Installing Apple's Leopard Operating System

The Installation Process

The actual installation procedure is straightforward. Just follow along as the Installer walks you through the steps. However, don't miss a couple opportunities to customize the process.

Select a Destination: After selecting onto which drive you want to install Leopard, click on Options. This is where you choose your installation method-Upgrade, Archive and Install, or Erase and Install.

Pick What Not to Install: Click on Customize. Here you can opt to not install several items in order to save hard drive space. Select any item in the Package Name list to view information about that item at the bottom of the window. When you're finished, click on Done. Here are some likely things you might skip:

Printer Drivers: Click on the expansion triangle to deselect drivers you don't want to install. You can uncheck all but the brand of your own printer (or printers) to save several gigabytes of space. However, if you're installing Leopard on a laptop, having all these drivers is useful if you ever need to use another printer on the road.

Additional Fonts: If you don't need the listed fonts, deselect this item.

Language Translations: If you don't need to run Mac OS X in non-English languages, deselect this item. Alternatively, expand the item and deselect particular languages.

X11: This option allows you to use software that requires the X11 Unix windowing system. Given that it takes up only 100MB or so, I'd say it's worth installing. In the future, if you find a cool program that requires X11, you'll be able to run it without digging out your OS X Installation disc.

Click on Install on the Install Summary screen and the installation will begin. The process can take a while, especially the step when the Installer checks the Installation DVD. (If you've previously installed Leopard using this same disc, so you know it's error-free, you can click on Skip to bypass this step.) When the installation process is finished and your Mac restarts in Leopard, you'll see either the full-length, full-screen Setup Assistant (if you did an Erase And Install) or a shorter registration version.