Mac OS 9 Isn't Dead Yet…
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The final release of Mac OS 9 occurred 10 years ago in 2001. Mac OS X was launched that same year, and Steve Jobs symbolically buried his old nemesis in 2002. The old Mac OS survived for another few years, running on dual-booting G4s or as Classic mode under OS X until the release of Leopard and the Intel Macs.
Apple is a very forward thinking company, but sometimes you can't escape your past. Some operating system releases have a way of surviving long past their expiration dates – Windows XP, anyone? Based on recent personal experience it's safe to say that Mac OS 9 isn't dead yet!
Recently I wrote about Reinstalling Mac OS 9 on a PowerMac G4 MDD. A client needed the older OS to run a pre-OS X version of Digidesign Pro Tools, and that Mac model requires a system-specific (non-retail) install of Mac OS 9.2.2. Obtaining and reinstalling this older software proved an interesting experience, so I posted the info online for other vintage Mac nerds.
Turns out that column has had surprising popularity. Many more hits than average, and I've been directly contacted by many people since that posting looking for copies of OS 9 to install on their old Macs.
Like my first client, a few folks are also running Pro Tools or other old DAW applications and looking to get things setup on a fast single- or dual-processor G4 tower. Professional audio software is not cheap, and many users have a slew of third party plugins in addition to the primary application. When OS X came along many systems weren't upgraded due to the total expense involved, which means a lot of working but now incompatible hardware and software is still out in the field.
Another client who contacted me works for a national medical diagnostic company. They are using some lab equipment which has control software that only runs in Mac OS 9. A few QuickSilver G4 towers had been procured for installation but their IT manager couldn't get a stable OS 9 System running on the machine. He needed to get a working setup going to replicate throughout their facilities.
Like the MDD the QuickSilver was produced after the last retail OS 9 CD was released, and some later models require a system-specific installation. As with the MDD, this was only available on the bundled Software Restore CDs. I don't have a set of QuickSilver Restore CDs but I suspected that the liberated version of 9.2.2 from the MDD's Restore disc would work on that model, and my client agreed to give it a try.
Verdict: yes, it works fine. Sweet!
A few days later, I (fortuitously) inherited a QuickSilver myself, and confirmed again that this does work. However on my particular model I needed to disable the ATI Video Accelerator extension to fix a hang at the desktop after bootup. Ah yes, incompatible System Extensions, don't we all have warm fuzzy memories of those (not).
What surprises me is how many people are still using a ten-year-old Operating System for productive tasks. A not-insubstantial set of folks still need (or want) to run OS 9 for reasons both business and personal. We know that Macs themselves are well-built machines that stand the test of time, it appears Mac OS versions do so as well.
One technical note for those trying to recreate an OS 9 system themselves: be sure to partition your boot disk in Apple Partition Map format with Mac OS 9 drivers. Drives formatted under Mac OS X 10.5 (or higher) will not contain these drivers and will be invisible to the older System Software. You will need to format the drive using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.1.x – 10.4.x and check the option to Install Mac OS 9 Drivers, or use Drive Setup in Mac OS 9.
Finally, a helpful tip from one reader about how to find those elusive Software Restore discs:
I was at the Apple store today and while talking to my genius I mentioned my problem. He went out back and got me a shiny new set of system discs for my specific machine that they had hanging around […] He also said that if one were to call AppleCare and explain the situation that they would burn a copy of the original system from the vault and it would be free except for postage. This is an avenue I had not thought of and might be very useful to others looking for older install discs.
Viva la Mac OS 9!!!
—–
Update June 2012:
Mac OS 9 for PowerMac G4 MDD has been made available for download via the Macintosh Garden.
Man i just inherited emac, with os 9
Thanks for making this file available. Has anyone been successful using it to run Classic on a G5 (late 2005) running Tiger? If so, is there any difference in install instructions? If I am running it as Classic, is the OS X format for the hard disk OK??
Having MS I can still use a lot of old apps.
Old and simple. OS 8.6 ~ 7.1
I have been running OS9.2.2 on a G4 125 Single.
I also have a dual G4 1.4? but no original disks. Running OSX10.5 happily.
