I Tried Installing macOS on My Windows PC

I just spent 8 hours trying to install an operating system that Apple literally doesn't want me to install. And I'm about to show you if I actually manage to pull it off. Here's the problem. You want to use Mac OS, right? The operating system that everyone says is smoother, more stable, just better. That's going to cost you $1,000 minimum. And a lot of us look at that price tag and think, >> "Nope, yep, not going to happen." >> So, I did what any person would do. I

went down a rabbit hole on GitHub, the Hackintosh community. That's basically people who already tried this insane thing. And I learned that you can't just download Mac OS and throw it on a USB drive like it's Windows. That's not how Apple works. Now, before I could even start thinking about actual installation, I needed to understand something called an EFI. An EFI is basically a bridge between your computer's hardware and an operating system. It's almost like a translator.

Your computer's hardware speaks one language and your operating system speaks another. The EFI is the thing that makes sure they understand each other. On regular Apple computers, the EFI is built in and designed specifically for Apple's hardware. But when you're trying to run Mac OS on a PC, you need to create the custom EFI. That's where Open Core comes in. Open Core is pretty much a bootloader. That's a fancy term for a piece of software that runs before your operating system

even loads. Without Open Core, Mac OS would never ever get a chance to load on your PC. But here's the thing. Creating an open core EFI by hand is extremely complicated. There are hundreds of settings and one wrong value can break everything. So people in the community have created tools to make it easier. The tool I found was called Open Core Simplify. It's this amazing program that automates a lot of the work. So I went to GitHub and found the project and

even loads. Without Open Core, Mac OS would never ever get a chance to load on your PC. But here's the thing. Creating an open core EFI by hand is extremely complicated. There are hundreds of settings and one wrong value can break everything. So people in the community have created tools to make it easier. The tool I found was called Open Core Simplify. It's this amazing program that automates a lot of the work. So I went to GitHub and found the project and

downloaded it. When I ran the Open Core Simplify for the first time, a command prompt opened up. As you can probably tell, there is no graphical interface. It's just a command prompt with some text. But don't worry, it's not as intimidating as it looks. The first option in the menu was to generate a hardware report. That's exactly what I needed. I selected that option and the program scanned my entire PC and automatically detected all the hardware. But here's the cool part. It compared my

downloaded it. When I ran the Open Core Simplify for the first time, a command prompt opened up. As you can probably tell, there is no graphical interface. It's just a command prompt with some text. But don't worry, it's not as intimidating as it looks. The first option in the menu was to generate a hardware report. That's exactly what I needed. I selected that option and the program scanned my entire PC and automatically detected all the hardware. But here's the cool part. It compared my

components against what Mac OS supports. For each component, it displayed which version of Mac OS was it compatible with. For my CPU, it said I could run up to Mac OS Tahoe, which is the latest version. My graphics card as well. Everything was compatible with the latest version of Mac OS. So, it turns out I could run the new stuff. So, I continued and the program asked me which version of Mac OS I wanted to install. This is where I had to make a choice. Now, I could go with an older version

like Sonoma or Ventura, which might be more stable because more people have tried it, or I could go with Tahoe, which is the brand new version that my hardware supported. I decided to go all in. I wanted the latest and the greatest. What's the worst that could happen? Now, we moved on to another part called texts. This is another technical term I had to wrap my head around. A text is basically a kernel extension. In simple terms, it's a piece of software that tells Mac OS how to operate a

specific piece of hardware. Here's where the Open Core Simplify was brilliant. Since we already scanned our hardware, it knew exactly which CES I needed. It pretty much automatically selected them for me based on what hardware I had. All right, so I had my hardware report. I selected Tahoe as my Mac OS version and the program had automatically picked out all the texts I needed. Now came the big moment. I selected the option to build the open core EFI. This was the step

where the program would actually create the EFI folder that I would need. So I hit enter and the program started downloading stuff. While it was doing this, the program also asked me about audio settings. Specifically, it asked me to select the codec layout for my sound card. A codec is basically the hardware that processes audio signals. Different audio cards use different codecs and Mac OS needs to know which codec you have so it can communicate with it properly. The program suggested

a god layout based on what it detected in my system and honestly I just went with its recommendation. After a few minutes of downloading and processing the program finished and when it did something appeared in my file explorer there was a new folder the efi folder. I peaked inside there was a structure of folders and files oc folder which um stood for open core. Inside that were all my texts the configuration files the drivers everything that made up the open

core e file. This folder is going to be the key that transforms my PC into Mac. But we still had some problems I needed to solve. The issue was USB mapping. See, when you create a bootable USB drive to install an operating system, the operating system needs to be able to recognize that USB drive. Mac OS is designed for Apple computers which have a specific type of USB architecture. And if I just put the Mac OS installer on a USB drive without doing anything, Mac OS

wouldn't recognize the USB drive at all. This is where USB Toolbox comes in. USB Toolbox is pretty much a utility that helps map your USB ports so that Mac OS knows about them. I found the project, downloaded and ran it. Another command prompt showed up. This time the program asked me to discover the ports. I was looking at the all USB ports on my computer and devices which were connected to them. I had my bootable USB drive plugged in and the program showed me a list of ports. Each port had a

