Hello! in this post I’m gonna show you how to make Hackintosh Bootable USB Drive on Windows without Distro. Without distro means we gonna make a Hackintosh Bootable Usb Drive for Vanilla Installation method.
This method works on Mac OS X Yosemite, El Capitan and Mac OS Sierra. As I’ve tried all that OS myself on my low budget Hackintosh PC.
Please take a note that this method won’t works for High Sierra since Apple use different file structure in macOS High Sierra app installer but you surely can update to High Sierra with this method with no problem. You can read post how to safely direct upgrade your Hackintosh to High Sierra here Hackintosh Direct Upgrade From macOS Sierra to High Sierra
Okay! My Hackintosh PC spec is :
- Processor : Intel Core2 Duo e8500 3.17 Ghz | You can find this similar Intel processor at Amazon http://amzn.to/2CZwnYD
- Mobo : MSi G31 TM-P21 LGA 775 | You can buy this mobo at Amazon http://amzn.to/2CHPFEv
- Memory : 4 GB DDR 2
- HDD SATA : SAMSUNG HD160JJ 160 GB
- VGA : NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 512 MB | You can also find this similar VGA at Amazon http://amzn.to/2Ef0U46
- Or you can simply check all that stuff at Amazon on one page here http://amzn.to/2DatqVz
And below are a short video of my low budget hackintosh overview 🙂
Okay! LETS GET START IT!
To make hackintosh bootable usb drive on Windows you’ll need a few tools
- 7-Zip stable version Download Here
- Boot Disk utility Download Here
- TransMac Download Here
- Paragon Hardisk Manager Free Edition Download Here
- USB Flash Disk 8 Gb (For El Capitan need 16 GB)
- Mac OS Installer retail Version of Yosemit, El Capitan or Mac OS Sierra, choose one you desire to make the bootable usb.
To get Mac OS X InstallerApps you can ask help from a friend who have “real Macintosh” to download it from the App Store. Or alternatively you can download it through torrent.
Make sure you have a torrent client such as Bitorent, uTorrent etc for downloading via torrent. Just search on google with the keywords something like e.g download Mac OS (X) InstallerApps.
[Note!] In this article I use macOS Sierra for ‘example’
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Work with 7-Zip
We start with make a new folder on desktop, name it “Mac OS” and work with 7-Zip to open Mac OS installer apps.dmg
Navigate to “Install macOS Sierra.apps > Contents > SharedSupport >Extract “InstallESD.dmg” to “Mac OS” folder that you have created on your desktop.
[Note!] Unless you have original Installer App. This is important to extract ‘InstallESD.dmg’ file first if you work with DMG file so you don’t have to deal with a ‘payload’ file inside the folder.
Now go to extracted file on “Mac OS Folder” right click “InstallESD.dmg” to open it with 7-Zip
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Extract these files to folder you have create on your desktop;
Packages folder, AppleDiagnostics.dmg & AppleDiagnostics.chunklist, BaseSystem.dmg & BaseSystem.chunklist. See screen shot below 👇
Go to “Mac OS folder” where all files extracted, and then find “BaseSystem.dmg” right click to open it with 7-Zip.
And you’ll see few files, find for ‘4.hfs’ or ‘5.hfs’ file, then extract it to ‘Mac OS Folder’(See screenshot below)
Okay ! now we have all files to work with Boot Disk Utility, before open BDU plug your Usb Flash drive, make sure you have back up any important data inside your usb drive! because we gonna format it.
Format USB Drive and Install Clover with BDU
Run Boot Disk Utility As Admin Go to Option & Configuration thick on “Boot Partition Size (MB)” change size to 200.
Select your Usb flash disk that appear in BDU click “Format Disk” this will create two partition 200 MB for Clover & 7.8 GB blank “NO NAME”space. [Note! make sure your pc is connect to internet to let BDU download and install the latest CLOVER boot loader]
See screenshot 👇
After finish formatting click USB Flash in BDU it will expand into 2 partition select “NO NAME” partition and than click Restore Partition.
