Mac OS X Guest Snow Leopard 10.6.4 on PC with VirtualBox 3.2.6 – on Windows

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Latest Oracle VirtualBox 3.2.6 is missing Mac OS X as guest and it supports only Server version. It’s not a surprised change from earlier versions as they announced ‘No Mac virtualization support on non Apple host’. Read more here about it. This post shows how to install Mac OS X Guest on PC with VirtualBox 3.2.6 on Windows 7.

I already posted detailed post about installing snow leopard on VirtualBox 3.2.0 which is having Mac OS X guest support as a selection.

Required Products

1) VirtualBox 3.2.6

2) Get Snow Leopard Installation DVD here or ISO file.

You can find ISO files on internet. Use ImgBurn to rip original DVD to ISO. Do not use DVD with VirtualBox, you may get reading errors.

Read more here to create ISO from Mac DVD

3) Boot Loader – VB built in EFI Bootloader will not work with SL retail DVD or ISO file.

For 32 Bit Intel Processor

For AMD Processor

For 64 Bit Intel Processor, use legacyempire_efi1085.iso from same folder.

My PC Configuration

Intel Core2Duo 2.66GHz, 3GB Ram, Intel P35 Chipset and Windows 7 32 Bit OS.

How to Install Snow Leopard Guest on VirtualBox 3.2.4 in Windows 7 32 Bit

1) Create a new VM. Give any name and select Mac OS X Server ( you don’t have other options) as shown below.

2) Set Memory more than 1GB and create a new hard disk. Increase the display memory size and enable 3D support under display options.

Just for a change, this time I changed hard disk type to SATA. I’m expecting some disk performance improvement by this SATA option.

Do you want to know how to add SATA hard disk in VirtualBox? Read here.

3) If you mount DVD or ISO file in to CD Rom and try to boot Mac Virtual machine now with EFI loader, you will stuck with following screen.

4) So, do not the step 3. To continue snow leopard 10.6.4 installation, follow the steps mentioned here.

5) Installation will fail with error message at the end, don’t worry. Restart the VM by console option ( Machine – Reset)

6) I’m sure, now you will land on first configuration Mac wizard and then desktop successfully.

Post Installation Configurations and Tests for Mac OS X Guest on VirtualBox 3.2.6

1) Network

Host only adapter and NAT networks worked out of the box without any settings.

2) Shutdown and Restart

This is an issue yet. After seeing message in black screen you have t do this in VB console (Machine – Reset or Shutdown).

3) Shared Folders between Mac Guest and Windows 7 Host in VirtualBox

This is not exact ‘Shard Folders’, but works well to share data. Shared folders require network connectivity between host and guest.

Create a share with appropriate permissions in Windows and make sure firewall allows file sharing.

Click on Go and Connect to Server in Snow Leopard menu.

Type, smb:// 192.168.56.1 < Windows Host IP>

Next Screen will pop up for windows authentication; provide windows user name and password for account having read/write access.

You can view the share now, or under Networks in Mac VM.

My Windows 7 C drive with writing access from Mac OS X guest.

4) 10.6.4 Latest Update

I did this manually, downloaded combo 10.6.4 update and installed. It worked without any issues. So, I got Safari 5 in Mac VM.

5) Boot from disk without Boot Loader

This can be done by installing myHack installer.mpkg from Post- Installation folder in empireEFI CD. Do a standard installation or if you go inside custom install, then make sure to select com.apple.Boot.plist option, do not select GraphicsEnabler.

Once installation completed, shut down VM and unmount EFI boot loader. This time it should boot from virtual disk without boot loader.

6) Screen Resolution for Mac OS X Guest on PC

This is tricky. For me it worked well, but some users reported failure and for others it worked in different way. By default you will get 1024×768 resolution, to increase this follow the steps.

a) Make sure you successfully installed myHack with com.apple.Boot.plist option. You must be able to boot from disk without EFI loader.

b) Now edit the com.apple.Boot.plist file as mentioned here. ( First try under /Extra folder)

c) I managed to set to 1440x900x32 to my host size to run Mac on full screen.

7) Sound

Still sound is problem. But you can hear some sound after this driver installation. Go to VirtualBox forum where sound driver details available, I suggest running the installation first, if it doesn’t work then try the manual installation.

After restart, sound icon will appear on Mac VM and one side speaker will work.

That’s it, now you will have working snow leopard 10.6.4 on VirtualBox 3.2.6. This post covers shared folders also between host and guest.

Note: I don’t guarantee this method will work on all computers, we are trying something which not supported by VirtualBox and Apple and so this may fail on your PC.

I have tested this method on 32 Bit and 64 Bit Intel Core 2 duo computers, some of users reported this worked for AMD and some users reported failure. Using the correct boor loader will solve the issues, better try with all three boot loaders.

Share your issues and successful stories here. I can help you if I can.

Good Luck.