A nice dual 1.6 Mhz Sonnet upgrade unused sitting in it's box but no energy or will to install it.Adobe Pagmeaker 4.2 -6.5 Fantastic ~ Aldus Pagemaker from version 2. Adobe illustrator 6 or 8 I think Claris works 2 or 4
All sorts of HTML stuff as well ~ even BASIC
Heidelberg SCSI scanner and linotype pro software. Old flight sims with serial joysticks.
I have some very old flying apps designed for mac classics and up to 9600 macs.
Sadly no Microsoft fly.
What do I keep and what do I get rid of.Do I keep the Quadra 900 with some old Server software in UNIX ? Centris ~ Quadras LC475 with either net and running OS9
Do I keep old G3's ?
Do I keep a 9600 200MP ? ~ 300 Mhz with G4 /1000 upgrade cards and USB
OS7.5.5 native with a large 64 or 128mb graphics ~ and the 8600 with video capture.
I have some brilliant Heavy duty Laser printers with very low milage. Loads of toner.
Old Epson 900 serial printers.Yes I enjoyed the simple life.
But to much stuff :-((((
Just to say that the Mac Garden links for OS 9 are mostly dead, I myself have had problems, firstly for a full install on a late MDD, and more recently to set up Sheepshaver. I eventually found all the necessary (using your OS general advice and building from there) and now have copies of everything I require for both, but getting hold of the originals is becoming increasingly difficult.
Express bonsai cultivator mac os. Many sites for both real-Mac and Sheepshaver now have dead links!
best wishes and also thanks for the advice which was very useful last year
PaulI couldn't get the Mac Garden links to work on several attempts when I needed them for Sheepshaver earlier this year, they were working last year for the MDD. However your link above IS still working today!
I just discovered today that a decent Sheepshaver tutorial and working links to an OS 7.1(?) startup image and a simple OS 9.0 image are also available at :
That extracted OS9Genreal DMG has been invaluable. I struggled for 3 days to figure out why every boot disk I downloaded, including the original machine disks, simply would not turn into bootable OS installation volumes.
Then suddenly it's as simple as dragging and dropping a couple folders? Almost makes me ashamed! Thanks so much.
ive got a G4 quicksilver & the drive has started making foul noises….can i just copy my OS9/OSX drive to a new drive, or do i need to do some sorta mirroring trick????
Recently I was given a PowerMac G4 Digital Edition by a friend as he thought I might be interested in restoring it. Unfortunately the hard drive is missing but when plugged into a monitor and powered on it shows the smiley face and a question mark. I have downloaded the OS9 software mentioned above with a windows machine. I have some old ATA hard drives I could put into service for the Mac but I have no idea how to create a bootable disk for the Mac. I used to work in computer retail sales about 20 years ago and we sold Macs but sadly it's a distant memory. Any help greatly appreciated.
I am a graphic designer running OS 9.2.2 on a G4 Quicksilver that is working like a charm. The reason I didn't upgrade? The cost of Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator software upgrades or new purchases for OS X. I'm a firm believer in, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' I have Acrobat, albeit an older version, but can create pdfs just fine with Distiller. On the PC in my studio is a new version of Acrobat Pro, so if any pdf edits are necessary, I can do them on the PC.
The one problem I have is with the Netscape 7 email client I'm running. It won't transfer anything larger than 20 megs to my PC. I tried to access DropBox and similar solutions, but Netscape has made that impossible as it doesn't read the website code correctly and the landing page is severely messed up, with a download link all but invisible. Is there a transfer solution for large files that will work with OS 9.2.2? I can't use FTP, because I don't have access to the server of my dog boarding website. Thank you for any help you can render. Outside of that one issue, I'm very happy.
HI
I have an old B&W mac running OS9 (cute).
I also have a G4 desktop, just been given.
Is there any way to transfer the installed applications without the install discs to the newer machine?M
This page was very useful in getting a dual boot OS 9 G4 MDD to function. I still ran into a few pitfalls, so I made a guide that covers some of those. Here you go:
OS 9 and OS X dual boot instructions
Boot from the OS X install media (No newer than 10.4 aka Tiger).
Use Disk Utility to partition the disk. Make sure you check the box to install the OS 9 drivers. The partition for OS 9 should be no larger than 190G, and it should be formatted Mac OS extended, but not journaled. I prefer using clear labels on these partitions, like OS 9 and OS X.
