Hackintosh Still Waiting for Root Device Problem [Fixed]

Still-Waiting-for-Root-Device

When you install Mac OS X on a non-Apple hardware device called a Hackintosh, you are likely to face the problem of “Still waiting for root device”. This is the message you get when you try to boot Mac OS X. This message illustrates that the disk containing the OS X image is not booting properly. This message keeps on repeating, and you cannot move forward till you find some solution for it. This article shows how to fix “Still waiting for root device” on your Hackintosh.

Still-Waiting-for-Root-Device-error

This solution works for people who have installed Leo4all v3 and received the message upon rebooting. The cause of the error is due to incompatible or incorrect configuration of the ATA controller.

How to Fix Still waiting for root device

Boot your PC using LeoV3 DVD as if you are reinstalling Mac OS X again.

Select the Terminal from the installer’s Utility menu.

Now, you have to copy all the kexts from the DVD to your hard drive.

For performing this task, you need to use the following command:

cp -pr /Volumes/Leo4allv3/System/Library/Extensions/*ATA* /Volumes/MacHD/System/Library/Extensions/.

You need to replace Leo4allv3 with the name of your DVD. Also replace the MacHD with the  name of your hard drive volume.

Set the permissions for the kexts you have copied. For this purpose, you need to use the following command in the terminal:

chown -R root:wheel /Volumes/MacHD/System/Library/Extensions/*ATA*
chmod -R 755 /Volumes/MacHD/System/Library/Extensions/*ATA*

Now, you need to remove the kextcache by using the following command:

rm -rf /Volumes/MacHD/System/Library/Extensions.*

Now, reboot your PC. It is highly recommended to press F8 when your PC is booting and then enter “-f” as the boot option to force reloading of the kexts.

It is not completely sure that this strategy might work for your Hackintosh, but still this solution is the most feasible one as reported by many people who suffered from the “Still waiting for root device” issue. You might try exploring more settings if your problem is not solved by using the technique mentioned in this article.

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