Slow MacOS guest on MacOS Host with poor resolution

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
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TYM8888
Posts: 6
Joined: 30. Mar 2020, 21:54

Slow MacOS guest on MacOS Host with poor resolution

Post by TYM8888 »

Hi,

Please advise how to

1. Improve speed of the MacOS guest cursor. I have it on 1 CPU and 4 Mb RAM. Acceleration Default.

2. Improve screen resolution. Looks okay on Scaled Auto but full screen has poor resolution. I have set it to 225% in Virtual Screen 1.
granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 690
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: Slow MacOS guest on MacOS Host with poor resolution

Post by granada29 »

This thread is actually in the wrong forum. A Moderator should move it to MacOS X Guests.
That aside

Try adding a couple of CPU's to your configuration and increase the Video Memory to 128MB

You can set the screen resolution of a macOS guest using the commands detailed in Section 3.14.1 Video Modes in EFI of the user manual.
e.g.

Code: Select all

VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution HxV
where HxV is the required resolution

I'd advise going no larger than 1920x1080 with a Scale Factor of 200

I have found that the easiest way to use a macOS guest is to enable 'Screen Sharing' in the guest, then attach to that guest using the Screen Sharing client in the host. This gives acceptable cursor movement and also gives you simple file transfer via drag/drop.

I hope that helps.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Slow MacOS guest on MacOS Host with poor resolution

Post by mpack »

Topic moved to "OS X Guests" forum.
TYM8888
Posts: 6
Joined: 30. Mar 2020, 21:54

Re: Slow MacOS guest on MacOS Host with poor resolution

Post by TYM8888 »

Thank you very much.

Can you please help with "screen sharing" between the MacOS Host and MacOS Guest? I have made sure firewalls are off and screen sharing permissions are there. However when I try to connect to the MacOS GUEST server through Mac OS HOST using Finder command GO, it makes an attempt but fails asking to check firewall settings.

Best regards
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Slow MacOS guest on MacOS Host with poor resolution

Post by mpack »

Me? I'm afraid not. As a Windows PC user (made by HP) I can't legally get any OS X experience. I can however fall back on first principles: if you use bridged networking then the VM has the same status on the physical network as any other PC. Network permission and config issues would be for you to solve.
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