J
Jarret W. Buse
Guest
Mac OS X on Linux (AMD)
Many people would love to run Mac OS on a regular system without having to buy proprietary hardware to run it. The extra cost may not be worth it to some to be able to run an Operating System (OS). For some, it may be possible to run Mac OS X in Oracle's VirtualBox.
NOTE: This procedure requires a system with an AMD CPU that supports virtualization. Virtualization support allows the CPU to operate directly with the virtual system as if the CPU were dedicated to the virtual OS.
The software required are the following:
You will also need 25+ GB of drive space available for a virtual drive.
Once VirtualBox is installed, start a session and name it “Snow Leopard”, or whatever you may like. The Type is “Mac OS X”. The Version is “Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (32 bit)”. Click the Next button to enter the Memory Size. Set the memory to a minimum of 1024 MB, but if possible set it to the maximum amount that is still green so it does not interfere with the rest of the system. Select Next to specify the virtual drive. Select the option to “Create a virtual hard drive now” and select the “Create” button. The default of a VDI drive works fine, select “Next”. If the option for a “Fixed size” disk works, select “Fixed size” and then select “Next”. Now you need to specify the location of the file for the virtual drive and its size. Set it to a minimum of 25 GB and set the location that works best for you. Select “Create” to start the creation of the VDI file.
Once the virtual drive is created, the settings need to be made for the session. Right click on your new session and select Settings. Select System in the left pane and in the right pane, uncheck Floppy from the Boot Order. From the Processor tab, make sure the Processor(s) is set to one CPU. Even if you have more than one, set it for one during the install since it can be changed later. Under the Acceleration tab, make sure both options are selected. If the items are grayed out or missing, then your processor does not support virtualization and the setup will not work. Select Display in the left pane and in the right pane set the Video Memory to the highest value in the green and enable 3D Acceleration.
The Storage option in the left pane is where important settings are made. Select “Controller: SATA” and click to remove it, then select the icon at the bottom to “Add and IDE Controller”. Change the Type of the controller from PIIX4 to ICH6. Now add a CD Drive and an IDE Hard Disk. For the CD, select to “Choose a Disk”, then locate and select the “Snow_Leopard_10.6.1-10.6.2_SSE2_SSE3_Intel_AMD_by_Hazard.iso” file. When the IDE Hard Disk is added, select to “Choose a Disk” then locate and select the Virtual Drive file you created previously.
For “Network” in the left pane, set Adapter 1 as a Bridged Adapter. Set Adapter 2 as a Host-Only Adapter. Set Adapter 3 as Internal Network. Select the “OK” button at the bottom right of the window to save the Session settings.
Now, select your session for Snow Leopard and select Start. The system should show items being loaded similar to a Linux system booting. If any errors occur, look over your settings and verify they are all set as instructed previously.
After everything loads, you should see a screen similar to Figure 1 which asks for System Language. Select your preferred language. The system should now prepare for installation and the screen, Figure 2, showing the Welcome screen should appear.
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
On the Welcome Screen, click the “Continue” button and another window will appear, Figure 3, which requires you to agree to the Terms. Click the “Agree” button if you accept the terms. Next, you need to select a destination for the installation. Nothing is shown in the box, Figure 4, since the partition has not been prepared. To prepare the partition, select Utilities and then Disk Utility from the top menu. The Disk Utility should open as shown in Figure 5. Select the disk drive in the left pane then click on Partition to the right.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5
Under Volume Scheme, select 1 Partition. Give the Partition a name and set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), shown in Figure 6. At this point, you need to select the “Options” button. In the new window, set the partition scheme to Master Boot Record (MBR), shown in Figure 7. Choose OK and then Apply.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7
You should now have a screen asking if you want to perform the partition. The window is shown in Figure 8. Select the “Partition” button.
FIGURE 8
The partition will now be formatted. Close the Disk Utility tool by clicking on the red circle in the top left corner of the window. You should now see the “Select a Destination” window with a Hard Disk shown in the window as in Figure 9. Select the partition you created and click the “Continue” button.
FIGURE 9
The next screen, Figure 10, is the “Install Summary”. Here, you need to select the “Customize” button.
FIGURE 10
The Customization Screen, Figure 11, shows the various packages you can include in the installation. You need to select AMD and under Kernels, select Legacy_Kernel_10.0.2.0. Select “Done” then “Install”. Before the installation starts, a window opens to check the installation DVD as shown in Figure 12. This can be skipped. After this, the installation starts and will take some time depending on your system.
NOTE: The Legacy Kernel is used for both Intel and AMD processors. When you shut down the Mac OS and receive panic errors, you may need to reinstall Mac OS X and then select the Mobdin kernel to fix this problem.
FIGURE 11
FIGURE 12
Once the installation is completed, you will need to end the session and finalize the install. To finalize the install, open the session settings. Select the System option in the left pane and uncheck Enable EFI in the right pane. Select Storage in the left pane and change the CD drive image to “super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.00s2.iso”. Select the “OK” button to save the settings. Start the session and you should see a grub menu like in Figure 13. Select “Everything” and then select the second line, “Mac OS X/Darwin32-bit(hd0, msdos1) – Verbose Mode” as shown in Figure 14. A black screen should appear which should remain for about 20+ seconds before the system starts loading.
FIGURE 13
FIGURE 14
Once the Mac OS is loaded, you will be prompted to press keys on the keyboard so the system can detect the keyboard type. At this point, you are now running a “Hackintosh” system.
NOTE: If you are prompted by the system, do not perform any updates.
Many people would love to run Mac OS on a regular system without having to buy proprietary hardware to run it. The extra cost may not be worth it to some to be able to run an Operating System (OS). For some, it may be possible to run Mac OS X in Oracle's VirtualBox.
