Install OSX 10.5 Leopard on Powerbook G4 (a1138) with a USB drive! WITH 10.5 LEOPARD IMAGE

[@davidsnm]

Thanks for the help! great video. If anyone having issues with the "can't open the DIR device" I was using a 32 Gb USB. The Mac will not recognize this size, what you need to do is partition the USB into a 7.7 Gb size or find a 7.7 Gb or 8 Gb USB and try again. after doing this you will be able to proceed with the installation.

[@ThomasJojo]

Depends on the usb port/mac version

[@JoseAngelFlores]

Great video. I got an old but very decent Powerbook G4 that was not booting anymore, hanging at startup, and thanks to this video I was able to install Leopard and get it back to work. I´m planning to upgrade RAM, right now it´s 1GB, and perhaps to upgrade the HDD (75GB) to a Solid State to make it work faster. It´s a baby!! Thank you so much for this very complete explanation and for taking your time to help others. Greetings from Monterrey, Mexico!

[@MrSkateduck]

Jose, I have monkeyed with this for weeks......when i try to loud a tiger cd i get to the select destination and then it just goes no where.......so I tried this method discussed here and have some questions as I continue to fail. To begin with, he puts an image on a usb....well instead I simply had the Macbook copy the dvd to an external hard drive....but then I do not get the dir found for the external drive......question, is my copy method of the dvd ok? I do not understand about the image thing>>>>>also, should an external drive work like a thumb drive? and lastly, I am suspicious about the connnector ribbon for the hard drive to the mother bourd....could it be that the powerbook g4 is simply not finding the hard drive because the ribbon cable is defective? is there a test for this?

[@JoseAngelFlores]

I´d download the image from the link above provided in the video. Then proceed to restore it to the external drive. I´d normally create a separate partition, making sure it is formatted as Journaled, Extended, Apple Partition Map.

[@JoseAngelFlores]

An external drive should work as a usb thumb drive when connected to USB. It could be that it is not finding the drive. dev / ls and check for the drive under the disk@1, 1 three or something like that. On principle, your copy method should work.

[@kunteper94]

for those who built the USB from Windows, using TransMac: TransMac probably doesn't define a partition number for the USB drive. SO; instead the command in the video at 6:20, I've input simply dir ud:\ this worked for me. no numbers no comma.

[@Sofia-px6bw]

it does not work for me :( it says: USB-MS-CLASS: open of DISK-LABEL failed can't OPEN the DIR device

[@bigkahuna89]

I spent my entire day yesterday through various Google searches to get the Open Firmware option to boot my USB disc with no luck, but watching this video got it to be successful - 12 inch 2005 PowerBook G4, thank you so much! 🔥🔥🔥

[@Exclusive-Studio]

How did you managed, i can't find my USB, I have also PowerBook G4 12"

[@yugare474]

@@Exclusive-Studio I have a 2003 emac g4 same problem USB is listed on desktop and disk utility but not in the firmware or boot options and can't fix it

[@RoxGYT]

Thank you so much ! Used on a Power Mac G4 and it works just fine. WARNING : FOR SOME PEOPLE, HOLD DOWN THE POWER BUTTON FOR A GOOD AMOUNT OF TIME TO GET IN OPEN FIRMWARE MODE IF FOR SOME REASON YOU CAN'T GET IN NORMALLY.

[@FlextaMcSignalz]

You're the man just for providing the full DMG for Leopard

[@augologo]

EXACTLY

[@tasdau]

And Tiger too!

[@cromazalex]

@@tasdau Yeah! Just restoring an old iBook G4 right now! :D

[@tasdau]

@@cromazalex Believe it or not, I still miss some things about OS 9! I still have my old 'Digital Audio' G4 733. Right now I'm upgrading my Mac Pro Quad Core with a new SSD. Cheers.

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

YES EXACTLY but I’m going to burn a ISO of Mac OS X 10.5 on to a dvd-r just in case as a backup

[@thezach13]

Finally! A video that actually helped me install Leopard on my iMac G5!! Thank you sooooo much!

[@paulkasianov]

Great set of instructions. I had to follow them to the T and now my G4 is installing OS X Leopard as I type!

[@StPalliGrl]

Good video for sure. You helped me to get my old imac back running. Ive watched so many videos tutorials about doing this the one thing I didn't have was the os. Thank you for sharing!!!

