Here is how to get MetaTrader4 (MT4) Forex trading platforms to work under Mac OS X.
Requirement: You must be using a Mac with the Intel Duo Core Processor.
1. Download CrossOver
Download a 30-day trial version of CrossOver from CodeWeavers at
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/download_trial_macosx/
(the for-sale version only costs $60).
2. Install CrossOver and quartz-wm
At the end of the installation it will request you insert Disk 1 from your Mac OS X install disks which came with your Intel Mac. This is important as a small file (quartz-wm) needs to be extracted from the X11 package. If for whatever reason you don’t see a dialog indicating that this was successfull (happened to me 2x), delete all installed CrossOver files and try again.
3. Create WinXP Bottle in CrossOver
At Configure/Manage Bottles within CrossOver create a new winxp bottle. You can name it anything you want. For here, I’ll refer to it as the winxp bottle. This will create a bottle stored within your user folder (see path below).
4. Copy/Paste MFC DLLs
From within your valid, licensed copy of Windows XP, navigate to the system32 folder and locate the following DLLs: mfc40.dll and mfc42.dll. Copy these to your Mac and then move them to the equivalent WinXP “bottle” within your user folder. The path is username/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/winxp/drive_c/windows/system32/.
5. Copy/Paste wingding Font
To properly show symbols and arrows, locate the wingding.ttf file in your Windows proper installation and copy it to your CrossOver installation in the /windows/fonts/ directory.
6. Install MT4
Download the MT4 installer (e.g. mt4setup.exe) from your broker. I tested using FXDD’s latest MT4 build 205. Double-click on the .exe and it should take you to CrossOver and begin running the MT4 installer the same as you’re familiar with when running on Windows. Select all of the default options for where MT4 will be installed. At the end, de-select (this is important) the option to auto-launch MT4 after installation is completed. (This doesn’t work.)
7. Launch MT4
From within the CrossOver application, go to the Programs menu and then select the MT4 application (it may be within a sub-menu with a symbolic link to the actual terminal app).
MT4 should launch and look just as good as from within Windows! And, MetaEditor launches as well! Check out this screenshot:
Enjoy!
UPDATE: Make sure the broker you are downloading from still has version build 218 and not 220. Also once you’ve downloaded version 4.00 build 218 don’t update it.
Version 220 has added security and will not work with crossover. (See comment #18 below)
If you can’t find build 218 any more use the link below to download a copy of FXDD’s MT4 Installer.
http://www.mediafire.com/?bjz0gkcoe1j
July 18th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
As of the Crossover version I downloaded earlier in Jul 2008, I was able to install and run MT4 flawlessly under Crossover. I am using it without problem.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Excellent! I gotta get me a Mac one of these days
August 13th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Alan, I am having so much problem with getting Metatrader to work on my Mac.
I have installed Crossover onto my Mac and Metatrader but when I look for the Metatrader app. I can not find it.. I have now removed Crossover and Metatrader from my Mac becuase I have had enough.
Can you help?
Thanks
August 13th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Hmm, have you checked out the CrossOver user’s guide?
http://www.codeweavers.com/support/docs/crossover-mac/
Normally if you follow those exact steps outlined above it should work.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:22 am
hello Alan, Nice to know you i dont see any contact form around, so i will comment here, I am wondering if you can cooperate, i am an SEO/SEM but i dont know enough about forex please contact my mail if you are intrested
August 28th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Yeah I took off the contact details as I was getting a lot of spam. The easiest way to reach me is via my forum http://www.moneyguruforum.com
userid: alan
PM me for anything important.
Ok Sir, I will shoot you an e-mail. I’m not too sure what you have in mind, but I guess I’ll find out.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:01 am
HI
can contact me on my email i have problem to install the Meta and codewaver on my mac.
Urgent tank you for your help
September 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
post your problem over here or start a thread at my forum over here:
http://www.moneyguruforum.com/forex/general-discussion/
Keep in mind that I’m no OS X guru, and if the problem goes beyond the standard troubleshooting then I am afraid I may not be able to help you.
Also did you research your problem on google? Most of the times if it’s something common you’ll find a forum posting or some info out there on the net.
November 14th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
i have trouble..
after install and i have new msg box :
cannot open oreans.vxd driver
help…
November 14th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
you mean after you install crossover or MT4? Make sure you followed the steps exactly as outlined. If that fails check out VMWare Fusion:
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
I plan to write a blog posting about it soon.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
hi allan! i couldnt locate the MFC DLLs you mentioned in step4 and wingdings in step5. please help.. thanks
November 28th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Hmm, then you’ve got a broken windows install. Try to get these files from another system or look on your windows xp install cd.
