After several days of attempts and findings, finally I managed to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard in VirtualBox 3.2 in non Apple Intel PC. This guide explains step by step methods involved in how to install snow leopard in VirtualBox 3.2.
This method is completely for testing and learning purpose. Do not use for permanent or in production use. Please buy original Mac OS and Apple hardware. Oracle VirtualBox 3.2 officially supports Mac OS X as guest on Apple hardware only. But still it’s possible to install Mac OS X on non Apple hardware with different boot loaders
UPDATE – 17-02-2011
Intel i-series processor users- Check this other guide with three methods suitable for Intel i3,i5 and i7 processors.
Check this post – This same guide re-written with several major issues fixed and how to update to 10.6.5
When you updating to latest 10.6.6, make sure to check few considerations at end of this guide.
The good thing is, you do not require any hacked Mac OS X installation DVDs or ISO files. Use your original Snow Leopard retail DVD or ISO file.
Required Products to Install Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on Oracle VirtualBox 3.2
1) Oracle VirtualBox 3.2 ( Read more and download from here)
2) Mac OS X 10. 6 Snow Leopard Retail DVD or ISO
3) EmpireEFIv1085.iso for Intel Processors (This is the boot loader we will be using to boot Mac, download the correct version here)
Updated- EmpireEFI Boot loader for AMD processor
4) VT Checker (Read more here and make sure Hardware Virtualization is enabled is Host BIOS)
5) Sound driver (Mentioned under sound)
Demonstration PC configuration
1) Intel Core2Duo 2.66GHz (VT Enabled, 64 Bit Architecture supports)
2) 3GB RAM
3) Intel P35 Chipset
4) Windows 7 32 Bit
Step by Step Installation of Mac 10.6.3 on VB3.2
1) Create a Mac OS X Virtual Machine with following configuration ( If you have latest VB, then select Mac Server version)
More information on installing SL on VB 3.2.6
Memory – Minimum 1GB
Processor Cores – 1 or more (Change it to one core if you face any issues. Two cores worked for me)
Enable PAE/NX, VT-x,
Nesting Page – Enabled
Enable IO APIC and Enable Absolute pointing device.
Remove Enable EFI. Built in EFI loader may work with apple hardware only.
Enable 3D Acceleration under display and setup maximum video memory.
Storage Controller type ICH6 and create a 20 GB Hard disk.
2) Mount empireEFIv1085.iso to CD drive. Make CD ROM as first boot device. Keep your Snow Leopard DVD or ISO file ready.
3) Start the virtual machine. When following screen appears, eject loader ISO and load Mac installation DVD or ISO.
To do it, right click on CD drive and select drive or ISO image. Wait a bit , Press F5 and ENTER Key when DVD loaded.
4) Wait for some time. If you see installation screen, you are almost done. Go through the installation process.
Go to disk utility and create a partition if you can’t see installation disk.
5) I got the following warning message at end of installation. It’s not an issue, just restart the Virtual machine.
Note – Shutdown and Restart will not happen normally, you have to do it manually from VirtualBox console. You have to load empireEFI ISO again to load from installed hard disk.
6) This time, select mac hard disk by right arrow key and press Enter to boot. I’m sure after several initial configurations you will land on Snow Leopard desktop successfully.
Let’s Check and Fix Some Issues in Snow Leopard in Oracle VirtualBox 3.2
1) Network Network worked out of the box. NAT and Bridged type worked without any patches.
2) 10.6.3 Update in VirtualBox Mac OS X Guest Yes, it worked. I downloaded combo update and successfully updated.
updated- 10.6.4 update also worked nicely with this method.
3) USB Support It worked well. Somehow data transfer is little slow, but manageable. It detected my USB hard disk and flash drive.
4) Sound in Mac OS X Guest Sound is a little issue here, but worked. I’m sure you are not going to connect 5.1 speakers, watch movies and listen songs. So follow these steps to install Sound drivers. For me it worked, one side speaker worked with little distraction. Something is better than nothing.
Updated- Try this driver for easy installation through pkg file.
If you are not happy with it then try manual method.
Download this driver file; extract the AppleAC97Audio.kext file on Snow Leopard desktop.
Open Terminal, (/applications/utilities/terminal.app) Type sudo -s in terminal then your admin password following this, now you should be root.
Type
sudo mv /users/(YOUR USERNAME)/desktop/AppleAC97Audio.kext /system/library/extensions
At this point the file AppleAC97Audio.kext should have disappeared from the desktop.
