System 7.5.5 on Mini vMac
This guide shows you how to install System 7.5.5 for the Mini vMac emulator. For a video tutorial, watch this Youtube clip (credits to Peak66 for creating this tutorial). Also try out PCE/macplus, a newer and more advanced 68k Macintosh emulator.
Before you start, download Mini vmac and find an appropriate ROM such as this one. Once your installation is completed, refer to my latest article for a list of interesting old Mac applications which you can play with using Mini vMac, Basilisk and SheepShaver.
Method 1: Installing System 7.5.5 from pre-made disk images
This section was added in August 2014 after I received comments from several readers asking for detailed instructions to upgrade to System 7.5.5 from System 7.5.3 using the disk images provided by Apple. In particular, one reader commented that since the upgrade disk images for System 7.5.5 downloaded from Apple are in .sea.bin format, there is no way to convert them into a format readable by Mini vMac, as HFVExplorer only supports .smi.bin format and the instructions provided in the download ask him to extract .sea.bin images using DiskCopy 4.2, which apparently requires an actual floppy disk drive.
While I do not have the time to verify this information, I do recall that Apple’s old software download page has changed over the years. When I first attempted to install System 7.5.5 and wrote this article, I did not have major issues mounting the installer disk images. So I guess it was only recently that the disk images provided by the download page were changed to .sea.bin, making it harder to install them using Mini vMac. A possible way to work with the .sea.bin images provided by Apple now is to use old versions of StuffIt Expander, which I have not attempted due to time constraints.
I therefore decided to make available for download the following files, which I created back in 2008 from the disk images provided by Apple. These images can be mounted directly in Mini vMac for a straight forward installation experience of System 7.0.1, System 7.5.3 and System 7.5.5:
- hfs500M.rar: blank 500MB HFS hard disk image which can be mounted in Mini vMac for installation of System 7.5.5
- Mac701.zip: installation disk images for System 7.0.1
- mac753.zip: disk images for System 7.5.3
- mac755up.zip: upgrade disk images for System 7.5.5
- hfv500M_sys755_clean.zip: pre-made System 7.5.5 boot disk with popular software. Use this to use System 7.5.5 immediately without going through the installation process.
Installing System 7.5.5 on Mini vMac is now as simple as downloading and extracting the disk images from the above files and following the steps below:
- Start Mini vMac with “Install 1″ disk image of System 7.0.1
- From Mini vMac’s File menu, mount the empty 500MB hard disk image
- Choose to install System 7.0.1 on the 500MB hard disk image
- When prompted, use Mini vMac’s File menu to switch to “Install 2″ and other System 7.0.1 installation disk images
- Upon completion of System 7.0.1 installation, reboot to System 7.0.1 and mount the System 7.5.3 installation image
- Proceed to install System 7.5.3 and reboot after completion.
- Mount the System 7.5.5 installation image and again, choose to install System 7.5.5 onto the 500MB hard disk image
- Installation of System 7.5.5 should finish without issues, After a final reboot, you will have a fully functional Mini vMac running System 7.5.5
For those who wish to try out System 7.5.5 without spending the time on installation, get the file hfv500M_sys755_clean.zip also from the above download link. Extract the zip file and boot Mini vMac with the extracted disk image to run System 7.5.5.
Method 2: Using Apple’s original System 7.5.5 installer images
The following guide, written in 2008, shows you how to install System 7.5.5 on Mini vMac using the original installer images supplied by Apple.
To start, you must first install System 7.0.1 on Mini vMac:
1. Boot Mini vMac with System 7.0.1 boot disk, download from here. In Explorer, drag the boot disk to minivMac.exe and the system should boot up.
2. Download System 7.0.1 installation disk images from here
3. Use HFV Explorer to create an empty 10MB disk image
4. Click “File” —> “Open Volume.” Browse to the empty hard disk image and open it. The disk image
should show up at the top of the left hand column.
5. Now browse your system with HFVExplorer and find the .smi.bin file that you downloaded earlier. Drag it over to the
Macintosh disk image. Just click “OK” at the prompt. This will extract the original .smi into your disk image.
6. Create another empty 20MB disk image.
7. Quit HFVExplorer and with System 7.0.1 running on Mini VMac, use Mini Vmac’s File menu > Open disk image and mount
the disk images created in step (5) and ()
8. Inside Mac OS, open the installer disk image (now mounted) created in step (5) and click on the SMI file.
9. Accept the terms and conditions. You may choose to skip the disk verification. A folder named 7.0.1 (1440k images)
should be shown on desktop.
10. Open the empty disk image mouted in Mac OS, and copy the entire folder in step 9 over.
11. Shut down Mini vMac and use HFVExplorer to open the hard disk image in order to copy the .image file out. Select
the .image file and choose Edit->Copy
12. Navigate to any folder you want on your Windows machine and choose Edit->Paste to copy the files to that folder. When prompted, paste it as Raw copy, data fork. Make sure you only paste the data fork, or else you’re going to end up with MacBinary files that you can’t boot with.
13. When you are done, you may want to remove the .image files from the disk image, leaving out an empty hard disk image.
14. Now start Mini vMac with the image “Install 1.image” created in step (12). Mount the empty hard disk image, where System 7.0.1 will be installed to.
15. Start the installation process. When prompted, click on Switch Disk and choose the empty hard disk image to install to.
16. When prompted for next disk, mount the required disk image. The installation will finish in around 15 minutes:
17. When installation is done, reboot with the hard disk image and you should see System 7.0.1
Now we install System 7.5.3
1. Download it from here
2. Use HFVExplorer to extract all 19 SMI files into a new hard disk image.
3. With Mini VMac boot up with System 7.0.1, mount the hard disk image in step (1). Double click on the firstpart, choose to skip verification and you will see a the System 7.5.3 Install CD mounted on your desktop:
4. Double click on the installer CD and select Installer to start installation. The process should take another 15 minutes
Finally we upgrade to System 7.5.5
1. Download it from here
2. Repeat what we disk for System 7.5.3 to create a disk image with System 7.5.5 installer. Mount the hard disk image and start the installation.
