UPDATE: (9/4/09) Video added on Youtube or direct download for better resolution.

my snow leopard retail DVD just came in and upon unboxing it i thought why cant i install it using BOOT 132 instead of restoring it to an 8gb flashdrive? so ive search for ways to create one but failed until i saw netkas PC EFI 10.2 blog.

this method saves time in restoring the DVD and really handy if you dont have an 8GB or larger flashdrive, also saves you a blank CDR in creating a Boot 132 CD.

What's Needed:

• Snow Leopard Retail DVD - BUY IT! $29 is a money well spent
• USB flashdrive - we only need 40MB of free space
• Leopard Partition 10.5.8 or lower to install Chameleon and other files
• Chameleon RC1, PC_EFI 10.2 and a few kext which i uploaded below

Here's How To:

• plug in your USB Flashdrive and erase it using Disk Utility (GPT)
• Install Chameleon v2.0 r431 (RC1), this might work too on hidden EFI HFS but haven't try
• show all hidden files using 'ShowAllFiles.app' and delete boot
• copy PC_EFI 10.2 to root
• in Extra Folder customize the kext that you think you'll be needing, DSDT.aml (use or create your own) and also boot.plist adding your own EFI strings..

here's how mine looks, just needed 2 kext for my ES2L which is fakesmc and openhalt. Your motherboard may vary so add kext if necessary.



That's it! when done shutdown your machine and be sure your Snow Leopard DVD is in your optical drive before turning it off.

to boot just press Boot Menu F12 and choose your flash drive as the first boot, chameleon will load and you'll see the DVD drive in the chameleon screen. Boot using -v -x32 or -x64 or any flags that you wish and wait until you see Snow installer screen, you know what to do after that

note: Tested this on my machine running C2Q and Gigabyte G31M-ES2L but im sure it will work with other boards too so try it but YMMV so post your success/problems here. Also a quote from netkas " so far it was tested only with some intel controllers, wasnt tested with ite/jmicron/nvidia/amd controllers ".

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Attached Files

USBootloader.zip (1.16 MB, 2312 views)

sk1nhd33t

I have snow running here on same motherboard as yourself all seems 100% working, except for sound, can you tell me which files I need to get the onboard sound to work.
Cheers

OT this is a guide in booting retail DVD but to answer your question check my outdated ES2L guide a few threads below this one, youll see a dsdt patch and legacy kext for your 883. VoodooHDA will work too but install it in s/l/e, also post problems there too not here.

Using this guide i can place my efi sting to make things better for me

sorry yes i can thanks for the post

Using the very method, can we actually "upgrade" the current copy of Leopard to Snow Leopard instead of install a fresh copy in a spare hard drive?

@ tessa

you need too use your own, what's pictured above is my 9600GT efi strings.

edited the attached folder and included a blank boot.plist and added showallfiles.app

in a sense yes since upgrade using snow dvd will not erase anything but i havent tried it yet so i could be wrong. Also the problem is even after the upgrade is successful will it boot? snow and leo use different kext so that's also another problem.

save yourself the trouble and install the new OS on a new or separate partition and just use Migration Assistant if you badly need your home files

actually that is the video card i have but i will still create my own. i did not see the part about boot plist before i posted. Sorry.

Then again i going to steal yours I am lazzzzzzzy


Thanks for the posting this is what i needed!!!!!

I have thought about the boot issue. one of the possible way maybe using the USB to boot into the snow leo installer or even the old leo distro and startup the Terminal to install Chameleon and PC_EFI 10.2. Would that work?

where is this installing into? another hardrive or to the USB? im assuming to a hardrive since the installation files is way over 40 mb.

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