Intel Mac OS X – .DMG and .HFS files

Tip: Use 7zip to examine the file contents. 

If you have a bootable Intel Mac .dmg file containing a single uncompressed  HFS+ disk image (e.g. Niresh Hackintosh USB .dmg files), just add the .dmg file to your E2B USB drive and keep the file extension as .DMG (or .dmgPTN). Example: Niresh OSX-Mavericks.dmg 5.26 GB (5,653,921,792 bytes). 

If you have a bootable .dmg file containing a single compressed  HFS+ partition image (e.g. MBR+1.hfs), then use 7Zip to extract the single partition image file (e.g. 1.hfs) and add it to your E2B USB drive (it can be renamed and given a .hfs or .hfsptn file extension). Example: Niresh Yosemite-Zone_10.10.1.dmg 4.96 GB (5,332,012,208 bytes) – extract 1.hfs. 

Note: If you get a boot1:/boot error under VBox, try booting from a real system!

.dmg files that contain more than one partition are not currently supported. You can create a USB Flash drive using Windows TransMac (right-click on USB drive – Restore with Disk Image) and then if it contains a HFS single partition, make a partition image .HFSptn file using RMPrepUSB – Disk->File – Start=P1, End=P1, FileStart=0). However, the .dmg image must be bootable and most Apple .dmg Installers/Upgrades are not bootable. 

You can use UniBeast under OS X to make a single-partition bootable Intel OS X Flash drive from a non-bootable Apple .dmg OS Installer file and extract the HFS partition image from that (see above for RMPrepUSB settings). For more details see the blog entries here and here.

iPortable Snow x86 from E2B video with brief instructions in the Description here.

Niresh Catalina has not been tested (UEFI+GPT install required – MBR not supported). Suggest download Niresh .dmg and extract 3.hfs. Then follow ‘MacOS High Sierra Installer’ below. 

Note: When you run a .dmg or .hfs file, it creates a new partition entry #4. This partition entry is used by E2B and so is normally unused/empty.
E2B will complain about it when you reboot to the E2B drive and it will ask if you want to delete it (if you don’t delete it then the E2B menu will not load!).

If you regularly use .dmg and/or .hfs files, you can add a ‘partnew’ command line to the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file to delete the #4 partition every time E2B boots. See the Sample_MyE2B.cfg file for more details.

MacOS High Sierra Installer

Download the prepared clover.img and OSX_10.13.1_Installer.hfs from this article. I used the torrent download.

Install the MPI Tool Kit onto your Windows office system before you begin.

1. Drag-and-drop the clover.img file onto the MPI_FAT32 Desktop shortcut – name the file with a .imgPTN file extension – e.g. OSX_10_13_1_Installer.imgPTN

2. Copy the large .hfs file to the E2B USb drive (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU) – rename the file so it has no dots or file extension – e.g. OSX_10_13_1_Installer

3. Copy the OSX_10_13_1_Installer file to the same folder as the .imgPTN file.
For UEFI-booting, this file must be ordered on the disk after the .imgPTN file. If re-ordering the file causes problems, place the file with no extension on the second or third partition.

Note: If you are using E2B v2 and you want to keep the second FAT32 agFM partition, then use a file extension of .imgPTN23 for the first file and copy the large second file which has no extension to Partition 3. e.g.

• Ptn1: NTFS   \_ISO\MAINMENU\OSX_10_13_1_Installer.imgPTN23
• Ptn2: FAT32  (agFM files)
• Ptn3: NTFS   \OSX_10_13_1_Installer

4. Run \MAKE_THIS_DRIVE_CONTIGUOUS (run as admin).cmd to make all files on the first partition contiguous.

Run Defraggler on any files which are not on the first partition to ensure they are also contiguous.

5. Run \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe and double-click on the OSX_10_13_1_Installer.imgPTN+OSX_10_13_1_Installer entry to switch it in.

If prompted for a partition type for the Auxilliary image file, use 0xAF.

6. Add this line to the TOP of the large \menu.lst file on the E2B drive:

parttype (hd0,2) 0xAF

Note: You must always boot to the CSM menu first, so that this command is executed and the HFS partition is made visible or use SWITCH_E2B and specify 0xAF as the 2nd partition type. If using agFM, you do not need to use SWITCH_E2B.exe or add the extra line to the \menu.lst file.

7. Now UEFI-boot on a Mac or Macintosh x86 system (must have correct CPU and >4GB RAM).

You can also try the Clover boot option (MBR-booting).

Other .hfs files can be substituted to install different versions.

See RMPrepUSB Tutorial 144 for more details.

agFM UEFI64 booting

agFM v1.51+ supports the .imgptnREP3 file extension.

• The file will be used to replace partition 3 of the E2B disk
• The file must be contiguous
• The file must be located on the third partition of the E2B USB drive (Ptn3 = NTFS for files > 4GB).
• The .imgptnREP3 file can contain an ext2/3/4, hfs, FAT, exFAT or NTFS filesystem

For instance, you can use 7Zip to extract the large hfs partition from a .DMG file and save it as a .imgptnREP3 file on the third NTFS partition of your USB drive.

Switch_E2B.exe v1.1.33+ also supports .imgPTNREP3 file extension…

When you UEFI64-boot and select that file, it will replace the current partition 3 with the contents of the new file.

Now you can use agFM to UEFI64-boot from the EFI boot file on the new hfs partition 3 (use agFM F3 key) or use the Macintosh Clover UEFI boot manager to boot from partition 3.

E2B v2.09+ also supports switching-in .imgPTNREP3 images which are on Partition 3. Copy the sample menu file at “\_ISO\docs\Sample mnu files\E2B Menus\PTN3_IMGPTNREP3_MENU.mnu” to \_ISO\MAINMENU folder and edit is as required. The menu allows you to list payload files on partition 3 as well as showing a ‘Restore E2B Partitions’ menu entry after a partition has been switched in.

Install Catalina to PC

This video has directions for making a Bootable Catalina install USB drive (untested by me). Note the BIOS settings required, etc.

Once you have made a working USB drive, you can use RMPrepUSB – Drive->File to make a copy of the first large HFS partition to a new file – e.g. Catalina.imgPTNREP3.

You can now copy the .imgPTNREP3 file to partition3 of the E2B+agFM USB drive – UEFI-boot to agFM and select the file – reboot and then boot from the HFS partition in agFM using F3.

PTN1: \_ISO\MAINMENU\Catalina.imgPTN23  (E2B volume)
PTN3: \Catalina

Now you can MBR or UEFI-boot to switch-in the partition images and then UEFI-boot on the target system.

Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop the EFI volume onto the MPI_FAT32 Destkop shortcut (MPI ToolKit) to make a Catalina.imgPTN23 file and rename the Catalina.imgPTNREP3 file to Catalina.

Alternative method – e.g. Catalina

1. Create MBR type Mac USB stick either with dosdude patcher – Create a Bootable Installer or Normal by createmediainstall
2. Use a Windows PC to create a .imgptnrep3 file from the second partition (large one) on the USB stick with the Windows program RMPrepUSB.exe – Drive->File – P2
3. Copy the .imgptnrep3 file to the third partition of a E2B USB stick
4. Boot to agFM on E2B drive and choose the created .imgptnrep3 file on the third partition. It will replace the third partition with the content of the .imgptnrep3 file
5. Boot to the Mac bootloader with the option key pressed right after the chime and start the installation

When finished, boot to agFM and restore the E2B partitions using the menu entry.