Figure one: Mounting a CD image using Daemon Tools
Setting up SheepShaver for Windows
NOTE: There is a slightly more UP TO DATE version of this page in our wiki. I highly suggest that you consult that version of the guide!
(Updated 29 September, 2008)
Introduction...
Setting up SheepShaver is fun and easy! But before getting started, there are a few things that you will need to assemble:
Dealing with your Mac OS...
The easiest way to install Mac OS in your emulated Macintosh is to acquire a retail CD containing the operating system. If you have the CD, skip to "Getting Started," below. If you have downloaded the operating system, however, setup is still very simple.
The Macintosh ".toast" file type is similar to the ".iso" type used in Windows. If you have downloaded a ".toast" image of Mac OS, the fastest way to use it is to mount it as a CD image. Do this by downloading and installing Daemon Tools Lite. Running the program will place an icon in your system tray. Right click and select "Virtual CD/DVD-ROM" and then "Device 0: [..] Empty" and finally "Mount Image" (see figure one). At the "select image file" screen you must select "All files" from the "files of type" menu (Toast files are not "supported" by Daemon Tools, but they can be mounted). Browse to the .TOAST file and click "open." The image should now be mounted and bootable in SheepShaver.
If you have downloaded an .ISO of Mac OS, mount it in the same way. Keep in mind that Daemon Tools is emulating a CD-ROM drive, so as far as Windows and SheepShaver are now concerned, you now have a new CD-ROM installed on your system. If you tell SheepShaver to boot from CD, it won't know which you are referring to... you have to manually tell it. More on that later.
ISO copies of Mac OS can be burned to CD in Windows, so you can boot from a physical CD without bothering at all with Daemon Tools. Change the extension of a .TOAST file to .ISO and you can burn it in the same way. I like to use ImgBurn to burn CDs. Nero works well, but it is a huge application - overkill for our purposes.
Getting Started...Download the files above. There is no installer to run - just extract SheepShaver. Remember to put SDL.dll in the SheepShaver directory and to install the GTK +2 Runtime. You will need to use your CD-ROM drive (or an emulated drive via Daemon Tools) to install Mac OS. Install SheepShaver's CD-ROM drivers by copying "cdenable.sys" (contained in the "CD-ROM drivers" directory) to your computer's "Windows\system32\drivers" directory.
Run "SheepShaverGUI.exe" to configure your emulator. The GUI contains seven tabbed setup screens. The first is "Volumes." In that tab, click on "Create..." to create a hard disk image file to which you install Mac OS. Decide how big the hard file image should be (Mac OS requires about 220 MB for a typical install) and give it a name. Click "OK" to create the file (see figure two). Be patient... it can take a few minutes to create the file.
When the hard file is created, the GUI will return to the "Volumes" tab, and the hard file should be listed as added to your emulated Mac. As the hard file is still empty, to install your OS you need to boot from CD, so select "CD-ROM" from the "boot from" drop-down menu. In the "CD-ROM drive" menu select the drive that contains either your physical CD or the image you have mounted using Daemon Tools. While it is not necessary for the purposes of this guide, you can check the "Enable 'My Computer'..." box to gain access to files on your PC from within the emulator. This is an easy way to copy downloaded programs to the emulated system. See figure three.
Switch over to the "Graphics/Sound" tab. You should probably make the resolution a bit bigger than the default setting. Any size is okay. The "Maximum" setting fixes the screen to your current resolution. The other settings here are best left to default for now. See figure four.
Switch to the "Memory/Misc" tab. Give your emulator some RAM... the more the better. Here you must also select your ROM file. Click "browse" to locate the file. See figure five.
Booting...
Click "Start" to boot up your emulated Macintosh. When the Mac boots, you will be asked to initialize the hard file you created. Give the file a name and click "Initialize" (see figure six).
Now you can install Mac OS. Figure six shows the desktop of an emulated Macintosh that has booted from a Mac OS 9 CD.
The actual installation of Mac OS is fairly straightforward, though the specifics differ based on which version you are installing. Just follow the directions on the screen, and make sure to install to the hard disk you intialied and named earlier (see figure six). You can pick and choose which components to install, but the default selection should be okay. You can add and remove stuff later on, if need be. Installation should just take a few minutes. See figure eight for a look at the Mac OS 9 installation screen.
When Mac OS finishes installing, select "Shut Down" from the "Special" menu. Open up the SheepShaver GUI. In the "Volumes" tab, select "Any" from the "Boot from" drop-down menu. This will make the emulator boot from your hard disk, rather than the CD-ROM Click "Start" to restart the emulator. See figure nine for a look at the desktop of my freshly installed Mac OS 9.
Congratulations, you have just set up SheepShaver for Windows, and installed Mac OS!
What else...
For more information about what all of the GUI settings do, check out the official documentation. If you want to get online within the emulator, check out a guide I wrote for Basilisk II. The process is exactly the same in SheepShaver.
If you want to run an earlier version of Mac OS, check out my setup guide for Basilisk II (System 7 and Mac OS 8.1) or my Mini vMac guide (System 6 and earlier).
Conclusion...
We're all done! For more help you should check out my SheepShaver Forum. Big thanks go to Gwenole Beauchesne for developing SheepShaver. Mad props to Cat_7 and Ronald P Regensburg for being cool and also for writing the help centre documentation that I based this guide on.