How to Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

I was pretty unsure myself whether I would want to jump onto a Mac ever since I first googled Samurai Jack when I was like 9 years old (don’t ask me why) on my computer which ran on Microsoft’s Windows.

Since then, it took me a while to get used to Apple’s macOS and the way I did it was rather than buying the Mac itself I tried it out on my Windows PC.

So, if you want to try Apple’s macOS on your Windows 10 too here’s how you can install macOS Sierra Final in VirtualBox on Windows 10.

Note

This guide is using macOS Sierra 10.12 which is the final version. If you instead don’t want to get macOS Sierra and you are looking for the newer version which is macOS High Sierra then you can always follow this guide: How to Install macOS High Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

meet VirtualBox

VirtualBox is one tiny, powerful dude, and it is capable of installing macOS onto your Windows 10 computer as an app.

It works like a charm with Sierra, but before you get onto the guide, there are three little requirements that your Windows 10 computer is going to need in order for you to install the macOS onto your computer. 🙂

The minimum requirements that you are going to need are:

•  a 64-Bit Computer

•  at least 4GB RAM

•  a Dual-Core processor

Got all of that? Splendid! Once you have got that out of the way, you can now proceed to install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10.

Here are the links to the downloads that you’ll be needing to install macOS Sierra onto your VirtualBox successfully. 🙂

Download (Updated February 2019)

All credit goes to Techsviewer for the files. If the files are removed, you can comment down below or subscribe to Saint (the fastest way to reach us).

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Which one of the two macOS Sierra 10.12 Final download links should I download from?”

The reason why I have included two Google Drive download links for you is that the (One Full) download link has the entire macOS Sierra 10.12 Final file from Apple as one 5GB file. So if you are alright with letting your computer run all night to download the 5GB file then you can go for this

The (5 of 5) download link has the entire macOS Sierra 10.12 Final file as 5 separate 1GB files, so if your internet connection is pretty weak or if you just simply want to take your time and download one by one then you can go for this. 🙂

Once, you are done with the download ‘stuff’,  you can now go on with the 5 quick and simple steps below.

How to Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10: 5 Steps

Step 1: Extract the Image File with Winrar or 7zip.

  1. The first thing that you should do is go ahead and install WinRAR. (I have included the latest (March 2018) link for WinRAR for you)
  2. Once you have done that, right click on the macOS 10.12 Sierra file that you’d downloaded.
  3. Then select Extract Here.
Install macOS sierra in virtualbox on Windows 10
Like this.

Note

Also, make sure that you have enabled Virtualization in your computer’s BIOS.

You can use this helpful guide:

Step 2: Install VirtualBox

  1. Download the latest version of VirtualBox (I have included the latest (June 2018) link for VirtualBox for you above)
  2. It’s pretty easy to install VirtualBox. Just keep clicking Next and then Finished and you’re good to go.

Install macOS sierra in virtualbox on Windows 10

Step 3: Create a New Virtual Machine

  1. Now you have to create your new Virtual Machine. So what you have to do is, open the VirtualBox you’ve just downloaded.
  2. Next click on New which you can see to your upper left-hand side.
  3. Sweet! Now all you have to do is follow on by adding each of the below details into each of the fields. 🙂

Name:  macOS 10.12 Sierra

Type:  Mac OS X

Version:  Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan (64 bit) or 10.12 Sierra

Memory size is 4 GB ( 70% of your Ram )

Virtual disk file:  macOS 10.12 Sierra.vmdk

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Step 4: Edit Your Virtual Machine

  1. Once you have created your Virtual Machine, now it’s time to edit it. So first tap on Settings.
  2. Then, you should be able to see General to your right-hand side, so put everything into default there.
  3. After that, under General, you should be able to see the System. Click that.
  4. You’re doing a great job so far! Alright, from here onwards, it’s pretty shit easy. You just have to follow what I selected for each of the fields based on the pictures below. 🙂

CPU: Select 2 CPU (you can choose more than 2 if you want but it is entirely according to your CPU) and then enable PAE/NX

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

System: Now you have to enable EFI and then disable Floppy. Next, make sure you choose the Chipset as IHC9 (you can also choose PIIX3)

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Graphics: Set your Video Memory to 128MB

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Storage: Finally, choose your macOS 10.12 Sierra.vmdk and make sure that under Attributes, you set the Hard Disk to SATA Port 0. Once done, click OK.

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Note

Now close your VirtualBox. Then proceed with the next step.

Step 5: Add Code to VirtualBox with Command Prompt (cmd)

Before you add the code onto VirtualBox with your Command Prompt, you have a few little changes that you have to make things easier for you.

  1. Replace the phrase “Your VM Name” in the code (below) with your own virtual machine name which you can find in General, then under Basic. It’s best if you copy the code below into your Notepad and then replace the areas where it says “Your VM Name” with your own virtual machine name before moving on the next step.
Code for Virtualbox 5.x.x and Virtualbox 6.x.x
cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"
VBoxManage.exe modifyvm "Your VM Name" --cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct" "iMac11,3"
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion" "1.0"
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct" "Iloveapple"
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey" "ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc"
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC" 1
  1. You’re almost done! Now, all that you have to do is find your Command Prompt (cmd) and Run as an administrator.

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

  1. Finally, add the code one by one into your Command Prompt. Take all the time in the world that you need.

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Done! Run Your Virtual Machine

That’s it, you did a great job!

Now you can go ahead run your Virtual Machine new macOS Sierra in your VirtualBox on your Windows 10 computer.

  1. Open your VirtualBox then click on Start or Run the macOS Sierra VM. and run your Virtual Machine new macOS Sierra in your VirtualBox on your Windows 10 computer.
  2. Again you’ll see another black screen with all geeky code on it. Don’t worry, it’s just doing its thing. You can go grab a donut whilst you’re at it.
  3. From here on out, you can continue on with Sierra’s introduction.

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Install macOS Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Don’t forget to share this guide!

Author

  • Jake Kovoor

    Jake is the Editor-in-Chief of Saint and an independent software developer, with a Bachelors in Computer Science from Lancaster University, UK. He loves trying out various tech from the Flipper Zero to coding Raspberry Pis for automation. He started Saint back in 2016, having written over 100 posts, with the sole purpose of creating guides for software that had yet to exist back then to help users navigate around their technical problems.

300 comments
    1. Yeah it can work with your Windows 7, Heff. 🙂

      Just make sure that your computer meets the minimum requirements though.

      1. Unfortunately everything was fine until the VirtualBox error message that my VM does not exist when I entered the code you prescribed. Please help. I entered it exactly as instructed after exiting VirtualBox.

  1. Hi,
    When I try to start the VM, I get a black box, with entry’s that end with

    Shell>

    and it stops.

    I followed the directions, i think. Can you tell me whats wrong?

    Thanks!

