High Sierra on firmware updated 2015 MB Pro SSD

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
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abrody
Posts: 7
Joined: 21. Jul 2010, 18:04
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: XP SP 3 or 7

High Sierra on firmware updated 2015 MB Pro SSD

Post by abrody »

Is it possible within Virtualbox to run a HIgh Sierra virtualization on a SSD whole firmware won't let you boot anything older than Catalina?

I can use the startup manager to presently boot an external hard drive into High Sierra on the Mac, as it is a 2015 MacBook Pro.
I was hoping to take that existing partition from the external hard drive and somehow make it a VirtualDisk on Virtualbox running within Big Sur so I don't have to constantly connect the external hard drive to access 32 bit applications all the time.
Is that possible?
If so, what are the steps to do that?
scottgus1
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Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: High Sierra on firmware updated 2015 MB Pro SSD

Post by scottgus1 »

abrody wrote:take that existing partition from the external hard drive and somehow make it a VirtualDisk on Virtualbox
That's called a physical-to-virtual, or P2V. Try web-searching "High Sierra P2V virtualbox". Note that you might get a lot of 'hackintosh' sites, but Mac OS runs correctly in Virtualbox on a Mac computer.

Which brings me to the 'forest for the trees' thought: Why not get a High Sierra installer and make a fresh install in the VM? (If such a thing is possible, that is; I'm no Mac OS guru...)
granada29
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Re: High Sierra on firmware updated 2015 MB Pro SSD

Post by granada29 »

I think what @scottgus1 suggests is the best approach. Make a fresh install of High Sierra (using the Apple installer) and then migrate the files from your existing disk to this new VM. To copy files you enable Sharing in both the host machine (i.e. your physical Mac) and the VM.

Apple native sharing seems to work better than messing about with the macOS Guest Additions and trying to get them installed and working.

There should be no issues in running High Sierra on your machine apart from the 'gotchas' that others have asked about in Mac OS X Guests.

Note to Mods: This topic should be moved to Mac OS X Guests.
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