This is a Bash script that creates a VirtualBox guest macOS virtual machine with unmodified macOS installation files downloaded directly from Apple servers.
The script requires very little user interaction. A default install only requires the user to sit patiently and, less than ten times, press enter when prompted. The script doesn't install any closed-source additions or extra bootloaders. Tested on Cygwin. Works on macOS and WSL, should work on most Linux distros.
Versions 10.15.0 and 10.15.1 of Catalina work, but they are not currently being distributed by Apple's software update servers, from which the script fetches the installer. A workaround for Catalina 10.15.2 and 10.15.3 is available involving using earlier versions of boot.efi. The issue will be fixed in the next maintenance release of VirtualBox.
Documentation can be viewed by executing the command ./macos-guest-virtualbox.sh documentation
iCloud, iMessage, and other connected Apple services require a valid device name and serial number, board ID and serial number, and other genuine (or genuine-like) Apple parameters. These can be set in NVRAM by editing the script. See documentation for further information.
The script by default assigns a target virtual disk storage size of 80GB, which is populated to about 20GB on the host on initial installation. After the installation is complete, the storage size may be increased. See documentation for further information.
Selecting VBoxSVGA instead of VBoxVGA for the graphics controller may considerably increase graphics performance. VBoxVGA is assigned by default for compatibility reasons.
Developing and maintaining VirtualBox or macOS features is beyond the scope of this script. Some features may behave unexpectedly, such as USB device support, audio support, FileVault boot password prompt support, and other features.
After successfully creating a working macOS virtual machine, consider importing it into QEMU/KVM so it can run with hardware passthrough at near-native performance. QEMU/KVM requires additional configuration that is beyond the scope of the script.
macOS may not support any built-in VirtualBox audio controllers. The bootloader OpenCore may be able to load open-source audio drivers in VirtualBox.
The VirtualBox EFI implementation does not properly load the FileVault full disk encryption password prompt upon boot. The bootloader OpenCore may be able to load the password prompt.
- VirtualBox≥6.0 with Extension Pack
Bash≥4.3 (GNU variant; run on Windows through Cygwin or WSL)coreutils(GNU variant; install through package manager)gzip,unzip,wget,xxd(install through package manager)dmg2img(install through package manager on Linux, macOS, or WSL; let the script download it automatically on Cygwin)