  2. It says:

    UEFI Interactive Shell v2.1
    EDK II
    UEFI v2.40 (EDK II, 0x00010000)
    Mapping table
    BLK0: Alias(s):
    PciRoot (0x0) /Pci (0x1F, 0x2) /Sata (0x0,0x0,0x0)
    BLK1: Alias(s):
    PciRoot (0x0) /Pci (0x1F, 0x2) /Sata (0x1,0x0,0x0)
    Press ESC in 1 seconds to skip startup.nsh or any other key to continue.
    Shell>_

    Then it just sits there exactly like that.

          1. Hey Chris,

            Make sure that you’ve entered the details correctly (especially your VM’s name) and also make sure that you exit VirtualBox before entering the code.

            Let me know once you’ve tried that Chris, if the problem still persists then I’ll guide you from there. 🙂

          1. It won’t even get to that point without virtualization enabled. If you have virtualization disabled, the machine won’t even start… let alone bring up the Shell> prompt. So there is something else wrong.

      1. Hey Jake,

        I’m having the same problem with the mapping, and Shell, etc appearing int he black box and then nothing happens.

        I’ve enabled the correct BIOS settings, closed Vbox, then entered the command prompts one by one as you said.

        It’s still not working. Any thoughts?
        I should note that some of the options you’ve screenshot for reference are no longer available so i went with the default as it was that or snow leopard i think.

        1. I know the solution for your problems, you didn´t chose the vmdk-file…
          under storage, right next where you choose the hard disk you have to click on the little button and choose the vmdk-file you unpacked.

  3. Hi Jake,
    Thank you very much, that is great.

    The “macOS 10.12 Sierra.vmdk” is prepared to be bootable, or it is just the .dmg of macOS Sierra 10.12 from app store?
    I ask you this, because most of the solutions that I found on the web, their one of steps was making bootable first by an Apple computer which already has Mac.

    1. Hey Andy,

      You’re welcome.

      If you’re looking into installing macOS Sierra in VirtualBox, you don’t really need to go that far.

      Just download the files from the Google Drive that I’ve attached above, Andy.

      Besides if most of the solutions that you found on the web was asking you to use an Apple computer to set up macOS Sierra in VirtualBox then what’s the whole point of even doing this right?

      Let me know, how it works for you, Andy. 🙂

      1. Jake, there’s no download option for the full 5GB file. It want. I’ve managed to download the individual 1GB files, but you’ve haven’t told us how to merge these files. Can you please help … or preferably make the 5GB file downloadable?

    1. Hey Bryan,

      Make sure to try the steps again so that you can be sure that it is not a mistake with the way you entered each of the options in (Step 3)

      If the problem persists, then what you can do is follow this guide that I’ve attached below for you until I create a full collection of solutions to problems that users might encounter when going through this (It’ll be up and ready within a few days or so).

      Complete Guide to Fix VirtualBox Errors While Installing Mac OS X

      Let me know, how it works for you, Bryan. 🙂

      1. The same error saloved.

        At Step4:
        System: Now you have to enable EFI and then disable Floppy. Next make sure you choose the Chipset as IHC9 (you can also choose PIIX3)

        I choose PIIX3, it’s worded.
        Thank you!

        1. PIIX3 also worked for me! Though my problem is that it is running very slow and has lots of visual artifacts. My other Virtual boxes don’t have this problem so I’m not sure what this issue could me.

  4. Hi Jake,

    Thanks for the guide.
    I’ve just tried running the macOS through virtual box and I get the “geeky code” but it loops around after about 3 minutes of text scrolling through the screen.
    Any ideas on where I went wrong?

    Thanks

    Luke

    1. Hey Luke,

      Yeah sure thing haha please take as much time as you need to look around for any guides that might be of your interest.

      May I know what that ‘geeky code’ was?

      But I’m assuming it must be some kind of a loop right?

      Make sure that you enable Virtualization technology from your BIOS.

      This guide should help you with that:
      Enabling Virtualization in your PC BIOS

      You should also make sure that you exit the VirtualBox before adding the code in (Step 5).

      Let me know how it works Luke. 🙂

      1. I was stuck in this boot loop – forgot to put the code in while VirtualBox was shutdown. Re-did it – all good. You are a champion! Thanks mate

  5. Hi Jake,
    Thanks for the detailed guide.
    The thing is I am getting a error when I start the macOS 10.12 Sierra. Its VitualBox Error “A critical error has occurred while running the virtual machine and the machine execution has been stopped”
    I don’t know why I’m getting this error
    Can you help me out?
    I’m new to this.
    Thanks in advance 🙂

    1. Hey Prince,

      It’s my pleasure haha. 🙂

      Critical errors most of the time happen due to the code.

      Here are some solutions that you may try.

      1. Check your VirtualBox version.

      2. Make sure that you add two hyphens before (–) CPUIDSET

      3. You should replace the Virtual Machine name then try again.

      4. Make sure that you’ve entered the code correctly into your CMD (Step 5).

      5. Before adding the code, make sure that the VirtualBox is completely closed, then only should you run your CMD with the commands (Step 5).

      6. Check the Virtual Machine (VM) name that should be the same. If you have chosen macOS 10.12 Sierra, use this exact name inside the code. (Step 5).

      7. Also make sure in your Virtual Machine (VM) that it says 64-Bit not 32 and make sure in your BIOS that Virtualization is Enabled.

      8. If all else fails, then try VMware Workstation Player (it’s Free and it is Faster)

      Let me know how it goes Prince. 🙂

  6. Hello,
    Mine did the thing where the geeky code kept going in a loop for a very long time so I entered in the code after I exited VB this time and now when I try to start it gives me an error message saying “Failed to open a session for the virtual machine macOS 10.12 Sierra” and when I looked at the details, it says “Configuration error: Querying “DeviceKey” as a string failed (VERR_CFGM_NOT_ENOUGH_SPACE).

      1. Unable to download the os from drive. It says it reached the maximum download quota. Where else can I download

    1. Hey Karolina,

      Most of the time critical errors (such as yours) happen due to the code.
      So make sure that you’ve entered the code correctly onto your CMD (Step 5).

      Also make sure that before adding the code that you completely close the VirtualBox.

      If none of that works, then create another Virtual Machine (VM) and your problem should go away.

      Let me know how it works for you, Karolina. 🙂

      1. Hi Jake,

        I am running into the same issue and I made sure that I entered the code correctly. Here is what I entered.


        Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.228]
        (c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

        C:\Users\carve>cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “MacOS” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage setextradata “MacOS” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct” “iMac11,3”

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage setextradata “MacOS” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion” “1.0”

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage setextradata “MacOS” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct” “Iloveapple”

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage setextradata “MacOS” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey” “ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc”

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage setextradata “MacOS” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC” 1

        C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>

        My VM’s name is MacOS and I have also selected just Mac OS X 64-bit because the Sierra one was causing issues.
        Thanks,
        Cody

        1. Cody,

          It is easily apparent from the line
          C:\Users\carve>cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”
          that you failed to run CMD as administrator.

