Creating an Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 Virtual Machine Using VirtualBox

Where the CPU is an Intel Haswell Unit

Hardware Needed

A typical Intel PC. If something proves to be incompatible, research will be required to figure out what to replace it with. In the setup I used all of the hardware was supported.

Software Needed

Virtualbox

This is the hosted virtualization program that will hold the virtual machine.

Imgburn

This program will convert the Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation DVD to an ISO file. The standard Apple operating system installation file is in the dmg format. This must be converted to an iso format. An iso format is required for a Windows based computer. This due to the drives being controlled by Windows as the virtual machine program runs on Windows in this case.

iBoot

iBoot is used to boot the virtual machine before the operating system is loaded in order to access the Apple installer for the operating system. Due again to this being a Windows based device.

Multibeast

Multibeast is used after the installation completes so that you do not have to switch back and forth from iBoot to the installed operating system. Required as well by Windows.

Sources

These instructions were compiled over the course of several days from various sources. None of the methods suggested by any of the sources worked properly in whole. This method works on the specific set of hardware I have with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 which is the latest version of the OS that can be purchased on physical media. All in all this was a major pain to get working.

Steps

Convert the Apple Operating System DMG File to the ISO Format

Adjust the BIOS Settings

Create a Virtual Machine

Adjust the Virtual Machine Settings

Semi Boot the Apple Operating System

Access the Apple Operating System ISO File

Install the Apple Operating System

Update the OSs

Install Multibeast

Convert the Apple Operating System DMG File to the ISO Format

Download Imgburn

Install Imgburn

Place the Apple operating system DVD in the physical drive

Run Imgburn

On the Imgburn screen select

Create image file from disc

Store the resulting ISO file on an accessible harddrive.

Adjust the BIOS Settings

Some of the BIOS settings for the base computer may need to be changed for VirtualBox, iBoot, and Multibeast to operate properly. The possible changes include

Select ACHI mode for the drives

Set the Boot Priority to CD-ROM first

Enable Intel Virtualization

Create a Virtual Machine

Using the normal method create a virtual machine in VirtualBox. VirtualBox now supports the Apple OS X so as the name of the virtual machine is entered VirtualBox should select the proper operating system type and version in this window. For example,

Use all of the default settings suggested by VirtualBox.

Adjust the Virtual Machine Settings

Select the virtual machine.

Click the yellow gear icon to access the virtual machine settings.

Select System on the left side. Select the Motherboard tab.

EFI, which stands for Extended Firmware Interface, is a feature that helps operating systems start up. OS X requires speshul EFI, so the EFI that Virtualbox uses doesn't work with the Apple OS. Uncheck it.

Enable IO APIC should be checked

Click on the Acceleration tab and check both of the options there. If these do not show up this means the BIOS settings do not have virtualization selected.

Select Storage on the left side.

On the right side there is a CD icon beside the word Empty. Click on it, and then click on the small CD icon beside the hardrive interface type in this case SATA Port 1.

Click Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file. In the window that pops up, choose the iso copy of iBoot by navigating to where it is stored on the base computer. Click OK.

Semi Boot the Apple Operating System

Start the virtual machine. iBoot will capture the boot process and load itself.

Access the Apple Operating System ISO File

To access the OS X operating system iso right click on the small CD-ROM disc at the bottom right corner of the iBoot window.

On the menu that pops up select Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file …

Navigate to the location of the iso file. Select it. Click Open.

Press the F5 key so that this file and therefore the option to install the OS X operating system will appear.

Select this by pressing the Tab key. Press enter or otherwise select this icon at the bottom to install the operating system.

Select the settings as desired such as the language.

Install the Apple Operating System

The installation screen will come up in a few minutes. A screen will appear that asks for a destination for the installation. This page will be blank.

To make the install option appear. Start the Apple OS Disk Utility from the Utilities menu at the top.

The Disk Utility is used to erase the virtual hard drive so that OS X can install itself on it. Select this drive, and then erase it.

Close this window.

On the installation page for Mac OS X, the hard disk/disk partition should now be showing up. Select it and continue to the Install Summary page.

The installation takes from 5 to 30 minutes depending on the speed of the base computer. Once done, the computer will need to reboot.

To reboot power off the virtual machine. Select Close from the VirtualBox Machine menu.

Then select Power off the machine and OK.

In VirtualBox select iBoot as before.

Select the virtual machine.

Click the yellow gear icon to access the virtual machine settings.

Select Storage on the left side.

On the right side there is a CD icon beside the word Empty. Click on it, and then click on the small CD icon beside the hardrive interface type in this case SATA Port 1.

Start the virtual machine from VirtualBox.

This screen will appear showing the new OS installation. In this case the icon named OS with the Apple logo.

Press the Tab key.

This screen will appear.

Press the Down Arrow key to select the line that says hd(0,2) OS, and then press Enter.

The Apple OS will run.

The first time the OS is run the usual setup questions will be asked.

Then the OS will be ready to use.

Update the OS

Apple will object to this installation in a virtual machine. They will notice this if the updates are run. Turn this off by selecting the System Preferences, and then Software Update. Deselect the updates.

If the OS needs to be updated, do this manually.

First, download the combination update for the version of Mac OS X that you want. Unlike normal updates from the Software Update utility a combination update is installed manually. If you want to update the virtual machine to Mac OS X version 10.6.6, just search 10.6.6 combo update on Google. The official combination update from Apple is literally the first search result.

Download the update. This will take a while, since most of the combo updates are massive. Once you're done, click "Machine" on the top of your VirtualBox window, and Take Snapshot. Basically, this saves your machine's current state, so if you accidentally make Mac OS X blow up while updating, you can just restore it to your previous state.

After you've taken a snapshot of your machine's current state, run the update. This will take another 20-30 minutes. Once the update finishes and asks you to restart your virtual machine, DON'T RESTART.

Instead, open the web browser in your Mac OS X virtual machine, and download the legacy kernel for the version of Mac OSX that you're updating to. If you're updating your virtual machine to Mac OS X version 10.6.6, search "10.6.6 legacy kernel" in Google. Look for a legacy kernel by "nawcom".

All of the legacy kernels are available on nawcom's blog, but like most blogs, the organization is terrible. It's easier just to Google his stuff.

Once you've found the correct legacy kernel, install it. Then you can restart the computer to complete the system update.

If everything went right, the virtual machine should still be able to boot.

Install Multibeast

The NIC should work in the Snow Leopard virtual machine. Open Safari and download Multibeast Snow Leopard edition. Open Multibeast, and install Easybeast. You can now boot the virtual machine without having to switch your virtual CD drive to iBoot every time.