Note

This README.md documents the process of creating a Virtual Hackintosh system.

Working with Proxmox and macOS? See Nick's blog for sure.

Yes, we support offline macOS installations now - see this document 🎉

Requirements

• A modern Linux distribution. E.g. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 64-bit or later.

• QEMU >= 6.2.0

• A CPU with Intel VT-x / AMD SVM support is required (grep -e vmx -e svm /proc/cpuinfo)

• A CPU with SSE4.1 support is required for >= macOS Sierra

• A CPU with AVX2 support is required for >= macOS Mojave

Note: Older AMD CPU(s) are known to be problematic but modern AMD Ryzen processors work just fine (even for macOS Sonoma).

Installation Preparation

• Install QEMU and other packages.

  sudo apt-get install qemu uml-utilities virt-manager git \
      wget libguestfs-tools p7zip-full make dmg2img tesseract-ocr \
      tesseract-ocr-eng genisoimage -y

  This step may need to be adapted for your Linux distribution.

• Clone this repository on your QEMU system. Files from this repository are used in the following steps.

  cd ~ ### Very important
  
  git clone --depth 1 --recursive https://github.com/afimpel/OSX-KVM.git
  
  cd OSX-KVM

  Repository updates can be pulled via the following command:

  git pull --rebase

  This repository uses rebase based workflows heavily.

• KVM may need the following tweak on the host machine to work.

  sudo modprobe kvm; 
  echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/module/kvm/parameters/ignore_msrs

  To make this change permanent, you may use the following command.

  sudo cp kvm.conf /etc/modprobe.d/kvm.conf  # for intel boxes only
  
  sudo cp kvm_amd.conf /etc/modprobe.d/kvm.conf  # for amd boxes only

• Add user to the kvm and libvirt groups (might be needed).

  sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd
  sudo systemctl enable --now virtlogd
  sudo usermod -aG kvm $(whoami)
  sudo usermod -aG libvirt $(whoami)
  sudo usermod -aG input $(whoami)

  Note: Reboot after executing this command.

• Fetch macOS installer.

  ./fetch-macOS-v2.py

  You can choose your desired macOS version here. After executing this step, you should have the BaseSystem.dmg file in the current folder.

  ATTENTION: Let >= Big Sur setup sit at the Country Selection screen, and other similar places for a while if things are being slow. The initial macOS setup wizard will eventually succeed.

  Sample run:

  $ ./fetch-macOS-v2.py
  1. High Sierra (10.13)
  2. Mojave (10.14)
  3. Catalina (10.15)
  4. Big Sur (11.7)
  5. Monterey (12.6)
  6. Ventura (13) - RECOMMENDED
  7. Sonoma (14)
  
  Choose a product to download (1-6): 6
  

  Note: Modern NVIDIA GPUs are supported on HighSierra but not on later versions of macOS.

• Convert the downloaded BaseSystem.dmg file into the BaseSystem.img file.

  dmg2img -i BaseSystem.dmg BaseSystem.img
  rm BaseSystem.dmg

• Create a virtual HDD image where macOS will be installed. If you change the name of the disk image from MyDisk.qcow2 to something else, the boot scripts will need to be updated to point to the new image name.

  qemu-img create -f qcow2 MyDisk.qcow2 256G # or 64G

  NOTE: Create this HDD image file on a fast SSD/NVMe disk for best results.

• Now you are ready to install macOS 🚀

Installation

• CLI method (primary). Just run the OpenCore-Boot.sh script to start the installation process.

  ./OpenCore-Boot.sh

  Note: This same script works for all recent macOS versions.

• Use the Disk Utility tool within the macOS installer to partition, and format the virtual disk attached to the macOS VM. Use APFS (the default) for modern macOS versions.

• Go ahead, and install macOS 🙌

• Use this macOS VM disk with libvirt (virt-manager / virsh stuff).

  • OPTION: A: (Remediation)

    • Run command: (The 4 means 4GB of ram in virt-manager. (Remediation 8GB would be an 8))

      ./make-libvirt.sh 4

    • Launch virt-manager and start the macOS virtual machine.

  • OPTION: B:

    • Edit macOS-libvirt-Catalina.xml file and change the various file paths (search for CHANGEME strings in that file). The following command should do the trick usually.

      sed "s/CHANGEME/$USER/g" macOS-libvirt-Catalina.xml > macOS.xml
      
      virt-xml-validate macOS.xml

    • Create a VM by running the following command.

      virsh --connect qemu:///system define macOS.xml

    • If needed, grant necessary permissions to libvirt-qemu user,

      sudo setfacl -m u:libvirt-qemu:rx /home/$USER
      sudo setfacl -R -m u:libvirt-qemu:rx /home/$USER/OSX-KVM

    • Launch virt-manager and start the macOS virtual machine.

Headless macOS

• Use the provided boot-macOS-headless.sh script.

  ./boot-macOS-headless.sh

---

Post-Installation

Safari Fix

Remediation: install Google Chrome to be able to download the following programs more comfortably.

1. Go to: https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/releases and download the most recent version of AutoPkg-Assets.pkg and install.
2. enter: https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-safari-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/ and download Safari17.3VenturaAuto.pkg today if you see a newer version, download that one and install it .

extras

• See networking notes on how to setup networking in your VM, outbound and also inbound for remote access to your VM via SSH, VNC, etc.

• To passthrough GPUs and other devices, see these notes.

• Need a different resolution? Check out the notes included in this repository.

• Trouble with iMessage? Check out the notes included in this repository.

• Highly recommended macOS tweaks - https://github.com/sickcodes/osx-optimizer

• Tools: The MacPorts Project - https://ports.macports.org/ example: nmap, jq, htop, bash and more ...