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
Meet VirtualBox VirtualBox is one tiny, powerful dude, and it is capable of installing macOS onto your Windows 10 computer as an app. It works like a charm with High Sierra, but before you get onto the guide, there are three little requirements that your Windows 10 computer is going to need in order for you to install the macOS onto your computer. How to Setup macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 on Windows PC/Laptop using VirtualBox 6.0.8. You can use virtualization programs to run and use the MacOS operating system on a desktop or laptop computer without an Apple Mac computer.
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.
- Maybe my english is not good enough but, I add use virtual box many time to install linux or window in my mac. Now, I need to have an earlier version of macos. 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.
- Download the 5GB 10.13 High Sierra ISO from techsviewer or the 7GB 10.14 Mojave VMD from techsviewer. Also, double check which version of Xcode your OS is compatible with before you download it.
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.
Macos High Sierra Virtualbox
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:
Mac Os Sierra For Virtual Boxing
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:
Apple announced macOS Sierra as the next operating system for people. But after macOS Sierra macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave come to market. Therefore, macOS Sierra is popularly designed for desktop and Macintosh. macOS Sierra is having great features like other operating systems of macOS. As we know that Apple is working great to bring something good changes on macOS. Like after working too much on macOS they bring the latest version of macOS Mojave. After that, they bring good features on macOS Mojave like dark mode is nowadays one of the most known features. By the way, as you know the macOS Sierra is the thirteenth major release of Apple company. After that, macOS X El Capitan released then macOS Sierra came to market. Therefore, from here you can download the macOS Sierra Image file for VMware and VirtualBox.
Download macOS Sierra VirtualBox and VMware image
macOS Sierra name is taken from a mountain that exists in Nevada California. And the new features are concern Continuity, iCloud, and Windowing. And as well can have good support for Apple Pay and Siri. However, the first beta version of the macOS Sierra developed and released at the WWDC conference in 2016. After that, brought the latest updates for people.
Related:
macOS Sierra Features
- Auto Unlock: If you are using Apple watch, then you can unlock your computer with Apple watch no need of entering the password. The Auto Unlock is one of the nicest features in the macOS Sierra.
- Apple Pay: While you are using Safari and visiting different kinds of Websites that support Apple Pay. Then you can check out all the information by Apple Pay.
- iCloud Drive: iCloud drive is the best place where you can store your documents or files. iCloud make you access your files everywhere through entering your email address.
- iTunes: This also is a part of Apple release new updates. Apple released the latest version of iTunes on the macOS Sierra. The new version of iTunes in macOS Sierra includes all the Apple music design.
- Message update: The message is updated in macOS Sierra. Which is similarly working the same in message iOS 10.
- Optimize Storage: Now macOS Sierra allows you to optimize your storage automatically using Cloud Drive. Storing the files on Cloud Drive will not be in danger. Because all the files you are storing there will completely safe.
- Siri on macOS Sierra: At the first the designed Siri only for iPhone 4S. Now you can use this feature on Mac also, you can open Siri on Mac for asking the questions, open Applications, search for files, set up Facetime, and control music on iTunes.
Install macOS Sierra on VMware and VirtualBox
- VMware: There are two platforms for running two operating systems in Windows at one time. Therefore, VMware player is the best Virtualization software. Which only can use on the x64-Bit Windows operating system. After installing VMware on your PC you can install any sort of operating system that you want. You can install or run macOS Sierra Final on VMware on Windows easily. VMware Player and VMware Workstation are having the same work and function. You can download and install it on your computer for getting more experience.
- VirtualBox: VirtualBox is a capable software. 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. Mistakenly if you mixed any code or add wrong you will face any sort of errors during the installation. OK! installation of macOS Sierra on VirtualBox or VMware. Need a computer with Windows 7 or later version of Windows with 64-Bit at least 4 or 6 GB RAM and dual-core processor. Installing macOS Sierra on VirtualBox on Windows is more difficult than installing on VMware Workstation or Player. So, in this case, I recommend you to use VMware Workstation for installation.
Download macOS Sierra VMware & VirtualBox image
While we are talking about an image file for VMware & VirtualBox. It means that the file is created only for VMware & VirtualBox. Therefore, we can not use VMware & VirtualBox to install on PC. All the files are generated correctly with VMDK files. However, you can download the macOS Sierra image file freely with a complete version and extension. By some clicks you can download it from Google Drive, then you can run in VMware & VirtualBox. The files are secure and compressed on Google Drive you have to download from there. Download files are large therefore you need a nice internet connection.
- Download macOS Sierra final 10.12 (One full) Google Drive
- Download macOS Sierra Final 10.12 (5 Of 5) Google Drive
- How to Fix Google Drive Download Limit, Quota Exceeded Error While you are downloading macOS Sierra from Google Drive. Might be facing any error so, check the above link.
- For extracting the compressed file of macOS Sierra use 7Zip or WinRAR.
Conclusion
That’s all about macOS Sierra 10.12 features and ways of installation on VMware & VirtualBox. I hope the article was useful to you. In this case, if you have something to share feel free and share your points. However, for your more support give us feedback and subscribe to our weblog.