Finally, after several days of attempts and findings, I managed to install Mac Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on VirtualBox 3.2 in Non Apple Intel PC. This tutorial explains step by step method to install snow leopard on VirtualBox 3.2.
Updated on 17/07/2010.
Shared folders between Mac guest and Windows 7 host ( 9th Point)
Boot loader for AMD Processor
10.6.4 update
Updated on 29/05/2010.
Install Boot loader on hard disk, so every time empireEFI ISO not required (7th Point)
Some fixes for booting issues (8th Point)
This method is completely for testing and learning purpose. Do not use for permanent or in production use. Please buy original Mac OS and hardware from Apple. 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.
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 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 (have? If not, Don’t ask me where to get)
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 cant 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.
I heard about Mac OS X guest additions, but couldn’t get correct information.
I will be updating about it in this blog, once it’s available, sound and display will be working well.
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.
@Jack, Thanks for the suggestion.How I and others missed?
You are a nice friend.
[...] How Install Mac Snow Leopard on VirtualBox 3.2 in Non Apple, Intel PC [...]
Please help.
only message i seem to get is ACPI table not found: DSDM.aml
Install goes fine but i never get to boot into OSX after install.
I boot from loader then run the HDD but always get a black screen.
Any ideias?
Please help, tried everything.
Is there boot loader for AMD processor, I have retail Snow Leopard 10.6.1 but I can’t use EFI bootloader. I got from http://osx86.net/f7/empire-efi-4-amd-with-sb600-t4987/ that said EFI support for AMD. But each time I boot using EPI I got kernel panic failed to load kext es.osx86.driver.Ev0reboot
If you have boot loader for AMD please post it, thanks
@James,
What type of processor and OS you are using? Have you attached hard disk to SATA or IDE?
@Ariston,
I have updated post ( Under Required Products) with AMD boot loader. Several users reported its working for AMD. Try and let us know.
Good luck
That error i mentioned above was my bad, sorry.
and i must say, my OSX86 VM is working with only 512MB (i could use 1GB but my machine has only 1.5GB and i still want to run other things at the same time). But it works and is usable. Network worked out of the box, sound installed the driver but it really isn’t that great..
The OSX86 DVD i used doesn’t need a boot loader to be installed after install, it installs a boot loader and the VM boots straight from the HDD.
One other thing, if i choose other location besides US during OS install, i couldn’t pass through the menu “Do you already own a Mac” – it just hangs there forever.
So, after figuring that out… install went fine and after reboot i still couldn’t get into the OS (kernel panic IOATAFamily).
Tried different installs of the OSX86 with and without IOATAFamily fix kexts but the problem remained.
So, after install and after this kernel panic… went to Vbox VM options and changed the HDD Storage Controller Type from IDE ICH6 to SATA.
It then booted normally into OS
Thanks for the reply anyway and i hope i can help someone too…
Cheers
@James, then my guess is correct. I got the same error message once and after changed to IDE to SATA or SATA to IDE, it worked. cool
hi,
I tried to install snow leopard in vitual box using empire efi boot loader.but the iso image didnt start up.in iso image there is inbuilt chameleon boot loader i started it and installed successfully but it hangs up at grey screen with apple lgo only.what can i do?
hi,
i have iso file with in built loader.i successfully installed it but didnt able to start up.it hangs at grey screen with apple only.what can i do?empire efi isnt working with the iso image i have.
When i try to put in my snow leopard iso….it says memory allocation error…….What does that mean???
Hi
When I get to the point where Empire EFI has loaded and I swap the CD for my OS X 10.6 disc and press F5 (as instructed) then I just get the following error message:
EBIOS read error: Error 0x0c
Block 0x1ed48a Sectors 0
Any idea what could be causing this?
System spec:
Acer Extensa 5635
Intel Core2Duo
3GB DDR2 800
Windows7 Ultimate – 32bit
Virtual Box version 3.2.6r63112
empireEFIv1085 – Burnt to CD
Mac OS X Snow Leopard – Original DVD
Thank you very much for this guide.
I have a question. Is snow leopard suitable for pre-Intel Macs?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks so much for the tutorial. Was up and running 10.6.3 under Win 7 64 in 10 minutes or so after reading everything.
Here is a shot of Win 7 64 running a 10.6.3 VB. It’s fast and it works great!!
Running under Win 7
http://i26.tinypic.com/2z5vsd0.jpg
VB Specs
http://i25.tinypic.com/sfzeyu.jpg
Thanks again, never could have done this without your help.
D
@rajiv,
what type of processor you are having and finally with which boot loader you managed to install? I think something is wrong with the boot loader. Try with – v and -legacy keys during the boot up and see the message. It will give an idea about issue.
@shadowseal45,
Again it can be a problem with boot loader you are using. Try yo reduce RAM size and number of processor cores for Virtual machine. Try with -legacy key.
@Kevin,
Some times original installation DVDs do not work with Windows VirtualBox. I suggest to convert it to ISO by following method,
http://www.sysprobs.com/convert-mac-dmg-iso-windows
Or, you may have to download the ISO file.
@how to make your mac faster,
I did not try, but it should not be a problem with pre-Intel Macs.
@Dave,
That’s cool. Thanks for sharing screenshots, which will give confident to other visitors for this post ( especially on AMD processor)
On the
“EBIOS read error: Error 0×0c
Block 0×1ed48a Sectors 0″
The following worked for me…. create an ISO image of your Snow Leopard DVD on your hard-drive and install from this image instead of your DVD.
