Installing OS9

September 27, 2005 5:51 AM

Installing OS9 "Classic" in the OSX environment.

I'm going to have one chance to load OS9.2 on a computer for a co-worker this afternoon. She currently has OSX, but I'm not sure exactly which version (probably pretty up-to-date). She says that she has tried to load it but has "run into problems". I know this is a vague. But here's what I want to know: For those of you who have done this, is it typically easy? Is there something I need to know about this process, or should it just be a matter of sliding the CD into the tray and following the clicks? I wanted to ask before I went over there to try it because it has to be done today (for reasons that go beyond the scope of this question).

posted by crapples to computers & internet (8 comments total)

If the Mac doesn't already have a classic environment you cannot run classic software inside Mac OS X.

if the Mac is quite old then you can boot from the Mac OS 9 CD and install it normally. But no Macs have been able to boot from Mac OS 9 for quite a few years.

If you can find a Mac with classic installed then with a bit of work you can create a disk image with _just_ Mac OS 9 in it and use that with classic. The chief advantage of a disk image is that you can copy it from machine to machine easily (be sure to make it a RW disk image or even better a sparse disk image).
posted by schwa at 6:03 AM on September 27, 2005

Not to derail, but is there a serious reason she needs Classic? A critical app that hasn't moved to OSX?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:19 AM on September 27, 2005

If the computer is new-ish and came with Mac OS X, you should be able to install Classic from the CDs that came with it. This was indeed the case on a PowerMac G5 that came with Panther. I could even use the disc from the G5 to install Classic on an old G4, and I could even boot the whole system into 9.2 from that install.
posted by zsazsa at 6:20 AM on September 27, 2005

I just did the things zsazsa refers to last night. Only took about 5 minutes. The reason - brand new machine and I needed to import e-mails from Outlook Express.

I won't tell you about the nightmare that entailed to do the import but the install of Classic was easy.
posted by dhacker at 6:35 AM on September 27, 2005

In answer to Thorzdad: Yes, there is a critical application that she needs that will only run in OS9.

It sounds like this might be more complicated than I had hoped. Here are the resources that I have: (1) Her computer with OSX (some version) on it. (2) An OS9.2 disk. (3) My PowerBook G4 with both OSX.3.9 and a Classic Environment on it. I don't know if I have the OSX discs that came with her computer, but I can check.

That's all I have. If this can be done in the way that schwa describes, or any other way, can anyone talk me through it or give me a general overview of the process? Thanks a lot!
posted by crapples at 6:38 AM on September 27, 2005

To make a disk image with Classic on it - launch /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and create a disk image (probably need 2GBish). Copy /Applications (Mac OS 9) and /System Folder to the disk image.

Then either burn the disk image into a CD or copy it onto your wife's machine using a network (or connect the two machines via firewire and use "target disk mode").

Then mount the disk image on the wife's machine and use the Classic control panel to select the system folder on the disk image...

This might not be the best way to get it working - but it is one way - and is what I've used in the past.

It sounds like you have original Mac OS 9 install CDs. You might want to track down the OS X installer CDs too. They have classic installers on them too (like zsazsa stated).
posted by schwa at 7:13 AM on September 27, 2005

Schwa: Thanks a lot for your response. This will be really helpful. I'm clear on everything you said except one thing. When you say to mount the disk image on the other machine then "use the classic control panel to select the system folder on the disk image". The control panel is inside the system folder, right? Would you mind clarifying? Thanks for your help.
posted by crapples at 9:56 AM on September 27, 2005

I had the same experience as zsazsa. I had to install Classic on a G5 for a colleague who needed to run a critical program only written for Mac OS9.x. I put in "the other disk" that came with the G5 and it worked like a champ - no imaging needed.
posted by Lynsey at 3:38 PM on September 27, 2005