Run Classic from a disk image in 10.2
Sep 01, '02 08:32:20AM
Contributed by: Anonymous
I recently posted this hint in the MacNN OS X General Forum and thought the macosxhints' readers may also find it useful. It explains exactly how to set up a disk image from which you can run Classic.
With Classic on a disk image, one can keep a "clean" root directory (OS X only) and use the Classic environment a la Virtual PC and XDarwin, essentially. However, you can't, as far as I know, autonomously *boot* the computer from an OS 9 System Folder on a disk image ... which seems exactly to be what Apple will prevent in new Macs starting in 2003! So Classic on a disk image is only useful as long as all your Mac OS 9 apps actually work well in the Classic environment (most of them should do, anyway).
Read the rest of the article for the how-to...
Here are some quick instructions for installing/copying Mac OS 9 onto a Classic disk image:
- Launch Disk Copy (in the Utilities folder).
- Select "New Image" from the File or Dock menu.
- In the new dialogue that pops up, select a suitable location for the new disk image (I put it on a separate partition together with the VPC disk images, for coherence), give it a suitable name (I chose "Classic" - without quotes! - in both fields); then select a suitable size (also depending on if you already have an existing installation to copy over to the image; I selected the 500 MB option), choose the "Mac OS Extended" format (default), and the "No Encryption" (default) option. Once the image is created (it should, as far as I can tell, be uncompressed - and *writable*, of course), it will mount on the desktop.
- Install Mac OS 9 (and update it, if you have an older version than 9.2.2) onto the mounted disk image or drag your existing Mac OS 9 System Folder, etc. onto the image.
- Open Terminal (in Utilities) and type:sudo bless -folder "path to the system folder on the disk image" -folder9 "path to the system folder on the disk image" -bootBlocks. In practice, just type sudo bless -folder, add a space, double-click your new Classic disk image, and drag the System Folder onto the Terminal window: this will automatically create the "path to the system folder on the disk image" entry; of course, repeat the same after the -folder9 entry.
When the command has been typed OK, hit the return key and give your administrator password; the System Folder on the disk image will be blessed and ready for use with Classic.
- Open System Preferences. Here, it is best to first launch the Startup Disk pane and select the disk image as a startup disk the first time (choose to modify the startup disk when prompted to); then, re-select the previous (10.2) startup disk and save the change to return to the previous state.
- Finally, open the Classic preference pane and wait for the scanning of the volumes to complete; then select the mounted disk image (with its blessed System Folder) as the Classic startup volume, and start Classic: you will probably be prompted to update some components in the System Folder (choose to update them, of course) - and, voila, Mac OS 9 loads from the mounted disk image (with optional happy Mac)!
- Shut down Classic, optionally rebuild the Desktop file (second tab in the Classic pane), and unmount (eject) the disk image from the OS X desktop. Then, start Classic again: surprise (an *excellent* surprise!) - Classic *automatically* mounts the disk image and launches the environment.
P.S.: BTW, having done a clean install of Jaguar, I used Classic on a disk image to re-install AppleWorks 6 (a Classic-only installer for 6.0.1; the 6.2.4 updater is OS X native, and worked correctly, even installing some elements - which, of course, can be removed afterwards if you don't use AW in Classic - onto the disk image) - it worked perfectly!
[Editor's note: I have not tested this myself yet...]
Comments (28)
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020901083220804