          Try this:
          Click on the windows start button in the left-bottom corner and bring up the windows start menu.
          Start typing CMD
          (You should at this point see results in the start menu including the command prompt CMD.exe)
          Right click the CMD.exe result at the top of the list and select “Run as Administrator”
          This will bring up a command prompt that will start at:
          C:\WINDOWS\system32>
          Not what you had which was:
          C:\Users\carve>
          Now that you have the elevated permissions you can copy and paste each line from the “Geeky Code” into the command prompt.
          Make sure Virtual machine is NOT RUNNING before copy and pasting.

          I hope this helps

  7. I was following your guide here and ran into an issue running the vboxmanage codes. Your sction for copy/paste has the codes all garbles – spaces where there should be none, missing “/”, etc. When compared with your cmd output, you can see what the differences are; however, after editing the code to match your cmd screenshot – I am getting errors such as
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Invalid parameter ‘VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct’

    I understand what we are trying to accomplish, but unfortunately I don’t know enough about the internals of VBox to fix the command-lines appropriately here. If you do, please be so kind as to enlighten.

    Thanks

    1. Nevermind – I found my error. The correct lines in your area above should be changed to reflect what they actually should be, versus the garbled commands that are showing. Perhaps it’s my browser, in which case, I apologize for questioning things. I am not using IE, Edge, Chrome, Opera, Safari. So it’s possible it is my fault.

      Anyway, the correct commands (for anyone that needs them) are

      cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”
      VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “macOS 10.12 Sierra” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct” “iMac11,3”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion” “1.0”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct” “Iloveapple”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey” ” ourhardworkbythesewordsguarded pleasedontsteal(c) AppleComputerInc”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC” 1

      1. Hey Serene,

        That’s great and thanks for letting all of us here know, Serene.

        It’s alright! No matter how pointless your question may be, you can always ask and I’ll try my best to answer for you. 🙂

  8. wtf are this?

    The virtual machine ‘macOS 10.12 Sierra’ has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1). More details may be available in ‘C:\Users\ijat\VirtualBox VMs\macOS 10.12 Sierra\Logs\VBoxHardening.log’.

    Result Code:
    E_FAIL (0x80004005)
    Component:
    MachineWrap
    Interface:
    IMachine {b2547866-a0a1-4391-8b86-6952d82efaa0}

    1. Hey Izzat,

      Make sure that you’ve entered the code correctly in to your CMD.

      If you have tried that then try disabling your security and then try again.

      You can also try disabling the Network adapter and then trying once again.

      If you still find that it doesn’t work, then you can follow up with these steps:

      Step 1: Install the latest update from Microsoft. https://support.microsoft.com/kb/3024777 (This is to make sure that you are not running on an older Windows update)

      Step 2: Do System Reboot.

      Step 3: Uninstall the Oracle VM VirtualBox.

      Step 4: Install it again after the second Reboot.

      Let me know how it goes, Izzat. 🙂

      1. Yo Jake, machine tells that

        AppleKeyStore: operation failed (pid: 31 sel: 7 ret: e00002c2 ‘-536870206’)

        and

        Previous shutdown cause: 3

        Lot of No such directories and warning concerning… Stuff I get little about.

        Other than that it looks as if it might be working, as a noobster I’m having no clue what’s up.

        I’ll look in to it and let you know if I’ll get somewhere. If not, guess I’ll be bugging you again soon.

        1. Yo,

          Other than exiting VirtualBox before adding the codes and enabling Virtualization in your BIOS (both of which I’m sure you’ve already done) you can make sure that the details that you have entered into your VirtualBox are correct.

          A “Previous shutdown cause: 3” could be solved as I’ve had readers who said that maybe the chipset should be PII* to get system to work. If your system doesn’t work, then you can try to change chipset to PII*.

          If none of it works, then you have two options that you can try man
          1. You can try to install macOS High Sierra (Beta) using VirtualBox on your Windows 10
          2. Use VMware

          I’ll definitely look into your problem personally and I’ll update you once I find the solution, until then you can try the above. 🙂

          Keep me updated, man.

          1. Hi Jake, I am experiencing the same problem, just going through the boot sequence up to a point and then restarting. I’m not sure what the relevant codes are, but I am definitely getting the above, and I have tried changing the chipset. Any other ideas? I only want to try and code some iOS software!

  9. Hi, mine says this: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes (VERR_VMX_MSR_ALL_VMX_DISABLED).
    What do I do?

    1. Hey Anthony,

      Make sure to turn Virtualization in your BIOS.

      Here’s a quick guide to help you with that 🙂
      Enabling Virtualization in your PC BIOS – Berkeley Common

      You can also try:

      Step 1: Try going to Settings and then System

      Step 2: Then head over to Motherboard on VirtualBox and change the RAM size.

      Step 3: Increase the RAM size and try to start it up again.

      Let me know how it goes Anthony. 🙂

  10. I still keep get the Guru Meditation error “A critical error has occurred while running the virtual machine and the machine execution has been stopped”. I have carefully checked all settings as well as the command syntax and re-entered all the commands and even tried a fresh VM. The only progress I have made is this text is new:

    Error allocating 0x14b6 pages at 0x0000000001e79000 alloc type 2
    Error loading kernel cache (0x9)
    Boot Failed. Mac Boot
    Boot Failed. EFI DVD/CDROM

    1. Hey Kim,

      Alright. Navigate to Display option and then increase the video memory to 128 MB.

      Then try changing the operating system version from Mac OS X 64 El Capitan to just the Mac OS X 64.

      If all fails, then you can always resort to using VMware rather than VirtualBox.

      Let me know how it goes, Kim. 🙂

      1. Definitely deserves an upvote !

        Switching to MacOS 64-bit instead of any version gets it to boot.

        Able to boot macOS 10.15 Beta 3 now

  11. This worked for me:
    cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”
    VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “macOS Sierra” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct” “iMac11,3”
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion” “1.0”
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct” “Iloveapple”
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey” “ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc”
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC” 1

    1. I still had some errors, but it stopped rebooting and actually loaded.

      first VBoxManage line should have two dashes in front of cpuidset, single one throws an error.

  12. Hi Jake,

    I got past the initial errors using Matt’s code, but when it boots it reads “This version of Mac OS X is not supported on this platform! Reason: Iloveapple”

    Please help!

    1. Hey John,

      You can try an older version rather than Mac OS Sierra. If not it could just be that your system may not support the Mac operating system. 🙁

      I’ll definitely try to find another way about this for you.

      Just let me know on how it goes, John.

    2. I had the same issue – “This version of Mac OS X is not supported on this platform! Reason: Iloveapple”
      Solution: I changed Settings -> Display -> Graphics Controller to “VBoxVGA” and then it started, and works good. (Virtual Box 6.0.2)

      Earlier I had to enable Intel Virtual Technology in my BIOS

      Thank you Jake for this very good, easy to understand and informative tutorial.

