Tek411

Been a little busy but now I'm back.

2012-02-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. I'm working on a new tutorial for OSX in VirtualBox. This one will be using an updated ISO and should hopefully work for a lot more people. It will be a lot more in depth and detailed. But until then just be sure to listen to some music on Spotify. I use it as my sole music source now. I still download lots of music for local play mainly because of deployment coming up soon. But I plan on spending a lot more time on my blog and refining it. Thanks everyone and happy hackintoshing!

In Limbo

2010-12-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

It's been about 6 months since my last post but I'll be posting alot more very soon. Be sure to keep a watch on the site and I also will be getting back to a majority of the comments that have been posted here. Merry Christmas

OSX in Virtual Box (Hackintoshed VM)

2010-06-23T12:38:00.001-07:00

How to create a Hackintoshed Virtualbox
What you’ll need.
An AMD or Intel system that supports hardware virtualization.
The newest Virtualbox (get it off of filehippo.com).
An OSX86 iso, Get it off of torrents if you don’t have one.
After you have the above mentioned files install Virtualbox.
Open up Virtualbox and click on New at the top left.

At the Create New Virtual Machine window, click Next.

At this window type OSX as the name and it will automatically change the system and version.
The next window will let you choose your RAM amount.

If you can spare it crank it up as far as you can go but 1024MB should be sufficient.

This is where you’ll make your hard disk. 20GB should be enough so what it comes down to is dynamic or static. Dynamic will expand on use and Static will be a fixed 20GB no matter how much data is actually in it. Dynamic is better for not taking up your hard drive but Static should give you better performance. I normally use Dynamic. Click next unless you want to change it from Dynamic or if you want to increase the disk size or file location.

This is the settings you configured. Finish. Now click settings at the top. At this window click on System at the left and uncheck Enable EFI.

Now click on the Storage button on the left. From there click on Empty under the OSX.vdi
Next click the folder with the green arrow on the right.

At this window click Add (Plus sign on 3 CD’s) at the top. Then find and add the OSX86 iso you downloaded earlier. Then highlight it and click Select at the bottom. Then click OK and start

Now this is where you’ll install your OSX in Vbox!

At this point click inside the window and hit F8. Then at the boot: _ prompt type –v so you can see what exactly went wrong if something does go wrong. All the services will run and eventually you should come to the language screen. Choose your language then click next. If you are unable to move your mouse around then hit Right-Ctrl + I. Click continue, agree the click utilities at the top and click Disk Utility.

At this screen highlight 20GB VBOX HARDDISK. Then click erase at the right and Name it what you want in the name box and then click erase at the bottom right. When the cancel erase box pops up click Erase. It shouldn’t take long. Then click Disk Utility at the top left and then Click Quit Disk Utility. Now your back at the installer. Highlight the drive that is now showing up and click continue.

The next window is important. Click customize at the bottom left.
For AMD Users check,
Any Updates included at the top.
Drop down Kernels and choose Legacy kernel.
AMD option below System support.
For Intel Users,
Any Updates included at the top.
Drop down bootloaders and check the newest chameleon.
Drop down Kernels and choose Legacy kernel.
Then click Next done and Install. To speed up the process you can click Skip when the disc check pops up.
Wait for it to finish installing…

As soon as it says installation finished and starts counting down to restart press the Right-Ctrl and then click on Devices at the top and hit CD/DVD Devices and click Unmount CD/DVD Device. Then click Machine and Reset then click reset at the prompt. Next you’ll see the Chameleon loader and then OSX will begin to boot.

After it boots you will see the setup screens for OSX!
You’re good to go. The only hiccup I’ve found is that it can only be virtualized with one core. It could be the OSX disc I was using or it might not be. And I have yet to find the right kext that will allow audio to work and the resolution is limited also (SEE UPDATE). But other than that you’ll have a fully functioning OSX virtualized!

UPDATE: Ok after this getting posted on Lifehacker, I'd like to post some answers to the resolution and audio. I should have looked around before posting this but I just didn't have the time. So anyways heres what you can do.

