macOS is an advanced and at the same time reliable operating system that many PC users chose instead of Windows 10. Unfortunately, install Apple platform to a computer from another manufacturer is not so easy. The simplest and convenient way– loading the virtual machine.
Requirements for installing macOS on a Windows PC
For Mac installations OS X (10.5 and higher) on a Windows PC will need a virtual machine. You can use VMWare, which allows you to run the macOS operating system on Windows environment. As for hardware requirements, they are as follows:
- 8 GB RAM.
- CPU Intel Core i3, i5 or i7.
- 128 GB hard disk space.
Applications needed to install Mac on Windows PC or laptop
You also need to download the macOS image. The password is “xnohat”.
How to install Mac OS X on Windows
Step 1: Install latest version VMWare Workstation.
Step 2. Unpack Unlocker 2.0.8 and run the “win-install.cmd” file as administrator.
Step 3. After launching, you need to wait until the patch is installed and unlocks the ability to install macOS in VMWare. Open VMWare and create a new one virtual machine(automatic method). In the window that appears, select " Apple Mac OS X". In the Version list, select Mac OS X 10.7 or any newer version.
Step 4: After clicking the “Next” button, the virtual machine will be created. In order for macOS to work properly, you need to configure Hardware. To do this, select “Edit Virtual Machine Settings”.
Step 5: Click the "Add" button, then click "Next" twice and select "Use an Existing Virtual Disk" and click "Next" again. Now select the operating system image you downloaded earlier and click “Finish”.
Step 6: After completing all the settings, click on the blue launch button and follow the on-screen instructions to install OS X.
macOS is an advanced and at the same time reliable operating system that many PC users chose instead of Windows 10. Unfortunately, installing the Apple platform on a computer from another manufacturer is not so easy. The easiest and most convenient way is to boot a virtual machine.
Requirements for installing macOS on a Windows PC
To install Mac OS X (10.5 and higher) on a Windows PC, you will need a virtual machine. You can use VMWare, which allows you to run the macOS operating system in a Windows environment. As for hardware requirements, they are as follows:
- 8 GB RAM.
- Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processor.
- 128 GB hard disk space.
Applications needed to install Mac on Windows PC or laptop
You also need to download the macOS image. The password is “xnohat”.
How to install Mac OS X on Windows
Step 1: Install the latest version of VMWare Workstation.
Step 2. Unpack Unlocker 2.0.8 and run the “win-install.cmd” file as administrator.
Step 3. After launching, you need to wait until the patch is installed and unlocks the ability to install macOS in VMWare. Open VMWare and create a new virtual machine (automatic method). In the window that appears, select "Apple Mac OS X". In the Version list, select Mac OS X 10.7 or any newer version.
Step 4: After clicking the “Next” button, the virtual machine will be created. In order for macOS to work properly, you need to configure the hardware. To do this, select “Edit Virtual Machine Settings”.
Step 5: Click the "Add" button, then click "Next" twice and select "Use an Existing Virtual Disk" and click "Next" again. Now select the operating system image you downloaded earlier and click “Finish”.
Step 6: After completing all the settings, click on the blue launch button and follow the on-screen instructions to install OS X.
In any business, it is important to correlate the final result with the efforts expended to achieve it. So, run the program for Windows on Mac computer Can different ways, and their choice depends on the above ratio.
To run a modern AAA game, it will be easier to install Windows on your Mac right away, rather than having to struggle for a long time with “forwarding” a video card from a virtual machine or selecting the necessary libraries in Wine.
For a medium-heavy work application that does not require heavy graphics load, a virtual machine is ideal.
It is most convenient to run some light or older programs and games using Wine. I want to talk about the last method, but first I need to say a few words about the first two.
1. Install Windows OS on a Mac computer
Our Mac drivers call it Boot Camp, but to be precise, Boot Camp is just a set of drivers and an assistant for creating bootable flash drive.
Either way, Windows installs on a Mac and runs with full performance like a regular PC. Naturally, this leads to the main drawback - you need to reboot every time in order to get into Windows and run the desired program.