  13. My command prompt in windows is saying

    C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “macOS 10.12 Sierra” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not find a registered machine named ‘macOS 10.12 Sierra’
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBoxWrap, interface IVirtualBox, callee IUnknown
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: “FindMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), machine.asOutParam())” at line 500 of file VBoxManageModifyVM.cpp

    C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>

    What can I do to fix this

    1. Also, I tried reinstalling VirtualBox, I installed the latest version, and still got the same error in the command prompt

      1. Hey Will,

        The problem could probably be with your Virtual Machine name. Which means it could be either that you didn’t rename the VirtualBox code OR it could also be that the names (the one in the code and the one which is your virtual machine) that you entered are not the same.

        You can double check that, but I’m guessing you already have done that.

        So what I suggest for now is you can ask the guys over at Stack Overflow. It’s simple and besides that’s where I normally ask if I encounter any technical problems such as yours. 🙂

        But what I can assure you is that I’ll definitely look into your problem personally. I’ll update you once I find the solution, until then you can also try and go for VMWare.

        I’ll post a guide on that for you too soon.

        Keep me updated, Will. 🙂

        1. Thanks, I haven’t tried anything out yet, but I’m going to try VMWare next, thanks for your help, even if you haven’t found a solution yet

          1. Was there ever a known fix for this issue! I’m having the same issue. Virtualization is turned on in the bios. Even tried making a completely different VM but that didn’t help. Still getting the can’t find a registed device..

          2. Check the dashes. I was cutting and pasting from a website and that screws up dashes. Make sure it’s –cpuid* .

            When in doubt, type it in instead of cutting and pasting.

  14. I have gotten through every step easily (thanks for that by the way. Very easy to understand) However I am having issues at the very start of the cmd command. Basically I would imagine it has to do with the fact that I have Virtual Box installed on my D drive – My 1TB internal HDD, while most of my apps and Windows are located in my C Drive (a small 128 GB SSD) I attempted the code exactly as you stated originally (cd “D:\Program Files (x86) 2.0\VirtualBox\”) but it failed with the error of “The system cannot find the path specified.” I realized it must be because it would be actually located at the address “D:\Program Files (x86) 2.0\VirtualBox\” however, when I update the command it gives the same command.. Any ideas?

    1. Also, Moving it to the C drive is not possible as it is full.. The reason I have it installed on the Hard Drive in the first place..

    2. Hey James,

      It mostly likely could be the location of the drive indeed. I will definitely keep looking into your problem and I will see what I can do but whilst you’re at it you can try to double check that you’ve entered the right details into your VirtualBox (especially your VM name and the code) and making sure to exit VirtualBox before entering the code.

      Other than that if you find that all is correct, then what I might suggest for now is asking the guys over at Stack Overflow. It’s simple and besides that’s where I normally ask if I encounter any technical problems such as yours (annnd you can get more heads thinking of a solution to your problem haha). 🙂

      But what I can assure you is that, again, I’ll definitely look into your problem personally. I’ll update you once I find the solution, until then you can also try and go for VMWare.

      Let me know James on how it goes. 🙂

    3. I know this is from a few months ago, but you have to change the drive first….
      in command prompt, type: D: OR cd /D d:\program files……
      then follow the same steps. Without doing this, it is still trying to run the commands on your C: drive.

  15. Hello,
    After setting it up, it shows in system information that serial number is 0.
    And because of that, i cant log into some of the apple services such as Imessage and facetime.
    Do you have a solution of how to get a serial number on my virtual machine.
    Please reply.

    1. Hey man,

      Make sure that you have followed through each of the steps correctly.

      If the problem still persists you can also get a little extra help whilst you’re at it by dropping your question over at Super User.

      But don’t hesitate to let me know how it goes man. 🙂

    1. Hey Casper,

      Make sure that you have followed each of the steps correctly (especially the part where you exit your VirtualBox before entering in your code) and also make sure that your VirtualBox is on the latest version which is VirtualBox 5.1.22.

      Just double check that, but if the problem still persists then what you can do is check your system.

      This method at times does not really work on systems which have AMD.

      Your final resort is that you can try VMWare which is just as great as VirtualBox. I’ll be writing an article on that soon.

      Until then, keep me updated and let me know how it goes, Casper. 🙂

  16. I am running on a custom computer with a 4k monitor, how do I set up the code for 4k and upgrade the amount of graphics because I have 8Gb.

      1. RUn this command as it worked for me

        VBoxManage setextradata “VM name” VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution HxW

        for example for FullHD resolution

        VBoxManage setextradata “VM name” VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920×1080

  17. Hi Jake
    I have the sierra mac os for the first time . Thanks a lot.
    I just have a problem with the sound.

    Step 4 you must write down to close the Virtual box after settings.

    Thanks again!

  18. Hi Jake,

    Can i just copy and paste the above code (with the correct Vm name) into the cmd or do i need to do it line by line?

    Cheers
    Reece

    1. Hey Reece,

      Yes you can copy the above code (with your VM name) into your CMD. You don’t really need to do it line by line and you can copy the entire code into your CMD. 🙂

      Let me know how it went, Reece. 🙂

  19. It is working like a charm thank you! For all you people having problems, the command line must be the cause of it. Just make sure that they are being typed correctly, as there is no feedback on input. Make sure that VirtualBox is actually closed, and carefully check the VM’s name and the commands.

  20. Msenden’s comment above saved my life. I have virtual box installed on my 3rd drive; went through all the steps, and the commands on the command line just kept cycling through over and over again.

    Finally read through all the comments, and noticed that Msenden’s instructions on what to type on the command line had a different quote symbol; changed that and deleted the space on the original command posted on the site, and now I’m running sierra on my win10 machine! Thanks for the article and thanks to those who posted their resolution on the comments!

  21. OK so I shut down the VM and the update didn’t take. Is it possible to run the update from the App Store? And if so what is needed to make it stick? Thanks!

    1. Sorry for the wasted space. I should have been more patient. After I shut down the VM the updates installed without a hitch. But I can verify 100% these instructions ROCK! This works like a champ! Much appreciated!

  22. Gracias amigo. That worked well. And thank you for being so responsive in your comments, it is very helpful.

  23. I ran through the instructions but did not shut down VirtualBox the first time through. It did not work. I tried to close and running step 4 again. It did not work. I tried deleting everything and following the instructions perfectly. It did not work. I tried running the command from the comments because someone mentioned that one of the characters in the article was bad. It did not work.

    Then I renamed the instance to macOS Sierra and ran the script from the comments. IT WORKED!

    I’m not sure if VirtualBox stores the variables if you use the same machine name or maybe it didn’t like the . in the name or maybe it just hates me because of my awesome fantasy Football team name but the rename was the thing that kicked it off for me (pun intended).

  24. Thanks.
    I had my Mac for a year. Now I got into unexpected debt, and have to sell it. This will be handy as a substitute for some small work I usually did on Mac.

  25. Hi Jake,

    Thank you very much for this guide, I followed it and everything works like a charm!

    On little specificity that happened to me (if it happens to someone else):

    – I have several hard drives. System is installed on C: and softwares on G:
    – When running CommandPrompt.exe from C:, I could not run the list of codes; I had to start the CommandPrompt from the G: disk.

