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How to install OS X 10.5.6 on your MSI Wind U100

By joseph ⋅ May 11, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

So you’ve bought an MSI Wind u100 from Newegg and you want to get up and running, but now you’re having a hard time figuring out what the most updated information is and how to get started. You keep reading that you’ll need an external DVD drive, a USB keyboard and mouse or at least two USB key drives.

Fear not! As of May 10th, 2009, you can be up and running in about two hours. Here’s what you need:

(1) MSI Wind u100
(1) Another Mac. I used my white MacBook.
(1) USB Key Drive. I used the 16GB OCZ Diesel drive that’s crazy cheap

Step 0 – Download MSIWindosx86.iso and everything else you’ll need

This file is a special version of OSX 10.5 that enterprising hackers have built just for the Wind and other variants. Obviously, it’s not kosher with Apple so you are going to have to find it by less proper channels. Google should lead you in the right direction.

The download is going to take a while, at least a few hours and probably more like 12, so do it ahead of time for your own sake.

While you are at it, download the following:

10.5.6 combo update from Apple
OSx86Tools
MSi Driver Pack v1.1
RealTek WiFi Drivers
WindTrackpadBundle_v6.0.2

Step 1 – Update the BIOS

Follow the instructions borrowed from Bay-Wolf.com for making bootable USB key in Windows.  Next, download the updated BIOS files from MSI and copy them to the root of the USB key. I used version 1.0B, but many people recommend 1.09.  I couldn’t find 1.09 on MSI’s website and using a hacked BIOS is just too hardcore and risky for me.   Before you get going you need to shut down the Wind, remove the battery, and plug in the power and USB drive.

Now start it up, press F11,  select the USB drive, and you should get the DOS prompt. Then type ‘runflash.bat’ and wait.  After that’s finished you can shutdown and hook up the battery again.

Start up and press Delete to enter the BIOS. Restore the optimized defaults, save, and restart. You can shut it down again after it restarts and BIOS posts without beeping or anything scary like that.

Step 2 – Get OSX on the USB Key

Plug your USB into your other Mac and open up Disk Utility. Click the partition tab and format the USB key with Disk Utlity, selecting the format Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and the option ‘Master Boot Record’.  When that’s done, click the Restore tab and drag MSIWindosx86.iso to the source field (browsing won’t work), the USB key to the destination field, and click restore.  This process may take 5 – 10 minutes depending on how clunky your USB key is.  After that’s done you should also copy all the other files you downloaded over to the USB key.

Next, fire up OSx86Tools and click the Install EFI / Run FDisk button.  Select your USB key in the Disk to Use menu and select No EFI (Darwin Uploader) in the EFI to Install menu.  Then click Run FDisk and, once complete, Install EFI.  If both complete without any errors, you should be good to go.

Step 3 – Format and Install

Plug your USB key back into the Wind and start it up again.  Press F11 and boot from the USB key.  You should get the Mac installer within a minute or two.  Once the first screen is up, click the Installer menu at the top and choose Disk Utility.  Format your drive in the exact same manner as the USB drive, apply the changes, and proceed with installing OSX.

Step 4 – Installing Drivers

Assuming you have no problems with the installation, unzip the driver pack, install MSiWindBaseDriverPack_v1.0 and restart.

Once you’re back, mount the 10.5.6 combo update and run the Installer, but DO NOT restart once it finishes.  You need to install ‘MSi10.5.6UpgradeDriverPack_v1.0′ or else you are screwed if you don’t have a USB keyboard or mouse.  After both are installed, restart again.  Next, install Trackpad drivers from WindTrackpadBundle_v6.0.2 to get a preference pane in System Preferences that will enable two finger scolling.

If you don’t yet have WiFi working, install the RealTek WiFi driver and restart yet again.  I haven’t tested Bluetooth yet.

Now you should have everything working, up to date, and be done!  So simple, right ;) ?

Credits and Sources

There is an incredible amount of knowledge about this on the MSIWind.net Forums.  I relied on information from threads including these to get up and running: MSi Wind OSX86 Install [Driver Pack], Triple Boot setup [GPT+MBR] [Retail Mac OS X, XP & Ubuntu], Sentelic/Synaptics 10.5.6 Driver Bundle. Cybergreg is a genius.

Let me know if this works for you.  I think you’ll be happy with the end result, an amazingly snappy and competent little OS X netbook that’s gotta be a precursor for something Apple is working on.

