Run OS X in Windows... on a MacBook Air?

[palebluedot]

For philosophical reasons that aren't worth going into... I am going to quit using OS X. I like the formfactor of my MacBook Air, so I intend to use Windows 7 as my main OS on the Air.

I am wondering: Is it possible to run a legit (aka non-Hackintosh) copy of OS X Lion inside Windows 7 through an emulator like VM Ware? I know there can be problems if the installer doesn't notice the Mac host, but is there any special things you can do since it would be on Mac EFI based hardware?

All the guides on Google involve Hackintosh, this seems like an obscure request so I figured I'd ask the helpful MR community. Thank you!

 

[MacDawg]

I think Snow Leopard was supported briefly by VMware at one time
But beyond that, I don't believe OSX is supported any longer in VMs

 

[palebluedot]

I think Snow Leopard was supported briefly by VMware at one time
But beyond that, I don't believe OSX is supported any longer in VMs

Thanks for the response. Yeah it looks like from Google the only way to run Lion is through those sketchy Hackintosh builds. Bummer, since it's just a software lock and not a hardware issue

 

[palebluedot]

I have been looking around. It looks like there isn't much out there on this. I'm actually surprised.

 

[PackFan]

I have been looking around. It looks like there isn't much out there on this. I'm actually surprised.

I'm not surprised... You have much more versatile options running OS X than you do running Windows.

Options:

1. Keep OSX - Install a large Windows 7 partition in Boot Camp. Boot to Windows 7 most of the time - boot to OSX as necessary.

2. Keep OSX - Run Windows from within a virtual machine.

3. Drop OSX and go Windows 7 only.

 

[murphychris]

This makes almost no sense unless you can hack Windows 7 to natively EFI boot on Apple hardware. If you can only use the CSM-BIOS then you're inherently limited on the Air in terms of HDD and in particular SSD performance, and also power management (i.e. battery life sucks).

Next, you need a VM that provides an EFI and most VM's provide a software BIOS which is why all the Hackintosh stuff actually applies to your situation. The only VM I know that offers an EFI instead of BIOS is Virtual Box and the last time I used it, it would boot Snow Leopard Server but nothing else. Lion implodes and Oracle says no support for Lion still, officially, even though the Apple EULA allows it.

 

[palebluedot]

This makes almost no sense unless you can hack Windows 7 to natively EFI boot on Apple hardware. If you can only use the CSM-BIOS then you're inherently limited on the Air in terms of HDD and in particular SSD performance, and also power management (i.e. battery life sucks).

Next, you need a VM that provides an EFI and most VM's provide a software BIOS which is why all the Hackintosh stuff actually applies to your situation. The only VM I know that offers an EFI instead of BIOS is Virtual Box and the last time I used it, it would boot Snow Leopard Server but nothing else. Lion implodes and Oracle says no support for Lion still, officially, even though the Apple EULA allows it.

CSM-BIOS relates to running W7 on Bootcamp, I assume?

 

[murphychris]

CSM-BIOS relates to running W7 on Bootcamp, I assume?

Well, "on Bootcamp" doesn't really mean anything to me. That is either Boot Camp Assistant, or it's a collection of drivers for Windows to integrate better with Apple hardware. CSM is part of firmware and I wouldn't consider it part of Boot Camp. You can still use the drivers or get newer ones directly from the applicable manufacturer.

Apple hardware does not have very configurable firmware (no user settings). At boot time, with the option key, a Windows 7 x86-64 DVD installer will show up as both EFI Boot and Windows. If you choose Windows, this causes Apple's EFI to load the CSM, and thus a BIOS is reported to Windows and it produces a BIOS only installation of Windows. If you choose EFI Boot you get an EFI installation. But there is a separate thread detailing the problems (challenges) getting Apple hardware to EFI mode boot Windows 7. People reportedly have fewer problems with Windows 8 EFI boot on Apple hardware.

 

[Bobby.e]

You can hack Leopard and Snow Leopard into a vm. I don't think you can Lion or Mountain Lion.

 

[murphychris]

You can hack Leopard and Snow Leopard into a vm. I don't think you can Lion or Mountain Lion.

I did not have to hack Snow Leopard (server). Lion on VBox continues to fail. I Haven't tried other VMs. The key is to have a VM that has a decent EFI implementation, but the problem is Apple's EFI is Intel EFI 1.10, and most of the VM EFI's are attempting to conform to UEFI 2.x and I'm not sure how backward compatible it is.