    I don’t know why it did that, but if someone is running into the same kind of trouble, the solution is simply to start the CommandPrompt.exe from the disk where the software is.

    Thank you again Jake!

  26. Hi Jake, im over my google drive limit and had to download 5 individual rar files. Do I open them and add them in virtualbox individually and in any order or do I need to combine them first before or after opening them then add to virtualbox. Cheers Rob.

    1. Install winrar or 7zip then right click on the first rar file and extract the vmdk file and continue following the tutorial

  27. having followed these steps i then opened up the store, saw high sierra and thought why not lets give it a go, ten minutes later i’m happily running high sierra!! nice, very nice!!

  28. Hello Jake
    Thank you for your great job,ive installed macOs sierra couple month ago and it work perfectly.
    I just uptande my iphone to ios 11.0.0 and when i try connect on virtual box (macOs sierra) it didnt apear any conection…becouse developing will know only ios 10.0,is it possibile to upgdate the mac os sierra on virtaual box?
    THANK YOU

  29. Hi Jake,
    I downloaded VB and Sierra from the links you provided, but in the setup of VB it only allowed me to choose Snow Leopard 32-bit. I have a 64-bit PC running Windows 10. Any idea why this is or how I can fix it?

    Thank you!

  30. Hi Jake,

    This may be a dumb question, but is it possible to upload apps to iTunes using this method?

    Thanks for sharing

  31. Hi, I am stuck in the coding. After you said, you will see some geeky coding just let it sit and then you will be at Sierra instruction part. The geeky coding up sits and I am not able to get to the Sierra instruction part. Please help.

  32. If you are having issues, use the commands presented by Asad while they are still available. All the others have issues with spacing and slashes. After correcting all those issues, I was able to get passed the not enough space error seen above and plenty of other issues.

  33. Thanks.

    SereneLunatic’s solution worked for me, it was all about the slashes…
    You could update the code in the original article, so that other people don’t have to deal with the same problem.

  34. Work just fine on initial boot. Thanks.

    Only issue is that I have not volume, and I did install the VM’s extensions pack.

    Any ideas?

  35. Hello and thank you for a great step by step. You wrote “Graphics: Set your Graphics to 128MB” so when I watch Twitch or YouTube or a movie it’s lagging. How can I fix this? I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB. Thx

  36. Just for anyone that gets stuck in the boot up loop (with the geeky code)… Like Jake said, the simple fix is to make sure you’ve exited Virtualbox before running the VBoxManage commands (the virtualbox code)

    Thanks for the guide!! 🙂 Working perfectly!

  37. Thanks for the guide. Everything worked great, but my keyboard and mouse lag really bad. Do you have any idea how to fix that. I’ve tried everything I can think of.

  38. Has anyone got a solution to being able to log into iCloud or the App Store using MacOS on VirtualBox? It fails everytime for me, I suspect because of the serial number being 0.

  39. File size is not near 5GB, already at 6.5GB and still downloading.
    Will update after it has finished, and if it works. Not sure if this is right, as it states the final realease was 6.2GB

  40. I’m more interested in creating my own install with a clean Mac OS installer image and not using a pre-made image. can you provide any details on that? or did you just get the pre-made image somewhere else? I’ve seen too many of these guides which are all the same and i assume link to the same pre-made image. None of them explain the process to create the VM and not use the pre-made image.

  41. I got error
    Failed to open a session for the virtual machine macOS Sierra.

    Configuration error: Querying "DeviceKey" as a string failed (VERR_CFGM_NOT_ENOUGH_SPACE).

    Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
    Component: ConsoleWrap
    Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

    pls guide

  42. HI I’m getting the message

    UEFI Interactive Shell v2.1
    EDK II
    UEFI v2.40 (EDK II, 0x00010000)
    Mapping table
    BLK0: Alias(s):
    PciRoot (0x0) /Pci (0x1F, 0x2) /Sata (0x0,0x0,0x0)
    BLK1: Alias(s):
    PciRoot (0x0) /Pci (0x1F, 0x2) /Sata (0x1,0x0,0x0)
    Press ESC in 1 seconds to skip startup.nsh or any other key to continue.
    Shell>_

    when I launch the VM. and I’m certain that Virtualisation is turned on in my bios. Please help

  43. Im unable to get Mac Sierra installed on my Windows 8.1 64-bit machine. I followed all the above mentioned steps and when I start the Vm it is stuck at the coding loop and never boots to MAC, I have changed the VM name, Ran the above mentoined codes, tried both type of Chipsets, restarted the VirtualBox, virtualization is enabled as well, rebooted the machine etc. Please help!!!

  44. VM starts but is stuck on black screen. Does not move forward. System CPU is busy for hours on VB. Though, nothing happens afterwards. Any help is appreciated.

    Windows: 7 64bit SP1
    VB: 5.1.22 r115126 (Qt5.6.2)
    Virtualization: On
    Name: macOS Sierra
    OS: Mac OS X (64-bit)
    CMD code: Code name matches VM name (cut/paste). Executed after VB is closed.
    Memory: 4096 MB
    Processor(s): 2
    Enable EFI: Checked
    ICH9 or PIIX3
    Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
    Controller: SATA
    SATA Port 0: macOS 10.12 Sierra Final by TechReviews.vmdk
    SATA Port 1: Empty

  45. Every time I download Mac OS Setup, it is not extracted successfully. It breaks and gives error
    with both WinRar and &Zip.
    What should I do???

  46. hi, I have installed it successfully, however, when I tried to download any apps from Apple market and give my userif and password it gives error “your device and computer conldnt’ be verified contact support”.

    AS we already know this is not the authentic device hence Apple rejecting download request. Is there any work around of this problem?

    There is no use of Mac OS inside VM if we can’t fully utilize or explore Mac features

  47. Hi Jake,
    I’m getting this error: Error allocating 0x800 pages at 0x0000000002400000 alloc type 2
    Error loading kernel cache (0x9)
    (This after looping a lot of time each time)
    I did everything as is well detailed, the cmd commands after closing the VirtualBox but I’m not able to run the machine.

  48. Hi Jake.
    I just installed following your tutorial. It is running good and I thank you very much. I have one question. I would like to change the resolution of the screen and I only have one choice 1024 X 768. Is it possible to have more choices and how I do that?
    I also have problem with my microphone. It is a combo headset/micro. I can ear the sounds from the headset, but The machine does not recognize the micro so I cannot talk to IRIS. How I can fix it.
    Thank you for your help.
    Michel

  49. Hey thanks a lot for this tutorial. A lot of other guides have tons of issues. You made it effortless! Cheers!

  50. Works on Linux too. Just change the “VirtualBox Code” part a bit: from “VboxManage.exe” to “vboxmanage” (lower case, no “exe” file extension). Basically it’ll work on every system that is able to run VirtualBox. The commands needed might look a little different (like the example above), but other than that, it’s all the same.