Install OS X on the OS X partition.
Reminiscience overwrite mac os. Boot to OS X.
Open os9.dmg, and copy the contents to the OS 9 partition. (Note, if you are working with a G4 MDD, you must have a special build of OS 9.22.
Open System Preferences, choose Classic, and select the OS 9 system folder, then start Classic. This will update the OS to work with Classic, and test that it is working correctly.
Stop Classic, then go back to the System Preferences and choose Startup. Select the OS 9 partition as the boot OS, and hit the restart button.
The system should now default boot to OS 9. To boot to OS X, hold Option when the system chimes, and choose OS X.
Notes: It is sometimes difficult to eject the CD. Holding the left mouse button on boot normally opens the drive. If this fails to work, you can open the CD from open firmware mode. Boot to open firmware mode by holding Command-Option-O-F during startup. Once you are at the command line, type eject cd.
If you don't have an OS 9.22 install image, you can find the 9.22 universal image here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=2109.0Hello.
I have a 15″ Powerbook G4 with 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 and 1GB DDR SDRAM, with Mac OS X version 10.4.11.
I know it had been a while since you have published this, but I am curious if you think at this late date I could find a clean OS disk along with Mac 9 for my Powerbook. I don't know if iPhoto came with the original laptop, but it seems I need it in order transfer files onto a USB drive. I'm sure there's another way, but I am not Apple savvy.
It took me a few attempts to transfer photos from my mother's old iPhone 4s to the laptop, and then I was stuck because everything went to Kodak Share software. I can edit photos but can't do much else with them.
Hi Adam, thank you for your post but it seems that most of the Mac versions of the OS 9 or OS X on Macintosh Garden are corrupt, and do not work after downloading them, several LowEndMac members have complained about this, can you confirm that what's there still works?
Jose F. Medeiros
http://www.facebook.com/josemedeiros007Hello Adam, just wanted to simply post my thanks and appreciation for your efforts in keeping this page and its links active.
For the benefit of those reading this, the information and downloadable .dmg provided have made it a breeze to get my dual 1.25 MDD running like a champ! So in my case I have managed to use all of the chassis' four disk bays, kept one 80 GB physical drive for OS9, and another larger one for OS-X 10.4 and the key to dual-booting is to simply go into the System Preferences in OS-X and select whichever 'Startup Drive' you want.
I am assuming that once the partitions are configured and ‘blessed', it's actually possible to copy over files from a 9.2.2 backup while in OS-X? Extraball mac os. Not sure if that's necessary but curious.
I have found that copying and moving OS9 from within OSX can cause problems. Invisible 'files' called resource forks are left behind and some OS 9 apps will not work correctly or appear to be missing unless opened directly. I'm curious if anyone else has had 100% success?
Hello! I have a question. I recently acquired an old iMac g3 from the trash. I messed up and got it into multiple-user mode and can't get back into the old owner account. Is there any way to put it back into single user mode without the owner password or to reset the owner password? Thanks. It is running os 9.0.4.
Damn. Good old OS9… When it crashed, it crashed. Smoke and flames…
In my 'museum' (a guest room) in my apt. I now have my G3 ('pizza box') up and running in 9.2.2, it can also boot and run Tiger (which eased my trasition to X), I have a scanner for it with a backlight option which is really nifty, and my modern backlight-scanner won't do a whole page (A4) in backlight. And, of course, it's fun to play around on. Helped me rescuw some stuff from Zip-disks from back in 1998-99.
I also dragged my old 6500/250 out of the basement. Gave it a PowerPC upgrade way back then, and now I'd say it's a wickeddly fast OS9 machine, but it's PowerPC and cannot go X. Still, cool form factor and bootable in OS8.
I also have OS9 install CDs…
I have another 6500/200 or so, but that got BeOS on it. Fun to have an 'unheard' OS laying around (in the basement with the old Quadra 840 AV from 1993-4 or so (when I got it second hand from a friend). Boots 8.x, and worked last time I had it out. Talk about time machine…To ME OS 9.2.2 is THE Best that Mac Ever Produced, Its Snappier and Much More Enjoyable to Use, My OS 9.2.2 will Live Forever!