Resolution: Open Finder and go to the OSX drive on the left. Open the folder called Extras. Right Click on the file com.Apple.Boot.plist and open it with texteditor. Under the first insert this. Be sure to remove the spaces first except the one between Graphics Mode.

< key> Graphics Mode < /key>

< string > 1280×1024x32 < /string>

Select Save AS at the top and save it to the desktop but first uncheck the check under Unicode and then save it as com.apple.boot.plist. After that drag'n'drop it into the extras folder and overwrite and enter your password. Voila

Via Increase Mac VM Resolution

Sound: Go Here Virtualbox Mac Driver or use this direct LINK and install the software

System Updates: Dont Install the Updates
If you want updates you'll have to install another iso distribution with the updates on it. If you install the updates directly from apple it messes with the custom kexts and chameleon. Just a forewarning.

And for those of you getting boot issues try choosing a different version of Chameleon or a different kernel. Sometimes that seems to help. And If your getting one of the USB errors then try disabling USB in the VirtualBox settings and see if that helps.

Best Windows Apps 2010

2010-01-27T18:04:00.001-08:00

Antivirus	Avira Antivir
Antispyware	Spyware Blaster
Audio Player Audio Editor	Foobar2000 Audacity Beta
Video Player	VLC
Web Browser	Firefox 3.6
Email Client	Thunderbird 3 with Gmail
Webmail	Gmail
Office Suite	Open Office > MS Office 2010
Blog Editor	Windows Live Writer
Torrent Client	uTorrent
Virtualization App	Sun VirtualBox
Defragger	Auslogics Disk Defrag
System Optimizer and Cleaner	CCleaner
System Utility	Tune Up Utilities 2010
FTP Client	Filezilla
FTP Server	Filezilla Server
Gnutella [Limewire Alternative]	Cabos
Compression Utility [Zip Rar 7z]	7Zip

There is plenty more that I haven’t listed here but I’ll be sure to update this list as time goes on.

Avira Antivir Nag Screen Disable

2010-01-27T17:51:00.001-08:00

My by far favorite free antivirus is Avira Antivir. There is only two things about it that I hate.

It nags you every time it updates the database to buy the full version. Bad Antivirus, Bad
The splash screen at the beginning. This one is just a visual nuisance.

Now here is how you accomplish this.

Update Nag Disable
   1. Start-> Control Panel
   2. Administrative tools-> Local security policy
   3. Click on Software Restriction Policy-> Action (at the top)-> create new restriction policies
   4. Right-click additional rules (on the right side)-> new path rule
   5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\(Avira)\AntiVir Personal Edition Classic\ and double-click avnotify.exe
   6. Set the security level to Disallowed-> apply-> ok

Splash Screen Disable
1. Open regedit and navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
2. In the right pane double-click avgnt and add /nosplash at the end of the path (ex. /min /nosplash)

And that's about it! If there is any confusion be sure to ask about your confusion, per se’

Firefox 3.6 Windows 7 Integration

2010-01-27T17:05:00.001-08:00

If you happen to be using the latest Firefox [If not then download it now!!] and your using Windows 7 [If not start using it now… and Here's How ] then you’ll be please to find out that taskbar previews are now enabled. Well at least manually that is. Taskbar previews will enable a thumbnail preview at the taskbar for each tab open in Firefox. To enable them fire up Firefox and in the address bar type about:config. Then type browser.taskbar.previews.enable into the filter. Then double click it to make it True. That’s all folks!

Windows 7 Customization Tutorial

2010-01-26T18:55:00.001-08:00

Windows 7 is gorgeous. But my fiancé is also. And yet for some odd reason I like looking at her more when she has been in the bathroom for 45 minutes and has 7 layers of makeup on. So how bout let’s add a few layers to Win7 also?