  51. Yeah… this guide has been floating around for some time now, being posted by different authors. But no one can answer how to change the screen resolution in macOS from the 1024×768. I have tried just about all the commands you can find floating around as possible solution. It just won’t budge. It may be specific to 5.2.x vbox and 10.12 sierra. I haven’t tested with all possible combinations, and according to official vbox forums the virtualization software is optimized for running macOS on guests on macOS hosts. So it may be worth it to look up vmware and see if that plays more nicely with this vmdk. Also note that this vmdk file is basically like a brain transplant off of a macOS host machine originally, that’s why you have to run the vbox manage command lines (with the misspelled “seword” instead of sword, and you have to keep the typo to make the damn thing boot). So anyways… i will stop rambling now. Good luck y’all!

  52. thanks for the most painless how-to i’ve encountered in a while. and i even did it on mac rather than windows. If anyone else tries the same. You find the
    VBoxManage
    program for the setextradata calls in this directory. At least on High Sierra
    /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS

  53. Hi jake,

    I have followed all instructions. made sure that my Virtualization technology is enabled and have followed the coding correctly. when i pushed start on my virtual box this came up.

    UEFI Interactive Shell v2.1
    EDK II
    UEFI v2.40 (EDK II, 0x00010000)
    Mapping table
    BLK0: Alias(s):
    PciRoot (0x0) /Pci (0x1F, 0x2) /Sata (0x0,0x0,0x0)
    Press ESC in 1 seconds to skip startup.nsh or any other key to continue.
    Shell>

    is this the cheeky code?
    where do i go from here?

  54. Hi there,

    thank you so much for this awesome tutorial!
    I developed a piece of software and yesterday a guy wrote me with a problem with my application on mac.
    Now I can reproduce his error and debug it.

  55. I am having this error wondering if anyone knows how to fix it

    Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Mac.

    The virtual machine ‘Mac’ has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1). More details may be available in ‘C:\Users\User 1\VirtualBox VMs\Mac\Logs\VBoxHardening.log’.

    Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
    Component: MachineWrap
    Interface: IMachine {85cd948e-a71f-4289-281e-0ca7ad48cd89}

  56. Was able to install and start successfully. Thanks a lot for clear cut instructions.

    The default display is 1024 x 768.

    Can the display resolution be increased? I am running the VM in a 4k monitor and it is taking a tiny portion of it. Would love to make it full screen or atleast fullHD.

    Thanks.

  57. on hp probook 450 g5 work fine may is a little slow but this is maybe i use only 6gb for macos toghether i have 8 gb

  58. You are a legend mate…
    First I did it and it didn’t work…coz I introduced a little concoctions of my own and than I deleted everything and redid it following ever instruction as per. And it worked like a charm.

    Many thanks!!!!!

  59. however, there is one hitch…the xcode wont work on 10.12 OS…it needs 10.13.2 or higher. that sucks…after all the hard work…it aint done a bit.

      1. Just Van BlooM, what will we do with the ISO, installer, do we use it on windows system, or In the vm itself, or what.

  60. Thanks for the tutorial. Looks like most people having issues because its not mentioned in the tutorial to close the virtual box before entering the code in command prompt. If you can add it in the notes sections it would be great.

  61. Hi there, thank you for this guide.
    I followed all of the steps listed, but when it asks “Select the disk where you want to install macos” the list is blank and I cannot go further.

    What I’m using:
    – High Sierra 10.13.4 ISO installer
    – virtualbox 5.2.8
    – Windows 10

    How can I fix this?
    Thank you in advance.

  62. Hi,

    I followed all the steps mentioned but when I launched the VM I am greeted with black screen (not CLI screen), its just black screen where it shows nothing. I waited for more than 30 minutes and nothing happened.

    Can you please tell me if you know why this is happening ?

    Thanks

  63. This code will work as long as you update to 5.2.2
    VBoxManage setextradata “YOUR VM NAME” VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920×1200

    just make sure you change the name and the resolution

  64. Hey :-)… how long is this supposed to take? i’ve been seeing some codes on my screen for a while.. It just seems like its repeating itself over and over. Do i just wait?

  65. I had the same problem with “>Shell” being written after boot. The problem was that my VM was booting from the Optical drive, and I hadn’t selected any iso ( or other image file ) to boot from. I ended up using the vmdk version ( and booting from the hard drive ). You can download the vmdk file (macOS Sierra 10.12 (One Full) LINK from the top of the page ) as a hard drive in your VM in the Settings/Storage section. After that just start the VM ( make sure it boots from hard disk ) and Sierra should start correctly ( up until the WELCOME page at least )

    Cheers!

  66. When I download from drive, it gives me a blank folder inside the Zip. For both the FUll and 6 of 6 download.

  67. HI Jake,
    I’m having the Shell stopping at press any key to skip startup.nsh, appearing in the black box and then nothing happens.

    I’ve enabled the correct BIOS settings, closed Vbox, then entered the command prompts one by one as you said.

    It’s still not working. Any thoughts?

  68. I can’t get past the Command Prompt stage.
    Message ‘VBoxManage.exe’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

    Using Windows 10 Pro 1803 build 17134.112 with all the latest updates.

  69. Thanks, Its working. But VM is starting in small window. How can I change the resolution of the Virtual Machine? View–> Screen Resolution are disabled.

  70. I’m having problem with the installation, i followed the tutorial step by step even i read too many times to be sure im on the right way. Finally when get to the end, when i try to run the VM appear the black screen with the geek code loading the system and for 2 seconds appear a black mouse and restart. everytime the same.

    I admit that this time I have gone further than with other tutorials

  71. This is cool and it works, but it’s so slow that it’s unusable. And I’m running the VM with an i7, two cores, and 8GB RAM. Plus sound is messed up… I get random chirps instead of the expected audio stream.

  72. Hi,

    This is cool and it works great! and you’re doing a great job.
    Just one problem, I canot connect to the internet via ethernet connection.
    I am running MacOS High Sierre 10.12 with VirtualBox Version 5.2.14 r123301 (Qt5.6.2).
    Btw i doing this just for fun, I have a macbook.

    Thanks

  73. Hey, I got the sierra running on my VM, but when I tried to install xcode it says i need macOS version 10.13.2 in order to install it. IS there a way that I can upgrade my os from my vm? or do you have another dropbox file that I can download with the latest os?

  74. Hey Jake,

    Thanks for this tutorial and sharing the image. It was really helpful.

    I had some issues when starting the VM and realized that the code you wrote in step 5 to enter in the command prompt is missing the “.exe” after “VBoxManage” on all but the first line.

    Cheers,

  75. Hello,

    I tried this method and it is working, thank you. except one problem

    I am running a macOS Sierra on virtualbox 5.2.16 (latest) on windows 10 pro but the screen is small 1024×768

    I have tried all the below but nothing worked

    cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”

    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” VBoxInternal2/EfiGopMode 4
    and
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920×1080
    and
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” VBoxInternal2/EfiHorizontalResolution 3000
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” VBoxInternal2/EfiVerticalResolution 2000

    The “VM name” is correct. but nothing is working, the screen size is still small 1024×768.

