OSX Snow Leopard on USB from within Windows

[OneHit]

Hail all. I apologize for my first post being a call for help, but I am kinda stuck right now.....

And now for My Sorry Story:

I purchased my MacBook (Q4-2009) from a pawn shop and my OS X Snow Leopard disk from the Mac Store. My DVD got fragged in the engine compartment of my van (please don't ask...."kids" is the answer) and I don't have the disk any more. However, I do have the .dmg I ripped from it for archival backup purposes.
I decided to try Windows 7 (I know.....dumb) and now I've had it....I want my OS X back. Here's the crunch: I don't have a dual-layer disk to which to burn my backup image. So I want to use windows 7 on my macbook to write the .dmg of the installer to an 8GB flash stick, from which I may install to my Mac.

In short: Use win 7, running on my mac, to create a bootable usb mac osx installer which I can then use to install OS X on said mac.

Please help. I'm not sure whether there are any licensing issues here, but I do own a legit license for osx, and it is to be installed on my MacBook.

Thank you.

 

[OneHit]

Okay, folks. I solved my own problem. I want to be sure this is here for others to find. Download the program TransMac, use it to access your usb key, right-click on the usb drive in question, and from the context menu select Format disk->with disk image. Select the .dmg image of your Leopard DVD, and wait patiently while TransMac extracts the compressed image, then prompts you to format and copy. To test, winblows will tell you the disk is not formatted upon any attempt to access it within windows, aside from using TransMac itself. I have tested this and it will boot from usb if you press the option key while starting up.
Thank you for being here, though. Good luck to all.

 

[Tailpike1153]

Sorry i got to the dance late. Was in a meeting. I would also recommend MediaFour's MacDrive. It hasn't ever let me down.

 

[Consultant]

So you are trying to rip off $29? Just buy it.

Okay, folks. I solved my own problem. I want to be sure this is here for others to find. Download the program TransMac, use it to access your usb key, right-click on the usb drive in question, and from the context menu select Format disk->with disk image. Select the .dmg image of your Leopard DVD, and wait patiently while TransMac extracts the compressed image, then prompts you to format and copy. To test, winblows will tell you the disk is not formatted upon any attempt to access it within windows, aside from using TransMac itself. I have tested this and it will boot from usb if you press the option key while starting up.
Thank you for being here, though. Good luck to all.

Never heard of transmac ($48). So you are saying you "bought" a piece of $48 software to steal a $29 piece of software?

 

[balamw]

Never heard of transmac ($48). So you are saying you "bought" a piece of $48 software to steal a $29 piece of software?

Maybe you missed the 15 day free trial?

B

 

[danetidwell]

huh

Was there anything in your post remotely helpful to the question? Grow up. You don't know that he ripped off SL -- and it isn't your responsibility to call him out on it.

He asked a question. If you don't have the answer, don't post useless drivel.

I have a similar issue -- my macbook crashed, its no longer under warranty. The CD drive doesn't support dual layer and all I have are two other PC notebooks, an 8GB thumb drive and a 1TB external USB drive. Since I can't use the MacBook to create a GUID partition on either of them or Disk Utility to burn the CD to either of the drives, is there a way to achieve the same results with Windows 7?

So you are trying to rip off $29? Just buy it.



Never heard of transmac ($48). So you are saying you "bought" a piece of $48 software to steal a $29 piece of software?

 

[Mal]

Was there anything in your post remotely helpful to the question? Grow up. You don't know that he ripped off SL -- and it isn't your responsibility to call him out on it.

He asked a question. If you don't have the answer, don't post useless drivel.

I have a similar issue -- my macbook crashed, its no longer under warranty. The CD drive doesn't support dual layer and all I have are two other PC notebooks, an 8GB thumb drive and a 1TB external USB drive. Since I can't use the MacBook to create a GUID partition on either of them or Disk Utility to burn the CD to either of the drives, is there a way to achieve the same results with Windows 7?

Try the OP's solution? That's exactly what he had to work with, essentially.

jW

 

[Juno42]

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I am having a similar case, where I need to make an installable Snow Leopard USB stick using windows. My optical drive has been crummy for months, but i never really use it anymore. And it would be moot anyway, since my current OS is not booting at all, hence the need for the new one. I keep trying the instructions from assorted places on using Transmac:

1. Use Transmac to make DMG of my retail DVD of Snow Leopard.
2. Plug in 8G USB stick.
3. Right-click USB stick and Format with Disk Image using the new DMG.
4. (I think this version may not need to decompress the DMG, for I get no other prompts.)
5. Drum fingers while the stick is formatted.
6. Voila!

However, my Macbook can't seem to find the thing when I hold the Alt key. I get the Mac HD, nothing else. Is there a step or a format issue I am missing? I've read mention of things like partitions and GUID and MBR and wonder any of that may be it. I'm intermediate tech-savvy at best, so that's all a bit over my head. Any thoughts?

 

[piatti]

Okay, folks. I solved my own problem. I want to be sure this is here for others to find. Download the program TransMac, use it to access your usb key, right-click on the usb drive in question, and from the context menu select Format disk->with disk image. Select the .dmg image of your Leopard DVD, and wait patiently while TransMac extracts the compressed image, then prompts you to format and copy. To test, winblows will tell you the disk is not formatted upon any attempt to access it within windows, aside from using TransMac itself. I have tested this and it will boot from usb if you press the option key while starting up.
Thank you for being here, though. Good luck to all.

I tried to this just now, but it doesn't boot from the usb. It does give the option of 'install from CD' which is a 2008 installation CD that I tried to boot from, but which didn't work and which I can't get it out of the machine. Perhaps it's because of the CD that usb is not working? Should I try to make the Geniuses at Apple take it out?

 

[piatti]

However, my Macbook can't seem to find the thing when I hold the Alt key. I get the Mac HD, nothing else. Is there a step or a format issue I am missing? I've read mention of things like partitions and GUID and MBR and wonder any of that may be it. I'm intermediate tech-savvy at best, so that's all a bit over my head. Any thoughts?

Same with me, my MBP can't find the thing when I hold the Alt key. Did you ever figure out how to get it to work?

 

[piatti]

I went to an Apple store and they just used a CD there to install the SN. Such a simple solution after all.

Now I need to restore my last hard drive and then figure out how to move only those apps and files I want to be in this much lesser sized (128GB) SSD.