VirtualBox 3.2 allows OSX Guest Installations

[dyn]

Neither VMWare nor Parallels want to get on the bad side of Apple, that's why they only support virtualization for Mac OS X Server (where the EULA explicitly allows it).

The same thing goes for VirtualBox but they (Oracle) do it differently. VMware and Parallels enforce it by taking technical measures so that their software will only recognize and allow OS X Server dvd's. Oracle doesn't, they simply warn the user about the EULA violation if they install anything else than OS X Server.

It's just politics and maybe their legal department vetoing.

It's about the EULA and how you as a company want to deal with it. You could descibe this as "politics". I think VMware and Parallels want to play it a lot safer than Oracle. I'd vote for the legal department vetoing it.

 

[NiBE]

Anyone has tried with linux as OS?
I mean I'm tring with my linux box to virtualize Os X 10.6, but it remains with a gray desktop for a long time. Maybe Should I leave it a little bit more?
Any adivice?

thanks a lot

NiBE

 

[mkrishnan]

Are past revisions of OS X supported for the guest environment? If the software allows old versions of OS X to be run in virtualization, it would be a big boost for business / IT use of OS X, since it would address the issue that Apple does not support previous OS X versions on current hardware.

 

[NiBE]

Hi again, I'm the one trying to start up a MacOs X guesto into a linux box.
I was wondering, If I take the image already installed on a Mac hardware of a MacOsX 10.6.x and I move it on my VirtualBox on linux, it will run?

thanks again for any kind of advice

NiBE

 

[DoFoT9]

Yep. In previous betas of this version it was possible already, and somehow Apple let it happen.

IIRC only Mac OS X server was allowed by Apple to be virtualised by Parallels and Fusion, but Mac OS X "client" was NOT allowed.
So why Apple let VirtualBox to do so is beyond me.

Not that I care, I think it's fun 🙂

that is correct. osx only for VMware + parallels.

Virtual OS X, that should be fun. Good list of features in this release.

How does it work in terms of speed?

A lot of time ago, I tried a VMWare installation of Tiger, and it was extremely slow.

i use OSX Server virtualised on my Parallels machine daily. it has been turned on for 40+ days, 1GB RAM and has 2-cores of my i7. it works WONDERFULLY. i could not have expected any better results! the performance is what you would expect from a 2-core, 1GB RAM machine (lots of page outs of course, but meh).

if you are considering it, i would really recommend it - only if you need to though of course!

Are past revisions of OS X supported for the guest environment? If the software allows old versions of OS X to be run in virtualization, it would be a big boost for business / IT use of OS X, since it would address the issue that Apple does not support previous OS X versions on current hardware.

great thinking! thats a wonderful idea! it could possibly even allow for Citrix-like connections to be made to a bunch of VMs for users across the internet. i may just set something like this up 😀

 

[dukebound85]

does it run well? If so I may just abandon the hackintosh and set up a linuz bos with this as my osx fix

 

[DoFoT9]

does it run well? If so I may just abandon the hackintosh and set up a linuz bos with this as my osx fix

well i can honestly say, for anything but gaming/3D usage it runs PERFECTLY. literally... its amazing. i use it for a number of things, including general OSX Server things (i login from other computers on the network using the account), i VNC in from work/uni, host IRC on it, blaablaa. and it handles them all fine. no complaints at all from my end.

 

[dukebound85]

well i can honestly say, for anything but gaming/3D usage it runs PERFECTLY. literally... its amazing. i use it for a number of things, including general OSX Server things (i login from other computers on the network using the account), i VNC in from work/uni, host IRC on it, blaablaa. and it handles them all fine. no complaints at all from my end.

Hmm, what range of OSX can it use? can I say run 10.2 up to 10.6?

What about OS 9?

Do you still use your hackintosh? or is this the solution you use?

 

[dyn]

Only 10.5 and 10.6 because those two versions are the only ones you can use in a vm as both support the x86 architecture (the others do not so you need to use an emulator to emulate a ppc machine).

 

[grahamperrin]

VMs, virtual computers: attention to Apple software license agreements for Mac OS X

…unable to find anything in my 10.5 Client licence that forbade running in a VM.

With http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/ as our starting point, both
http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx105.pdf and
http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx106.pdf state:

This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time …

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/go01.html describes a virtual machine as a virtual computer…

…*The 10.5 Server licence explicitly allows running in a VM*…

Neither http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosxserver105.pdf nor http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx_snowleopard.pdf mentions virtual or VM. If you run Mac OS X Server (Snow Leopard) as a guest virtual machine on a host computer that runs Mac OS X, then you need two licenses:

• one for Mac OS X Server (Snow Leopard) on the physical computer
• one for Mac OS X Server (Snow Leopard) on the virtual computer.

 

[ChrisA]

Old thread, I know. But you all are miss a big point..

Virtual Box is Open Source. That means you (and I and anyone else) have the source code and can make it do literally whatever you like. OK, sure enough most users will lack the skills needed to modify and re-build the product but thousand of users are capable of this. So if Oracle were to put some annoying restriction in there it would be removed quickly by any of those thousands of technically capable users. Oracle could insist but then all that would do is create a "fork" and we'd have two versions. Anyone here can download the source and start a new VM project. Oracle knows this so they have to keep out annoying restrictions or they loose their leadership of the project. Printing a message if you try and violate Apple's EULA is maybe about as far as Oracle can go and still retain control of the project.

 

[grahamperrin]

Mac OS X guest using more CPU than is desired

… 108% of the CPU …

Consider:
OS X 10.6.3 64bit host with OS X 10.6.3 64bit 100% cpu usage, referred from OS X 10.6.3 64bit guest CPU usage 100%.