iBoot is another good boot loader to install Mac OS X on Physical Intel computer or desktop virtualization software Oracle VirtualBox. Follow this method if you failed with EFI Boot loaders or any. This post explains How to iBoot loader with VirtualBox to Install Snow Leopard and upgrade to latest version 10.6.4.
This boot loader looked pretty good and I’m hoping this will work with most of the 32 bit and 64 bit Intel processors, not sure for AMD.
Required Products
1) Oracle VirtualBox latest version
2) iBoot boot loader ( Its is available here)
Download all three versions. Use the correct ATI or NVIDIA version depends on your physical display card. If nothing works then use ‘supported’ version.
In this example I uses NVIDIA version.
3) Get Mac OS X Snow Leopard DVD here or ISO file. ( if you have physical DVD, better make it ISO)
4) Make sure Virtualization Technology (VT) enabled on physical computer BIOS, Read here.
As usual I’m showing this on my Intel Core2duo 2.66GHZ, 3GB, Windows 7 32 Bit computer.
This boot loader works with Intel processors only, it may fail for AMD users.
Follow the steps to use iBoot loader on VirtualBox.
1) Create a new Virtual machine.
Select Mac OS X Server as guest OS.
1.5GB RAM, 20 GB new hard disk (Attach it to SATA)
VT, Nesting Pageing and PAE enabled.
Remove EFI boot loader option under system. (To avoid booting from VirtualBox built in EFI loader)
Allocate Video memory to maximum and select 3D acceleration under Display option.
See Also
How to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on VirtualBox with empireEFI Boot loader.
How to install Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 on VirtualBox with pre-installed VMDK image.
2) Mount appropriate iBoot boot loader ISO to CD Drive through Virtual Media manager.
3) Switch on Virtual machine. You can see a screen as shown below, waiting for user input. Don’t press any keys.
4) Now unmount iBoot ISO and load Mac OS X ISO file. To do it,
Right Click on CD icon on VirtualBox console and select More CD/DVD Images option as marked by arrows.
In Virtual media manager, browse for Snow leopard ISO file and press OK. When you see the same screen again, Press F5 to refresh CD ROM then ENTER Key.
5) I’m sure first installation screen will start normally.
6) When no disks listed for installation the go to utilities, disk utility and select virtual hard disk. Create a partition and give a name. Close the disk utility box once all done; newly created partition will be appeared for installation now. Select it and continue installation ( on same screen select customize and remove printer drivers and language option to save time and disk space)
7) Have you got “Install Failed” message at end of installation? Don’t bother.
Just restart the virtual machine, that will also not work. You have to do it from VB console (Machine-> ACPI Shutdown and power off)
8.) Make sure to load iBoot boot loader to CD ROM before it starts, if not
“FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted” error will appear.
Mac OS X requires proper boot loader to boot from disk on non apple hardware.
9) On next screen, press Right Arrow Key, select Mac hard disk and ENTER.
10) There you go! It will start with identifying keyboard (ignore it by pressing escape key) and first initial configuration. Finally you land on working snow leopard desktop with VirtualBox and iBoot.
11) Some post installation configurations and checkups.
Network – Worked out of the box.
USB support, 10.6.4 update (Manual or software update), Shutdown and Restart problems, and Shared folders between Mac OS X Guest and Windows Host – Please check this earlier post.
12) Boot from Hard Disk without iBoot boot loader
Make sure you take a snapshot before continue.
To boot from hard disk, you need to install a package called ‘MultiBeast’. Either download it from inside Mac VM or transfer from USB disk. After unzipping open MultiBeast.pkg.
Under custom install select ‘EasyBeast for Supported CPU’ option which supports Intel i5,i7, core and core2 CPUs. Description for each option can be viewed at bottom of box.
Do not press continue button, go to next step for more settings. (I already installed it, so getting Upgrade option)
13) Screen Size of Snow Leopard Virtual machine
Each boot loaders install separate com.apple.boot.plist file to get special feature options during boot up. Install this file to change screen size resolution.
In same Multibeast custom installation, go to advanced options and click on com.apple.boot.plist.
Either select Verbose or Apple boot screen mode but select correct bit version. I selected 32 Bit Apple Boot Screen since my host is 32 Bit and any time I can type –v on booting screen to get verbose mode.
Once installation completed, follow the steps here to change screen resolution of Mac VM.
14) Sound
Several sound driver installation options available under Advanced options -> Kexts -> Audio. I had a hope and tried all, but nothing worked. These kexts made Mac OS X to talk directly to physical sound, network or graphics chipsets, but it’s not possible under desktop virtualization. VirtualBox can’t pass signals to physical hardware as it doesn’t support Mac OS X guest officially.
With little bit hope you can visit this sound driver page and install it.
I’m happy with this driver as long as I hear some sound and identify it.
That’s it. Installation and post configurations are done. Please note, you can’t get all features from this Virtual machine and it’s not recommended for long term use.
I suggest using it for learning purpose before you buy original hardware and software from Apple.
Share your success and failures of this installation method.