[@therealsixflags]

Perfect. Kudos for the dmg. Kudos for Video step-by-step + description. Works with my Power Mac G4 Single CPU 1.25 GHz and 1 GiB RAM.

[@AnjelicSwagAMuffin]

Jesus, thank god for this video. You were very helpful everything worked as you showed. I've been trying to bring new life into this old PowerMac G4 I had lying around and could never get it to read from the USB. Ended up borrowing my dads MacBook Pro and using the disk utility method. Great video.

[@NONAME-ys8kd]

same as me

[@anierinb]

Bypass needing Tiger prior to leopard installation:1. Boot from the Mac OS X Leopard Upgrade DVD/USB.2. Notice that the check for previous will fail and "Continue" button is grayed out).3. Choose the option of restoring from a Time Machine backup and go as far as you can (note: if you do actually have a Time Machine backup, pretend that you don't).4. Now go back to the initial screen.5. Notice the "Continue" button is no longer grayed out...6. Install Leopard

[@375GTB]

Great! I was getting kernel panics at this point... Onward!

[@richback9807]

thanks. easy to solve but hard to find the solution. thank you

[@microsoft.co.u]

Thank you SO MUCH!! this actually saved me unbelievable amounts of time

[@ctorange]

I just got this to work on a PowerBook G4 Titanium with Tiger. Thanks! I see no need to use DVDs again.

[@dfz67]

IT WORKS IT F ING WORKS I HAVE BEEN TRYING THIS FOR SO LONG, thank you really thank you

[@MaxBigazzi]

You are a genius!! My Mac Mini does not read DVD/DL hence the only option was to install it from a USB drive...which was not seen as a bootable, although I prepared it according to your instructions. But with the firmware commands it worked really well!!! I hope 10.5 is not too heavy for my old Mac. Thanks A LOT!!!!

[@Johanniscool]

Yes! This worked for me to do a fresh tiger install on a G5 iMac. You’re the man!!

[@williamfreedomknight5990]

bro God bless.you, you saved me I bought a imac 2009 knowing nothing about macs, and i realized that on 10.5.8 need be formated and i been trying for a week but you dmg file have been God sent thank you and prosperity

[@marianneokal2822]

Great instructions. Was able to reinstall 10.4 in my old G4. At first the boot kept freezing partway through but I switched to an older USB key and it worked like a charm.

[@dronejunglistplatoon]

can confirm this also works on a powerbook g4 12" (a1104). you're the man! you provided the dmg's and clear instructions like a boss! big ups!

[@intelinside5574]

Dude, this a legendary tier guide. I had to scan the image and restore it with terminal, but other than perfect! Used it on my PowerBook G4 17" 1.67

[@mahmutaur439]

Thanks; Powerbook G4 a1106 devalias ud /pci@f2000000/usb@1b/disk@1 boot ud:3,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX Working!...

[@FuturiMotionTech]

Good news!

[@mdvfelisberto]

hey man, thanks for the tutorial! Worked fine in my powerbook G4 12", with a Kingston stick of 16 GB. For everybody having problems like "can't open dir" or the "prohibited circle", try just change the usb stick. Most of times you have a bad one. Cheers

[@gregzeman1389]

Wow! Cant believe that it works! Thank you so much, now I can fully restore my Powermac G5

[@dronejunglistplatoon]

you are the man!!! worked like a charm on my old powerbook g4 17" which i thought was long dead. thank you.

[@marffvmarffv5438]

Bonsoir and danke, merci, many Thanks as for me it worked just fine following exactly your explanation. Take care. Cheers from France

[@adyendre]

Great! Just finished the installation 10.5.4 to my PBG4 12in. Thanks a lot!!

[@ademirorozcor]

Thank you very much friend I brought my powerbook g4 back to life Blessings brother

[@LOKESKYWATCHER528]

Thank you for a great tutorial! The old G5 has come back to life :)

[@flashjazzcat]

Brilliant tutorial! Followed instructions and worked fine. Many thanks. :)

[@MaximilianKlotz]

thumbs up for this video, it helped me. short and clear without too much blablabla that has nothing to do with the video itself

[@zenospeed_345]

Dude, I couldn't find the DMG file for sh!t. I finally found it, in your description. Thank you! 🥰🥰

[@liamwhitcher9059]

Thank you. Really helpful. It worked on a G4 mini. I hope to try the same on an old iMac G3 which is sat in my loft.