Buy Windows license 10 without leaving home.
2. Using a virtual machine with Windows installed
This method is often called Parallels Desktop, but along with Parallels Desktop there are other virtual machines, the most popular: VirtualBox, VMware Workstation.
A virtual machine allows you to run Windows or other operating systems directly within a running macOS. There is no longer any need to restart the computer, but the performance of the “guest system” as a whole decreases. Without special dances with a tambourine, this method is absolutely not suitable for games, even the simplest ones.
3. Running Windows programs using Wine
In my opinion, this is a very easy to use and underrated macOS option. It is unlikely to be suitable for professionals, but will be useful for ordinary users.
Advantages: you do not need to install Windows; the program can be launched directly from macOS. Performance losses are lower than when using a virtual machine.
Disadvantages: not every program will work, but even in this case you have nothing to lose, just use the first two methods.
What kind of Wine is this?
Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several compatible POSIX operating systems systems such as Linux, macOS and BSD.
Instead of mimicking internal Windows logic such as a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on the fly, eliminating the performance and memory issues of other methods and allowing you to fully integrate Windows applications onto your Desktop.
Lightweight and/or older programs written for Windows work well with Wine. And this is a significant advantage - after all, you have probably encountered more than once when a program found after a long search on the Internet, when launched, produces something like “ Power programs PCs are no longer supported."
Alas, macOS has a very short memory - the transition from Power PC to Intel in 2007, various other changes made a lot of software inoperable, which for one reason or another was abandoned by the developers. With Wine, you have access to a huge library of “legacy” software and games.
How to use Wine?
Many articles and videos on the Internet are devoted to various add-on programs based on Wine, which are good and useful in their own way, but are sometimes difficult to learn. You may be thinking: should you waste your time and effort, or should you immediately use proven methods?
Step 1. Install one of the versions of Wine. I recommend Wine Staging.
Step 2. Install XQuartz-2.7.11. We are talking about a native component of macOS, which is currently not preinstalled.
Ready.
Now let's try to run something.
Most of us had a difficult childhood and adolescence behind the PC. Sometimes you want to have something good old on your beloved Mac, for example, pinball from Windows XP. It is called Space Cadet, it can be downloaded from one well-known tracker or obtained directly from Windows in the form of a folder with files, one of which is called PINBALL.EXE.
Open it in Wine and look how beautiful it is:
Everything just works, smoothly, without brakes. This particular game doesn't run that well even in the paid Parallels Desktop, and it runs even worse in the free VirtualBox.
But there is a problem. If you expand the game to full screen, it will lose its proportions. Unfortunately, the Wine developers have not made any tools to maintain aspect ratios in full screen mode.
I resort to the built-in macOS ability to magnify the screen.
Let's go to " System Settings– Universal access – Zoom” and check the box next to “Zoom by scrolling with the modification key. Select this key (for me it’s control).
Now you can enlarge a small program window without losing its proportions. It's amazing convenient function for old games. The combination of Wine and this function makes macOS is the best a platform for retrogaming in general.
If the program you have is an installer, the conditional setup.exe, you can just as easily run it in Wine and follow all the installation steps.
To run the program, you need to go to the directory specified during unpacking. She is in
~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)
Where ~/ – your home folder with username (.wine hidden folder, to display it you need to click CMD + period + Shift in High Sierra.) All that remains is to find the required .exe file. You can move the folder with the unpacked program to any convenient location.
Another useful trick to know is to enable CSMT in winecfg settings.
This increases graphics performance in games using Direct3D, but also increases system load, so for undemanding programs it is recommended to keep this disabled.
Available only from Wine Staging. To launch winecfg, you need to launch a terminal by clicking on the Wine icon in Launchpad, and write winecfg. Next, go to the Staging tab and check “Enable CSMT”:
So, with the help of Wine, we wiped away a nostalgic tear by playing Space Cadet for Windows XP. But you can go further and play Space Cadet for Windows 95. This version has a higher resolution, slightly different game mechanics and two additional tables!