New window will appear, select “4.hfs” you have extract earlier.
See screenshot 👇
Select ‘4.hfs’ or ‘5.hfs’ file depend on wich macOS you work with then click Open to restore it.
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When the process complete, we continue to the next step.
Rezise USB Partition using Paragon Hardisk Manager
When restore process completethe size of <NONAME> partition was become smaller. This is because after restore ‘4.hsf’ file into it, because BDU has format the partition into HFS Volume.
So, to make it back to full size we use Paragon Hardisk Manager to get the job done because we still need to copy some file to the partition.
Run the app and find Usb Flash Disk in the Drive list you will see three partition on Usb Flash Disk “Clover-OS X Base System-Unlocated Space” select OS X Base System resize it to full size.
See screenshot👇
Working with TransMac
Now it’s time for TransMac to work with, Run TransMac as admin select Usb Flash Disk (mine is Toshiba Trans Memory)
Click on Hfs + volume > System Installation delete Packages slnk file
Then right click, select ‘Copy Here’ and find ‘Packages folder’ in ‘Mac OS Folder’ in your desktop, and copy it.
See screenshot below 👇
Those files are pretty big in size so it will need some’ time to proceed, depend on your PC speed
So, relax and grab a cup of coffee while you waiting the process complete. ☕
After done copying ‘Packages‘ folder, back to “Hfs + Volume” right click “Copy Here”
Copy and paste of this four files: AppleDiagnostics, BaseSystem and also the both chunklist files
This time copy and paste those files to ‘Hfs + Volume’ root folder. [Important!] On other version version of macOS it’s named ‘OSX-Base System’
And do not copy it to System > Installation folder like when you copy ‘Packages’ files. Once again I remind you [Important!]
See screenshot 👇
So it should be placed outside along with ‘macOS Sierra app’ and other files in HFS+Volume root folder.
When you’re done no we go to next step
Adding essential kext and pre edited config.plist to Clover EFI Partition
Now the final step to make it works we need to add essential kext and edit config plist in Clover EFI. By the way you can use pre edited config.plist and additional kext I have upload.
Download config.plist that I use here: DOWNLOAD
Download kext and driver here: DOWNLOAD
Copy config plist to Usb flash > Clover > EFI > CLOVER replace existing config.plist there.
Then copy all kext to Clover > EFI > CLOVER > Kext > Other (for OS Sierra) 10.11(for El Capitan) and so on. see screenshot below
For driver32 (optional) put it on driver32 folder and for driver64 put it on driver64 folder.
Note! Apple PS2 Controller kext will works like a charm! 🙂
Done!
Now you have a bootable Usb drive and ready to install Mac OS (X) on your Hackintosh PC.
For post installation and how to setting BIOS etc, you can read here hackintosh post installation and bios setup
For creating bootable Usb drive from Real Mac computers or from working hackintosh machine, you can read here! How to Make Mac OS Bootable Drive With Disk Utility
For conclusion and you to Taking Note!
For me! every Hackintosh stuff is only for FUN and educational purpose only. If you wanna build hackintosh, make sure it’s legal in your country.
As may you have know that Hackintosh is ilegal on some country. And I am not responsible for any damage caused by following this tutorial.
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Make sure you know exactly what you’re doing and understand for the risk as well. If you really love Mac OS X system then you should buy a real Mac by Apple.
However, if you still have a problem please don’t hesitate to hit me in comment section below.
Thanks for stopping by anyway!
Good Luck & Regards! 👽
Post last update : 06/03/2018
I have the below spec
Processor : Intel Core2 Duo e7500 3.17 Ghz
Mobo : MSI G31 MS 7525
Memory : 4 GB DDR 2
HDD SATA : SEAGATE 250 GB
VGA : NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 1GB
Can you please tell me or write a tutorial on how to create bootable osx with Clover on mac for old legacy systems like mine.