Type
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleAC97Audio.kext
Type
sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/AppleAC97Audio.kext
Now, CLOSE TERMINAL, then go to /system/library/caches/com.apple.kext.caches/ and trash Extensions.mkext (This cache will regenerate automatically on boot with the current kext library) Reboot and enjoy sound support! Original Source is here.
5) Screen Resolution and Screen Size Follow the steps to adjust screen size. Wide screen size didn’t work for some users.
6) Shutdown and Restart We can’t shutdown or restart Mac VM normally. You may see messages showing ‘CPU halted’ (for Shutdown) or ‘MACH Reboot’ (for restart), this means nothing will happen after it. Power off or reset virtual machine from VirtualBox console. Here is the working Snow Leopard Guest on VirtualBox 3.2.
7) Update 1
Install Boot Loader permanently and some fixes
To avoid attaching empireEFI ISO every time and boot OS X virtual machine, you can install boot loader permanently on mac local hard disk. This method will install Chameleon boot loader, and some other drivers and fixes.
Go to Empire EFI CD, which already mounted and open Post Installation folder. Take a snapshot before do anything at this point. Run myHack Installer Package.
Select Customize in Installation Type. 
Read each package description and select if it requires for your hardware. I recommend to not deselecting anything, which selected by default. Press Install button to continue. 
After successful installation, remove empireEFI ISO. Start virtual machine, it should boot from hard disk as shown below. 
If this doesn’t work, restore VM to last snapshot and install Chameleon boot loader from separate installation file in Post Installation folder. After this installation, boot loader worked and I can see good performance in OS X virtual machine on my Intel Core2Duo PC.
8.) Update 2
Some fixes for booting issues
a) Mac DVD reading error EBIOS read error: Error 0×0c Block 0×1ed48a Sectors 0 This is due to accessing data from Mac retail DVD to VB. Convert DVD with some cloning software to ISO. More people faced same issue and solutions are suggested here.
b) Booting errors after installation. Try with verbose or Boot Ignore Caches. In empireEFI boot loader, go to mac disk by pressing right arrow key. Once it’s selected, press down arrow key that will bring more options. Select and press Enter. 
c) Change Boot Loader For old type processors, select legacyempire_efi1085.iso, which will be in same folder.
if this boot loader and method doesn’t work on Intel processor then try this method with different iboot loader.
9) Shared folder between mac guest and Windows host, read this post ( Point 3) Network required.
10) Update 3 ( 17-02-2011)
- USB disks access gives trouble with same guide in Oracle VirtualBox 4. Snow Leopard virtual machine crashes when trying to explore USB storages such as flash disk and external hard disk. If you face the same problem, then check this guide how to fix this issue.
- IOUSBFamily.kext and IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext files should be replaced to older version immediately after the software or manual update to 10.6.5 or 10.6.6 before restart. If not, USB mouse,keyword, USB storage devices may stop working after the update. Read this guide on fixing USB issues after update.
Again, this method is just for learning and testing purpose. Feel free to share your comments and issues you face. I’m not Mac or VB expert, but I will try my best to help you.
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Have Fun.
Finally got retail 10.6 installed and running, but when I try to do the software upgrades, it initially says successful, but when I reboot it won’t come up. What’s the proper process for doing software updates? I have an AMD chip running VirtualBox 4 (latest).
Also, why is it anytime I shut down the OS I get panics and then have to reboot from the console? Is there a fix to that?
Thanks.
There is any way (some fix) to disable the IOAPIC flag after SL installation? (looking at the VB tips, this option SLOW-DOWN VM PERFORMANCES)
Would this be legal? ’cause I’m just using it for test/debugging (for my creative programs designed to work with mac os x), and tutorial purposes.
Would this be legal? ’cause I’m just using it for test/debugging (for my creative programs designed to work with mac os x), and tutorial purposes. PS. when i tried to runn it, im a little nervous that i take the risk of ‘legal’ actions.
Would this be legal? (I have the retail of mac os x 10.6.0) ’cause I’m just using it for test/debugging (for my creative programs designed to work with mac os x), and tutorial purposes. PS. when i tried to runn it, im a little nervous that i take the risk of ‘legal’ actions.
Michael, This is not legal.
Apple or VMware or Oracle VirtualBox do not support Mac OS X to virtualize in non apple hardware.
This is just for learning and testing purpose. When you have serious business with Apple products, better got with legal and licensed products.
