VirtualBox on MacOS Catalina

[sumgr0]

Hi,

Has anyone here tried the VBox on the new MacOS Catalina?

Cheers!

[inner tuber]

The VirtualBox app seems to run. HOWEVER: it appears that the macOS 10.15 Catalina beta install erased the directory containing my Ubuntu vbox stuff! It was at the root of my disk at /VirtualBox VMs/Ubuntu/Ubuntu.vbox. I admit this seems unlikely - why would it do that?

[sumgr0]

Hi @inner tuber,

Damn, that getting on MacOS Catalina deleted your VMs. I've got mine on an external drive that I've got stuck on the Macbook lid, so I'd be careful not to plug-in while I update.

Also, which version of VBox you are using? Since I'm currently on MacOS Mojave Beta 10.14.6 and only version 6.0.4 seems to work on this one.

Cheers!

[socratis]

1. The first rule of Catalina is ... you don't talk about Catalina!™
   You're not really supposed to be talking about 10.15, remember that NDA that you signed?
   
   
2. We'll be able to talk about 10.15 somewhere in July, when the public beta hits the stores.

[inner tuber]

Hi sumgr0,

I am running version 6.0.8 but I have not yet downloaded a new ISO for Ubuntu so I can't say whether it actually works. Catalina seems about 10 times slower then 10.14.5 on my old 2013 iMac so it is not conducive to much real use.

[sumgr0]

Psst... don't tell them I was talking about it

1. The first rule of Catalina is ... you don't talk about Catalina!™
   You're not really supposed to be talking about 10.15, remember that NDA that you signed?
   
   
2. We'll be able to talk about 10.15 somewhere in July, when the public beta hits the stores.

[sumgr0]

Hi sumgr0,

I am running version 6.0.8 but I have not yet downloaded a new ISO for Ubuntu so I can't say whether it actually works. Catalina seems about 10 times slower then 10.14.5 on my old 2013 iMac so it is not conducive to much real use.

Thanks @inner tuber... I'd try it today and update on the status...

[sumgr0]

Finally moved to 10.15 and the current installation of VBox 6.0.4 works just the same. Haven't attempted to upgrade to 6.0.8 today. However, may try it during the weekend.

Cheers!!!

[socratis]

Cool. I'd be interested to know if you can run Mojave as a guest OS under Catalina as I'm searching for a virtualization solution for continuing to run 32-bit apps under Catalina.
I currently have Mojave running as as guest OS under Mojave without problems but I don't know if this will still encapsulate 32-bit apps from a 64-bit only OS under Catalina.

[andyp73]

As you already have Mojave running as a guest OS there is no reason to believe it won't work when you upgrade your host to Catalina. The host CPU isn't going to change and everything else the guest sees (more or less) is virtual anyway. I'm presuming you used some kind of hack to get a Mojave guest running as the VirtualBox UEFI solution doesn't support APFS.

-Andy.

[Mac@DBB]

That would be great. I followed the instructions at techsviewer to install-macos-10-14-mojave-virtualbox-windows with the slight tweak of executing the command line instructions from within the MacOS subdirectory of the VirtualBox package. Everything seems to be working ok with Mojave under Mojave, but without having been able to test it under Catalina, I've just got a lingering concern that Apple may have included some kind of gotcha to prevent this specific solution in Catalina.

[socratis]

I followed the instructions

That's not OSX, that's a Hackintosh. And it's not allowed. 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.

[Mac@DBB]

Not sure I understand. The Mojave VM was installed as a guest OS on a host 2015 MacBook Pro running Mojave. So I think the license conditions were met.

[socratis]

So I think the license conditions were met.

Maybe so. But this isn't an OSX that you have installed, it's a Hackintosh. I hope you understand the difference; not supported.

[Mac@DBB]

Thank you for that. I don't think I was suggesting that my experimental solution was supported (although I'd question your assertion that it violates the license agreement). My question was simply to sumgr0 and others asking how much luck they may have had in using VirtualBox to run 32-bit apps (particularly if in a Mojave guest) under Catalina. I really look forward to hearing more on this topic as Catalina becomes more widely accessible to beta testers as VirtualBox could really help those of us who won't be able to upgrade to Catalina unless there's a 32-bit VM solution.