Hackintosh Dual Boot macOS High Sierra & Windows 10: This topic is mainly concerned with installing the Windows Operating system and Macintosh High Sierra Operating system on a single computer. In technical terms, a computer with 2 operating systems installed on it that machine can boot with any of these two operating systems is called a Dual Boot computer.
These two operating systems can be of the same type, like Windows 7 and Windows 10, installed on a single computer, or different operating systems, as in our current case, macOS High Sierra and Windows 10. In both cases, the system on which these operating systems are installed will be called a Dual Boot System.
What is Hackintosh?
First of all, Hackintosh is also a simple computer like others. The main difference between this computer and others is the “Installed Apple Macintosh operating system on it”. As we know, unlike other operating systems like Windows or Linux, the Apple Macintosh operating system can be installed only on specific hardware manufactured by Apple Corporation.
It cannot install on any other hardware like PCs. In very simple and general words, Hackintosh is a simple Desktop PC, not any Apple Mac Machine, on which MacOS is installed.
Hackintosh’s phenomenon came into the market in 2005 when Apple Mac computers started to use the architecture of x86 and x64, the same as other computers. In the same year, Apple gets converted to Intel CPUs and went away from its specific PowerPC. After this transition, it became possible to install Apple MacOS on other hardware, Hackintosh.
Dual Boot System – Pre Requisites
Before starting the installation of any dual boot computer operating system, the following tasks must be done, and the required decision must be taken well before.
Backup of data: Before starting the installation, you must get a fresh backup of your data so that data loss can be prevented if any problem occurs during installation. It is better to keep that backup on a separate disk or USB flash for maximum data care.
Hardware Requirement: First, you must read the operating system’s documentation which is decided to install on a dual-boot system so that the required hardware present in your computer will be used for dual-boot.
Boot-able Media: Bootable media for both operating systems must be with you. That installation source must be verified and tested to avoid any problem or hurdle during installation. Installation source files are stored on a USB flash stick instead of any CD or DVD. USB media source is much more reliable and fast than CD or DVD.
Planning for installation
There are several ways of installation of macOS and Windows operating systems. The best and easiest way is to install these operating systems on separate disks or at least on separate partitions of a physical disk. But both operating systems can install on a single hard disk partition. Still determining if it is tricky to install these two operating systems.
Installation of macOS and Windows on the same partition is become possible due to the Clover menu of macOS, using which both operating systems can boot from a single partition. So before starting the installation of the first operating system, this planning must ensure that both OS remain on a single disk or on two separate disks.
Bootable Disks for Operating System Installation
For installation of the operating system, you require 2 USB flash sticks to make these bootable installation sticks, one for the installation of Windows and the other for the installation of macOS. Here is another important point for consideration: either your computer has BIOS or UEFI because bootable drives have different settings.
If BIOS is available on the main board of your computer, then any software can be used to create a Windows Bootable disk; otherwise, you can use that software that can make a bootable disk for UEFI, like Rufus. If your computer has UEFI instead of BIOS, you select partitioning scheme GPT and file system FAT32.
Sequence of Installation
You can install either Windows 10 operating system or macOS first, but for the best practice and more stay-able system, it is recommended that you first install macOS High Sierra. The main reason for this is the file system of macOS. GUID format is necessary for installing the macOS, and the Disk Utility program is used to format the disk with GUID. Disk Utility software is like Windows Disk Manager, which is used to create partitions and formatting of these partitions.
EFI Partition
When the Disk Utility program formats the disk with GUID, it also creates a hidden EFI partition greater than 200 MB. Such an EFI partition is also created during Windows installation with a size of 100MB. But this 200MB partition is enough to contain EFI files of both macOS and Windows.
Installation of macOS High Sierra
After successfully doing all these tasks, the installation of the operating system is started regularly. Installation processes take time and get completed. After completing the macOS High Sierra installation, you can set up the Clover menu directly for installing Windows 10.
Windows Partition
A separate partition is required for the installation of Windows 10 because we have selected the installation of macOS High Sierra first so that you can create a partition for the installation of Windows 10 OS during the installation of macOS or after the installation.
Installation of Windows 10
After installing macOS High Sierra on a PC, install the second operating system, Windows 10, on the same PC to make it a Dual-Boot system. Start this installation through the Clover menu of macOS High Sierra, after which all the necessary linking will be done automatically. This PC will be converted into a dual boot system of macOS High Sierra and Windows 10.
Post Installation BIOS setting
After successfully installing both operating systems, you restart the computer and enter BIOS settings, where the boot priority setting must be required. Set the highest boot priority on this computer and save these settings by pressing the appropriate key.
When the computer restarts, Clover automatically detects the multiple operating systems, and you can run any of these operating systems.
Accessibility of Hard Disks
By default, macOS partitions are not accessible in Windows 10, and Windows 10 partition is not accessible in macOS High Sierra. Different options are available for these partitions in every operating system.
For macOS High Sierra: Windows 10 is installed on the NTFS file system partition, which is not understandable for macOS because that partition does not get accessed while macOS is used. By using Paragon NTFS software, you can access the NTFS partition in macOS High Sierra.
For Windows: Similarly, the macOS partition is not accessible while the Windows 10 operating system is used because the partition of GUID is known as HFS+, which is not understandable for Windows 10. Using Bootcamp drivers, these HFS+ partitions can access Windows 10, and these drivers can easily download from the Internet by searching on Google.
“Add_AppleHFS.reg” can search and download from the Internet, which adds these Bootcamp drivers to your computer’s registry. You copy these drivers in the %systemroot%\System32\Drivers” folder and restart your dual-boot PC after successful copying. After restarting, macOS partitions become available in Windows 10.