    Can you help please?

  76. For those who want to set resolution, It fails when I just copy/paste the code:
    VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920×1080

    but when I quoted the parameters it worked!
    vboxmanage setextradata “macOS Sierra10.12” “VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution” “1920×1080”

    And, only picked a resolution listed when you view->virtual screen

  77. I’ve followed all the things mentioned above, but when I start the VirtualBox it does nothing

    I mean only Blank Screen without any text or error message.

    Ive been waiting for more than 10 minutes but nothing happen.

  78. Hi, thank you very much for this guide, everything works fine, except for the screen size, mine is full hd but the mac os looks in 1024 x 768 is there any way around this? thanks in advance for your help

    1. I suffered the same problem but manged to fix it. I dont know which was the exact problem but in the end I typed in the command by my self:
      VBoxManage setextradata “Your VM Name” VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution “1920×1200″

      The difference from just coping it is that the character for ” and x are different if you type them in by yourself. I think this is a problem in this comment section.

      1. I can see that the ” marks here are different when I copy and paste them like you said. But unfortunately this still didn’t seem to work for me.

  79. Just wanted to say thank you! I tried a ton of different guides and could not get any of them to work and ran into a bunch of problems. After trying this it boots up without issues!

  80. Hi I am getting following erros:

    C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “macOS 10.12 Sierra” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff

    VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not find a registered machine named ‘macOS 10.12 Sierra’
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBoxWrap, interface IVirtualBox, callee IUnknown
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: “FindMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), machine.asOutParam())” at line 518 of file VBoxManageModifyVM.cpp

  81. When trying to add the code via cmd line in admin mode, I get the following:

    VBoxManage.exe: error: Could not find a registered machine named ‘MacOS’
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Details: code VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80bb0001), component VirtualBoxWrap, interface IVirtualBox, callee IUnknown
    VBoxManage.exe: error: Context: “FindMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]).raw(), machine.asOutParam())” at line 518 of file VBoxManageModifyVM.cpp

    I confirmed the name of my VM is MacOS and all other settings are correct. I also updated virtualbox and it made no difference.

  82. Configuration error: Querying “UUID” failed (VERR_CFGM_VALUE_NOT_FOUND).

    Result Code:
    E_FAIL (0x80004005)
    Component:
    ConsoleWrap
    Interface:
    IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

    Err, Hi! I have an error!!!!

  83. Thank you! I need to install the Apple Configurator 2 but fails, does this image support upgrading to macOS High Sierra?

  84. Hi Jake. I did the steps exactly as you’ve instructed. I also checked the bios and virtualization is already enabled. I made sure I used the correct VM name and I ran the codes in CMD after I closed virtualbox. But I still have the same problem. It gets stuck on that shell thing.

  85. I’m using VirtualBox version 5.2.18. I have other VMs running without issue. I have followed the steps above but when I try to run the vm I receive the following error: failed to open a session for the virtual machine safari on mac.
    Details: unknown configuration value ‘/Devicekey’ found in the configuration of smc instance #0 (VERR_CFGM_CONFIG_UNKNOWN_VALUE).
    Result Code E_FAIL (0x80004005)
    Component: ConsoleWrap
    Interface: ICOnsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

    For this key Am at a command prompt as Admin and I run : C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage setextradata “safari on mac” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey” “ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsreal(C)AppleComputerInc”

  86. Hi there,

    thank you so much for this awesome tutorial!
    I have a problem “the macos sierra video card can’t meet with the drive” how should i fix this??

  87. Hi there
    Great tutorial but i have one big problem here
    After running machine that “geeky” code just run endless, for like 15 minutes and i stop it
    Its just loop out and nothing happened
    Where i failed? What info need from me to solve it?
    Thanks in advance

  88. Hi,

    Even if stil replying on ping, the boot sequence is hanging on:

    WARNING: … getCPUIDInfo: this is an unknow CPU model 0x3a

    Ethernet [intel8254x]; Link up on en0, ….
    DSMOIS has arrived
    prevent idle sleep list: iodisplayWarangler+ (1)

    Any help is Welcome.

  89. So, I had two issues…
    1) When I logged on with my apple account, it gave me a message about the device is no longer valid for creating Apple ID accounts. Not really a big deal, but I thought you’d want to know.
    2) It came up and said it couldn’t identify the keyboard, then asked me to push the CMD key so it could identify it. I did that, but it’s a Windows key… Of course, it couldn’t identify the keyboard, but I was just able to close it and went on my way. Is there a way to get the wheel on the mouse to work?

    1. Hi,
      I had that same issue when I was setting up (the initial setup) but once you get in the operating system and log in from system preference -> iCloud, appleID works!

  90. Could anyone please explain why I can’t simply download MacOS Sierra from google drive? Download button for .rar archive is disabled and when I try to download whole folder, I get only .doc file but .rar file fails with an error “You don’t have permission to download this document”.

  91. Hey, I am just getting a blank black screen when I started my mac virtual machine. Its been there for quite some time now. What could be the problem? I entered all the code right, it all executed.

  92. my VM version is 5.2.18 , it is giving only two options, OS X (32-bit) and OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (32-bit), if i continue with the remaining process, i get the following message at the end, while starting the machine,
    “failed to open a session for virtual machine macOS 10.12 Sierra.”
    details:
    VT-x is not available (VERR_VMX_NO_VMX).
    result code : e_FAIL ( 0X80004005)
    component : ConsoleWrap
    Interface : IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

    1. @Sarib — I found that Windows 10 had Hyper-V installed by default. I removed it with the following command at the (Administrator) command prompt:

      dism.exe /Online /Disable-Feature:Microsoft-Hyper-V

    2. Go to your BIOS (shutdown your pc, then turn it on while smapping esc or f2, if one doesn’t work, it will be the other. Then, search for Intel Virtualization Technology, and make sure its turned on.

  93. I am having the same issue as Sakina above. I followed everything exactly as instructed but when I run my virtual machine I get a completely blank black screen with no dialogue.

  94. I had the same HID:legacy shim 2 problem.
    Now I can run the OS

    Here is what I did:

    1) Set virtual memory to 4096mb (I set to 8192 before)
    2) close Virtual Box before running the code on command prompt.

    I guess everybody’s got different problems. but hope this help someone among us.

    1. cd “D:\VirtualBox\”
      VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “macOS 10.12 Sierra” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct” “iMac11,3”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion” “1.0”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct” “Iloveapple”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey” “ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc”
      VBoxManage setextradata “macOS 10.12 Sierra” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC” 1

      works like a charm!! :))

    2. Just edit the first line, this one: cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\” to whatever path your virtualbox program is in.

  95. What is the file type suppose to be after I unzip it
    do I need to add the operating system to the vm by myself or is it done after I type in the codes in my command prompt ?

  96. can anyone help me, I do everything which is written here, I have 4gb ram, windows 10, virtual box and I5 proccessor , and I give 70% of my ram which is 3196 something ram to macOS but when i start it there is a black screen and it will remain for forever. What can i do please help me.