Subscribe to sysprobs and follow me to get latest updates on desktop virtualization.
Have Fun
Thanks! Giving this a try as soon the OS iso is done downloading. Trid the Hazard method but kept on getting a kernel panic, wasn’t sure if I had the correct flags. But Hopefully I will have better luck with this.
@G, This boot loader must work ( hopefully).
So what happened, have you succeeded?
Cool… i think now its time i taste the power of Mac!
Bro… can’t we use this to install mac on our real system?
I’m having problems to change my screen resolution. Already tried with VBoxManage, com.apple.boot.plist but it didn’t work. I’m still stuck at 1024×768.
In my MultiBeast installation screen, the com.apple.boot.plist option under Advanced options is disabled.
Oh, and thanks for the tutorial! It’s realy helpful.
@Jonatan, it may appear like disabled one, but click on it and install.
Or check some recent updates on this post to increase screen resolution,
http://www.sysprobs.com/increase-mac-os-virtual-machine-screen-resolution-virtualbox-vmware-player
@Jonatan
Type this below during the iBoot loader screen, make sure you use the quotations and capitalization, and of course replacing the resolution and color depth to match your native resolution.
“Graphics Mode”=”1280x1024x32″
@Dinesh
Yes, got it running. Played a lot of jokes and friends and family when they thought I bought a Mac, lol. But IMO it couldn’t touch Windows 7. Again thanks for the awesome tutorial!
@G,
Wow..thats a good and fun news.
Yes, when I first time setup Mac and made it full screen on my monitor, I couldn’t believe my self. That was great.
Have fun, keep visiting.
After hitting F5 and ENTER, the system kernel panics, saying “Unable to find driver for this platform: \”ACPI\”.\n”@/Extra/builds/xnu/xnu-1456.1.26/iokit/Kerne”
The last line of the screen says: “System uptime in nanoseconds: 56734280″
@Nik,
What is the host computer config? Are you using installation DVD or ISO?
@Dinesh
I am using ISO files.
The host is a Lenovo Thinkpad T61p, Core 2 Duo T7800. I have tried VirtualBox 3.2.10 and 3.2.0
When I use iBoot and hit F5 after swapping the ISO, nothing changes. The boot media says iBoot-Supported. If I hit TAB, and then F5, the screen goes black.
Nik,
Normally after pressing F5 after loading ISO file, you must see the installation DVD. If nothing changes, I’m sure something wrong with ISO.
Try to attach the CD drive to IDE or SATA.
OR
use some ISO software to open the OSX ISO and make sure its not having any problems.
Good luck.
Hi guys after I click on F5 the screen shows only apple logo nothing else, even after 15 min still showing the same thing, does any body know the problem?
System Summery: HP notebook DV5 (AMD Turion(tm) X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-70, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series)
@Nima,
Do not use iBoot loader on AMD, it will not work.
Check this post for AMD boot loader,
http://www.sysprobs.com/install-mac-snow-leopard-1063-oracle-virtualbox-32-apple-intel-pc
@Dinesh:
It’s the same problem not working, even with EmpireEFI Boot loader for AMD processor.
@Nima,
Sorry Nima, installing on AMD is little tough.
is VT enabled?
@Dinesh:
yes its enable
@Nima,
Then try with VMware as mentioned here,
http://www.sysprobs.com/mac-snow-leopard-amd-pc-vmware-image
I cant guarantee it will work on AMD since I don’t have AMD. Several users reported successful installation.
This worked great with Virtual Box and Snow Leopard until I ran updates and after the reboot required my mouse no longer works.
Anyone else having this problem or no a resolution?
TIA
And by no…I mean know
Hi,
Also do not forget to enable IO APIC, else it will not boot beyond the Apple logo screen.
Hi,
I am getting error “Virtual Machine – Guru Meditation” error after I inserted OS X 10.6.3 CD and after pressing F5. I am using HP 520 Machine. Please advise.
Comsys,
I am having the same “Guru Meditation” problem. Did you find a solution?
Thanks!
I had my mouse stop working after updating from 10.6.3 to 10.6.5 w/ the combo update. I went back to my snapshot right before the update and installed the update again, but also installed MultiBeast before rebooting and that seems to have fixed the mouse issue.
It didn’t work for me, it gave a panic screen, where you said:
5) I’m sure first installation screen will start normally.
well it didn’t, it gave a panic error screen, I’m using Intel I3 core
Here is the Panic Error Image Link: http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd129/gregowbr/PanicMacOSx.jpg
and I tried many times and I get the same error, I rebooted it, shutdown and tried again, but same error over and over, I’m doing the steps all correctly, But I think it has something to do with the I3 Core Processor..
Does someone have the solution??
Thank you!
I couldn’t start snow leopard.
Please tell me how to finish installing.