number. I had to figure out which port my USB drive was on. I remember the port number, went back to the main menu and selected the option to select ports and build text. And the program created a file called UTP map.ext. This was the USB mapping file that would make Mac OS recognize my USB ports. So now we needed to copy that file to our EFI folder so Mac would recognize it. But that wasn't quite the end of the USB setup. I needed one more thing. I had to download the

number. I had to figure out which port my USB drive was on. I remember the port number, went back to the main menu and selected the option to select ports and build text. And the program created a file called UTP map.ext. This was the USB mapping file that would make Mac OS recognize my USB ports. So now we needed to copy that file to our EFI folder so Mac would recognize it. But that wasn't quite the end of the USB setup. I needed one more thing. I had to download the

actual USB toolbox.ext file which is pretty much the base driver file. So I went back to the GitHub and searched for USB toolbox again. I found the zip file that contain the USB toolbox.ext folder and copied that to my EFI folder where all the guests were. Now in my text folder I had two new folders USB toolbox.ext and UTB map.ext. These two were going to work together to make Mac OS understand my USB ports. But here's where things got more complicated. Just having these files in the text folder

wasn't enough. I had to tell Open Core about them. This is where I needed another tool. This one was called OC auxiliary tools. This application had an actual graphical interface which was nice after dealing with command prompts. So now we had to modify our configuration file. So I opened up the EFI folder and found the config file. I was looking for a section called kernel. The kernel section is where you tell the open core which drivers to load. In there I had to add entries for my USB

wasn't enough. I had to tell Open Core about them. This is where I needed another tool. This one was called OC auxiliary tools. This application had an actual graphical interface which was nice after dealing with command prompts. So now we had to modify our configuration file. So I opened up the EFI folder and found the config file. I was looking for a section called kernel. The kernel section is where you tell the open core which drivers to load. In there I had to add entries for my USB

drivers. So I added a new entry and selected the USB toolbox.ext. Then I added another entry for the UTB map.ext. Now open G new about both of my USB mapping drivers. I saved the changes and we're done there. Okay. So now my EFI folder was complete. I had all my texts. I had all my settings configured. I had USB mapping set up. But I still needed the actual operating system, the Mac OS Tahoe. This is where Open Core PKG comes in. Open Core PKG is the actual Open

drivers. So I added a new entry and selected the USB toolbox.ext. Then I added another entry for the UTB map.ext. Now open G new about both of my USB mapping drivers. I saved the changes and we're done there. Okay. So now my EFI folder was complete. I had all my texts. I had all my settings configured. I had USB mapping set up. But I still needed the actual operating system, the Mac OS Tahoe. This is where Open Core PKG comes in. Open Core PKG is the actual Open

Core project on the GitHub. Inside it, there are bunch of tools and utilities. One of those utilities is something called Mac Recovery. This tool pretty much downloads the Mac OS recovery environment, which is basically a minimal version of Mac OS. Now, I needed to run this Python file, which meant I needed to have Python installed on my computer. So I quickly installed Python as well. Then I opened up the folder in command prompt. But here's where I ran into a problem. The instructions I was

following showed me examples of how to download different Mac OS versions. They had commands for Moyav Catalina Big Sur Mter Sonoma and Sequoa. But there was no example for Tahoe. Tahoe is the newest version and apparently the documentation haven't been updated yet. This got me worried. If there was no DHO code, that means I wasted all this time setting everything up for a version I couldn't actually get. This is where I had to do some problem solving. So, I went back to

the GitHub repository and started looking around for more information. I found a file called recovery urls.txt in the open core pkg repository. This file was basically a list of all the recovery URLs and codes for different Mac OS versions. I opened it and there it was. Tahoe was listed with its own code and its own recovery command. I copied the command and and ran it in the command prompt and it worked. The Mac recovery tool started downloading the Tahoe recovery

environment. When it was done, I had a folder called com.apple.reovery.put. This was the Mac OS Tahoe recovery environment. This was the actual operating system that I would be installing. All right. So now I had my EFI folder which was like the instruction manual for how to boot the Mac and I had my com.apple.recary.put folder which was the operating system itself. These were the two things I needed to put on my USB drive to make it bootable. To make a bootable USB I used

environment. When it was done, I had a folder called com.apple.reovery.put. This was the Mac OS Tahoe recovery environment. This was the actual operating system that I would be installing. All right. So now I had my EFI folder which was like the instruction manual for how to boot the Mac and I had my com.apple.recary.put folder which was the operating system itself. These were the two things I needed to put on my USB drive to make it bootable. To make a bootable USB I used

a tool called Rufus. Rufus is pretty much a utility that formats USB drives and makes them bootable. I had to set some options. So first we had to select the partition scheme. Here we had to select the GPT which is the partition scheme that Mac OS uses. Then it asked about the file system. I selected FAT 32 which is a universal file system that works with both Windows and Mac OS at least for the boot loader part. I told Rufus to format the drive and it the USB