[@fspeshalxo69]

after trying and trying , finally did it ! , I was using Transmac for windows because on my Mac mini Big Sur , disk utility didn't want to restore...but then I installed carbon copy cloner , that did it and now its installing ! I have no use of this iBook but I was bored wanted to restore it haha

[@ColinMakes]

Thank you for this!! I’ve followed many guides but none of them say to format the USB drive as “Apple Partition Map”. I was using GUID which doesn’t work. I managed to get Tiger installed via USB boot on G4 Cube with this method.

[@ernokanst]

Thanks for this method! Works great with Power Mac G5

[@TheBishopFury]

Worked splendid, great thanks! Too bad these machines have tough time dealing with Tiger already, let alone with Leopard...

[@jordivanselm3201]

Still very relevant!! Thanks a lot!! Enorm bedankt man!

[@sabiuadamu491]

Thanks man!, that's really helpful. My PowerBook G4 is now up and running with new HDD and OSX Leopard On...

[@chanjerry6927]

didn't try yet but thank you SO MUCH for offering the system dmg.

[@davidthery3441]

Hi, Many Many Thanks for your tutorial. It works perfectly fine. You have save my old Imac G4, Life and time :)

[@TheBabamonkey]

Not working on my PowerBook G4. Tried 3 different usb sticks with multiple partition, different formats (OSX extended journaled / apple format) .. the usb never showed up as a disk device or even showed up in any way in Open Firmware

[@mountainmanmcbeachfront5296]

I'm just speculating, but was it a USB 3 drive? Some of them can also be used in USB 2 ports, but I'm wondering if it was USB 3, it wouldn't show up? Could be.. maybe who knows? I don't. Do you? Maybe. Check it out.

[@mongopunisher91]

Thanks for this, worked like a charm! Installing on an SSD in a Powerbook A1095 15" now.

[@Sofia-px6bw]

Now i used another Mac and formated my USB into APM scheme, with Tiger OSX. When I tried booting my Power Book G4 all the steps worked but instead of apple logo apoearing and loading the system it shows a prohibitory sign. Could the system be damaged? I downloaded from your link? Or does it mean my Power Book is not completible with the system? Has anyone experienced the same problem? Thanks.

[@anthonytorres1266]

Could u please help me install from usb to SSD I have the same PowerBook g4 model a1095 and no luck getting to read usb

[@ast3663]

That worked for me on a 12" Powerbook 1 Ghz after some fails. It is important to have: - a working Leopard DVD copy -a tested USB stick that is being recognized as a disk, otherwise it wont work.

[@julianovasconcellos6215]

Thank you! This works on a PowerBook G4 1.5 12" (PowerBook6,8)

[@MatsuJ.]

Thank you so much! This is the only tutorial that worked!

[@Makuz1988]

man .. i spent 2 hours with that but now it works. Thanks a lot. Problem was, there is no space after the komma but on the screen it looks like there is a space. thats awkward...

[@hoyoreverse]

Bro, thank you very much! I successfully boot tiger 10.4 from usb setup.!! Thanks. It on powermac g4 dual 867mhz! Thank you!!! This mac without dvd rom

[@smadayeoj]

You can skip the device tree step and use the pre-existing alias usb0, usb1, etc. For example: dir usb0/disk@1:3,\ - If nothing shows up, try usb1, usb2, etc. Once you've found the correct device (in my case, usb1), run: boot usb1/disk@1:3,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX

[@cyberdon2]

That worked for me. I used transmac to create usb.

[@AirUriel2]

Thanks for providing the commands and the DMG images

[@angellopessini5763]

Hello you know that I can not enter when I do dir ud: What I can do ?

