Please let me know how this worked for you by commenting below
There are a few ways to get XBMC on your Apple TV. However, I find that when reading through the given steps, there’s either too much or too little information. So I am just going to state the facts.
Hardware Requirements:
An Apple TV
A Mac
A USB Thumb Drive – at least 512 MB
Software Requirements:
Disk Utility
ATV USB Creator
Let’s Get Started!
-
Step 1:
- Plug in your Thumb Drive
- Navigate to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
- Format your Thumb Drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) – You don’t need to completely zero out the data, just format it
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Step 2:
- Download and unzip ATV USB Creator – I’m using version: atvusb-creator-1.0.b10
- Double-Click atvusb-creator
- Setup your settings like the image below:
- Click “Create Using ->”
- Watch the progress bar… waiting… waiting… DONE!
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Step 3:
- Unplug your Apple TV
- Plug in your new ATV Patchstick into your Apple TV
- Plug in your Apple TV
- When Apple TV starts, you should eventually get the OS X Terminal showing you the progress of the patchstick install
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Step 4:
- Unplug your Apple TV
- Unplug your ATV Patchstick form your Apple TV
- Plug in your Apple TV
Assuming you didn’t have any issue with the install, you should now see a whole new range of menu items. Any important thing to note is that you’ll want to stop your Apple TV from automatically updating itself. To do that, go to your Mac again and:
- Open Terminal
- Type: ssh frontrow@AppleTV.local
- Type: password: frontrow
- Type: sudo bash -c ‘echo “127.0.0.1 mesu.apple.com” >> /etc/hosts’
- Type: exit
That’s it!
All I wanted to outline here is the simplified process of installing XBMC on your Apple TV. If you run into any problems during your attempt, please refer to the XBMC Support Forum.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
What happens if you don’t prevent the ATV from updating itself? And can XBMC be uninstalled?
Informative article – I love my XBMC on the XBOX. One of these days I’ll totally pick up an Apple TV.
What I’ve noticed since I bought my Apple TV is that randomly is will turn inself on in order to update. If you dont disable this feature, you wake up to your Apple TV turned on and your wonderful patch overwritten.
And yes, you can uninstall XBMC. Just posted an article explaining how…
Great guide mate. Very simple and contains everything necessary.
Cheers.
I’m glad it helped you out! Thanks for commenting!
Thanks! Worked like a charm.
Just a friendly tip…
Not all USB sticks are created equal… and some DO FAIL midway thru the process.. The linux part boots fine but when it comes to mounting the directory that contains the XBMC code and scripts the system breaks down due to the inability to mount the ‘other’ (non-linux) partition.
For example I had TWO (what seemed to be) identical purple translucent plastic 1GB sticks from PNY with ‘Attache 1GB’ printed on the plastic in white script.
Well my 1st attempt failed and after trying the same thing many ways I turned to my only other stick I could find and it was the same stick!
I though well that’s no help… but tried it anyway since I had no other choice short of a run to the nearest Walmart/Costco etc.
Well that stick WORKED!
After examination I notices while they looked the same and even came in the same package (I remember buying the 2 pack @ costco a year or so ago) they were actually not the same..
The stick that worked when you looked tru the translucent purple plastic had circuits that went nearly full the length of the stick (yea maybe 2 or 3 years ago).. and the stick that didn’t work had circuits that only went a little less then 1/2 up the length of the plastic case – clearly the insides were not the same.
Anyway… USB patching issues are not uncommon so if possible have a few to use just in case you have bad luck like me.
D