drive was now completely empty. So now I had to copy my EFI folder and the Apple recovery folder to the USB drive. These were the two folders that we needed. All right, my USB drive was ready. But before I could use it to boot my computer, I needed to make some changes to my BIOS. So there are a few things we needed to change in BIOS. First, we needed to disable the secure boot. If that's enabled, we wouldn't be able to run Mac OS. So we had to make sure that

we disable that. The other setting I had to change was smart access memory or resizable bar. This is a feature that pretty much allows the CPU to access the GPU's memory more efficiently, but it can sometimes cause compatibility issues with Mac OS. So, I disabled that as well. Now came the crucial step. I had to change the boot order so that my computer would try to boot from the USB drive instead of my hard drive. This pretty much tells the computer when you

start up, check the USB drive first to see if there's something to boot from. All right, this was the moment the FI was ready. The Mac OS recovery environment was ready. BIOS was configured. Everything was set. I saved the settings and exited the BIOS. The computer should boot from the USB drive. Now, my heart is actually pounding at this moment. And then something starts happening. Lines of code starts scrolling down the screen. I'm talking like fast. Line after line after line

after line. I have no idea what any of it says, but I know what it means. It means whatever we did before is actually working. And then after maybe a minute or two of code scrolling, the screen clears and there it is, the Apple logo on a black background, the iconic Mac OS boot screen. Finally, the screen changes and suddenly I'm looking at the language selection screen. I select English and hit continue. So now we are on the main installer menu. But before we try to

after line. I have no idea what any of it says, but I know what it means. It means whatever we did before is actually working. And then after maybe a minute or two of code scrolling, the screen clears and there it is, the Apple logo on a black background, the iconic Mac OS boot screen. Finally, the screen changes and suddenly I'm looking at the language selection screen. I select English and hit continue. So now we are on the main installer menu. But before we try to

install the actual operating system, we had to format a drive that I'm going to install the Mac OS onto. So I opened up the disk utility. Pretty much what we have to do is format one of our drives. So Mac OS actually understands which drive we want to use. So I selected the drive I didn't use and clicked the race which opened the format menu. I renamed the drive and left all the other settings default. I let it do its thing and exited the disc utility. We are back

on the main installer menu. Now comes the point we have been waiting for so long. Reinstall Mac OS Tahoe. That's it. That button will actually install the operating system onto my computer. It asked where I wanted to install Mac OS onto. I selected the drive we just formatted and then the installer starts. And the time estimate is 3 hours. me. >> After a few reboots, the screen went black and the Apple logo appeared again. Another 30 minutes and the computer

reboots again and again and again. And finally, what feels like forever, it completed. This is the Mac OS setup wizard. It asks you a bunch of questions to set up your system. Language selection, country or region, accessibility features, and so on. It was pretty straightforward. I made myself account, gave it a username and a password, and spammed next on all the screens. And then finally, the setup was complete. There we go. I'm actually looking at the Mac OS desktop for the

first time. It's real. We did it. But there is one more thing we have to do. We are not done yet. And this is critical. If I remove the USB drive right now and reboot my computer, Mac OS won't boot. It won't find the operating system. The system has installed Mac OS on my hard drive, but it has not installed the EFI that tells the computer how to boot into Mac OS. To fix that, we have to copy the EFI folder from the USB drive to my hard drive. And we're going to use the OCI auxiliary

first time. It's real. We did it. But there is one more thing we have to do. We are not done yet. And this is critical. If I remove the USB drive right now and reboot my computer, Mac OS won't boot. It won't find the operating system. The system has installed Mac OS on my hard drive, but it has not installed the EFI that tells the computer how to boot into Mac OS. To fix that, we have to copy the EFI folder from the USB drive to my hard drive. And we're going to use the OCI auxiliary

tools, the same tool we used earlier. So I go to the GitHub, find the Mac OS version of Okat, download the OKAT_MAC. DMG file and open it. I double click it. The application asks for a permission to run it. I give it permission. The application opens and at the top of the application there's a menu bar. So we have to edit and mount the ESP. It mounts the EFI system partition so that I can actually see it in Finder. So now I need to copy the EFI folder from my

USB drive to this location. I copy this EFI folder. I go to the other finder window and I paste the EFI folder there. When the copy is complete, I have the EFI folder on both my USB drive and on my hard drive. Now my hard drive has everything it needs to put Mac OS on its own. The operating system is installed. Everything is in place. Well, I did it. My Windows PC is now running Mac OS. The system is stable. The interface is smooth. And honestly, it feels like a

real Mac. A computer that was built for Windows is running the operating system that Apple said it shouldn't. We didn't break anything. My Windows drive is still there. I can still boot into Windows whenever I want. I basically have two operating systems on one PC and everything works perfectly. By the way, did you know that

real Mac. A computer that was built for Windows is running the operating system that Apple said it shouldn't. We didn't break anything. My Windows drive is still there. I can still boot into Windows whenever I want. I basically have two operating systems on one PC and everything works perfectly. By the way, did you know that