Run Mac OS X on a PC

We show you how

By Brian Hurley • Get more from this author

Posted in Operating Systems, 20th October 2008 11:33 GMT

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Darwin BSD starts to boot.

The installation begins

The Verbose option is, well, verbose as it loads the kexts: the kernel extensions, aka modules.

At this point the installer kept repeating the error: "Still waiting for root device." This is such a common error, it has its own wiki page. This can be caused by issues with IDE or SATA disk drives (my system has SATA), and there are any number of causes and fixes for it. Take a look at the discussion page here. Some people report having to put the DVD and IDE disk on the same cables, others replaced their SATA drives with IDE drives or used external USB disk drives.

After a few hours' worth of trial and error and Googling, changing the BIOS "OnChip SATA Type" to "AHCI" allowed the install to continue. In a multi-OS computer, XP may not boot unless the BIOS is switched back to its previous settings.

Whatever you try here, be sure to document both the original system config and any changes you make. After the tenth attempt at installing, you probably won't remember what you tried.