How to Build a Hackintosh and Install Mac OS X 10.7.2 Using EasyBeast and MultiBeast


Archived Version: Mac OS X 10.7.2 EasyBeast + MultiBeast Method

Note: This is an archived version of our always up-to-date guide to building a hackintosh that was created to preserve the older EasyBeast method of installing OS X. If you want the most recent method of installing OS X on custom-built hardware, please visit the guide rather than read these instructions.

First Things First: What Is a Hackintosh, Exactly?



How Does This Guide Work?



How to Choose the Best Hardware for Your Needs










A Sample Build

With the resources we've discussed, you should be all set to build your hackintosh. Before we move on, however, let's take a look at a sample build so you can get an idea of what a basic hardware shopping list looks like. This is an actual hackintosh we've built, based on hardware suggested by tonymacx86. It only costs a little over $300, so it's a great option for beginners. Here's the parts list:



How to Install Mac OS X on Your Hackintosh


Step 1: Configure the BIOS






Step 2: Install Mac OS X (Snow Leopard)



  • Both a copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Mac OS X Lion. You'll need a physical copy of Snow Leopard, which you can purchase through Apple, but you'll need to download Lion from the Mac App Store later on.
  • iBoot burned onto a CD. You'll need to register for an account to download it from tonymacx86.
  • The Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update, which will be necessary in order to upgrade to Lion (as it provides the Mac App Store).
  • MultiBeast, also available from tonymacx86. There is a version for Snow Leopard and a version for Lion. Get both.

Note: You'll want to put everything from this list on a thumb drive for later. Everything but iBoot, that is, as iBoot needs to be burned onto a CD.

Once you've got everything prepared, take your iBoot CD, put it in your hackintosh, and boot from it. It'll take a little while to get going the first time, but once you see a boot options screen you can eject the disc and insert your Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 install DVD. After a few moments it will show up as an iBoot option. Select it and wait for the installer to boot.


Before you can begin the installation, go to the Utilities menu and choose Disk Utility. Select the disk you want to use for installation and format it. To format it properly, follow these steps:


With your destination disk ready to go, you can now run the Snow Leopard installer just like you would on any other Mac. When it completes you might be met with an "Installation Failed" message at the end (or not), but that's nothing to worry about. When the installation is complete, swap out the DVD for iBoot and restart your machine. Now you'll see a new option in iBoot: the volume where you just installed Mac OS X. Choose that and boot everything up.


Before we continue, congratulations! You just successfully built your own Mac. There's still quite a bit of work to do, but there's no harm in patting yourself on the back for a job well done. You've made it past the threshold.

Chances are you don't want to have to use your iBoot CD to boot your machine each time, so the next thing we need to do is make your startup volume do that job. We'll also need to update to OS X 10.6.8 since we'll be installing Lion. To get started, launch MultiBeast and then the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update. Leaving both open, run the 10.6.8 update and wait for it to finish. When it's all done, click through the MultiBeast installation windows until you get to your installation options. If we were only installing Snow Leopard we'd also install our hardware drivers right now, but since we're going to update to Lion after this we'll save those steps for later. The only box you need to check right now is UserDSDT Install. You may also want to check System Utilities because that repairs permissions, etc., and that's never a bad thing to do.

BUT before you let MultiBeast perform its magic, you need to copy the DSDT file you downloaded earlier onto your desktop. If you've been following along closely, that DSDT file should be on your thumb drive along with MultiBeast. Once you've copied it over, run MultiBeast and restart your computer when it has finished.

Step 3: Update to Mac OS X Lion

Now that you've got a semi-working hackintosh, it's time to upgrade it to Lion. This process is a little quirky, so you'll need to follow the instructions closely, but it's pretty easy. Before you get started, you're going to need another utility from tonymacx86 called xMove. You're also going to need to purchase and download Mac OS X Lion from the Mac App Store if you haven't already. Once you've got both of those things, follow these steps:

  1. Launch the Lion installer and run it on your Snow Leopard boot drive. This won't actually install the operating system, but simply the necessary files needed for that to happen. When it finishes, click the Restart button to reboot.
  2. Upon rebooting, it'll seem like nothing has changed. To get Lion set up for a proper install, open Disk Utility, choose your Snow Leopard boot volume, and click the Partition tab. Go ahead and create a new partition that's 8GB in size, naming it Installer. (Technically it can be larger, but that would be wasteful.) It'll take a moment for Disk Utility to live-partition your drive, so be patient while it does what it needs to do.
  3. Open up xMove and run it on the new partition you named Installer. This will move all the OS X Lion install files to the new partition and configure things as needed. Don't interrupt it!
  4. When xMove finishes, reboot your machine and choose the Installer partition from the iBoot menu rather than just letting your computer boot up as normal.
  5. Run the OS X Lion installer like you would on any regular Mac. When it's done, you nearly are, too!

Step 4: Install Your Drivers

Now you've installed Mac OS X Snow Leopard and upgraded to Lion, so you're almost done. Before we can call it a day, however, you're going to need to install your hardware drivers. To do this you're going to need to load the Lion version of MultiBeast that you downloaded earlier. Open that up, click through the install windows, and get to the options page (which should be familiar to you at this point). Here's a look at all your choices and what they do, using our sample build as a guide:


  1. EasyBeast Install - Just ignored this.
  2. UserDSDT Install - This is the option that applies your custom DSDT, but seeing as we took care of that earlier you don't need to check it now.




Step 5: Update Your Hackintosh to OS X 10.7.2 (and Beyond)




Since you've got OS X 10.7 installed and there's currently a 10.7.2 update, go grab it from Apple (direct download link) and run the update. Re-install anything necessary when you're done and test everything to make sure it works. Most updates should go very smoothly, but you should always back up your boot volume beforehand (we like Carbon Copy Cloner for this process) in case something goes wrong. You never know what can happen, and restoring from a backup is considerably less time-consuming than going through this entire process again from scratch.

How to Troubleshoot



For more troubleshooting tips, check out our hackintosh troubleshooting guide.