[@rtftererh7015]

hay hmm... your OSX 10.5 Leopard location is not work my computer can't ues it will just say it fall cant cheak osx help😥😥😥

[@samjackson7701]

Mine is stuck at Apple logo booting. Titanium PBG4, tried various USB drives. Any suggestions? I'm using 10.4

[@magicalmist2669]

OMG thank you I have been looking for a os x tiger image that works with my imac g5 for over a month I had leapord but wanted tiger back on it in case anyone was wondering the imac g5 I have is the powermac 12,1 so if you have a g5 and want os x tiger this image should also work on yours if you don't have the same model number

[@gasparfe]

Excellent! It worked for me! PowerBook G4 (A1106)

[@SolenyaThePickle]

How can you find the usb volume with no other mac just windows? As cant pass from the step to check the usb alias forwards

[@perssonne1]

not displaying on my powerbook, i restored it as apple partition and it's on the usb correctly but nothing in open firmware

[@motifatronik4389]

Dir ud:3,\ _ USB -MS-CLASS: open of DEBLOKER failed Can't OPEN the DIR device. Please help me

[@benedeklippai0203]

OsX 10.4 link not working. It jumps to 10.5 instead of 10.4

[@microsoft.co.u]

This is an amazing tutorial with straightforward and concise instructions, super helpful!

[@ThomasJojo]

I have a problem the iMac G4 says usb 1b and no comma and number. Should that work

[@PeterPan-gy6kq]

Wow, this is awesome! Thanks for your tutorial. Great work!

[@lefarojma]

Great tutorial you are the best!!! Was impresive! Help me so much

[@richardtreu2967]

Great. Thank you. I installed Leopard onto my G4 Cube with this video and the following commands in OpenFirmware: G4 Cube 450Mhz: Command ⌘+Option+O+F dev / ls dev /cpus/PowerPC,G4@0 d# 867000000 encode-int " clock-frequency" property devalias ud /pci@f2000000/usb@18/disk@1 boot ud:3,\System\Library\CoreServices\BootX Worked perfectly!

[@AMINE-tl9dy]

when i type dir ud :3,/ msg cant open the dir device

[@infosponge6921]

Only tutorial I found that worked.

[@wowmarco]

When I at the installer said Macosx cannot be upgraded to v10.5 on your computer Mac OS X v10.4 or later could not be found on your computer ,what can I do ?

[@FuturiMotionTech]

Marco chow, i once had the samen problem. Dont know the origin of the problem, but i do know the solution. First install osx 10.4 tiger using my method, and then upgrade to 10.5 using the same method. Both versions can be downloaded using my link.

[@AMINE-tl9dy]

please how to find number of disk utility

[@Zebra_Paw]

I tried to do this from Monterey and the restoration failed miserably...

[@kreemadilhadra1203]

Specified FDisk partition can't be found. can't OPEN the DIR device STACK UNDERFLOW!

[@gnokketto7423]

thanks, but link os tiger is wrong.. (is the same of Leopard) could you please fix ?

[@INVESTAPARIS]

hello, just did exactly to firmware mode, but I can't find any disk1, which is in the disk utility, there were only disk0 and disk, what's wrong? I'm on iMac g4 1.25, and can't restart from my usb installation

[@mikegilchrist3925]

got to the open firmware and entered all the way to 'devalias ud /pci@...' etc etc' and then to the usb partition number 'dir ud:3,\ -' and got the reply 'STACK UNDERFLOW' not sure what has happened. tried it again and same occurrence

[@marcodeangelis]

Hi there and thanks for this video tutorial. I' tried to follow your instruction but unfortunately it doesn't work for me. I used your 10.5 img and a Kingstone DataTravel G4 16 Gb pendrive but it doesn't show up among all the lines in Open Firmware (alt-cmd-f-o) no sign of usb disk. My PowerBook is a G4/1.25 15" (FW800) M8981LL/A (A1046) powerbook 5,2 running OSX 10.4.11 . Maybe can help: if I boot my mac with the pendrive plugged into the usb port it does't show up on the desktop. like it wasn't there. But if I unplug it and insert it again now I can see it on the desktop. trange enough. It seems that it is unvisible at the first start (boot) but it's ok when I replug it. Any idea? Cheers

[@travosk8668]

The tiger and leopard links are the same

[@tasdau]

Thanks for the Tiger .dmg!

[@Exclusive-Studio]

I don't see the usb@15,1, what i have to do? i created the USB drive as video instructions.

[@NF30]

Thank you so so much for this video! I was able to get Leopard running on my iMac G5 after 15 years of Tiger. Does this work for OS 9, and is the boot file just in a different place?

[@duckislandable]

I get all the way to the installation screen but when I go into disk utility it does not show the powerbooks internal drive, so I cannot partition it. What can I do to recognize the drive?