If that fails, you may wish to look into VMWare Fusion (see the post above yours)
November 28th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Oh it just occurred to me that you may have windows set to hide system files. Try this, open up a windows explorer shell by double clicking on the My Computer icon on the desktop, then click on Tool..go to Folder Options… click View, and make sure you have a dot in “show hidden files and folder” …click apply then ok, and browse on over to the C:\Windows\System32\ folder and look for those files again.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:59 am
“i have trouble..
after install and i have new msg box :
cannot open oreans.vxd driver”
make sure the broker you are downloading from still has version build 218 and not 220 also once you’ve downloaded version 4.00 build 218 don’t update it.
version 220 has added security and will not work with crossover. you can still get version 218 from ODL and probably others though i don’t know for how much longer.
http://www.odlsecurities.com/usa/odlmetatrader_demo_download.html
December 9th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Hmm..I see thanks James
I will dl and save a copy of MT4 218 and will setup a download link for you guys for future use.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:02 am
James hope you don’t mind if I quote you in my post.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Hi,
I tried ODL, but it just won’t install. It walks me through every step till I hit “Finish” button and it won’t launch.
I looked it up in the folders and it just doesn’t want to open.
IBFX downloads just fine but is not able to launch because it may be the 220 version. Same message “cannot open oreans.vxd driver” pops up.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Hmm, interesting…according to my research that oreans.vxd is related to something called Themida:
http://oreans.com/
This could be some issue with CrossOver. You may wish to send them an e-mail if you’re up to it:
http://www.codeweavers.com/
If this fails I can suggest an alternative to CrossOver - VMWare Fusion
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
I was going to write a blog post on how to get this up and running, but I’m a little bit busy with heavy EA testing.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:00 am
My best bet, at this time, would be to contact codeweavers.
I’ve tried a bunch of other platforms offering MT4 to no avail.
Thanks.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am
I contacted somebody at ODL and Monday he will call me back to help me install their platform.
He said he gets about 10 similar request every week (for macs).
Maybe I didn’t understand correctly exactly what he said regarding installation, but I remember that I was supposed to close the window at the end instead of pressing the “Finish” button.
I tried that a few time without any luck.
I’ll keep you posted as I find something out on Monday… hopefully.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Cool, I’d appreciate it very much. This way I can update my post to include this info in case anybody else runs across the same problem.
December 19th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
nope. no answer.
I couldn’t do a thing with MT4 on my mac.
I guess installing Windows would take care of it, but that would beat the purpose of having a mac.
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:41 am
here’s what I got back from codeweavers:
“While we don’t officially support Metatrader 4, I did learn that the company that makes Metatrader recently started using a system called nProtect (gameguard) to secure their application, and nProtect is completely incompatibly with Crossover, which is why you’re getting that oreans error message. We do not have any plans, or even the ability to support nProtect, so until Metatrader stops using it Crossover won’t be able to run Metatrader.”
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 am
Hmm…Alex did you try using MetaTrader 4 build 218..I’m not sure when they started using that nProtect, but I think it first appeared in build 220…
Try this:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/bjz0gkcoe1j/fxdd-mt4setup.exe
*it’s build 218* MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT RUN THE UPDATE PROCESS
December 24th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I tried installing the platform offered by FXDD but didn’t work either.
Thanks.
I’ll give it another try.
December 24th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
It just doesn’t want to work.
I downloaded it, created a new bottle, and it won’t work.
I can’t open it. The application won’t launch.
Thanks for your support.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:30 am
hmm odd…can you at least run/install other windows programs? I do hope you have crossover setup properly..
Have you looked into Vmware Fusion?
December 29th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Yes, I can download and run other programs in crossover (gannanalyst for example, Internet Explorer).
I have not tried Vmware, as I understand I need to have MS windows installed.
I really don’t want windows on my computer, that’s why I was really excited about crossover.
December 30th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Well, you would have to install Windows inside the virtual machine. Vmware fusion is a virtualization system. Check this link for more details:
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 am
hey
does anybody have a mfc40.dll and mfc42.dll and for file for download…
i dont have a windows installation anywhere…
can you please sent it to me on the email or post here
anton at karbanovich dot com
thank you very much
anton.