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How to Run OS X Mavericks in a Parallels Virtual Machine

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Apr 12, 2001
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Parallels has posted instructions on how to install the developer release of OS X Mavericks into its virtualization software. Installing the beta in a virtual machine allows developers to test their software in a secure environment on production machines, without endangering their day-to-day work.

osxmavericks.jpg
As you may have heard, Apple has released to its Developer Community a preview of the next version of OS X: OS X Mavericks. What is the easiest way to use a new operating system, especially a early preview of an operating system currently still under development? In a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop, of course. So, the Engineering team at Parallels has released Knowledge Base articles about installing OS X Mavericks in Parallels Desktop 8 and about installing Parallels Desktop 8 on a Mac that is running OS X Mavericks:
Click to expand...
The company notes that users cannot install Mavericks into a clean virtual machine, but they can upgrade an already existing OS X virtual machine to Mavericks with only a few minor changes.

Article Link: How to Run OS X Mavericks in a Parallels Virtual Machine
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/19/how-to-run-os-x-mavericks-in-a-parallels-virtual-machine/
rdlink

rdlink

macrumors 68040
Nov 10, 2007
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Out of the Reach of the FBI
Michaelgtrusa said:
Cannot install Mavericks into a clean virtual machine?
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This is something that both Parallels and VMWare will overcome in short order. Any time a new OS comes out they need time to update their software to recognize the installer file properly. Remember folks, this is still a very early dev OS.

BTW: I'm running it in Parallels right now, and the biggest issue I have is that it doesn't recognize the fact that I have a second monitor attached.
 
D

donutbagel

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2013
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AbdullahTammour said:
is there a way to install Mavericks using VirtualBox?
Click to expand...

I tried and failed to install Lion in VirtualBox already. Snow Leopard Server worked, but it was slow.

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I already put Mavericks as a clean install on VMWare Fusion; however, it was on an existing Mountain Lion virtual machine that I added a second bootup disk to. The graphics were having major problems in certain cases, but it booted and worked.

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arkmannj said:
Personally I'm a VMWare guy, has anyone tried installing Mavs. in Fusion?
Click to expand...

I did, posted about it above.
 
Candlelight

Candlelight

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Oct 12, 2011
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Is it possible to run VMWare on Mavericks? I can't seem to run any of my existing machines (which were created on Lion). Haven't tried a new machine yet.
 
Z

Zyphras

macrumors member
Jun 25, 2012
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I don't think that Mavericks is an interesting version of OS X to try out in a virtual machine. The final version will be much more interesting as you'll install that on your MacBook and notice the improvement in your battery life consumption. As for other features, it's not hugely interesting.
 
J

JetStar

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Jun 5, 2007
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petrucci666 said:
Makes no sense. Why would I have a virtual machine of a Mac, on a Mac?
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It allows you to run beta OSes such as Mavericks without the risk of messing up your main OS.
Second, some older software cannot run on the latest OSes, so you run the software in older versions in the virtual machine.

There might be other reasons, which I don't know of.
 
C

ChrisA

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Jan 5, 2006
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petrucci666 said:
Makes no sense. Why would I have a virtual machine of a Mac, on a Mac?
Click to expand...

Two good reasons. I've done this for both reasons.

Software testing. I want to be sure my software runs well on different versions of the OS

Failure containment. If the new Beta OS blows up I don't want it to corrupt my "real" disks. the version running inside the VM can only destroy the VM image and those can be restored in minutes
 
C

cryingrobot

macrumors regular
Mar 26, 2008
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Based on what happened with Lions, even if it does work somehow, Parallels will cripple their current version and make you buy their new version.
 
petrucci666

petrucci666

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Apr 30, 2009
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ChrisA said:
Two good reasons. I've done this for both reasons.

Software testing. I want to be sure my software runs well on different versions of the OS

Failure containment. If the new Beta OS blows up I don't want it to corrupt my "real" disks. the version running inside the VM can only destroy the VM image and those can be restored in minutes
Click to expand...

Sorry, I phrased my reply wrong.

It said you can't install Mavericks as a clean virtual machine, but only as an upgrade to an already existing OSX version in a virtual machine.

If I have Mountain Lion as my main OS, why would I also have Mountain Lion installed as a virtual machine?
 
C

ctakah

macrumors member
May 14, 2012
34
1
Yep, running Mavericks DP inside Fusion DP, alongside WIN8 on 10.8.5 as the host… Did a clean install of the Mavericks too! But as someone mentioned, doing a clean install involves a lot of shamanic dances and voodoo rituals converting the original disk image to VMDK, then Mavericks tried to install itself onto the virtual disk image it was installing itself from, so i had to make another virtual partition for it there blah blah blah...
but it works!
 

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stuckwithme247

macrumors regular
Jan 14, 2003
112
9
JetStar said:
It allows you to run beta OSes such as Mavericks without the risk of messing up your main OS.
Second, some older software cannot run on the latest OSes, so you run the software in older versions in the virtual machine.

There might be other reasons, which I don't know of.
Click to expand...

You can partition your hard drive with Disk Utility, without having to reformat the drive, and install Mavericks there. Your primary (probably Mountain Lion) partition will mount automatically, and that can be annoying when using Spotlight, but there is a simple fix for that here.

It might work alright in Parallels, but why introduce other variables into the equation when testing and developing with Mavericks?
 
furi0usbee

furi0usbee

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Jul 11, 2008
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Doing this right now, however Parallels 8 outputs the OS to full 2880 resolution. It doesn't do what Apple does with showing the resolution at 1440 effectively (relative size). So everything is very tiny at full resolution.

Going to contact Parallels and see if they have a fix coming. Other than that, I have to scale it to 1440 which is fuzzy and not at retina resolution.

Anyone have a fix?

Bryan

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EDIT: Forgot to say I'm using a retina MacBook Pro.
 
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