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How to install Mac OS 9.2.2

Step-by-step tutorial

You just got a new (old) mac, a new hard drive replacement or for whatever reason you need a fresh installation of Mac OS, this tutorial is for you!
This page will guide you step-by-step on how to install the latest and final version of Apple Classic Mac OS: Mac OS 9.2.2.

Prerequisite

• A compatible PowerPC Mac ( Check compatibility on everymac.com for your specific model )
• A CD-Burner
• One blank CD-R
• ImgBurn or equivalent
• Mac OS 9.2.2 “Universal” iso from macos9lives.com

Step-1 : Burning a bootable CD of the Mac OS 9.2.2 installer

Start by inserting a blank CD-R in your burner, then launch ImgBurn and choose “Write image file to disc” .
Select the Mac OS 9.2.2 iso you previously downloaded as your image source file and set the burning speed to 4x or to the slowest available.
Press write. The burning should take around 20 minutes to complete.

You are now in possession of bootable Mac OS 9.2.2 installation CD.

Step-2 : Boot from the installation disc

To boot from the installation disc, power on your mac while holding the “C” key on your keyboard until you see a grey screen with the happy Macintosh icon.

Step-3 : Preparing your HDD

Here we are going to initialize, format and partition the HDD on which Mac OS will be installed.

IMPORTANT : This process will erase all data on your disk! Backup any data you want to keep before proceeding.

Start by opening the utilities folder located at the root of the Mac OS CD and launch the Drive Setup program.

Choose the drive on wich you want to install Mac OS 9 and click on initialize. A window will open warning you that all data on drive will be destroyed, select Custom Setup on the left corner.

The Custom Setup option let us choose how to partition the HDD. In this tutorial, I’ll use a single Mac OS Extended partition which will span on the whole drive. You can rename the partition afterward.

WARNING : Certain Mac ( eg: all tray-loading iMac G3 ) won’t work if the system partition has a size superior to 8gb and is not positioned at the start of the drive. Check your system specifications and setup your partitions accordingly.

Validate your choices and initialize the hard drive. You are now ready to install Mac OS on it.

Step-4 : Installing Mac OS

Installing the OS in itself is pretty easy and straightforward as you almost can brainlessly click next at every step.

Let’s start by opening the Mac OS Install setup file located at the root of the CD, a welcome message will greet you with the four step of the install. Click on Continue to proceed.

Select the drive/partition on which you want to install Mac OS, then click on the option button and tick the Perform Clean Installation box. ( This last step is unnecessary if your HDD is empty ).

In the next step, accept the Software License Agreement to continue. You are now ready to install Mac OS 9.2.2 on the selected partition, use the customize option if you want to add more languages and/or personalize your installation. Press start to begin the installation.

The installation will take around 20 minutes to complete, depending of your hardware. Once it is done quit the installer and reboot your Mac.

Step-5 : Finishing touches

Your mac should now have booted into your newly installed Mac OS system. To complete this last step we will follow the automatically launched Mac OS Setup Assistant.

First the assistant will ask you to select your preferred language then set your username.

Next set the date and time as well as your time zone. After that you’ll be ask if you want to activate the Simple Finder option, default is no.

Now the assistant will set your local network settings. You can change your computer hostname and set a password for your user (optional).

Last you can create a shared folder for your user to share files on your local network. Sharing is deactivated by default. You can know review your settings, once ready, click on Go Ahead. The assistant will now apply your settings.

You can skip the internet setup that come afterward as it is now completely outdated.

Congratulations! Mac OS 9.2.2 is successfully installed!