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Discussion

16 comments for “How to install OS X 10.5.6 on your MSI Wind U100”

  1. Hi, thanks for the guide. I’m stuck on running OSx86 tools – my understanding was this only ran on PCs running OS X – how did you get to work on your MacBook?

    Posted by Mark | May 28, 2009, 6:49 am

  2. Hi Mark. Which version are you running? I’m running OSx86 v. 1.0.150 with no problems on my MacBook.

    I remember reading something about the newer version being buggy right now, but I could be wrong.

    Posted by joseph | May 29, 2009, 7:55 pm

  3. Something is funny with OSx86 Tools v1.0.15. on my MacBook. It says it cannot complete FDisk and the log says “Bad CPU type in executable”. The readme file says it is only to be run on PCs running on OSX86. Mark’s writeup says to run FDisk and Install EFI on your Mac before you insert the USB memory stick in the MSI WInd. A chicken before the egg problem. I am running OSX86Tools on a Power Mac G4 with dual 1.2 GHz CPUs and OS X 10.5.7 w/2 Gigs of RAM. I’ll look for an earlier version of OSX86Tools because the Wind won’t boot from the USB stick without the FDisk and Install EFI performed on it.

    Posted by rcs | June 4, 2009, 5:31 pm

  4. I couldn’t get OSX86Tools v1.0.149 to FDisk my USB stick. It is a PNY Attache 4 GB USB Drive. I was able to format it just fine on the Mac with Disk Utility and I was also able to restore with MSIWin0sx86.iso. All I need is to make the USB drive bootable and I’m good to go. It looks like OSx86Tools won’t work for me for some reason.

    I noticed on their website that people are asking questions but not getting any answers and public comment has been disabled. That’s never a good sign.

    Posted by rcs | June 4, 2009, 6:15 pm

  5. RCS, OSX86Tools isn’t going to run on your G4 to the best of my knowledge. You’ll need access to an Intel Mac.

    Posted by joseph | June 4, 2009, 6:31 pm

  6. Thanks, Joseph.

    I gave up on the USB drive idea completely. I found out how to correctly burn the .iso image to a DVD with Disk Utility and the install worked first time. OS X is up and running and now I only have to get the RealTek WiFI working.

    Posted by rcs | June 5, 2009, 1:03 pm

  7. Well I managed to format it as told, install the .iso, run FDISK successfully (it didn’t run on my other memory stick? Something to note), installed the non-EFI bootloader, booted into the memory stick, and I’m just getting a blinkin’ line with no Mac Installer starting up. :(

    Posted by Samuel Horne | July 1, 2009, 5:23 am

  8. I’d try some other EFI options in osxtools or a 3rd memory stick. The ocz one is like 20 bucks for 16gb.

    Posted by joseph | July 2, 2009, 3:53 pm

  9. Me too. :-( ( Well I managed to format it as told, install the .iso, run FDISK successfully (it didn’t run on my other memory stick? Something to note), installed the non-EFI bootloader, booted into the memory stick, and I’m just getting a blinkin’ line with no Mac Installer starting up.

    Posted by Jack | July 3, 2009, 3:41 am

  10. This may not help, but you might want to let it sit there a long time and see if it loads.

    Posted by joseph | July 4, 2009, 6:32 pm

  11. Or try flashing a different version of the BIOS.

    Posted by joseph | July 4, 2009, 6:33 pm

  12. I tried 2 different BIOS’s, and also two different mem sticks. I waited at least 2 hours… long enough? Lol. I’ll try a different bootloader, that seems like a good idea.

    Posted by Samuel Horne | July 5, 2009, 1:48 pm

  13. Hi Joseph, great simple instructions but having trouble downloading additional files, get the “not have permission to get URL /files/WindTrackpadBundle_v6.0.2.zip from this server.” for most of the bundles. How can I get access to finish my install? TX

    Posted by Brad | July 16, 2009, 7:42 am

  14. Turn’s out if you use the Chameleon Bootloader 1.0.11, all is good :D I now have a Wind MacBook :D

    Posted by Samuel Horne | July 16, 2009, 1:58 pm

  15. After this install, did the Audio I/O jacks work on this Wind?

    Posted by Jad | July 29, 2009, 11:07 am

  16. I haven’t checked, to be honest.

    Posted by joseph | September 22, 2009, 6:56 pm

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