Install OS X 10.10 Yosemite in VirtualBox

[rmoriz]

There is a simpler solution out there using Hashicorps' Packer and the great build scripts from timsutton ( can build images for Fusion and Parallels, too.):

https://github.com/timsutton/osx-vm-templates

e.g.

https://gist.github.com/rmoriz/37b671afe53c984b2f85

[wslh]

I used OS X in VMware and Virtualbox (running Xcode) and the experience was awful. Mainly because 3D support is not available and OS X makes a heavy use of graphics acceleration.

OS updates also break the installation.

There are many discussion threads on this topic, like this one https://communities.vmware.com/thread/466874

[pierrec]

Same experience here. I usually don't have an Apple computer underhand, but I maintain cross-platform software for which I publish OSX binaries. I wish Apple gave some consideration to this situation, which is less of a problem for other plaforms which can be virtualized properly. After going though hoops running unstable VMs on old versions of VirtualBox, I ended up getting a vaguely stable build process up and running. But it was a pain.

Edit: less aggressive wording

[josteink]

> I used OS X in VMware and Virtualbox (running Xcode) and the experience was awful. Mainly because 3D support is not available and OS X makes a heavy use of graphics acceleration.

For desktop use it's probably true, but you can enable SSH and log in to run build-jobs and test-runs with Xcode and friends just fine.

[nowey]

I run Yosemite Zone on a Lenovo W530 just fine, 13Gb RAM Allocated to OSten. Sure it's a little slow but it's usable. Still I agree, on slower hardware it's useless. I'm buying a Macbook Air 2011 next week since I need something faster and the Lenovo is a company machine.

[zyxley]

Note that if you do this with 10.10, performance will be terrible because of graphics accelerations issues.

From what I understand, 10.9 generally works fine in VMs, but there was a change in the underlying graphics engine in 10.10 that works fine on real hardware but plays merry havoc with VMs.

[alkonaut]

It seems the image must be created on an existing OS X installation. Is a pre-baked image portable to virtualbox running on other host OS:es? (Yes I know, Eula yada yada).

[mahouse]

I know of some images that are available at The Pirate Bay, but they are only for VMware and also require some kind of patch to the virtualisation software for a reason I do not know.

[josteink]

It is.

[kriro]

I'm thinking about getting a MBP (have one at work) because the hardware is shiny and OSX is useful/needed for some things (iOS development, Unity development). However I'd much rather run Linux as the base OS. That setup wouldn't violate the EULA. I guess I'll spin up a VB-image on this OSX-MBP and see how it goes :) Useful.

[stephenr]

I would guess you'll probably get at best mediocre battery life not running OS X as the host OS.

If you happen to have any issues with hardware (that are actually hardware issues) it will also most likely be a lot harder (i.e. more involved) to get support from an Apple Store.

Also, from reading the quoted text about the "virtualisation" clause in the EULA - it may only be "acceptable" (by Apple's terms) to virtualise OS X on top of OS X (emphasis mine):

> to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software

[vbezhenar]

Consider running OS X as host OS and Linux as a guest OS in VirtualBox. Unless you are going to play games in Linux, you should have a good experience.

[Igglyboo]

You're far better off dual-booting or running Linux in a VM.

You're going to miss out on firmware updates and have bad battery life.

[MCRed]

There's not much downside to OS X for a Linux fan. Yeah it's BSD but most important unix programs you can get via brew, etc. And of course you can run Linux in a VM at native speed without much problem... run a dozen of them if you want to simulate a distributed system (Which is what I do before pushing out to the cloud.)

[ikeboy]

Why not just dual-boot linux-mac?

[cerberusss]

Now I remember why I don't like VirtualBox. There's always some problem when I use it. In this case, I followed the exact instructions. I have a non-functioning trackpad in the guest, which sometimes happens, and sometimes not. In the OS X installer, I also can't select the disk to install to. And when I powered down the VM and powered it up again, I get an error message "Error loading kernel cache (0x9)". That seems to be fixed when you follow the FAQ for "Stuck on boot".

The non-functioning trackpad I can get around, by rebooting until it works. Anybody had the problem where you can't select the target disk in the installer?

Edit: got it. You have to format the disk. In the installer, go to Disk Utility and "erase" the disk. This formats and partitions it.

[csvan]

Needless to say, this is a gross EULA violation (clarification: if you do it on non-Apple hardware, that is).

[legulere]

It's not, you're allowed to install OS X in virtual machines granted it is on a apple device.

[kuschku]

If you are in the US.

In other countries, these parts of the EULA might not have a legal meaning at all.

[nathankunicki]

Virtualization is expressly permitted by the Mac OS X 10.10.3 (Yosemite) SLA (Section 2B III) - http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX10103.pdf

(iii) to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use.

Unless you are talking about the modification of the installation media. That, I am unclear on.

[josteink]

Yes. Those legally binding EULAs with the associated EULA-violations we've constantly heard people getting jailed over.

How about you Mac-heads come to terms with Macs being bog standard X86 hardware and OSX being a bog standard X86 OS, and that running a bog standard X86 OS on bog standard X86 hardware is absolutely within everyone's legal right to do?

There's nothing special about your hardware nor OS. Get over it.

In the meantime I will virtualize OSX to get the Mac-specific parts of my build and tests running, and leave everything else on proper Linux.

[arihant]

Since Virtual Box supports EFI boot, and since we did not fiddle with the ISO in this process, that means this process will not work on incompatible older Macbooks, right?

[st3fan]

Can the same technique be used to run Yosemite under KVM?

[defied]

Take a look at http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/

I haven't tried it myself, but those instructions should help with running Yosemite on QEMU/KVM

[neals]

Would this run faster on a Windows-SDD than on a Mac-mini sloooow HDD?

[provemewrong]

Why don't you replace that Mac Mini HDD with a blazing fast SSD instead?

[Synaesthesia]

Graphics performance is often lacking - unaccelerated graphics under virtualization for Mac OS X is the norm. Otherwise, yes.