I was wondering if you can help me on this. I have an AMD Dual Core Processor at 2.7GHZ AMD Athlon 2. I have the EFI Empire AMD Edition but whenever i change the .iso from the EFI Empire AMD iso to the Mac OS X Snow Leopard iso it goes to this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57651272@N05/5933968887/
and here’s the other part of the error: http://www.flickr.com/photos/57651272@N05/5934528910/in/photostream/
thanks so much for your time, you can email me at d.pachirisu.d@gmai.com thank you so much.
Has anyone solved your issue? Cause I’m on the same stuck part as well now.
I think its legal because you own the disc you installed. It may not be supported but then again virtualbox isn’t stopping you from doing it, that would be legal issue on their heads not yours
It’s called End User License Agreement (EULA) for a reason. The user is ultimately responsible for the legal consequences of his actions.
I think if you own a legal copy of the OS, Apple’s terms are a violation of the Fair Use laws.
Apple is well-aware of the Hackintosh community efforts, and have not pursued action against anyone except for the commercial efforts like Psystar. I think that is because Apple/Jobs come from hacker traditions themselves before hacker developed negative connotations. That doesn’t mean they won’t change their attitude in the future.
I’m going to install this when i get my copy of OS X Snow Leopard from ebay. I have though, can this be used to actually install it on an AMD Processor? thanks. I would really like to dual boot with Windows 7 Ultimate, Ubuntu, and hopefully Snow Leopard. I have three Partitions: Windows 7, Ubuntu, and a 55.3GB Partition on my 500GB SATA HDD. Thanks
He seguido la guia paso a paso y esta muy completa, muchas gracias por el aporte.
Saludos
Hi There,
Anyone can explain this step a bit more detailed?
2) Mount empireEFIv1085.iso to CD drive. Make CD ROM as first boot device. Keep your Snow Leopard DVD or ISO file ready.
Assuming I have the .iso in my host’s file system, how do you do this:
– Mount empireEFIv1085.iso to CD drive
please advise
Click the CD icon next to the selector in the VirtualBox Storage Settings box. When the Explorer dialog comes up, select the location of the ISO you want to mount.
It’s great.
Working very fine here.
I got snow 10.6.8 working on virtualbox 4.0.12 under Debian 5.0.
I have AMD Xeon process which does support visualization. Keeping the requirements in mind should I still give this a try out of enthusiasm?
VT is a system requirement for this process. You will have to install directly to hardware instead of VirtualBox using something like Boot 132, Chameleon, and EFI. I’m not sure if what you need is included on Empire.
is it possible on i3 prossesor with 4gb ram
steps 2-3 never work… I will do exactly that and it crashes. Can we get more elaborated instructions?
Hey there. Every thing went smooth until I saw the installation screen. When the Snow leapord DVD loaded it asked me to press a key. When I pressed it , it started to show a error message showing “A critical error occurred while running the virtual machine and the machine has stopped”
My System:
Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM : 2 GB
Same thing happened to me too. I also have a Core 2 (Quad) on my system, maybe its that.
I’m fine with my Core 2 Quad using his other procedure:
http://www.sysprobs.com/update-snow-leopard-1062-intel-amd-hazard-1064-virtualbox-328/
Hi I am trying the above steps but as soon as i select my snowleopard.iso and press F5 it gets rightly updates as Mac ISO but when i hit enter it just gets in Darwin screen and stops for some time and after 1-3minutes it gets into blank screen. Please assist. Mine is Dell XPS 15z i7 processor and have visualization enabled.
Any ideas please…
Did you solve it?
Its says “FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted.
Everything works fine for me up to step 3 going into 4. Then I hit F5, Hit enter, wait a moment and the VM gets all static looking like an old TV with a bad antenna. http://screencast.com/t/R2cc4P9ucP to see what I mean.
Specs for this install:
VB 4.0.12
4-5 GM Ram
128mb + 3D acceleration on for video.
20gigs of space dynamic.
All options said to be enabled are enabled all options said to be disabled are disabled. Followed the steps up until 3 by the letter.
My System is: AMD Phenom II X4 830 Processor 2.80ghz, 10GB Ram, 64bit, Windows 7 Home Premium SP1
ISO is: Snow_Leopard_10.6.1-10.6.2_SSE2_SSE3_Intel_AMD_by_Hazard
any ideas how to fix my issue?
update: a couple minutes after posting my VM screen went to a console screen and dumped out a bunch of data that makes no sense to me. screen cap: http://screencast.com/t/mJoHYlLJ3EF
checked the log similar data and have no idea if you can make heads or tales of it the log can be downloaded http://7pz.net/VBox.log
today is Sept. 06, 2011 ill leave that log up for about a week or so in hopes someone can help me out, if its even possible
Same here, bad antenna, doin nothing.