Same here, got the EBIOS read error when I used a physical DVD. Creating an image (I used InfraRecorderPortable) worked fine.
Excuse me sir, but how do I mount .dmg image of Mac OS X into the virtual box?
@nigga,
Check this post,
http://www.sysprobs.com/mount-dmg-files-virtualbox-windows-host
Well, I’ve converted .dmg to .iso, launched EmpireEF, release it and mounted Mac OS X .iso into VB but nothings happens. It says “Failed to find boot signature on BIOS device e0h”. Any ideeas?
Many Thanks for all the info – i have successfully loaded OS X 10.6.3 from a purchased OS X disk (used imgburn to create a disk image for the install) on Virtual Box 3.2.6. And the Empire Legacy iso as well.
Early days so not sure about screen res and sound yet.
Also have used the Combo update to go to 10.6.4 – all ok.
PS – this is on my vmware test lab notebook, a ASUS G51JX i720 with 12GB RAM, awesome.
I’m using the OS X Installation DVD 10.6 and it boots fine, but when it comes to the point “Select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X” the dialog box is empty, so I cannot choose any drive. Of course a HDD is configured, 30 GB with ICH6 Controller. Any suggestions?
I’m sorry, too stupid – I have to partition the untouched HDD image first with the harddisk-tool.
Hey, ok so i’ve looked literally everywhere, every tutorial, googles continuously for about three days and i can’t find anything about the issue i’m having. I can boot the disc but when its loading (used verbose boot to see where i was getting stuck) i end up getting stuck at:
USBF: 9 .371 AppleUSBOHCI [ox29x9800] : : CheckSleepCapability – controller will be unloaded across sleep.
Ok so for random reasons i sometimes get past this issue but then the message CPU Halted appears on the verbose list and virtualbox closes.
Anybody no what the hell i need to do to fix this?
Thanks Sanchez
Oh and just a quick side note, when trying to use the method in this tutorial i’m unable to eject the empireEFI iso to insert the OS X iso. Any thoughts?
Cheers again
Sanchez
hey there.
Got it to install perfectly. However the video drivers seem exceptionally slow
e.g. mouse movement, window dragging etc.
Also all attempts to go into “about this mac” result in finder reloading
Help is appreciated
@Sanchez, give some more details about processor and how attaching virtual disk ( IDE or SATA).
Lets try to solve.
@DD_nvidia, in fact we are running this without any video drivers.
Increase RAM size for Virtual machine
Enable 3 D and maximize video memory under display for VM.
Good luck.
[...] already posted detailed post about installing snow leopard on VirtualBox 3.2.0 which is having Mac OS X guest support as a [...]
Works great but I would install a much larger partition to start like 50-100GB I ran out of room right away and then tried to clone the drive and make it larger and that took longer than the original install and didn’t work because I cloned it after making a snapshot.
after install bootloader
each bootstrap it
run ok for same minute then display me:
You need to restart your computer. Hold the Power button for several seconds
(kernel painc)
I have addedd graphicsenabler
How can remove?
What i do?
@cap,
If it worked well before installing bootloader, then problem with bootloader. I’m hoping you will have snapshot, restore it and use.
[...] How to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard in VirtualBox (Windows or Linux host) How to Install Mac Snow Leopard on VirtualBox 3.2 with Non Apple, Intel PC Install Mac OS X Snow Leopard On Windows Using [...]
Hi,
I am getting the memory allocation error after mounting the iso file. I have reduced the memory allocated but no luck.
I have followed the exact steps provided in this article.
How do you run it with -legacy option? Any help will be appreciated.
You raise quite a few quite useful points. Worth a read. I’ve sent your website through to friends
@Nik,
What type of processor your host computer got?
After mounting DVD or ISO file, do not press enter.
Press – key, at the left bottom this will appear and there you can pass startup commands.
-v or -legacy (without space) will give some ideas on errors.
Try and let me know.
Whoever has this error:
“EBIOS read error: Error 0×0c
Block 0×1ed48a Sectors 0″
To fix it: in VirtualBox go to the settings on your MAC VM and click on storage. Then select Host drive in CD/DVD device and check “Passthrough”. Then just do the steps again – should work fine.
This worked for me in VirtualBox 3.2.8
@Vitaliy,
If this solves others’ same problem, then you are a star.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi, i try to install Mac OS X like a virtual machine into a windows 7 ultimate system. Everything ok till i start the virtual machine , i have the error : FATAL : No bootable medium found ! System halted.
I create a CD from the ISO indicated but … The .zip contains two ISO : EmpireEFI4AMD.iso and _EmpireEFI4AMD.Iso. I use to create the CD only the first, it’s correct ?
Thanks for your answer.
I followed the tutorial, the empire iso booted up fine but when I go to boot snow leopard I either get a blank screen or a gray background with the apple logo in the middle. I walked away from the comp for a while and came back to see if it was just taking a long time to get started, but nothing seems to be happening. Any suggestions?
I need this for an iPhone SDK programming class that I’m already behind in (it started last week but luckily this professor is pretty lenient about late work) so any help would REALLY be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
An added note: I know there are some Objective C compilers for Windows but is there anything similar to Mac’s Xcode available on a PC?
Thanks again