What to press when installing Mac OS X Leopard using a non-Apple keyboard?
December 26th, 2009 | 
Author: I forgot the password of my Mac OS Leopard so I’m planning to install a fresh copy of the OS. I use a non-Apple keyboard (a keyboard for Windows). I inserted the OS disk and I pressed and held the "C" key. But it didn’t lead to the Mac OS Leopard installation screen. What is the problem? Maybe I need to press other keys for non-Apple keyboard? Please help. PS. my computer is an iMac G5.
Posted in Q&A | 
Tags: apple, apple help, imac g5, keyboard, lead, mac os, mac os x, os x, os x leopard
I’m assuming it is a USB keyboard and not wireless? (wireless won’t work for overriding the start up disk preference) If so, it should be the same. I have a Logitech keyboard (Windows) connected to one of my G5 towers and it starts with the c key. (although I have to use F12 to open and close the DVD drive due to the lack of a drive eject button) The OS 9 Macs used shift/c. You might try that. Remember that you should hold the key(s) down until the screen shows its spinning wheel.
A second way is to start up while holding down the option key. (have the OS disk in the drive) This will take you to the start up drive screen where you can select the disk and then it will be the preference when you restart. (also requires a USB keyboard as wireless keyboards are not recognized until further into the startup sequence.)
You can’t install from another computer’s DVD, only from a retail purchased DVD or a 200_ (fill in with correct year) iMac DVD.
To boot from the retail DVD, restart while holding the "Alt" key (equivalent to a Mac opt key) for about 20 seconds. That should open the "Startup Manager" screen. When it gets settled, click the DVD icon and press Enter (same as Mac Return). You can also get rid of the account passowrd issue in one of two ways:
Go to the hard drive /Users. Write down the name of his home folder.
Go to the first link below and follow the instructions. I didn’t put them in this answer space because the Yahoo Questions form limits line length AND "word" length, so the long commands get truncated with … in place of important parts.
If the computer doesn’t even login automatically (Hmm… that means you bought it without knowing if it even works!!!), follow these steps:
Boot to single-user mode (on a PC keyboard, hold Windows and S) and:
Type "/sbin/mount -uw /"
Press Return.
{Nothing appears to happen, no problem.}
Type "rm /var/db/.applesetupdone"
Press Return.
Type "reboot"
Press Return.
{Now stuff appears to happen.}
You will finally get past the "Welcome" in a dozen languages and then you can create a new admin user. It should be a different short name from your old user. A few screens later, you come to the registration. Just choose "later". It doesn’t come back later to nag.
After you have completed the new user, open the Users folder and look for "Deleted Users". It will have a mountable disk image that contains all your old documents.