Mac OS 9 Booting and Installing for Beginers

[IIO]

no idea if the keyboard could be the problem.

for optical i dont think so, for optical you need to hold "c" and not a modifier key.

and when i say "c" i mean "c" - make sure that caps lock is not down!

[FBz]

You are using a CD successfully burned from this download
(in order to install OS 9.2.2 on a G4 Mac mini)?

http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4365.0.html

IF so, and it still won’t boot from the CD & “c” key boot…
try holding down the Option key with the CD in, at boot.

If that also fails, get back to us for the “Open Firmware” boot routine.

[Underdog]

Many thaks for your support.

Found this and it works.

<https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mac-mini-g4-macos-92-v9>

Thanks again.

[Astrin]

Many thaks for your support.

Found this and it works.

<https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mac-mini-g4-macos-92-v9>

Thanks again.

Kinda funny that the one post on this entire forum that actually works is from a new user! As I am.
I've lost count on how many posts have 'most downloaded' or 'for unsupported G4' etc.
Like Bullwinkle saying 'This time for sure!'
Seriously I am VERY grateful for the work that has gone into these various ISO's and I will be contributing but I cannot fathom how my stock G4 mini and Powermac G4 MDD 800 FW don't work with these supposedly tested and confirmed builds--these computers haven't changed in 20 years, so no new drivers or components have been incorporated. And the posting on the 'garden' may be a user here, so I am grateful for him also.
So thanks

[ssp3]

FYI - garden gets its iso's from here.

[DieHard]

Seriously I am VERY grateful for the work that has gone into these various ISO's and I will be contributing but I cannot fathom how my stock G4 mini and Powermac G4 MDD 800 FW don't work with these supposedly tested and confirmed builds--these computers haven't changed in 20 years, so no new drivers or components have been incorporated. And the posting on the 'garden' may be a user here, so I am grateful for him also.

Obviously the "Universal Installer" won't work for either of those, as universal was designated by Apple to mean for all machines machines that were meant to natively boot to OS9.

Both of your units need "special" versions: both are here, both work perfectly, both were created here, so we are in agreement as I cannot fathom it either...

G4 Mini:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4365.0.html

G4 MDD 800:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html

Here are some notes for your machine in case you don't read the download page...

Model Specific Hardware Notes:
1. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.25 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal

2. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.42 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal

Your Garden Post:

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS FINALLY WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
What is it with macOS9lives? All the 'this is for unsupported G4's, heck even the mini and the Powermac G4 MDD 800 FW' and the 'no OF commands to type, just burn the ISO and install'. I feel like I'm on a used car lot being sold a lemon! Now the poster here deserves all of our gratitude especially if he was involved in the development, as well as the folks at macOS9lives, but the latter needs some serious culling and editing of their stuff over there. Sheesh!
And this is on Version 9 WOW!
Now the million dollar question--will this work on my G4 Powermac MDD 800 FW? Or is there another post here that will do the trick. Please don't make me watch another 7 year old video on YT that doesn't work

As far as your million dollar question, No it won't... use the link I posted above, every download CLEARLY states what it is for, So why would you try the "mini" install on the MDD ?!
For a guy that sounds like he tried everything, start by reading

No Open firmware commands are needed

I feel like I'm on a used car lot being sold a lemon! Now the poster here deserves all of our gratitude especially if he was involved in the development

Yeah, he is a valued member here and he (RossDarker) assembled it into a CD (injected it from our other ASR installs) and added all the work that was done here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2408.0.html

[Astrin]

Where's the Ultra Red Face emoji?

Hey it was my first post, and it was mostly after about a week of frustration, trying a lot of things, watching too many YT videos, and being amazed and chagrined at what retro mac guys had been able to accomplish. In my defense I only tried the Universal Install after I had tried the G4 mini Install -- which I used only for the mini BTW. It was only when I saw the RossDarker post on the'Garden' that worked that I again tried a build for the Powermac, which I found on the Garden, and that worked also.
 