Specs:
AMD Phenom II x4 3,4Ghz
4 Gb DDR ram
ATI 6950
Hi there,
I am getting –> “can’t find mach_kernal” when I press F5 and then Hit ENTER
I mounted “empireEFIv1085.iso” and followed steps one by one
I stuck on STEP 3
Is there anything I missing ???
Guide me please
Thanks in ADVANCE
I get to the step where you are supposed to right click on the empire efi dvd and nothing happens. I am not able to right click and when i try to the mouse pointer disappears until I hit right ctrl
Hi,
I am tryiing to install mac OS 10.6 in virtual box 4.1.2 ..Everything goes well but when I press start button on vb it promt an error window which says “hardware acceleration is not available in your system” ..any fix for this…please help..thanks.
Check for VT enabled in your BIOS and use the Intel utility in Windows to make sure it is detected. If you don’t have VT on your computer, you will have to use another method instead of VirtualBox.
I have Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.7) running under VirtualBox 4.0.12 on Fedora 14 but I can’t get the audio to work. I tried installing the Apple AC 97 audio extension mentioned in the instructions above but the OS doesn’t load it. If there is a problem loading the driver, where do I find the error message? Can I load the extension from the command line (like modprobe in Linux) to force it to give me an error message?
Hey,
I’m stuck…I have the retail .DMG file…. Is it at all possible to do the same thing? Or does it require that i have a .ISO? Thanks!
Check the other article on this site for converting .dmg to .iso.
Alright, So it turns out that NO virtual machines will run on my computer because my processor does not support virtualization. So I would actually have to buy a new processor (Which I am) for this to work. If you get the message upon starting your virtual machine “Blah blah blah VT-X blah blah” then that means your processor does not support virtualization.
Check the instructions again. To be sure, you should run the VT Checker utility to confirm you do not have VT. Otherwise your motherboard support literature should tell you.
If you have no VT, you can run the VMWare installation if you check the other procedure on this site.
I have a message “memory allocation error (0 * daa26a0, 0 * 20 498)”
Who can help me?
Thank you in advance.
FYI, the “EBIOS read error: Error 0×0c Block 0×1ed48a Sectors 0″ issue when booting the mac install cd after the EFI ISO can also be fixed by checking the “passthrough” box on the settings for the virtual box cdrom (you have to be viewing the host drive + not an iso to see this checkbox – and you have to shutdown the virtual machine).
You got silver screen with a big apple in the middle on when you ended up with installation and you are on the first reboot ? I get the solution: before it reboots (you have close to 25 seconds) go above on Mac menu, select disk utilities, start up disk and select your device.
Enjoy !
HI,
I’ve create my iso files from my original DVD 10.6.7.
At the beginning of the installation process. It’s says MAC OS X can’t be installed on this computer. I’ve two choice Restore from Backup (time machine) or restart … Restart = crash
Help me please !
help me my proccer is Intel (R) pentium 4 3.40 GHZ and support sse2 sse3 Ican install on my pc but can not install on vitrual box i download last version of vitrual box but after start mac os 10.6.6 on vitrual view this eroor
and i want enble VT on my bios but i not find it and BIOS is award company
I have a message “memory allocation error ….” like amor too
Somebody can explain this situation?
Thanks))))
I get the memory allocation error as well. have a fix?
Anything new on the memory alloc error.
It comes up as soon as I hit F5.
Ctrl+I will not release mouse
Set up USB filters to block mouse and card reader
tried with 1gb and 2Gb memory
Screen as follows
Darwin/x86 boot v5.0 – Chameleon v2.0-RC4 r
Build date: 2010-01-06 18:52:42
2047MB memory
Memory allocation error (0xdaa2680, 0×20498)
VirtualBox 4.1.6 r74713
Man, you are a genius, thank you for this, i wanted to try this for a long time but now i have a chance to do so, and i did it so THANK you once more.
Hi,
I appreciate the help given. After burning a few hours on installation and almost giving up I finally got this installed. One tip I would like to offer others running this in a Virtual Box, I’m running VB 4.1.8 is to clone the the Virtual Disc. If you right click on the machine you are offered an option to clone. I tried to update to 10.6.8 and was stuck with a machine that no longer had a mouse. I just opened the original machine and followed the proceedures on http://www.tonymacx86.com to a tee and was updated
Thanks again for the help. Now on to installing Lion. .
Hey the sound driver links are dead!