Building your own Hackintosh can be an exciting project for tech enthusiasts who enjoy tinkering with their systems. If you’re captivated by macOS but want the flexibility of using it on a PC, this guide will walk you through the process of installing macOS on your machine. Let’s dive in and explore how to create your very own Hackintosh!
Step 1: Get Prepared
Before diving into the installation, it’s important to gather all the necessary components and tools for a successful Hackintosh build.
Ingredients
- A compatible PC (check Hackintosh compatibility lists online)
- A macOS installer (download from the Mac App Store)
- USB flash drive (at least 16 GB)
- Clover bootloader (for booting macOS)
- Access to a Mac (for creating the bootable USB drive)
Instructions
- Download macOS: Use a Mac to download the latest macOS from the App Store. This will be your operating system for the Hackintosh.
- Create a Bootable USB Drive: Use Terminal to create a bootable USB flash drive. Connect your USB drive and format it using Disk Utility. Use the appropriate Terminal command to copy the macOS installer to your USB.
- Install Clover Bootloader: After the USB is prepared, download the Clover bootloader. Install it on your USB drive, ensuring that you’ve selected the EFI partition.
- Configure Clover: Customize Clover settings according to your hardware. This may involve editing configuration files and adding kexts (kernel extensions) for drivers required by your PC components.
- Boot from USB: Insert the USB drive into your PC, restart the system, and enter the BIOS/UEFI settings. Change the boot order to ensure your system boots from the USB drive.
- Install macOS: Once booting into Clover, select the macOS installer from the menu. Follow the on-screen instructions to install macOS onto your hard drive. Make sure to format the hard drive as APFS during the installation process.
- Post-Installation: After successfully installing macOS, boot into your new installation and run Clover again. You may need to perform additional configurations to ensure sound, network, and graphics work properly.
Building a Hackintosh is indeed a challenging process, but the satisfaction of seeing your PC run macOS can be immensely rewarding. Happy building!