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After successfully created a macOS bootable USB, the next step is how to use it to install macOS from external USB drive. This is not normal case because macOS is very stable and have less bugs/virus than Windows PC. So many Mac users don't know how to perform a clean install of macOS on their Mac when the device was broken or could not boot into desktop.
Please don't worry. We will share detailed steps on how to install macOS/Mac OS X from an USB drive. Even you had issues during this process, it is not thing to be afriad as we have offered the troubleshooting guide as well.
How to Install macOS on Mac from USB Drive (Normal Way)
If the target Mac computer already had a macOS or OS X on it, then installing macOS from USB is straightforward and this is called the normal way.
Step 1: Insert the macOS bootable USB drive on a USB port of Mac computer.
Step 2: Shut down the Mac and wait for 1-2 minutes. This will make sure the Mac is powered off.
Step 3: Hold the Power and Option key simultaneously for 15 seconds. This will bring up the Startup Manager on Mac.
Step 4: You will see all bootable devices attached to this Mac, including Macintosh HD and external USB or DVD. Click the drive name of your macOS bootable USB to start the installation process.
Step 5: Agree the terms and conditions and wait for the installation process to be done.
How to Install macOS on Mac from USB Drive (Advanced)
If the drive was not partitioned or the partition table was corrupted, then you can not install macOS on Mac with the normal way. You have to boot Mac into Recovery mode and format the hard drive or SSD to Apple file system first.
Step 1: Shut down your Mac and press the Power key to turn on the Mac; then immediately press Command and R keys.
Step 2: You will be directed to the macOS utility section and here you need to select 'Disk Utility' to format the USB drive. From the Disk Utility app, select Mac drive name under Internal section and then click on the 'Erase' button.
Step 3: You will get a couple of options from the Format. Pleasec choose APFS (macOS) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for old version Mac OS X.
Step 4: After the completion of the formatting process, go back to the macOS utility section and this time, select 'Reinstall macOS'.
Step 5: Further, go to the Startup Manager, move to the External drive section, and select your bootable macOS USB drive.
Step 6: Now, the configuration of MacOS will start. As soon as the process starts, it will provide Terms and Agreement page and your job is to agree with the same and then click on the continue button.
Step 7: After that, click on the 'Continue' button to start the installation process. This will take 30-45 minutes and once it gets completed, restart Mac.
Step 8: As you are using the fresh copy of MacOS on Mac machine, so you need to set up the OS and for that connect the Mac with the Wi-Fi and then sign in with the Apple account.
Step 9: After signing in, you can access the several products of Apple such as iCloud, DropBox and many more.
Quick Troubleshooting Tips if You Got Stuck during MacOS Installation
Could not write installation information to disk
If you see the message like 'Could Not Write Installation Information to Disk' when you are trying to install the OS, it means, some important files are missing from the bootable USB device. Mostly, this error happens when you download Mac OS file from an unauthorized site.
You can fix this issue just by downloading the original OS file from the Apple store and then create a fresh bootable USB using the same.
Compatibility error
If you are upgrading the OS X after having an older version, you can get the compatibility error message. In such case, just cross-check the system requirement for the OS you want to install on your Mac system.
You can fix this issue just by downloading the original OS file from the Apple store and then create a fresh bootable USB using the same.
macOS could not be installed on your Computer
If you see the error message similar to 'macOS Could Not Be Installed on Your Computer' that means, either your system is not compatible or the Date and Time settings in your system is not up to date.
To resolve the problem, first, check the system combability for the OS X. If it's fine and still you are facing the error, then just update the system Time & Date with the option of 'Local Apple time server'.
Application is damaged, can't be used to install macOS
You the message 'application is damaged, can't be used to install macOS' appear on your screen, it means the OS certificated has been expired. And so, you won't be able to proceed further for installation.
The simple solution is; you need to create a fresh bootable USB by downloading the MacOS file from its official website.
MacOS couldn't install on this computer
Sometimes, the thirty-party tool which you use to create a bootable USB is the culprit. If the OS files will not be copied successfully using the bootable tool, then you may see the message like 'MacOS couldn't install on this computer'.
In this case, you should avoid using a third party bootable tool despite you should create a bootable USB with the help of command.
Conclusion
Don't Dead Mac Os X
The above tutorial covers most of the issues you could come across during the installation process. If you had other issues not mentioned in this article, please contact us and our technical team will help you fix it.