NOTE: This procedure requires a system with an AMD CPU that supports virtualization. Virtualization support allows the CPU to operate directly with the virtual system as if the CPU were dedicated to the virtual OS.
The software required are the following:
- Oracle's VirtualBox (version 4.3.10+)
- Snow_Leopard_10.6.1-10.6.2_SSE2_SSE3_Intel_AMD_by_Hazard.iso (torrent)
- super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.00s2.iso(http://www.supergrubdisk.org/2014/05/21/super-grub2-disk-2-00s2-downloads/)
You will also need 25+ GB of drive space available for a virtual drive.
Once VirtualBox is installed, start a session and name it “Snow Leopard”, or whatever you may like. The Type is “Mac OS X”. The Version is “Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (32 bit)”. Click the Next button to enter the Memory Size. Set the memory to a minimum of 1024 MB, but if possible set it to the maximum amount that is still green so it does not interfere with the rest of the system. Select Next to specify the virtual drive. Select the option to “Create a virtual hard drive now” and select the “Create” button. The default of a VDI drive works fine, select “Next”. If the option for a “Fixed size” disk works, select “Fixed size” and then select “Next”. Now you need to specify the location of the file for the virtual drive and its size. Set it to a minimum of 25 GB and set the location that works best for you. Select “Create” to start the creation of the VDI file.
Once the virtual drive is created, the settings need to be made for the session. Right click on your new session and select Settings. Select System in the left pane and in the right pane, uncheck Floppy from the Boot Order. From the Processor tab, make sure the Processor(s) is set to one CPU. Even if you have more than one, set it for one during the install since it can be changed later. Under the Acceleration tab, make sure both options are selected. If the items are grayed out or missing, then your processor does not support virtualization and the setup will not work. Select Display in the left pane and in the right pane set the Video Memory to the highest value in the green and enable 3D Acceleration.
The Storage option in the left pane is where important settings are made. Select “Controller: SATA” and click to remove it, then select the icon at the bottom to “Add and IDE Controller”. Change the Type of the controller from PIIX4 to ICH6. Now add a CD Drive and an IDE Hard Disk. For the CD, select to “Choose a Disk”, then locate and select the “Snow_Leopard_10.6.1-10.6.2_SSE2_SSE3_Intel_AMD_by_Hazard.iso” file. When the IDE Hard Disk is added, select to “Choose a Disk” then locate and select the Virtual Drive file you created previously.
For “Network” in the left pane, set Adapter 1 as a Bridged Adapter. Set Adapter 2 as a Host-Only Adapter. Set Adapter 3 as Internal Network. Select the “OK” button at the bottom right of the window to save the Session settings.
Now, select your session for Snow Leopard and select Start. The system should show items being loaded similar to a Linux system booting. If any errors occur, look over your settings and verify they are all set as instructed previously.
After everything loads, you should see a screen similar to Figure 1 which asks for System Language. Select your preferred language. The system should now prepare for installation and the screen, Figure 2, showing the Welcome screen should appear.
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
On the Welcome Screen, click the “Continue” button and another window will appear, Figure 3, which requires you to agree to the Terms. Click the “Agree” button if you accept the terms. Next, you need to select a destination for the installation. Nothing is shown in the box, Figure 4, since the partition has not been prepared. To prepare the partition, select Utilities and then Disk Utility from the top menu. The Disk Utility should open as shown in Figure 5. Select the disk drive in the left pane then click on Partition to the right.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5
Under Volume Scheme, select 1 Partition. Give the Partition a name and set the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), shown in Figure 6. At this point, you need to select the “Options” button. In the new window, set the partition scheme to Master Boot Record (MBR), shown in Figure 7. Choose OK and then Apply.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7
You should now have a screen asking if you want to perform the partition. The window is shown in Figure 8. Select the “Partition” button.
FIGURE 8
The partition will now be formatted. Close the Disk Utility tool by clicking on the red circle in the top left corner of the window. You should now see the “Select a Destination” window with a Hard Disk shown in the window as in Figure 9. Select the partition you created and click the “Continue” button.
FIGURE 9
The next screen, Figure 10, is the “Install Summary”. Here, you need to select the “Customize” button.
FIGURE 10
The Customization Screen, Figure 11, shows the various packages you can include in the installation. You need to select AMD and under Kernels, select Legacy_Kernel_10.0.2.0. Select “Done” then “Install”. Before the installation starts, a window opens to check the installation DVD as shown in Figure 12. This can be skipped. After this, the installation starts and will take some time depending on your system.
NOTE: The Legacy Kernel is used for both Intel and AMD processors. When you shut down the Mac OS and receive panic errors, you may need to reinstall Mac OS X and then select the Mobdin kernel to fix this problem.
FIGURE 11
FIGURE 12
Once the installation is completed, you will need to end the session and finalize the install. To finalize the install, open the session settings. Select the System option in the left pane and uncheck Enable EFI in the right pane. Select Storage in the left pane and change the CD drive image to “super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.00s2.iso”. Select the “OK” button to save the settings. Start the session and you should see a grub menu like in Figure 13. Select “Everything” and then select the second line, “Mac OS X/Darwin32-bit(hd0, msdos1) – Verbose Mode” as shown in Figure 14. A black screen should appear which should remain for about 20+ seconds before the system starts loading.
FIGURE 13
FIGURE 14
Once the Mac OS is loaded, you will be prompted to press keys on the keyboard so the system can detect the keyboard type. At this point, you are now running a “Hackintosh” system.
NOTE: If you are prompted by the system, do not perform any updates.