
and save it. then drag drop it back to /Extra folder.
Once you are done that, copy **mach_kernel.test7** and place it in your SNOW partition/drive root directory.

Step 12. Hold your breath, this is the final step 🙂 Lets run one simple command to repair permissions and we are all done. Open terminal and execute:
>sudo -s
>cd /Volumes/Snowfx/System/Library/Extensions
>chown -R root:wheel *
>chmod -R 755 *

Alrighty! you’re done.

Post Installation Fixes:

When you boot into your OS, you should probably repair permissions through Disk Utility. (If for some reason the OS says you don’t have the package installed for Repairing your permissions Navigate back to the Packages folder in the SNOW.DMG you installed from and install the BSD package).
There are high chances that your sound, ehternet, dont work out of the box thats coz snow leoaprd is made for Mac and not your PC. You will have to look around web or perhaps ask @taranfx for proper kexts.
If for some reasons you are not able to boot into Snow Leopard, try booting with “-v” and sendout the error message to me on @taranfx on twitter.

Goood Luck! Tip: In case you need quick assistance, contact me on Twitter: @taranfx

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Install Snow Leopard on AMD PC, Laptop, 9.8 out of 10 based on 4 ratings

26 thoughts on “Install Snow Leopard on AMD PC, Laptop”

  1. I followed every step of this tutorial exactly exept the DSDT patch which failed. When i tryed to boot, i got the apple logo screen and the message that i must restart my system with the power button. After that, I put some kexts i found (i deleted the IOATAFamily.kext) and now i am getting a Kernel Panic: Unable to find driver for platform: “ACPI”. I also tryed to boot with the following kernel flags but with kernel panics: -x32 -f -x -v and cpus=1 -f -x -v. What i must do, please help! I am a huge fan of Apple and i want to run Snow Leopard on my system. Thank you very much in advance!

    My system specs:

    AMD Phenom II 965 Black Edition
    MSI 790FX-GD70
    8GB Super Talent DDR3 1600MHz
    2TB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA II
    ATI Radeon HD 4350
    ASUS Xonar D2X
    LG DVD-RW SATA II

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    • My pc is also AMD and I am having the same problem too can any one help us please

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  2. I completed every step of this manual, but still have kernel panic 🙁
    My system:
    AMD Phenom II 955 Black Edition
    ASUS M4A77TD PRO
    4 Gb DDR3
    ATI Radeon 4670
    Tested in different settings of bios (default, 2 cores, 4 cores, with/without Cool'n'quite …), unfortunately with the same result:
    PAE enabled
    Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386
    vm_page_bootstrap: 969522 free pages and 79054 wired pages
    standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
    mig_table_max_displ = 73
    NullCPUPowerManagement::init: properties=0x768d840
    NullCPUPowerManagement::start
    AppleACPICPU: Processor Id=1 LocalAplicId=0 Enabled
    AppleACPICPU: Processor Id=2 LocalAplicId=1 Enabled
    AppleACPICPU: Processor Id=3 LocalAplicId=130 Disabled
    AppleACPICPU: Processor Id=4 LocalAplicId=131 Disabled
    AppleACPICPU: Processor Id=5 LocalAplicId=132 Disabled
    AppleACPICPU: Processor Id=6 LocalAplicId=133 Disabled
    panic(cpu 0 caller 0x2a6ac2): Kernel trap at 0x55e35173, type 14=page fault, registers:
    CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000000, CR3: 0x00101800, CR4: 0x000006e0
    EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x00000005, ECX: 0x07346780, EDX: 0x00000001
    CR2: 0x00000000, EBP: 0x55eabdc8, ESI: 0x00000000, EDI: 0x07346780
    EFL: 0x00010246, EIP: 0x55e35173, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x00000010
    Error code: 0x00000000

    Debugger called: <panic>
    Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
    ….
    Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):
    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform(1.3)@0x55e27000->0x55e67fff
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.3.0)@0x55dbd000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x55dd9000

    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown

    Kernel version:
    Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386
    System model name: TeknoJunkie Mac Pro 3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)

    Any help is appreciated!

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    • I get a constant reboot 🙁

      I come to the chameleon screen choose what ever I want, it starts and “boom” shuts down and reboots

      any help?

