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OSX Host vs Guest?

Posted: 19. Feb 2019, 22:06
by VMAC
I want to make this thread about all of the things you'd miss out on if you ran OSX as a guest instead of a host. I'm hoping I can get close enough to never run OSX as a host again (Apple hardware sucks for the price). Here are a list of some of the things I suspect might now work (or work as well). Perhaps your collective experience can help me confirm these things quickly:

1) CPUs -- seems OSX can take full advantage as a guest.
2) GPUs -- Adobe under OSX host cannot take good advantage, but FCX can - but as a guest will it be the same story?
3) Audio -- latency is good enough using Ableton Live and similar DACs on OSX hosts, but what about OSX guests?
4) Games -- doesn't matter to me, but maybe to others they do.
5) Software compatibility -- Seems like everything would work the same on guest as it does natively on a host.
6) Performance -- more potential memory, more potential GPU, more potential GPU (the question is, which can the guest not take advantage of).

Since it is a pain to have multiple host OSs, it may be a useful thread to collect information for people trying to decide if they want OSX as a host OS again. If we can get the benefits of OSX as a guest, then we don't have to deal with building a "hackintosh."
Thanks - and looking forward to hearing your wisdom :)

Re: OSX Host vs Guest?

Posted: 20. Feb 2019, 03:11
by socratis
VMAC wrote:Apple hardware sucks for the price
VMAC wrote:If we can get the benefits of OSX as a guest, then we don't have to deal with building a "hackintosh."
Unfortunately OSX guests are only supported on Apple hardware, which you do not seem to like, therefore guessing that you don't have. See: Important notice regarding Mac OS X as Guest and ch. 3.1.1 Mac OS X Guests of the User Manual.
Mac OS X is commercial, licensed software and contains both license and technical restrictions that limit its use to certain hardware and usage scenarios. You must understand and comply with these restrictions.

In particular, Apple prohibits the installation of most versions of Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware.

These license restrictions are also enforced on a technical level. Mac OS X verifies that it is running on Apple hardware. Most DVDs that accompany Apple hardware check for the exact model. These restrictions are not circumvented by Oracle VM VirtualBox and continue to apply.
In the really rare case (0.001%) that this is actually an Apple computer, in which you have installed Windows/Linux/other, and you're trying to boot a legitimate OSX guest and not a Hackintosh, send me a PM and I'll remedy the situation. Be prepared to provide evidence in such a case.