And most importantly, it does not work on modern Windows. But it runs on our modern macOS! That's her in the photo above.
Using Wine, you can run not only casual retro games, but I have had great success using the remote network access utility LiteManager Pro and some others.
Of course, Wine can work with more complex software, but for this you may have to tinker with the settings. Programs like Wineskin will be very useful. It's up to you to decide whether to spend time mastering them.
I love my Mac and I love the ability to run any software on macOS.
Using emulators, using Wine. It's just cool. I want such tools to be built into the system. And although, of course, this will not happen, it is in our power to make sure that more people know about them.
This year the Wine project celebrated its 25th anniversary, and that's saying something!
In most cases, OS X users are quite satisfied with the existing set of software for this system. What to do when the required application is developed exclusively for a more popular Windows system? There are several ways to run a Windows program on a Mac computer in OS X.
There are three such ways:
BootCamp
Boot Camp is a program included with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard that allows you to install and use a compatible version of the OS Microsoft Windows on an Intel-based Mac. (Apple)
Apple introduced BootCamp in 2006, following the transition of Mac to Intel processors. For the sake of historical justice, we note that it was possible to run Windows applications on the Macintosh before: for this, an expensive expansion card was installed on the Macintosh. For obvious reasons, this solution was not popular.
Before you create an additional partition on your Mac hard drive, create backup copy computer contents using Time Machine, and then launch “BootCamp Assistant” (located in “Programs” - “Utilities”) and follow the instructions.
The solution is not ideal, but the main thing is that the Mac turns into Windows computer. This means that the Microsoft system will work at maximum speed.
Disadvantages of BootCamp:
- A complete reboot of the Mac is required to start Windows. To select an operating system (OS X or Windows) during boot, press and hold the Option (Alt) key.
- Partitions (logical drives) created in Windows are not visible in OS X and vice versa. Why? Windows doesn't understand file system HFS+ with which OS X works, and the latter does not work with NTFS by default. Using additional utilities like Tuxera NTFS, you can add NTFS compatibility (read and write) to OS X.
- BootCamp installs only certain Windows versions. So, only Windows 8 with all its inconveniences.
BootCamp is suitable when there is no need to boot two operating systems at the same time and you need maximum performance. For example, it may be useful for gamers: after working in OS X, they restarted the computer and launched their favorite game in Windows.
Windows Emulator
This method is only good for running one or two Windows programs in OS X. It provides sufficient high performance and there is no need to install an additional system.
Using Wineskin and CrossOver you can try to run things that are not compatible with OS X software. Just give it a try, since this trick doesn’t always work: even if successful, problems with stability may arise.
Beginner users may encounter problems, since working with the emulator requires certain knowledge. Nothing complicated, information is easy to find on the Internet, but taking into account the fact that there are other ways, this method It cannot be called elegant.
Virtual machine
Virtual machine(VM, from English. virtual machine) is a software and/or hardware system that emulates the hardware of a certain platform (in our case, OS X) and executes programs for the target platform (Windows). (Wikipedia)
The best solution when you need two systems at the same time, or need to switch between them frequently. For example, for developers. At Windows startup the virtual machine does not require rebooting the Mac, and files from different partitions can simply be dragged and dropped from one window to another with the mouse. In addition to Windows, you can install any modern operating system in a virtual machine, with the exception of outright exotic ones.
To deploy an operating system (one or more) that is not supported by a Mac, you must install a virtual machine (program) in OS X. There are quite a few similar programs: Parallels Desktop, Vmware Fusion and Virtual Box. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, but in any case there is plenty to choose from.
Separately, I would like to mention Virtual Box from Oracle. This program has one important advantage - it is free, while competitors cost a lot of money: Parallels Desktop - from $79; Vmware Fusion - from $150. A free virtual machine has performance problems and even frequent lags are inevitable. Virtual Box is an excellent solution if you only need Windows for a couple of undemanding utilities.