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  3. Completed all steps, no success 🙁
    My system:
    Phenom II 955 Black Edition
    Asus M4A77TD PRO
    ATI 4670

    Tested all combinations: 2 cores, 4 cores, Cool'n'quiet on/off …

    Screenshot:
    Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386
    vm_page_bootstrap: 969522 free pages and 79054 wired pages
    standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
    mig_table_max_displ = 73

    panic(cpu 0 caller 0x2a6ac2): Kernel trap at 0x55e35173, type 14=page fault, registers:

    Error code: 0x0000000

    Debugger called: <panic>
    Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)

    Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):
    com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform(1.3)@0x55e27000->0x55e67fff
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.3.0)@0x55dbd000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x55dd9000

    System model name: TeknoJunkie Mac Pro 3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)

    Any help is appreciated!
    Thank you in advance!

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  4. Followed every step but it didnt boot into snow leopard. I just saw the boot options I had before. Before this setup I had dual boot leopard and windows 7 in accordance with your other post. Is there some extra steps I have to do?

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  5. same thing for me did everything twice and still got the “please restart your system” anyone got any idea why?

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  6. same thing for me did everything twice and still got the “please restart your system” anyone got any idea why?

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  7. If you are using a real mac to do this be extremely careful when preforming step 5. Make sure you select your USB drive or whatever. DO NOT select your macs internal drive or it will screw up your mac and you will have to reinstall osx.

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  8. look i wish instal this OS but i got to do to stuff os 86 proyect cant make it more easier all this coz i dont understand all this they got to think in the people who dont khow anithing abaut DOS comands

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  9. Make sure you select your USB drive or whatever. DO NOT select your macs internal drive or it will screw up your mac and you will have to reinstall osx.

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  10. BY THE WAY THIS DOESNT WORK YOU NEED TO DO THIS FROM A MAC NOT THE PC WHICH THIS MORON DOESNT EXPLAIN THIS TO THE READERS.

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  11. chameleon gives an error when trying to finish install. says to contact the manufacturer of the hardware. huh? Any ideas?

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  12. How are people who don’t have and/or don’t want a Twitter account supposed to get responses to questions? Out of 15 comments, there isn’t one response from Taranfx. This method is the closest I’ve come to getting SL on an AMD processor and could use some clarification and help.

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  13. hi, can you help me with my issue? I have a notebook hp pavilion dv6655ec which have the amd turion x2, 2.5gb ram, 320gb hdd and gf8400mgs. I downloaded iAntares 10.6.3 how can i install it to my notebook? Can you help me and told me what exactly i must choose?

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  14. i cant bypass the installation check when mounting writable iso, it says it cant now be installed on this computer, is there a way to by pass the check?? i know google is my friend but in this case it is my worst enemy.

    thank you for the help..

    lucky

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  15. @Geeknizer:disqus I completed the tutorial step by step without much hassle. Everything went smooth, but when I go to boot Snow Leopard nothing happens. I did the -v before boot, and it went through all the script etc. but no errors came up, just a blank screen. Any idea what may be going on? I had tried installing it once before and got a kernel panic, but this time it was just nothing.

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  16. Hi guys. Trouble with VMWare booting up, or upgrading Snow Leopard on AMD processors? . I too had some head-banging moments, so will share some of my tips, which might, (or might not!) help. So, read on….

    You definitely need the following to start, or, if you`re trying to udate, skip this bit and go to 4)

    1) A (64-bit) AMD processor capable of running hardware virtualisation mode, probably most late Athlon/Phenom cpu`s, I don`t think Semprons will.

    Mostly, multiple-core processors (dual-core +), are advised, because of the heavy workload placed on it, together with about 4Gigs of memory. Less than this, it will probably run excruciately slowly, if at all.

    Other AMD processors will only run software emulation, and will NOT run Snow Leopard of any version, although other vmware images like Win98/XP/Linux might run if you`re lucky.

    **Make sure have have the virtualisation setting -v setting turned on in the BIOS. Now, the nuts and bolts….

    2) You will need version 7.1 or higher, of Vmware Workstation/Player. Versions lower than this will usually have some difficulty running Snow Leopard, so save yourself some grief.

    3) Next you must beg/borrow/steal/download the following software:

    a) the (iso file) darwin snow legacy. (Essential for initial booting, do not use the normal darwin snow, or the (easy)EFI files, these are only for Intel cpu`s).

    b) The Vmware Image, Mac OSX Server 10.6 (experimental), as this sets up VMWare.

    c) The Mac Snow Leopard 10a432 install DVD, the ISO version,( NOT the DMG, as Windows won`t recognise it. You may be able to convert the dmg image to iso, if you know what your doing).

