macOS guest on mac/ARM Host no luck, yet?

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
Post Reply
khb4711
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Jul 2022, 15:24

macOS guest on mac/ARM Host no luck, yet?

Post by khb4711 »

Hi,

is it too early yet to be hoping for a macOS Intel 64/32 bit 10.14 VM on a macOS/ARM Host?
I'm running the currently available test build 163376 (and have made some progress with my Debian VM compared to the previous test builds.)
I've created an ISO from the 10.14 installer on an Intel Mac (following instructions elsewhere on this forum) and copied it over. I can double-click mount it both on the Intel and ARM Macs. The VM was created from a 10.13 template and _seems_ to mount the ISO (because when I erroneously selected the MacOS 32bit template, it kept complaining about a non-bootable iso and asked me for a different one.)

Now I'm stuck at "kdp_core zlib memory 0x7000" ... A quick web-search seems to indicate that that's something people with hackintoshes have had upgrading their OSes at some point and solved it by upgrading their BIOSes.

I guess, I'll just wait? Or has anybody had any luck? Possibly with an older 32bit capable version?

TIA,
K.
multiOS
Volunteer
Posts: 1262
Joined: 14. Sep 2019, 16:51
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux, BSD
Location: United Kingdom

Re: macOS guest on mac/ARM Host no luck, yet?

Post by multiOS »

I certainly wouldn't hold my breath waiting for this!

The small number of 'entities' currently providing virtualisation applications for Apple's 'M' Series (ARM64) hardware seem to be agreed that Apple has effectively restricted virtualisation support to the provision of a 'front end' to Apple's own high level Virtualisation Framework, which currently limits the scope for supporting maOS VMs to the virtualisation of macOS 12 (Monterey), macOS 13 (Ventura) and macOS 14 (Sonoma); with the likelihood that future beta and final releases will also be supported, i.e. none is currently providing support, or seems likely to be able to offer a solution for the virtualisation of x86 macOS/macOS X versions on Apple's ARM hardware. While x86 emulation may be theoretically possible (unless prevented by Apple), whether or not it could deliver acceptable performance is highly questionable.

Those that have released virtualisation applications using Apple’s Virtualisation Framework currently seem to have provided solutions with the very similar capabilities; but which also display the same limitations:

• No resizing of virtual disks
• No virtual disk snapshots
• No drag/drop of files between host Mac and VM
• No ability to pass USB devices to the VM
• No ability to sign in with an Apple ID in VMs
• No more than two macOS VMs can run at once.

As these limitations seem to be down to the Virtualisation Framework provided by Apple, future improvement would seem to be dependent largely on Apple's own developments.
khb4711
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Jul 2022, 15:24

Re: macOS guest on mac/ARM Host no luck, yet?

Post by khb4711 »

Hmm, I guess, I don't quite get why the OS running in the VM needs to be aware of the virtualisation and offer any sort of support for it. I thought it used to be that the virtualisation software would just pretend to be hardware already supported by the guest and you'd be good. I mean, that was maybe only back twenty years ago, but ok.
Guess, I won't hold my breath, but I'll still keep knocking on wood and trying every once in a while.
So, it's a good thing after all that my old Intel Mac has a hardware issue that makes it virtually unfit for resale :P
JiF_Brodeur
Posts: 86
Joined: 19. Sep 2017, 03:37

Re: macOS guest on mac/ARM Host no luck, yet?

Post by JiF_Brodeur »

Hi, I am running VBox on my mac ARM M2, no problem with Oracle Linux for ARM, Windows not running. BTW a Windows does ahve VM support as well WLS is exactly that.
Have a nice day
Jean-François
Post Reply