  97. Hi Jake,

    I had my VM running correctly for a few days. But recently during the boot up period I get the following message.

    IOConsoleUsers: gIOScreenLockState 3, hs 0, bs 0, now 0, sm 0x0

    Any ideas on how to resolve it? I couldn’t find a solution after several hours of browsing in various forums.

    Thanks.

  98. Hello Jake.
    So far, so good. I am at step two in step five. Am I supposed to write all the code in manually? I have tried to paste the code in but it will not paste. I guess I am missing something or doing something wrong, I just do not know. Also, after I pasted the code from your given example in to Notepad, I replaced the text with my virtual machine name. Do I replace the quotation marks as well or insert my name inbetween them and leave the quotation marks in the altered code?

    Big thanks,

    1. First, close virtualbox!!!
      You copy/paste all the lines into notepad.
      Then, you replace all the “Your name here” with the name of your vm (keep these parentheses ” in between the name”). Don’t change anything else.
      After you did that, open up cmd as adminstrator and copy/paste in the first line of code, which is cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”. then, press enter.
      Now, repeat copy/pasting in the other lines of code and pressing enter after pasting in each line. Close cmd and open virtualbox again. Now, start your machine, let the code run (don’t worry if you read error somewhere, or if it stops for a moment) and you should see the apple logo and your mac boot up!

  99. I’m done with all your steps and chose language and setup and all that stuff. Now when I need to select a disk to install macos on, it only shows “OS X Base System”. when i select it, it says I don’t have enough storage. I did make the .vmdk wirh 79GB of storage, just like you did.

  100. Hello,
    I have a problem when starting the system. The following text appears on the screen: bsd process name corresponding to current thread kernel_task

  101. Getting an error from the links to Onedrive, says the file has been downloaded too many times and now it is not available to anyone else. May need to reupload.

  102. Hi this great things that i have found, but unluckily i can’t download the files through the gdrive. Some error message showing up. Any mirror link for this? Thanks.

  103. Hi! I am honestly new to Virtualbox, can I also install Mac OS Mojave using the same method?

    1. You could try to copy the file to your own google drive. You can do that by clicking right mousebutton on the file and after that you can click “Make a copy”. After it has been copied you can go to your own google drive and download the file there 🙂

  104. thanks for this guide..
    its work in my comp, but the screen resolution is not full display,
    my comp display is 1366×768,
    how solve it??

    thankss..

  105. If you guys get the downloads exceeded message do this:
    – Save the file to your google drive
    – Make a copy of your file
    – Download the copy of the file

    🙂

  106. Thanks very much for sharing it. It works great! It seems I can even upgrade to a later version of Mac OS in the image, just like installing some new softwares. I am updating … following the app store suggestions.

  107. I get to the install and it stops at ‘Select the disk where you want to install macOS and there’s nothing to select.

    1. Actually, I figured it out

      The problem was that I had a virtual disk but still don’t have any partition on it (disk in terms of Windows filesystem). To fix that do the following:
      restart the VM/Install but FIRST.
      Select Disk Utility
      Select your disk on the left side. If you can’t find the disk, click on the button near the top left, then select the “Show all disks” option.
      Select erase tab on the right side
      Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
      Name: Give it a name
      Click erase. This will create a partition on your disk
      Quit Disk Utility and continue with installation

      1. KP, you’re amazing.
        I was about to give up, after trying for almost two months, playing with all the VM settings and different tutorials out there and deleting/creating new VMs.
        Then i came about your tips. And it worked like charm.
        Thank very much!!! Love you!!!

  108. My need is very simple. I want to run imessage on my windows desktop. That is literally all I want to accomplish. Will this procedure allow me to do that, or will I have to install something more?

  109. THIS IS INCREDIBLE! THANK YOU!

    Instructions worked first try on Linux Mint 19 🙂

    I’m shocked. I have even upgraded to Mojave.

    I haven’t been able to get Clipboard Sharing, Drag and Drop, or Shared Folders working, even after installing `VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg` (6.0.8), but have found ways around it and it’s pretty incredible to me that it even runs at all. Awesome work.

  110. Awesome tutorial, however I am having some issues when I get to the command prompt part of the tutorial. I suspect it is because I actually save all my virtual machines on another drive. So in that case, what would be the proper way to direct command prompt? I have the virtual drive for MacOS saved under V:\VM\MacOS Mojave_

  111. I can’t see the files in the Google Drive links you provided. Is there an alternate location where the files are available?

    1. I had the same problem.
      I just downloaded an iso image using eMule : ‘macOS 10.12 Sierra.iso’ , which is actually macOS Sierra 10.12 beta.
      It definitely works.
      Actually, I’m typing right now from that virtual machine.

  112. Why not just save the file containing VirtualBox code as a .bat file and run it as admnistrator ?
    Spares a lot of time

  113. I stumbled across this when I was having trouble getting Mac OS X to boot in VirtualBox. I went through a lot of pages, but this is the only one that had a real solution. Thanks for the info! It solved my issue.

  114. The full version of the Final(macOS High Sierra) is missing! You will be redirected to the Google Drive page but there you can only see a text file. Please look forward to this matter. Thanks!

  115. Hey if I do this will all my files in windows go and will apps like iMessage work in the Mac version so I can connect it to my phone

  116. Hello,

    Thanks for the nice guide, but the image files are missing.

    Could these be restored?

    Thanks in advance
    George

  117. Hello,

    Thanks for the nice guide, but the image files are missing.

    Could these be restored?

    Thanks in advance
    Brian

  118. Hi there. Is this still working or do you have an update for Catalina ?
    Can you make the files available again for download ?
    Thank you.

  119. Hey. This seems like a good alternative to getting an actual Apple PC. It seems that all of the links except for the VirtualBox download are not working. Can you help me with this?

  120. this worked with the exception of one thing. I kept getting stuck on the prompt where it said Start RandomSeed End RandomSeed the fix was to run the cmd as administrator and runn the following

    cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”

    VBoxManage modifyvm “” –cpu-profile “Intel Core i7-6700K”

    The issue seemed to be with my processor. I have an amd ryzen 9. hope this helps anyone else running into this problem

  121. The links provided for downloading the macOS Sierra are not working. Could you please provide an updated link,

  122. Ok! Let’s try this again!

    1. If you are getting the shell.nsh messages – it is because you are using a VDI file instead of the VMDK file. Change it out and that will make your stuff work. Or at least get you farther.

    2. The Windows commands given are wrong. The problem is that the “.exe” is left off of most of the commands. I made a batch file that will work. NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU must change the name of your implementation (ie: Is it “Mac”, “MAC”, “MacOS”, “Mac OS X”, or whatever. As explained above – get this name from VIrtual Box and PLUG IT IN TO the batch file where it says “set name=”.

    Here is my batch script that works:

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0e3qcm6ngkmyaq/winmac.bat?dl=0

    Put it on DropBox so everyone can get it.

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