During a recent pentest, I needed to throw together a macOS virtual machine. Although there was lots of guides around the web, none seemed to work from start to finish. This post contains the steps I extracted from various resources in order to get a fully working High Sierra install within VirtualBox 5.
Step 1: Download The High Sierra Installer
To do this, you need to be on an existing macOS system. I was unable to find the download within the App Store itself, but following this link opened the App Store at the correct page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12
After opening the aforementioned page in the App Store, start the download, but cancel the installation when it starts.
You can then verify that the installer has been downloaded by checking that
'/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app'
exists.Even after reading your tutorial, I can’t find the way to install high sierra on my virtual box. I had save the install link of high sierra but, can’t find the way make it running. Already do a virtual disk and a high sierra environment but, can’t find the way to let the machine use the install to create the macos in the virtual machine. Open it up and click the “New” button. Name your Virtual Machine “High Sierra,” and choose “Mac OS X” for the operating system and “Mac OS X (64-bit)” for the version (as of this writing, “macOS High Sierra” is not offered, but that’s fine.) Continue through the process. Which you can download and install freely from its official site. Therefore, VirtualBox is also the best platform for installing macOS Sierra. But it is a bit complicated while creating a new virtual machine for macOS Sierra on it. For example, while you are creating a new virtual machine you need to work properly adding some codes on VirtualBox. New Virtual Machine Wizard. On this page, select “I will install the operating system later” and click Next. Guest OS Installation. Yes, you’re right, select Apple Mac OS X and OS version then hit Next. Personalize and select a preferred location for the virtual machine and click Next. Name Virtual Machine.
Step 2: Create a Bootable ISO
Next, you need to create an ISO from the installer application that was downloaded in step 1.
Running the below commands will create an ISO on your desktop named
HighSierra.iso
:Step 3: Creating the Virtual Machine
I experimented with a few different settings in regards to the CPU and RAM allocation. I didn’t find a combination that didn’t work, but create a VM with the following things in mind:
- Ensure the name of the VM is
MacOS
(ensure to keep the same casing) - Ensure the type is
Mac OS X
and the version ismacOS 10.12 Sierra (64-bit)
(there is a High Sierra option too, but I chose Sierra by accident and it worked) - Untick
Floppy
inSystem > Motherboard > Boot Order
- Use >= 4096 MB of memory in
System > Motherboard
- Use >= 2 CPUs in
System > Processor
- Use 128 MB of video memory in
Display > Screen
- Optionally enable 3D acceleration in
Display > Screen
- Remove the IDE device in
Storage > Storage Devices
and replace it with a SATA controller - Add a new hard disk device under the SATA controller with >= 60 GB of space
- Ensure an optical drive is present under the SATA controller and mount the previously created ISO to it
- Untick the
Enable Audio
option underAudio
After creating the virtual machine with the above configuration, hit OK and exit the settings screen. Now, a number of extra options need to be set.
If you’re on Windows, you’ll need to
cd
into the appropriate directory under the VirtualBox installation path to run VBoxManage
. For Linux users, this should be in your PATH
variable already:After running the above commands, the VM should be ready to boot!
Step 4: Installation
This is where near enough everything I read stopped, despite there being one more problem in the way - UEFI.
Boot into the VM, go into Disk Utility and erase the virtual disk that you added to the machine.
After erasing the disk, start the installation procedure. After a short amount of time, it will reboot the VM.
Once it reboots, it’s going to boot back off the ISO again, once it’s done this, just shutdown the VM and eject the disk [the ISO] and then start the VM again to boot from disk.
On the next boot, it should boot into the installer that was copied to disk, but instead, you will be presented with a UEFI shell like below:
To continue the macOS installation, follow these steps:
- Type
exit
and hit return - Select
Boot Maintenance Manager
and hit return - Select
Boot From File
and hit return - You will see two partitions, select the second partition and hit return
- Select
macOS Install Data
and hit return - Select
Locked Files
and hit return - Select
Boot Files
and hit return - Select
boot.efi
and hit return
After following these steps, you will boot into the remainder of the macOS installation. From here, just follow the steps as per a regular macOS installation.
The next time you boot your virtual machine, you will not have to go through the UEFI shell; it should work without any further problems.
Step 5: Tweaking The Resolution
As there is no VirtualBox additions for macOS, the screen resolution won’t automatically change. If you know what resolution you wish to use, however, you can set it manually.
Ensure the virtual machine is powered off, and then run the following command; replacing
1920x1080
with whatever resolution you would like to use:After running the above command, the next time you boot the machine, it will use the resolution specified.
Now, you should have a fully working macOS virtual machine!
References
The information found in this post was pieced together from the following sources:
Mac OS is the secondmost popular operating system after Microsoft Windows. Although you arecomfortable using Windows for a very long time but there are many scenarioswhere you need a Mac OS machine.
Whether you want to develop your iOS app on Xcode, using apps like Final Cut Pro or iMovie which only comes on Mac OS, you need to buy an expensive Apple Macbook. So, without making a hole in your pocket, the alternate solution to this installing Mac OS on your Windows computer. Let’s get started with this tutorial
Watch Video Tutorial
Step One: Download Mac OS ISO Image file
As you are on a Windows PC, you don’t have access to Apple Store to download Mac OS. You need to download Mac OS from an external trusted source. You can download the latest Mac OS Catalina 10.15 or Mac OS Mojave 10.14 Installer files from our website.
Step Two: Download Virtual Machine for Windows
There is various free Virtual Machine software available for Windows such as Oracle’s VirtualBox. But I recommend using VMware Workstation Pro, although it’s a paid software but you can use it free for 30 days trial. You can download Vmware Workstation Pro 15 from this link.
Virtual Machines For Mac
Step Three: Install VMware Patch to run Mac OS X
- Go to the VMware macOS Unlocker page to download. Click the Clone or download button, then click Download ZIP.
- Power off all virtual machines running and exit VMware.
- Extract the downloaded .zip file in step 1.
- On Windows, right-click on the win-install.cmd file and select Run as Administrator to unlock. Also, run win-update-tools.cmd for VMware tools for macOS.
- After the unlock process is complete, run VMware to create the macOS virtual machine.
Mac Os On Windows Virtual Machine
Step Four: Create an Apple Mac OS Virtual Machine
- Click File, select New Virtual Machine…
- Select Typical (recommended) and click Next.
- Select I will install the operating system later. and click Next.
- Select Apple Mac OS X in the Guest operating system section and select macOS 10.14 in the Version section. Click Next.
- In the Name, the Virtual Machine window, name the virtual machine and virtual machine directory. I personally would put it on a different drive than the system drive.
- Select the size for the new virtual disk in the Specify Disk Capacity window. This is the virtual disk to be installed macOS. Click Next and then Finish.
Step Five: Run you Mac OS Virtual Machine with VMDK or ISO file
After successfully creating an Apple Mac OS Virtual Machine, you need to run the machine with an actual Mac OS file such as Mac OS Mojave 10.14 ISO file or Mac OS Mojave 10.14 VMDK Image
Watch this Video Tutorial
If you face any driver issues, Try installing VMware tools from the VM tab in the VMware window. Also, I would recommend assigning a minimum of 4GB RAM and 40GB of Hard Disk to your Virtual Machine.
That’s it for the tutorial If you face any issues or had any query then please let us know in the comment section below. You can also send us an email via the contact us page for personalized support.