    In Vmware, load Mac OSx Server(experimental), set up your options, set the dvd option for darwin snow legacy, and start the install.

    There are loads of blogs about installing SL, so I wont repeat it all over again. Assuming you`ve followed the on-screen install instructions, and have plenty of patience….you`ve got SL successfully running…. thats it isn`t it?…. well yes…and no.

    UPDATING/RESTORE MOUSE&KB & ADMIN PASSWORD RESET

    4) Assuming success, you now have SL v10.6 up and running. Its fine for most things, but some Mac software will only run on later versions, like 10.6.6. Whatever you do DON`T run the software update to 10.6.6 .

    If you do, you`ll lose the USB functions, i.e mouse & keyboard.

    **Loss of mouse/keyboard function, and FORGOTTEN ADMIN PASSWORDS, are the most common problems in SL, and yet are fairly simple to overcome, and I`ll tell you how….

    DOWNLOAD the VMWare image: MAC OSX SL 10.6.6 INTEL_AMD VMWARE IMAGE, (browse for it). Extract the image into some folder if its compressed, so you can see the normal files. Do NOT load into VMware. (This is the image you will eventually use in VMWare.)

    Next, DOWNLOAD the file IOUSBFamily-378.pkg. You`ll need this later.

    **You now have the tools to be able to update to the SL 10.6.6 version, AND reset your ADMIN PASSWORD! (In passing, don`t upgrade past this version, as its minor, and only prepares INTEL cpu`s for LION 10.7)

    5) Start VMWare and select Mac OSX 10.6. select Shared Folders, making sure that the file IOUSBFamily-378.pkg is in it.

    Open the options, make sure darwinsnowlegacy is in your cd/dvd drive. At the bottom of options, select add(+) and new hard drive.

    Browse to the folder you saved MAC OSX 10.6.6 in, and select the Mac OSX 10.6.6-0 vmdk file. It will now show up as a second drive in options.

    **IMPORTANT! When selecting, you must select `persistent` as an option, in order to save settings on the drive.

    Boot up SL 10.6 and you will see the Mac OSX 10.6.6 hard drive on screen as well.

    Now, assuming you have set up Shared Folders, and the file IOUSBFamily-378.pkg is in it, run this package, follow the prompts, and SET THE DESTINATION TO THE MAC OSX 10.6.6 HARD DRIVE. Once it tells you install is complete, you`re nearly done. What has happened is that the (non-working)10.6.6 USB Kexts (drivers) have been replaced by the v10.6 ones, re-enabling the mouse and kb in 10.6.6.! Don`t power down yet…read the following…

    RE-SETTING THE ADMIN PASSWORD:

    This can be done by deleting the file .APPLESETUPDONE. You CANNOT do this in a running Snow Leopard to its own hard drive, BUT you can on a second drive, sneaky,eh?

    In VMWare, with an AMD cpu, you can`t boot up into single-user mode like Intel can, and delete it. So…. while you`re still in your SL 10.6, and you`ve got the SL 10.6.6 hard drive on screen….open it, and look for .APPLESETUPDONE. Its usually somewhere like library/system/db/var directory. Found it? Delete it by moving to the trashcan and emptying. (What this does is trick the system into believing its in a first time boot-up state, and gives you the option to create a new ADMIN account, and you can then delete the old one after).

    All thats left is to power down SL 10.6, go to options and remove the second 10.6.6 drive from the options for 10.6.

    YOUR NEW SL10.6.6. In VMWare, select `browse for machine`, go to your new SL 10.6.6 folder, and select the Mac OSX SL 10.6.6-0 vmdk, set up your memory options,etc. making sure that darwinsnowlegacy is in the cd/dvd drive.

    Power on SL 10.6.6 and you should be rewarded with the Snow Leopard desktop!

    All these steps worked for me, so do have patience if it doesn`t work first time. It took me some time to get a smoothly running Snow Leopard system. Out of interest, my system: Phenom II 555 (unlocked) 4-core 3.2Ghz cpu, Asus MB, 4Gigs DDR3 Ram Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

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  17. After Step 12, do we boot to the Snowfx partition to install Snow leopard on a new  drive/partition?
    Also Step 11 states: Once you are done that, copy **mach_kernel.test7** and place it in your SNOW partition/drive root directory.Is SNOW supposed to be Snowfx?Thank you,

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  18. Teri maa mare sardar ke bachche, behenchod sab bakwas likhta rahta ha.
    Non of your tutorials ever work.

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