[@mikegilchrist3925]

Using a 8gig toshiba usb but when going to restore it fails due to message 'not enough space on /dev/disk3s3 to restore' Disc utilites shows that there is 7.59 gig available on the USB drive

[@thebranch4114]

Hello, when typing Dir ud:3,\ im getting the following message: "Warning: sector size mismatch" This is on an iBook g4 2008. Any advise will be appreciated. Thanks!

[@kingkarnov]

I have a 17 inch powerbook g4 and though my strings are different it has not worked from usb or external hd restore of leopard

[@letiziachouaib6701]

Hello I get this message from disc utility when I try to restore: Could not validate source - Invalid argument The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 22.) Operation failed… Do you know how to solve the problem please? Thanks!

[@mjmaruf]

Hey there, For some reason the dmgs don't restore into the USB drive. Perhaps its to do with big sur where I am trying to create the usb for the powerbook G4. Any suggestions? And yes, otherwise the instructions (which I have tried for installing linux os) are spot on. Thanks for that. I wish the images worked. Tried both.

[@marvin-banegas]

I create a Bootable MAC OSX Leopard - USB IN Windows, but a i dont have a partition only a message in TransMac with "No Partition Map (HFS+)". Some solution?

[@houseoflords2010]

Does not work on PowerMac G4 Quicksilver. It shows that there is a installer. When I try booting from it it shows the question mark and folder and flashes a few times, then it goes straight into my Tiger os. So don't know what I'm doing wrong. I followed your steps here. Unless there is another version of 10.5 somewhere.

[@ChrisNova777]

does anyone have the KDK for leopard powerpc? 10.5.8 build 9L30 (DMG)??

[@markitate]

I get an operation failed message when restoring from the image of OSX Leopard installer. Restoring “USB32” from “OSX_Leopard_10.5.dmg” Validating target... Validating source... Could not validate source - Invalid argument The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 22.) Operation failed…

[@FuturiMotionTech]

Im sorry Mark, i cant help you out. It has been more then 4 years since i made this video and i wont be able to get back into this subject anytime soon.

[@JoeKis]

same problem

[@user-ch5dj2rc4d]

YO, CHECK IT, If you will not support then TAKE DOWN THE VIDEO!!! THAT'S not fair to others. @@FuturiMotionTech

[@Whit3r_IT]

THANKS MAN!!!! IT WORKS TOO WITH THE MAC MINI G4

[@Ombibulous_Bluegrass]

This was amazingly helpful. Thank you!

[@andreslb151]

Is there a way to create that Apple Partition Map without Mac OS X? (in Linux for instance).

[@atmatm5916]

the tiger link does not work for me. it says leopard

[@notsocc]

Can you help. All was working perfect. I downloaded your image too. Only problem was on install, the OS was looking to upgrade to Leopard, so was looking for an image on the hard drive which is not there. So I couldn't do a clean install of leopard. Any thoughts.

[@anujbhatia13]

Doesn’t work from me. Getting this message again n again : “Could not validate source - Invalid argument.” Operation failed ...

[@None-um1cy]

Thanks for the direct link for the Systems!

[@eridionkiorai]

Help me failed to verifay burned data

[@milandokic1812]

It says STACK UNDERFLOW! Any suggestions pls?

[@richardtreu2967]

Mine (G4 Cube) did as well - but worked anyway

[@joshwheatstonemusic]

Been trying toget this to work all day, just keeps saying Can't open the dir device.

[@bj97301]

Me too. I think its because the usb drive is 3.0

[@joshwheatstonemusic]

@@bj97301 I thought that myself but I thought the drives I tried were USB 2.0 to be honest. I'll have to track down an old one.

[@ast3663]

great..on my G4 Powerbook 15" 1.67 Ghz this worked: boot usb0/disk@1:3,\\:tbxi

[@jakartawalkers]

in my powerbook G4 usb disk@1 not show WHY ????

[@dannyurocks]

Damn thats working. sweet thing! How did you find out that its this combination of commands to get it booting from usb?

[@Sofia-px6bw]

+ampsource, hello i absolutely love how you explain everything and the .dmg you provided, but the thing is that I have windows computer so i needed to use TransMac to make my USB bootable, I have no access to any Mac computer. when i make my USB bootable via and write the dmg file on it via TransMac it has a different partitionins scheme it writes: no partition map (HFS+) and my Power Book G4 can not open the file. please, please can you help me with this issue. Great thanks in advance.

[@asifnazir7783]

Use diskpart on windows 10 to make it gpt and primary partition