3. When the installation is finished, reboot miniVmac with the hard disk where System 7.5.5 is installed to. You should see the 7.5.5 screen:
Thanks.. now a fully functional system 7.5.5 mac!
I like to experiment with old systems… so i thought why not try the original mac? so i did. its interesting seeing what the old computers had.
Glad it helps you.![:)]( "Smile")
Enjoy working with System 7.5.5!![:)]( "Smile")
If you have time try the Prince of Persia 1.0 for Macintosh on mini vMac, you'll be surprised at the black-and-white but otherwise nice-looking graphics
Any way to make this a color 7.5.5?
Hi,
You can try to search for unofficial releases of Mini vMac II and Mini vMac IIx which emulate Macintosh II/IIx with color screen. Alternative, try Basilisk, you can run System 7.5.5 with color on it.
Can you make a video tutorial on how to do it?
and it still emulates 680×0 processors.
you can just simply download it here:macintroid.tripod.com/macintroid/id6.html
Can you give more details on updating to System 7.5.5? The only images I can find are in .sea.bin format, not .smi.bin. Thanks!
Hi,
Have you tried dragging the .sea.bin onto the hard disk image of HFVExplorer? It will prompt you to extract the file as far as I can remember. But let me try this and confirm with you.
I'd love to know how you managed to install 7.55 as well. I downloaded the files and they are sea.bin files. I read the install notes and in order to extract them they provide Diskcopy 4.2. I installed that but it appears that an actual floppy drive is required.
Thank you Nathan. I appreciate you making an image with 7.55 available.
Hi, I have updated the article to provide the modified System 7.5.5 installer images which can be used by Mini vMac, as well as disk images of a complete installation of System 7.5.5. You can download those from the links at the top of the article.
Hi,
Thank for your feedback. I think when I attempted this installation back in 2008, the download page for old Apple software was different and the disk images were in .smi.bin format and can be read by HFVExplorer, not in .sea.bin like currently. So I could install them with no issues.
I have updated the article to provide the modified System 7.5.5 installer images which can be used by Mini vMac, as well as disk images of a complete installation of System 7.5.5. You can download those from the links at the top of the article.
Let me know if you have any other issues with the new images.
Hi.
Thank you very much! I really appreciate all your efforts. I just followed your updated steps and upgraded to 7.55 with no issue!
That is great to hear! Enjoy your System 7.5.5 machine!
Thank youvery much, I just want to see if I can display color, as have the MacII.ROM, but there's no "Monitors" Control panel. Am I wrong or there's a way to display colors? I've seen screenshots in color…
Hi,
The official release of Mini vMac emulates a Macintosh Plus, so you would have no way to display colors on it officially. However there are unofficial releases of Mini vMac that emulate the Macintosh II and above, which can display colors. You can find some of these release here: http://toughdev.com/public/MiniVMac-Multi.zip
All you need to do is to boot up the correct Mini vMac emulator version that supports color (e.g. IIx 256 color 8M RAM) and install a Mac System version that also supports color (e.g. System 7.5.5). Then you should be able to see colors on your Mini vMac.
Alternatively, you can use Basilisk or SheepShaver which emulates later version of the Macintosh and can support color natively.
Read section "Custom Mini vMac with more RAM and colors" in my other article http://www.toughdev.com/2013/08/exploring-old-mac-software-on-mini-vmac.html on some color screenshots of these earlier Mac versions.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Thanks for this – I was looking exactly for this. I used the pre-made .dsk image and it worked great. When loading directly on my Mac Plus via floppyemu it took FOREVER to load. 6.0.8 comes up very quickly. This probably took a good 5 minutes to finish loading Macos.
I love Macintosh!
Nicely done! Simple installation of 7.5.5 with your files.
Is there a way to have it automatically boot with the 500MB HD image so it will run on a dedicated device without needing a keyboard?
Hi,
You can just create a batch file and run miniVmac.exe with the path to the 500MB hard disk image as the first command line parameter. Mini vMac will boot up from the 500MB hard disk image. This is what Windows Explorer will do for you if you drag a file icon to another application’s shortcut.
Something like this:
miniVMac.exe hfv500MB.dsk
Create a .bat file with this line, store in in the same folder as Mini vMac and the disk image, and run the .bat file to boot System 7.5.5
good day i hhave a question is there a way to make floppy drive appear at System 7.5.5 with Mini vMac i tried running my floppies but it doesnt show up doesnt mini vmac support it please reply
For some reason I am not able to download any file from the links on this page, they seem broken links…
Any idea why this happens?
Thanks
Hi Andrea,
I’ve just checked. The article was written in 2008 and the links to download old Mac versions directly from Apple are no longer available. However the remaining links are still accessible, including the link to download System 7.0.1 and System 7.5 (http://toughdev.com/public/old_mac_softs.zip) which I had provided. If there is a particular file you cannot download, let me know.
hello, I am trying to build the Instructables “Make A Tiny Mac from a Raspberry Pi Zero” and so I am at the step where I’m trying to download http://toughdev.com/public/old_mac_softs.zip from your site but the link appears broken. Are the files still available?
thanks very much for your help.
Hi, the files are still available. http://toughdev.com/public/old_mac_softs.zip works fine for me. You might want to try the HTTPS link https://www.toughdev.com/public/old_mac_softs.zip if the HTTP link doesn’t work
Wow, thanks so much for the quick reply. It worked with https link.