PC: HP e9380jp
CPU:Intel Core i7 860 (2.80GHz)
RAM:8GB
OS:Windows7 Professional 64bit
VirtualBox:Ver.3.2.12 r68302
Grafic:NVIDIVA Geforce GTS 250
iBoot
↓
Mac os X snow leopard 10.6.3 installer
↓
Apple icon
↓
Select language
↓
japanese
↓
「→」
↓
Mac OS X can’t be installed on this computer
↓
Restart
↓
power off screen
↓
power off virtual machiene
↓
start vm
↓
iBoot
↓
I can’t select “mac iboot”
I found that page↓
http://www.sysprobs.com/download-efi-boot-loader-intel-core-series-processors-install-snow-leopard-empireefi1063
I’ll try it now.
I failed again.
I couldn’t choose “Disk Utilities”.
It is semitransparent.
when i hit enter the apple logo with the pinwheel graphic appears and it stays like that for a long time
Maarij,
Can you tell the host computer OS and processor details?
Same Problem for me, installation worked fine, but when I want to boot the first time, grey mac logo appears and loads all of the time..
found a way to solve it!
iboot loader had an error, so i copied it and used the other version and now it works!
thanks for your great work!
Hi, glad you fixed the issue.
Hi!
First up, thanks for this guide!
Unfortunately I’m not getting past the fist mac grey screen, after mounting the Snow Leopard ISO image.
I’m getting “Still waiting for root device” – (used “-v” for verbose boot and “-x” for troubleshooting).
My PC specs are:
Intel Core Duo E6600 2.4Ghz
6Gb RAM
2x nVidia GTS250 (SLI)
Thanks for any input!
Host is 32 Bit or 64 Bit?
Check this post,
http://www.sysprobs.com/install-mac-os-1065-snow-leopard-virtualboxseveral-issues-fixed
This may help to install without boot loaders.
(above)
Nevermind, I had set 2Gb of RAM – by choosing 1.5Gb as instructed it booted
Glad you fixed in this way.
You can avoid my previous reply, Enjoy
HI,
I successfully reached till STEP 9 but after that when the Mac OS window comes up with a rainbow colour small (Mac wait icon) ball and it remains there for ever
what shall i do
In Vbox the priority is set to be of hard drive.
am using hp dv 6 win 7 64bit
Hi,
Have you downloaded the latest iBoot? is it Intel or AMD processor?
I suggest to reduce the number of processor (cores) and try. You can find some methods available here at Sysprobs with different boot loaders and without boot loader too.
Good luck.
THANKS IT WORKED
iBoot Rocks
Are their any solutions yet to the bluescreen when trying to restart or shutdown? It will bluescreen on me then kernel panic every time. I can see this being a problem if there is an install that requires a restart.
Are you using latest iBoot?
VirtualBox can boot Snow Leopard without third party boot loaders now,
Check this guide,
http://www.sysprobs.com/install-mac-os-1065-snow-leopard-virtualboxseveral-issues-fixed
After modifying the key in VMX file, shutdown and restart works fine. Let me know if this helps.
Hi Dinesh,
Don’t know if this thread is closed, but I’m having endless problems with this solution.
My specs, to start off with:
Intel i3 530 (Desktop)
Windows 7 x64
4Gb RAM
NVidia GT465 1GB
500 GB HDD (split)
VirtualBox 4.0.6 (Latest)
Mac OSx 10.6.3 installation disc (retail) that came with my Mac Book Pro
I did a bit of digging around assuming it’s my processor, but the i3 processor should be support out the box, not? I’m just playing around with Mac virtualization since I found that VB supports this, but I’ve only had issues, no closer to the end goal and believe, even more now that if you want a Mac just go buy one.
Thanks for your time
Note!
To anyone with similar problems as myself, a Mac Book Pro retail (OEM) DVD will not work. The tut clearly states that you need an off-the-shelf DVD, meaning Snow Leopard, in original pack bought at your favourite computer store.
I found that this is something a lot of readers don’t understand, as they don’t know the difference between OEM and “Retail”.
Thanks,
Eric
cant get it to work. gettin ACPI kernel panic.
am using 10.6.7 iso…..and latest iboot and virtual box…..however once i get the installation screen the mouse doesnt seem to work!
and i cant get past the second screen!
I am having the same problem… Did you find a fix or use a different iso of the OS?
Once I get to the grey Apple screen, a pop-up appears, and says “Guru meditation”. Any clue on how too fix this?
your cpu should be VT-x supportted otherwise you would get
It is a 2010 ThinkPad T410… I thought it had this? Am i wrong?
I get to the 6th step, and cannot proceed. All of the options under utilites (and everything else) is grayed out, and i can see the options, but not click on them. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
I’m from Iran and my English isn’t good and I can’t thanks any more.
This is the only guide that has worked for me so far. I’ve tried so many guides before this one. Thank you so much!!!!!!!
Works good until reboot. I get the iBoot and OSX icons on the screen, right click and hit enter, screen goes blank for about 5 mintues and then I get the grey apple screen.
My mouse doesn’t work when in the install screen and it also says it cannot be installed.
Same as Dusty… I can select English using the cursor, but then I get the message “Can’t be installed”, maybe due to no partition,, but without mouse unable to select disk tool…