Files Needed

Tune Up Utilities 2010, Is a system utility but it’s main purpose here is to allow third party themes. Download
Gnome-Colors-Patcher-Se7en by heebijeebi. Patches system icons to look like Gnome Colors. Download
Win7 Blend VS by zainadeel. So simple yet so perfect. Pretty much removes all the bad stuff from the default theme and adds some elegance. You can find more at Deviantart.com Download

Now after you’ve gone and collected all the files install the Tune Up Utilities Trial [It’s fully useable for 30 days then after that it will just be used for allowing patched styles, unless you buy it of course ;)] After it is installed go to the start menu and type styler and hit enter. When it opens up click on Visual Style on the left hand side. Click ADD at the top and browse to the Blend VS file you downloaded earlier. Now select it from the list and click apply at the bottom right. Notice the difference?

Now to icon patching. This one will actually hack system files so be sure to make restore point [I’ve never had an issue personally though] Right click on the Extracted setup file and click Run As Administrator. If you get a UAC prompt then allow it. Choose the color scheme you would like and just keep clicking next until the app asks to reboot your computer. Allow it to. Upon reboot you will notice everything looks way better. Almost every system icon has been changed to look gnomeified. There is a lot more that you can do to customize the computer that I will post later and don’t forget to test the other useful apps that are included with Tune Up Utilities 2010

As usual you can leave comment, questions or suggestions.

Roll FB2K in Win7

2010-01-26T18:26:00.001-08:00

So you have Windows 7. Now to play all your music you could either use Windows Media Player, iTunes or maybe you were already planning on using Foobar2000. Well even if you were this is something you don’t want to miss out on. I’m going to link a few components and show you how to customize this program like it was meant to be!

Here’s my pack that is packed with 7Zip and is completely portable.

<< Download >> Foobar2000 1.0 with Components

Just extract that to a folder that won’t get moved and create a shortcut by right clicking foobar2000.exe and clicking create shortcut. Then drag the shortcut to the desktop or the superbar or that start menu and use that to run the program.

Now to configure the music library. Click File/Preferences in Foobar. Click Media Library on the left and then remove the two folders that I had monitored [Unless by some freaky coincidence those happen to be where your music is stored] and add the folders that hold your music. Then that’s it. Now Foobar will have taskbar progress, a nice layout, tango buttons, and hover over the superbar icon of Foobar and see the album art, previous, play/pause, stop and next buttons.

Got a customization tip? Let me hear then!

Windows 7 Upgrades for the masses.

2010-01-26T16:04:00.001-08:00

Want Windows 7? Got XP or Vista? Want to try it free first? I’ve got you covered. This right here is a dual boot trick. Meaning you’ll have both OS’s. This is all done from inside windows so you won’t need to burn the ISO and then boot to it. This is so simple a caveman could do it. Literally. Here’s some step by step instructions on how to get the job done and keep your old system for security and compatibility.

First off you will need these apps and files on your current system.

VirtualCloneDrive Install This

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition Install This

Windows 7 ISO X86 Torrent Download This with uTorrent. If you don’t have uTorrent then Google it and install it. You can also download an X64 version if you want to. X86 is what I run though so that’s why I chose this. And don’t worry about legality. This guide is setup as a trial. No hacking is done here.

Once you have everything then open EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition. Choose the Disk with the most free space and click Resize/Move at the top. Move the slider at the right as far left as you can while leaving a little gray in the purple box. Click ok. Now you will see gray at the top with the words unallocated in it. Right Click it and choose Create. Then Label the partition Windows 7. Give it a drive letter of anything other than A or B. Then click OK and then Click APPLY at the top. When prompted to reboot save all your work and then click YES. Windows will reboot and then EASEUS Boot mode will resize the partition.

Once your logged back in double click on the Windows 7 ISO you downloaded with uTorrent. It should auto run but if not go to my computer and right click the disc and select open. Then start Setup.exe. Click Install now. When asked to get updates select the top option so that you won’t have to do as many updates after the install. Accept the License Agreement and then Select Custom. Choose the partition you labeled Windows 7 and then click next. The install will start and reboot the computer a few times. Upon reboot it will ask you a series of questions about setting up your computer. They are pretty self explanatory. Windows will log you in.

Congrats! Welcome to Windows 7! If you’d like to boot back into the old operating system hit the arrow key on your keyboard when you see the windows boot options screen [before the loading screen] and select your old OS. Suggestions to simplify the process? Got an issue? Leave it in the comments!