Running OSX in a VM?

[faxon]

So I have a friend that wants me to help him set up an OSX VM in windows since he needs to run both on a PC and he doesn't want to dual boot or run a hackintosh. what kind of limitations are there on this, and how difficult is it to set up? i know VMWare Player has preconfigs for every other OS under the sun but i didnt see one for OSX when i looked, is there a VM client of some type that does? im not really sure where to start on this since i've always only needed really simple VMs of linux and windows server in the past, any help would be appreciated

 

[ch33zw1z]

Hope this helps:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Vmware

 

[dawks]

Technically speaking the only legitimate way for doing this is running Mac OS 10.6 Server in either VMware Fusion or Parallels on Mac OS 10.6 Desktop. All other methods would be hacks that I haven't dabbled in.

 

[masteryoda34]

You're probably not going to be happy with a virtualized OSX on Windows setup if you plan on using it for a significant amount of time/things. Besides this it violates the EULA.

 

[CKTurbo128]

There has been some considerable progress on running OSX 10.6 in VMware and ESXi. An unlocker has been released for VMware Workstation in that you can use VMware's own wizard to create a VM profile easily, without having to edit the config files. There are also audio and 3D drivers available, with people actively trying to get QE to work under VMware.

More info in this thread over at InsanelyMac: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=172474

 

[faxon]

that indeed will help, great info in there. thanks a bunch. if anyone has any other info or has done it before and has advice on how to start, let me know. afaik the guy has a legit copy of OSX as well or is willing to buy one, i built him a comp with a 980X and 2 SSDs a while back (he's a professional artist), and im assuming he has some pro software that only runs in OSX but which he wants to use on his supercomp instead of spending twice as much on a mac pro. ill talk to him about it though, because since it isnt an authorized config and would require hacks, i dont know if it will even allow him to run some of the software he's looking to use.

 

[dawks]

that indeed will help, great info in there. thanks a bunch. if anyone has any other info or has done it before and has advice on how to start, let me know. afaik the guy has a legit copy of OSX as well or is willing to buy one, i built him a comp with a 980X and 2 SSDs a while back (he's a professional artist), and im assuming he has some pro software that only runs in OSX but which he wants to use on his supercomp instead of spending twice as much on a mac pro. ill talk to him about it though, because since it isnt an authorized config and would require hacks, i dont know if it will even allow him to run some of the software he's looking to use.

That plus the software might end up running like shit if it does run at all. If hes a real professional, just spend the money and do it right. Its worth it in the end.

Sometimes software updates break hackintoshes, so IF you do manage to get something half assed running, you won't want to touch updates for fear of b0rking the system. Not sure what kind of professional he is, but as mentioned about 3D drivers, you're going to run into issues with 3D software including hardware accelerated photoshop and video editing programs. The driver support for hackintoshes are minimal for the most part.

 

[Ka0t1x]

That plus the software might end up running like shit if it does run at all. If hes a real professional, just spend the money and do it right. Its worth it in the end.

I can't agree more.

Running photography programs on a VM isn't going to work as you'd probably need the QE/CI support.