MSI Wind: Multiboot OSX, XP, Ubuntu (MBR, Grub) with or without a DVD Drive

For anyone wanting a cheap Mac-Netbook, here is a great setup. I recently managed to triple boot my MSI Wind with OSX, XP and Ubuntu (and if the disk space would permit you may be able to accomodate more Operating Systems). Here are the steps on how I got it done. (Be ready for a technical blog post!)

I. Preparation
It would be a lot easier if you have a DVD Drive. If you do not have access to one at the moment, well we can improvise a little bit.

1. We would be needing MSIWindOSX86.iso. MSIWindOSX86 is a “hackintosh” that allows installation of OSX into an MBR partitioning layout and is specifically for MSI Wind. While I also have a retail DVD of OSX and a Boot132, I choose the MSIWindOSX86 route because aside from me being a newbie in OSX and the distro being easier, this hackintosh already have several tweaks and drivers built in for MSI Wind. Further, the retail DVD would only be installed in a GUID Partitioning Table Scheme (GPT, as oppose to MSIWindOSX86 adaptable to both MBR and GPT).

Here is a way to install MSIWindOSx86 from a usb (but you would need a bigger than 4gb flash drive or memory card).

MBR and GPT are both partitioning layout to your hard disk. You can say that the MBR is the old technology and GPT is the upcoming star. MBR has a restriction that you can only have 4 primary partitions in a single drive. (Should you need more, You can have one extended partition from among the 4 which you can further divide into smaller logical partitions.) GPT do not have this restriction and it also allow partitions bigger than 2 TeraByte (that is 2 x 1024 GigaByte).

But unfortunately, XP cannot be installed in a GPT layout (though Windows 2003, Vista and succeeding versions can be).

2. Here is a way to install XP from USB.

3. And this is the way to install Ubuntu from USB.

4. Optionally, you can have SystemRescueCD on a USB. SystemRescueCD is a live Linux/Gentoo environment containing many system administration tools- including gparted, a graphical partitioning application also in Ubuntu live cd.

So currently I have a flash drive containing an XP installer, an SDHC containing Ubuntu and a microsd/SD adapter containing Systemrescuecd. But since I do not have a bigger than 4gb memory, I choose to install OSX using a DVD drive.

II. Actual installation

0. If your MSI WInd already have an OS- you would just need to allocate partitions for your intended new OSes. But I started basically with an empty hard drive. You may partition using gparted or you may install OSX already and partition it inside the installation. (But make sure to backup your data before you do anything to your hard drive :P ) You would need to allocate partition for OSX, another one for XP, then two for ubuntu- 1gb swap partition and the main or root partition to be used.

1. Installation of OSX. (Note that you can install XP first or maybe XP has already been pre installed.)

Boot into your installer device (whether usb or DVD drive). When it asks you for a destination- fire up utilities -> DiskUtility. Select the drive that you want to partition or modify. You should have to create or format a partition to Mac OSx Journaled which would be where your OSX would be. (If you started from an empty hard drive and you will just be partitioning make sure that you choose MBR not GPT in one of the options in there.)
When done go back to the installer. When you get to the install summary, click customize. Really important or your installation would not work- uncheck Patches -> kernel. You may skip checking of installation dvd if you have checked recently. From there on, the installation will finish and you will be rebooted into your new OSX. It would ask for some more information and basically you can stop there.

2. Install XP as you normally would (or skip this part if you already have XP). You may further configute later after you install Ubuntu. After which, your MSI Wind would be booting directly to XP but your OSX installation is still there. Not unless you did something wrong :)

3. Install Ubuntu last as we would be needing the Grub menu. Installing would just be easy. The key point in there is to select the mount point for / or root. You would normally format that partition as ext4. You would also need to create a 1gb partition and format it as swap.

When you reboot, you will be greeted by the Grub boot menu. It should already have the option for XP and Ubuntu. Choose to boot Ubuntu. To add Mac OSX in the Grub menu, fire up a terminal and type

sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

add the following below

title Mac OSX
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

hd0 means the first hard drive and hd0,0 means the first partition in the first hard drive. Change it accordingly to your setup.

ctrl+x then y would save the file. Then reboot to your OSX installation. You may want to decrease the time before the Darwin Boot loader boots your OSX, to do so read here.

This blog post is already long. The actual configuration of each OS may be found in here

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6 Responses to “MSI Wind: Multiboot OSX, XP, Ubuntu (MBR, Grub) with or without a DVD Drive”

  1. b says:

    i think that the design of the MSI Wind is much better than the Asus Eee Pc. I own an Asus Eee and Msi Wind, both are solid performers.

  2. a says:

    i just bought an MSI Wind notebook. i was surprised about how lightweight this gadget is. the features are pretty basic for a netbook but it is sufficient for my application.

  3. m says:

    MSI Wind is basically good for net surfing and some light applications. for heavy gaming and multi-tasking apps, i would still use those heavy, bulky laptops.

  4. Jean says:

    MSI Wind is very very convenient to take wherever i go. it has basic features only but for general internet browsing this is good enough.

  5. Kaylee Jen says:

    I just ordered my MSI Wind on bestbuy and i would have to say that it is perfect for me because it is very light and easy to carry on my bag.

  6. Amaia says:

    me and my sister both have the newest model of MSI Wind. we like the styling and its hardware specifications is more than enough for internet surfing and spreadsheets.

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