Hi! Dony I already made the tutorial about it here http://bit.ly/2hdIWo8
Please feel free to ask if you still need any help 🙂
Hello! I wanna try this on my PC, but I have an ATI Radeon HD 4600 series… What do you think?
Processor : Intel Core2 Duo e5800 3.16 Ghz
Mobo : Asus P5KPL-AM SE
Memory : 4 GB DDR 2
HDD SATA : SEAGATE 160 GB
VGA : ATI Radeon HD 4600 series 1GB
Hi Jose! you can google it or maybe asking guys from https://www.tonymacx86.com about your VGA work or not, other spec i think is just fine 🙂
Wow! Really quick aswer, thank a lot! I’ll try this now…
I know you can’t share the link to the .dmg file that you used to do this tutorial, but, can you share it to me in my email? I already downloaded three dmg and all of them are damaged. Thanks a lot for taking your time to aswer me.
Check your inbox Jose!
If you still need any help, please don’t feel hesitate to ‘hit me’ 🙂
Any chance to get the Link for the DMG, too?
Thanx in Advance!
Actually you can get the same DMG files that I use from the internet.
I will give you the link via email, but I need your permission to do that 🙂
Thanks for your help, u get my permission to mail me 🙂
Check your email Mr. Lewis!
And Thanks for Subscribe 🙂🙏
Could you send me a email for the system please?I will be thankful and happy. :)I’ve got almost the same specs and I want to see MacOS by myself. 🙂
Hey Maxey!
Did you mean, the system installer?
Yeah! I can give you recommended torrent file.
Hello will it work on my PC thanks
MB – gigabyte g41m combo
CPU – q9400 core 2 quad
4 gb ddr3 ram
gts 450
also can i get the dmg file link
thanks pm it to me
Hey John!
That’s definitely will work just fine, just try it my friend!
And feel free to ask me if you need a guid. Cheers! 🙂
Kind time of the day, on my computer will work os x capitan
CPU – Intel core 2 quad Q6600 2.4 ГГц
Mobo – MSI G31TM-P21/P35 (MS-7529)
VGA – ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT 1GB
4 gb ddr2 RAM
and you can throw off the working config.plist and kext to start osx
and then I have no ahci harem in the bios
Thank you so much!
You’re welcome Sergey!
you did what you had in the article
but there is an error dsmos has arrived os el capitan
Hey Sergey!
dsmos error usually caused by fakeSMC.kext failure or incompatible hardware, in this case usually the VGA card ( You can read my post for working VGA list that I ‘know’ here: https://digimanx.com/working-graphics-cards-for-hackintosh-case-study/ )
My suggestion, make sure you use the latest version of fakeSMC.kext and latest clover boot loader.
Try to boot in safe mode and disable Graphics card on boot.
You can also found the download link of my pre edited config.plist above in this article 🙂
hey could you send me the link for dmg file? i can’t find the right one
terima kasih sebelumnya 🙂
Ok bro no problem! but can I send it to your email?
Could I please get a link to the torrent? Thanks
Ya! of course,
Please check your email. And don’t forget to subscribe to Digimanx newsletter so you don’t miss any post about hackintosh
Cheers!
i’ve tried to install on my Asus K401J laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo T6570, Intel GL40 Express Chipset Family, 320GB WD Blue SATA, Embeded Intel GMA X4500M Graphic Card and 4GB RAM.
installation progress work well, till i faced the problem at the end.
could you help me sir?
PS : before this installation, i use OSX Mavericks 10.9.5 as a daily driver. the disk image file was Sierra Zone.dmg downloaded from hackintosh.zone
nyuwun tulung dibantu atau dipandu dong mas.. sama-sama dari Jepara ini.. hehe ✌🏼
Okay, I will send you email to discuss it 🙂
Hello
Need help! I have Asus P6t mobo (standard version), Xeon x5670 CPU and GTX 970. I want to install OSX Sierra using your method, but I have legacy bios (no uefi). I also don’t have access to real Mac, so I need a link to correct DMG version. Thanks in advance!