And yes I know that the Garden iso's come from macos9lives, which is why I am extremely grateful and appreciative of all your work. Based on those YT videos, I surmised that there was a difference in the files between here and the Garden, or there was a problem with your hosting vs the Garden so that the d/l's weren't 100%. Whatever the reason, the iso's from here gave me a grey screen at bootup, whereas the Garden iso's booted up. That was my main issue--the grey screen non-response.

The d/l's were done on the same m2 mac mini, the cd's were burned on the same superdrive connected to the mac mini, so I was baffled at why the iso's from macos9lives and macintosh garden worked differently. If I ruffled any feathers, I apologize, but trust me I did read the instructions and I did read the various posts thoroughly. If it makes anyone feel better, chalk up to user error, I'm fine with that. I'm only sorry that I didn't catch it soon enough, as I was going to make edits to my 'one and only post' but you guys were so responsive that you beat me to it. 

Anywhoo thanks guys

[Astrin]

FYI - garden gets its iso's from here.

Yes I did know that. It says so on every post related to this subject.
More detailed response further into this thread.
Thanks

[Astrin]

Seriously I am VERY grateful for the work that has gone into these various ISO's and I will be contributing but I cannot fathom how my stock G4 mini and Powermac G4 MDD 800 FW don't work with these supposedly tested and confirmed builds--these computers haven't changed in 20 years, so no new drivers or components have been incorporated. And the posting on the 'garden' may be a user here, so I am grateful for him also.

Obviously the "Universal Installer" won't work for either of those, as universal was designated by Apple to mean for all machines machines that were meant to natively boot to OS9.

Both of your units need "special" versions: both are here, both work perfectly, both were created here, so we are in agreement as I cannot fathom it either...

G4 Mini:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,4365.0.html

G4 MDD 800:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2143.0.html

Here are some notes for your machine in case you don't read the download page...

Model Specific Hardware Notes:
1. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.25 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal

2. Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.42 DP (FW 800) (Identifiers: M8570, M8840LL/A, Firewire 800, PowerMac3,6)
Firewire 800 ports are seen as FW400 ports are FW400 ports are Not recognized, all other hardware functions as normal

Your Garden Post:

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS FINALLY WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
What is it with macOS9lives? All the 'this is for unsupported G4's, heck even the mini and the Powermac G4 MDD 800 FW' and the 'no OF commands to type, just burn the ISO and install'. I feel like I'm on a used car lot being sold a lemon! Now the poster here deserves all of our gratitude especially if he was involved in the development, as well as the folks at macOS9lives, but the latter needs some serious culling and editing of their stuff over there. Sheesh!
And this is on Version 9 WOW!
Now the million dollar question--will this work on my G4 Powermac MDD 800 FW? Or is there another post here that will do the trick. Please don't make me watch another 7 year old video on YT that doesn't work

As far as your million dollar question, No it won't... use the link I posted above, every download CLEARLY states what it is for, So why would you try the "mini" install on the MDD ?!
For a guy that sounds like he tried everything, start by reading

No Open firmware commands are needed

I feel like I'm on a used car lot being sold a lemon! Now the poster here deserves all of our gratitude especially if he was involved in the development

Yeah, he is a valued member here and he (RossDarker) assembled it into a CD (injected it from our other ASR installs) and added all the work that was done here:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2408.0.html

Wanted to respond personally, and I do go into a bit more detail in my 'second' post. Thanks for your efforts and your patience. I really did read your posts thoroughly and I did follow the instructions. And I would like to be a part of the community so I meant no disparagement.
Thanks

[DieHard]

No problem at all, you are of course welcome to our community and I am glad your stuff is working... I just know that myself and our core members have spent countless hours assembling, creating, and testing stuff for the masses.  Our universal install has hit over 300K downloads.

So the only comment that kinda got to me was

macOS9lives, but the latter needs some serious culling and editing of their stuff over there. Sheesh!