After creating a virtual machine (installing the program and configuring the machine), you can begin installing the system. It is important that this can be done directly from a bootable flash drive connected to the virtual machine via a virtual USB port. Also, Windows can be installed from an ISO image.
Disadvantages of virtual machines:
- Limited performance - Virtual machines suck up a share of the Mac's hardware power.
- When you connect an external device to a Mac, it is not available in the virtual machine (it is connected in a separate menu).
What to choose?
The answer to this question depends on your needs. If you only need a single application, using BootCamp is not advisable because you need to restart your computer. In this case, it is easier to run Windows in an emulator. The virtual machine allows you to install various OS and easily switch between them - ideal for developers creating cross-platform applications.
Well, if you need high performance (for gamers), then BootCamp will be ideal.
P.S.: Some virtual machines are capable of running Windows installed using BootCamp.
Hello Khabrovsk residents. Recently I needed to write in Objective C under Mac OS X. My hardware is not the most suitable for all kinds of assemblies, and religion does not allow me to sit completely in this OS. I decided to install Mac OS X on a Qemu virtual machine in Linux.
Here's a list of everything I used:
-Gentoo Linux 64 bit
-Qemu 0.10.5
-KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) 88-r1
-KVM support in the Linux kernel
-Processor supporting Intel Virtualization Technology(in my case it's Core2Duo E6400)
-Linux kernel>=2.6.20
-Assembly Mac OS X iATKOS v7 (Leopard 10.5.7)
Let's move on to configuration, you need to add KVM in the kernel. Download the sources, unpack, launch make menuconfig:
Processor type and features->Paravirtualized guest support
We note:
-KVM paravirtualized clock
-KVM Guest support
-Paravirtualization layer for spinlocks
Next, a new Virtualization option appears in the kernel settings root
Let's go there and note:
-Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) support
-KVM for Intel processors support
-KVM trace support
-PCI driver for virtio devices
-Virtio balloon driver
We assemble, install, and reboot with the new kernel.
Now install Qemu with KVM support, and KVM itself
USE="kvm" emerge qemu
emerge kvm
Now let's move on to shamanism with a virtual machine.
We create virtual hard disk:
qemu-img create -f raw macos.disk 30G
If we are going to run Qemu not as root, we need to give rights to other users to read/write to the device /dev/kvm:
chmod 0666 /dev/kvm
Let's launch:
kvm -boot d -hda macos.disk -m 900 -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net tap -usb -no-reboot -no-shutdown -vga std -cpu core2duo -cdrom 10.5.7.iso
-hda path to our virtual hard disk
-cdrom let to the image
-no-shutdown -no-reboot necessary so that in case of an error the emulator window “freezes” and the error can be read
-net nic,model=rtl8139 emulate network card Realtek 8139
-net tap to guest system I saw on the hosting network you need a TAP device
-m 900 amount of memory allocated to the guest system
-boot d boot from seedrom
-usb USB support
-cpu core2duo Core2Duo processor emulation
Loading the disk. We mark the hard drive using Disk Utility(select from the menu above).
Setting up drivers.
Before you press the button Install pay attention to the button Customize
Things we need to choose:
x86 ACPI
Disabler
OHR
Remove TyMCE
CardBus
USB
Intel SATA/IDE
Kernels
Apple PS/2
Can be installed. We wait about 30 minutes.
Mac OS X is installed, setting up.
Now in the launch line we change -boot d to -boot c to boot from the hard drive.
Loading up. Now we need to come up with something with the network.
Searching on the Internet PCGenRTL8139Ethernet.kext, install it, very easy to install using the kextinstaller program. No network yet necessary files You can transfer it to the system via a flash drive, for example, add -hdb /dev/sdb(path to the flash drive device)
Reboot the guest OS.
Now for the network to work in Mac OS X, you need to go to network management, select the Ethernet device, turn it off (Off), and then turn it on and configure the desired IP (for example, 192.168.1.1), and configure the tap0 device in the hosting system:
ifconfig tap0 192.168.1.2