Yeah! thats fine my method is mainly for legacy BIOS, but ok too for uefi user
For installer please check your email, I’ve send you an email
Is high sierra works with this tutorial too? please send me link the .dmg you’re using in this tutor if still available, still curious to install it to my Intel PC. Thanks before.
No it won’t works but you can upgrade it from sierra read here for the guid https://digimanx.com/hackintosh-direct-upgrade-from-macos-sierra-to-high-sierra/
Actually you can search it on Google bro, try use this keyword: macos sierra dmg download
Btw i am an Indonesian too brother 🙂
nice. will tried to google it. yep, i know you’re indonesian. that’s too indonesian name, lol. Just not cool typing in indonesia when the tutorial using english, haha.
Sorry again, is your tutorial works for sierra version?
Yeah! works very well
nice! ok thanks again. Matur nuwun. :))
hi again brother, i tried download mac os installer one by one but still didn’t found like yours. Could you refer me link to your mac installer which still works?
Ok, check your email
Hi Herman,
I have downloaded your ‘config.plist & kext’.
There are two folders: ‘__MACOSX’ and ‘My EFI’.
What folder for this ‘fun’ hackintosh?
Thanks in advance
Of course ‘My EFI’ folder!
‘_MACOSX’ foder is how Apple system storing ‘Resource Forks’ when you create an archive using Mac OS built-in Zip file. You see this because you are using Windows, and this folder is empty.You won’t see this in Mac because this is hidden files.
Please read and follow the guid carefully if you are new to this and always backup your data before do some ‘fun’ with your PC 🙂
Quick reply…awesome…
Finnaly, i’ve got what i want -> ‘my low budget hackintosh’
So many thanks Herman.
God bless you.
Anytime my friend,
God bless you too 🙏
Hi, I used your method to make a bootable sierra, but after I chose MacOS X in clover there are an error kernel panic, it says “Unable to find driver for this platform: \”ACPI\”.\n …” what should I do? Is something wrong with the installer if this is the problem can you give me the sierra os link to my email? or any possible solution for this like how to set GraphicsEnabler to No? thanks before.
P.S. this is my PC spec
MOBO: asrock h110m-hdv
VGA: AMD RX 470
RAM: 8GB
Proc: Intel i5 6-500
This post may help you bro BIOS Setting and Post installation Setup [Hackintosh] there you can also find “Troubleshoot” section.
Actually any original macOS Sierra installer will work just fine 🙂
High sierra has different files structure in dmg and this tutorial is useless.
Yeah! I know buddy and your comment more useless because doesn’t help the community, thats why in the paragraph two above of this post I don’t write it will works fo high Sierra. And I have explain about this here Hackintosh Usb Bootable Made in Windows for macOS High Sierra Error
But you know! this post will be very useful if you want to direct upgrade from Sierra to high Sierra because you can do direct upgrade only from pure Vanilla hackintosh not from distro one. You can read the post about it here Hackintosh Direct Upgrade From macOS Sierra to High Sierra
Over all thanks for commenting, your comment remind me to write a New Post. Have a great day!
hey man. thanks for your tutorial 🙂 anyway, can i get the torrent file of original mac os sierra? TIA!
Hey, No problem!
I don’t have my own link so its better you search on Google using this keywords: os sierra installer torrent download
Actually I still looking for cloud service to store my files, but all I found their price still too expensive for small blog like ‘this blog’ .. you know!
Good luck 🙂
Hii I Have zebronics 945g motherboard
2gb ddr3 ram
120gb harddrive
nvidia 7300se
core2duo 2.3ghz
will it work for me or not
pease reply
Looks good!
For your GPU can fully working or not you may need to do a research, I only have a limited resource here ..you know. But there is nothing to lose to found out by testing it right?