Because I personally have spent many sleepless nights over the last 10 years to help as many I could, we did not whip this thing up in a week and put it on the web.  I have said my peace

[Astrin]

No problem at all, you are of course welcome to our community and I am glad your stuff is working... I just know that myself and our core members have spent countless hours assembling, creating, and testing stuff for the masses.  Our universal install has hit over 300K downloads.

So the only comment that kinda got to me was

macOS9lives, but the latter needs some serious culling and editing of their stuff over there. Sheesh!

Because I personally have spent many sleepless nights over the last 10 years to help as many I could, we did not whip this thing up in a week and put it on the web.  I have said my peace

  I'm glad we're cool because I could see how much of an effort you've put into this. The instructions and even the layout for the post for the 'unsupported' G4 ISO post shows it. I wrote/spoke rashly due to extreme boomer-ness. Imagine Grampa Simpson shaking his fist, not at the sky as in the meme, but at the Grey Screen of WTF is wrong here. If you need help in testing/evaluating builds I'm available. Thanks again.

[macuser]

I am trying to make a bootable macos9.2.2 in PowerBookG4 (1.5MHz 15" (SMS/BT2 - Al, PowerBook5,6 - A1106). However, I stumbled at the 1st step to install os9 driver ...Disk Utility of macOS 10.3.7 that came with this G4 machine, when trying to partition the HD, does not show an option for Apple Partition with os9 driver installation. 
I had tried Disk Utility in OS1-.4.11 (Tiger) for another machine.....again no option for Apple Partition.
How can I get an installer with an option for Apple Partition with os9 driver installation?

[aBc]

I am trying to make a bootable macos9.2.2 in PowerBookG4 (1.5GHz 15" (SMS/BT2 - Al, PowerBook5,6 - A1106). However, I stumbled at the 1st step to install os9 driver ...Disk Utility of macOS 10.3.7 that came with this G4 machine, when trying to partition the HD, does not show an option for Apple Partition with os9 driver installation. 
I had tried Disk Utility in OS1-.4.11 (Tiger) for another machine.....again no option for Apple Partition.
How can I get an installer with an option for Apple Partition with os9 driver installation?

Only thing I can find is this link:
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=4278.msg29411#msg29411

Sorry not much help, I know. But maybe someone else can chime in here?

[Knezzen]

However, I stumbled at the 1st step to install os9 driver ...Disk Utility of macOS 10.3.7 that came with this G4 machine, when trying to partition the HD, does not show an option for Apple Partition with os9 driver installation.

That option wont be shown if the machine isn't officially supported by Mac OS 9, so you need to boot from the Mac OS 9 for unsupported machines CD and partition your drive that way. Or take the drive our and put it in a supported machine. Not sure if you can "trick" the OSX Disk Utility to show this option regardless though. Can't remember.

[macuser]

To boot a computer with Mac Os 9, we need:

#1- A Mac Os 9 capable computer.
#2- An HFS volume with Mac Os 9 drivers.
#3- A Mac Os 9 System folder.

Notes:

#1- All g3 and most of G4 are Mac Os 9 capable computers. This can be checked at http://www.everymac.com/. Furthermore, some of unsupported Macs can be booted via special procedures ...

#2- An HFS volume can be a Hard Disk, a CD-ROM or an external device connected via USB (including pendrives), Firewire or eSATA.
Drive Setup (in Mac Os 9) and Disk Utility (in Os X) can format HFS+ devices with Mac Os 9 drivers. Gparted (Linux) can create HFS volumes but without Mac Os 9 drives, so aren't bootables.

#3- In the Mac Os 9 system folder, the Mac Os ROM, System and Finder files are the ONLY files needed to boot (well, the Finder isn't really necessary to boot, in fact it can be changed for any other app), the remaining files and folders are optionals and can be fully wiped for troubleshooting procedures.
The System and ROM versions should be the same or later versions from the ones that the computer come with.

The Startup folder should be selected in the Startup Disk control panel:

 This settings can be temporary bypassed pressing the option key during startup: