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I occasionally need to test a few things for macOS, for which I usually use one of my Mac's.
However when needing a virtual machine to test an older macOS, I find a macOS Virtual Machine to run really slow on a Mac. Even a Mac Pro.
Since I have a nice gaming laptop at my disposal (Asus ROG G713, AMD 6900HZ CPU and Nvidia 3080 GPU), I just wanted to give it a try to install a macOS VM on my Windows computer.
This worked for me, even with an AMD CPU:
1. Install VMWare WorkStation Player (I used v17) - it's free for non-commercial use.
2. Get a macOS ISO file. I used the method described here - since downloading ISO files from others can be questionable.
3. Download and run Auto-Unlocker which add “macOS” as an option when creating a new Virtual machines.
4. Open VMWare Workstation Player, and create a new virtual machine - you can select macOS now, and select the macOS ISO file.
A few things you should pay attention to:
Customize Virtual Machine specs
I usually customize the setting for my VM's, and in this case:
Memory to at least 8192 Kb, and
CPU cores to 8 (depending on your CPU).
AMD CPU's
AMD CPU's are NOT supported by macOS, and during initial boot you'll get a message
The CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system. power off or reset the virtual machine.
In short: AMD is not supported. Close the virtual machine and locate the VMX file of this new virtual machine.
Find the line that looks like this:
virtualHW.version = "16"
Add this right behind that line:
smc.version = "0" cpuid.0.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:1011" cpuid.0.ebx = "0111:0101:0110:1110:0110:0101:0100:0111" cpuid.0.ecx = "0110:1100:0110:0101:0111:0100:0110:1110" cpuid.0.edx = "0100:1001:0110:0101:0110:1110:0110:1001" cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:0111:0001" cpuid.1.ebx = "0000:0010:0000:0001:0000:1000:0000:0000" cpuid.1.ecx = "1000:0010:1001:1000:0010:0010:0000:0011" cpuid.1.edx = "0000:0111:1000:1011:1111:1011:1111:1111" smbios.reflectHost = "TRUE" hw.model = "MacBookPro14,3" board-id = "Mac-551B86E5744E2388”
Intel CPU's
Untested, but it seem that you will need to apply a patch to the VMX file as well, telling it that you're running on a Mac.
Find the line that looks like this:
virtualHW.version = "16"
Add this right behind that line:
smc.version = "0" smbios.reflectHost = "TRUE" hw.model = "MacBookPro14,3" board-id = "Mac-551B86E5744E2388”
5. Run the Apple install - takes about 15-25 minutes depending on your hardware.
At initial setup: Select "Disk Utility" first to select and erase the VMWare disk - mine was the first one listed under "Internal", called "VMware Virtual SATA Hard Drive Media". Select that disk, click "Erase", give it a name, but keep the other default values (APFS/GUID Partition map).
Once erased (use default values), close "Disk utility" and select "Install macOS Monterey" (or which ever version you are installing).
The initial image is very laggy during setup, which can be due to the number of cores or memory, but more likely because of the video driver (or lack thereof).
6. Install the VMWare Tools for your macOS VM (requires VM reboot)
Now by default, VMware Workstation Player will NOT come with the macOS VMware tools. So you will need to go find your own.
If you have VMWare Fusion on a Mac, then you can find the ISO file here (recommended):
/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/isoimages/x86_x64/darwin.iso
Or grab this copy (which may be very outdated by the time you read this)
In VMware Workstation Player, open the "Player" - "Manage" - "Virtual Machine Settings" (CTRL+D).
Go tot he CD/DVD settings, and browse for the "darwin.iso".
Go back to your macOS VM, and if the "VMware tools" disk icon does not appear, from the menu "Player" - "Removable devices" - "CD/DVD" - "Connect".
This should now show the VMware Tools - which you can now install.
I'm using the non commercial vmware player 17 but I cannot get Ventura to work. I am on an AMD 5750X as well.
The player will not process these two of the four lines above
smbios.reflectHost = "TRUE
board-id = "Mac-551B86E5744E2388”
It does allow for the other two. If keep those lines it says vmx file is corrupt.
I have tried literally everything I can find to get Ventura working on VMware Player 17 on AMD on Windows 11. I have Monterey working but I need xcode which requires Ventura/OS13.
When I do an upgrade inside a monterey machine, after reboot, it crashes almost immediately. "there is a problem with..." And it just boot loops until it gives the apple.com/support/startup (or something like that). If I do an install off of a downloaded from apple iso, it also crashes. Holding down shift just makes it freeze at the Apple logo and as soon as I lift up, it crashes.
Do you have any advice for this problem? I'm really stuck and I can't find any other tips.
Thank you!
jp
I'm using the same VMWare Workstation version and installed Monterey this way (like you did).
I did some testing and ran into the same issue with Ventura - seems a known issue. See also Ventura related open issues for Auto-unlocker - even though this should probably not be seen as a Auto-unlocker issue, after all, Auto-unlocker after all only "unlocks" certain macOS versions as a target, but isn't made to work around hardware limitations like an AMD CPU.
Note: If I look at the code you pasted:
smbios.reflectHost = "TRUE board-id = "Mac-551B86E5744E2388”
Then I see that the "smbios" line misses a closing double quote. Maybe a copy/paste mistake, or maybe the reason why it says the file is corrupt?
I did find this description, suggesting the VMX text below would work, but that fail when upgrading from Monterey to Ventura.
Haven't had time yet to create an ISO image to do a clean install ... downloading Ventura as we speak, and will try later today to install from scratch.
(found and ISO of Ventura here - but I really prefer an ISO extracted from an Apple install, so I know it's legit)
board-id.reflectHost = "FALSE" board-id = "Mac-AA95B1DDAB278B95" hw.model.reflectHost = "FALSE" hw.model = "MacBookPro19,1" serialNumber.reflectHost = "FALSE" serialNumber = "C01234567890" smc.version = "0" cpuid.0.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:1011" cpuid.0.ebx = "0111:0101:0110:1110:0110:0101:0100:0111" cpuid.0.ecx = "0110:1100:0110:0101:0111:0100:0110:1110" cpuid.0.edx = "0100:1001:0110:0101:0110:1110:0110:1001" cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:0111:0001" cpuid.1.ebx = "0000:0010:0000:0001:0000:1000:0000:0000" cpuid.1.ecx = "1000:0010:1001:1000:0010:0010:0000:0011" cpuid.1.edx = "0000:0111:1000:1011:1111:1011:1111:1111" smbios.reflectHost = "TRUE"
@hans You can get an ISO from Apple. Basically a recovery ISO that will then download directly from apple.
I've tried so many different variations of the vmx file mods and nothing works. It's just the same thing. Installation goes ok, then boot loop.
I'm wondering if this is a specific to AMD issue? Do other people with AMD procs get Ventura running?
I'm very sure this is an issue combo of AMD CPU and macOS Ventura, and from what I found is that others experience the same issue with AMD/Ventura. 😞
As for getting an ISO file: I extract the ISO file from the app bundle Apple has in the App Store.
I thought Apple had dropped ISO files, except for very old macOS version?
I found it! It worked for me!
i made it work on a amd ryzen 5 5600
to get it to work i had to put the
cpuid.0.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:1011" cpuid.0.ebx = "0111:0101:0110:1110:0110:0101:0100:0111" cpuid.0.ecx = "0110:1100:0110:0101:0111:0100:0110:1110" cpuid.0.edx = "0100:1001:0110:0101:0110:1110:0110:1001" cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:0111:0001" cpuid.1.ebx = "0000:0010:0000:0001:0000:1000:0000:0000" cpuid.1.ecx = "1000:0010:1001:1000:0010:0010:0000:0011" cpuid.1.edx = "0000:0111:1000:1011:1111:1011:1111:1111"
at the top and the the smc.version = "0" underneath the floppy0.present = "FALSE"!
we will see if it installs
never mind dosent work just keeps crashing
Awesome!!!!! 👍
Thanks for sharing - I'll give it a try in the next few days to see what happend on my Ryzen 6900!
Never mind - just now seeing your crashing comment haha ... bummer! 😢