And please let me know with your success 🙂
And don’t forget to back up your data before hackintoshing your PC!
Hey, congrats for the nice tutorial, i download my macos Sierra(10.12.6) from apple store but my structure .dmg is different from this tutorial, can you send me the link?
Your sierra is the 10.12.6 ???
Tks
Hi! Check your email for the link
Is the first final release of Sierra 10.12
Thanks for the quick response
You’re welcome
Happy hackintoshing! 🙂
Hello Again,
One step left, but the Config.zip is empty
Help Please
tks again
Sorry for that, link download for config.plist has been updated now!
my bad …
Thanks for let me know 🙂
Hi pro
Can u send a screenshots
For the last step I didn’t understand where the file should be posted
Hi!
Do you mean placing config.plist, kext & driver to CLOVER EFI partition? Ok wait the moment I’ll send you email for the screenshot
Hello,
Thanks for your tutorial, butr I have a problem.
When I boot I stuck on the Apple logo, after 1 minutes approximately my laptop restart.
I’m on an Lenovo 500-14IBD
Have you a solution for my issue ?
Hello,
You’re welcome
Looks like you haven’t set the BIOS, please check this guide BIOS Setting and Post installation Setup [Hackintosh]
Thanks for the reply,
On my laptop BIOS, I don’t have many option (secure boot, UEFI/Legacy startup).
I’m sure the issue come because my BIOS have not the good settings.
If it’s possible, I can mail you some pictures of my BIOS.
Thanks,
Yeah! send me email, no problem 🙂
you are so helping and kind i want the download link for macosx sierra installer kindly mail it to me and please tell me will it work good on intel core 2 duo e7500 @2.93ghs
with nvidia gtx220 1 gb
4gb ddr2 and motherboard is asus p5kpl-am/ps
Hi!
Your specs looks good, but for now I don’t have my own link for macOS installer. However I will send you email link for the installer from other source 🙂
Brother a small query you extracted installESD.dmg on desktop in a folder named MAC OS but in half of your tutorial you started extracting things to folder named OS SIERRA I want to just know if bootESD.dmg,OSinstall.mpkg, packages and all base system,chuncklist files need to be in same folder or not kindly help
That’s just for temporary folder to keep everything organized, you can name it whatever you want
Hi, thats great tutorial! My way is using createinstallmedia from apple osx installer. Jus grab a running OSX with dloaded installer, open Terminal app and navigate to installerfile.app/Contents/Resources/
There you will find a couple of binaries. Run the ./createinstallmedia with –volume /path/to/your/hfs/formated/thumbdrive –applicationpath /path/to/appleinstaller/app and –no interaction if you wish an automated process.
This will format the drive, copy all the files and make efi partition at begining of drive. Takes a while but is much easier than running trough several programs to make installer USB
After above is done
diskutil list to check where the usb efi partition is
diskutil mount efilocation
and proceed to installing clover with few tweaks aiming to installation on this partition (install to ESP and set the 0af boot bits something). Remaining options are a guess game and they depend on the hardware.
Finally you may copy config.plist and kexts to newly created Clover bootloader folders
BUT
I struggle to start the installer on lenovo laptop with core2quad and nvidia grapics. It panics with your config.plist and kexts (unable to find driver for this platform). If I use my usb stick with plain clover installation and just the essential kexts and modules (FakeSMC NullCPUPowerManager OsxAptioFixDrvr) it loads to Unable to locate bluetooth transport and then hangs. Any idea?
Thumbs up!
Hi, thanks for sharing here 🙂
Try to disable bluetooth in your BIOS settings if available, and use my kext.
Could I please have the link
Okay, I’ll send you an email for the link
Sir can you please help me. I have been trying to install os x 10.8 on my PC. Intel dg41rq motherboard, Intel e5200 processor, 2x2GB ddr2 RAM. I have been trying various other methods on internet. I used boot disk utility to create a clover bootable disk and i flashed a untouched os x 10.8 untouched dmg on a other USBusing dmg . I booted on the clover usb and selected the disk with the osx on it in verbose mode. I am struck on still waiting for root device. I tried everything on internet USBBusFix=Yes USBInjectAll.kext, tried many forums.
I found your webpage and tried to follow it but the problem is when I try to open the dmg it says Archive not readable. Would you like to use a password. As far as I know my dmg file is not corrupt. And I can’t download another 5GB file. Can’t I do it without opening the dmg i.e. if you cangive me the ‘4.hsf’ file.
Thanks in advance. Hoping for a positive response.
Hi Pratham!
Make sure you running all Windows app as administrator and use the stable version of 7-zip
OK Thanks for the reply. I reinstalled 7zip from their official website. When I reached to 0.hfs and clicked open inside nothing would happen. I even pressed enter it would then run the whole process and when ti completes nothing shows up. I extracted 0.hfs to other folder using 7zip. I tcreated a folde named 0 UDF Package. And if I try to open it it shows a error can’t open.
What are the chances that my dmg is corrupt. Or is it because my dmg is untouched.
Just download other dmg my friend. If untouched, the macOS Installer should be in App format 🙂
Thanks a lot sir Can you please let me know what highest version of os x i can run on my specs : INTEL DG41RQ motherboard
Intel E5200 processor
2×2 GB DDr2 Ram
Mavericks may still can be installed on your machine, just try it my friend …
Sir I know I have been asking you for a lot but I don’t want to download a wrong file again and run into all that hassle again. can you please provide a link of mavericks or el capitan which one would run smoother (if that is not a issue of you).
I don’t have it. But you always can ask uncle Google, use this keywords: download mac os x mavericks dmg
yes i did same last time but wasted my four on a wrong dmg don’t want that to happen again. can you do smth.
Can I share the link with you before I download. So that you can verify?
Don’t download! wait for me to verify first .. I will let you know trough email
Hi, thank-you for your (so far) help. I’m having an issue with the ‘packages’ folder – there’s none. Whenever I try to open the .hfs folder where it is supposed to be located at, 7zip does not do anything and if I open it via extraction, it spits an error at 99%. I thought it could have been a damaged file, however, I downloaded 3 different high sierra’s, 1 sierra and all of them seem to have the same issue. please HELP?
Hi Daniel,
Okay, I’ll send you email for known working dmg
Matur nuwun mas tutorialnya. Mas boleh emailin file sierra dmg nya? Susah banget cari di google yg bisa buka 5.hfs nya
Ok!
Sama sama 🙂
Good evening,
I updated Clover last night. Now the computer will not go past the black screen with text lines. The computer was running Mac OSX Yosemite. I unfortunately do not have a Clover boot USB. I also don’t have another Mac. I do have a working Windows 10 computer. I was wondering if you know of a way I can get the Mac working again without losing all of my files. Thanks for your help in advance.
Hi Michael! Good evening,
Okay, your case may cause by you update the clover but using different setting than previous installation type.
So hope this can resolve the problem;
1.) Try to find a usb stick and format it from your working Windows 10 using the ”Format USB Drive with BDU” above in this article. You only need to install clover on it so 1 GB USB stick can be use here. Then try to remember what kext you are using on your hackintosh, find those kext and put it on Clover > EFI > CLOVER Kext > 10.10 (Folder) You can see the example from this article in “Adding essential kext and pre edited config.plist to Clover Partition” above. (Note! This method is may not work if you install hackintosh using Distro method)
2.) If the method above doesn’t work, the only way to save your data is by put your disk that have hackintosh on it into your working Windows 10 computer as (Other disk) and copy and save all your important files to your Windows computer using TransMac. And put back again your hackintosh disk to your hackintosh computer again and reinstall macOS from scratch. I know it’s suck but at least your important data is safe.
If you still have a question please reply me from Contact page, so we can chat privately via email 🙂