Windows 10 is a great operating system. It has its quirks and annoyances, but which operating system doesn’t? Even if you’re beholden to Microsoft and Windows 10, you can still shop around.

What better way to do that than from the safe confines of your existing operating system with a virtual machine? This way, you can run macOS on Windows, which is perfect when you want to use Mac-only apps on Windows.

1. Apr 23, 2020  Virtual machines have become indispensable in business IT, but virtualization is also available to home users, allowing everyone to run multiple.
2. Step 2: on the new Virtual Machines wizard page you need to select the option, I will install the operating system later. & click on Next Creating new Virtual Machine. Step 3: Now on this page you will have to select the macOS Version Here in this article we will install the macOS Mojave 10.14 which is the latest version of MacOS, Click on Next.

MacOS Mojave 10.14 is the Apple’s operating system that brought iOS apps like news and Stock to our PC. For the first time, Apple introduced the system-wide Dark Mode in macOS Mojave 10.14. MacOS Mojave 10.14 has its own share of security issues. Most of the concerns have been mentioned for Apple to be more better ever.

So, here’s how you install macOS in a virtual machine on Windows, making a virtual Hackintosh that lets you run Apple apps from your Windows machine.

What Files Do You Need to Create a macOS Virtual Machine on Windows 10?

Before delving into the “how-to,” you need to download and install the essential tools. The tutorial details how to create macOS virtual machines using both Oracle VirtualBox Manager (VirtualBox) and VMware Workstation Player (VMware Player).

Not sure which to use? Learn more about the differences between VirtualBox and VMware.

• Download the latest version of VirtualBox. The tutorial uses VirtualBox 6.1.4
• Download the latest version of VMware Player. The tutorial uses VMware Player 15.0.4

You need a copy of macOS, too. Catalina is the latest macOS version. You can find the download links for macOS Catalina in the next section.

This tutorial will focus on installing macOS Catalina in a virtual machine running on Intel hardware, using either VirtualBox or VMware Player.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to any AMD hardware, so I cannot provide a tutorial.

There is, however, the code snippet that anyone using an AMD system requires to boot a macOS Catalina using VMware on AMD hardware.

The process to launch the macOS Catalina virtual machine is the same as the Intel version but uses a slightly different code snippet. You can find the tutorial and the code snippet in the section below.

Furthermore, you will find links to several AMD macOS Catalina, Mojave, and High Sierra virtual machine tutorials, at the end of the article.

Download macOS Catalina Virtual Image

Use the following links to download macOS Catalina for both VirtualBox and VMware.

If the Google Drive reaches its download limit, right-click the file and select Copy to create a copy in your own Google Drive. You can then download the macOS Catalina virtual image from there.

Please note that these links may stop working from time to time. If that is the case, please leave a comment, and I’ll fix them as soon as possible.

After the virtual image finishes downloading, right-click, and extract the file using your favorite archive tool. For instance, right-click, then select 7-Zip > Extract to “macOS Catalina.”

How to Create a macOS Catalina Virtual Machine with VirtualBox

Before creating the macOS virtual machine, you need to install the VirtualBox Extension Pack. It includes fixes for USB 3.0 support, mouse and keyboard support, and other useful VirtualBox patches.

Download: VirtualBox Extension Pack for Windows (Free)

Scroll down, select All supported platforms to download, then double-click to install.

Create the macOS Catalina Virtual Machine

Open VirtualBox. Select New. Type macOS.

VirtualBox will detect the OS as you type and will default to Mac OS X. You can leave this as is.

Regarding the virtual machine name, make it something memorable yet easy to type. You’ll need to input this name in a series of commands, and it is frustrating to type a complicated name multiple times!

Next, set the amount of RAM the macOS virtual machine can use. I would suggest a minimum of 4GB, but the more you can give from the host system, the better your experience will be.

Remember, you cannot assign more RAM than your system has available, and you need to leave some memory available for the host operating system. Learn more about how much RAM does a system need?

Now, you need to assign a hard disk, which is the virtual image downloaded previously. Select Use an existing virtual hard disk file, then select the folder icon. Browse to the VMDK file, then select Create.

Edit the macOS Catalina Virtual Machine Settings

Don’t try and start your macOS Catalina virtual machine yet. Before firing the virtual machine up, you need to make a few tweaks to the settings. Right-click your macOS virtual machine and select Settings.

Under System, remove Floppy from the boot order. Ensure the Chipset is set to ICH9.

Select the Processor tab. Assign two processors. If you have a CPU with power to spare (such as an Intel Core i7 or i9 with multiple extra cores), consider assigning more. However, this isn’t vital.

Make sure the Enable PAE/NX box is checked.

Under Display, set Video Memory to 128MB.

Now, under Storage, check the box alongside Use Host I/O Cache.

Finally, head to the USB tab and select USB 3.0, then press OK.

Use Command Prompt to Add Custom Code to VirtualBox

It still isn’t quite time to fire up your macOS Catalina virtual machine. In its current configuration, VirtualBox doesn’t work with your macOS VMDK.

To get it up and running, you have to essentially patch VirtualBox before the macOS virtual machine will function. To do this, you need to enter some code using the Command Prompt. All the details are below.

Start by closing VirtualBox. The commands will not execute properly if VirtualBox or any of its associated processes are running.

Once closed, press Windows Key + X, then select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.

If your menu only shows the PowerShell option, type command into your Start menu search bar. Then right-click the Best Match, and select Run as Administrator.

The following code works for VirtualBox 5.x and 6.x.

Use the following command to locate the Oracle VirtualBox directory:

Now, enter the following commands, one by one. Adjust the command to match the name of your virtual machine. For instance, my virtual machine name is “macoscat.” Here are the commands:

After the completion of the commands, and presuming you encountered no errors, close the Command Prompt.

Boot Your macOS Mojave Virtual Machine

Reopen VirtualBox. Double-click your macOS virtual machine to start it. You will see a long stream of text, followed by a gray screen.

The gray screen can take a moment or two to clear, but don’t panic. Once the screen clears, macOS Catalina will begin installing. When it resolves, you will arrive at the macOS “Welcome” screen.

From here, you can set your macOS Mojave virtual machine up as you see fit.

Pro Tip: Take a snapshot of your virtual machine once it passes the gray screen. If anything goes wrong down the line, you can return to the Welcome screen setup and start the process again.

Once you complete the macOS setup, take another one so you can jump straight into your macOS installation. Head to Machine > Take Snapshot, give your snapshot a name, and wait for it to process.

How to Create a macOS Catalina Virtual Machine Using VMware Workstation Player

Prefer VMware over VirtualBox? You can create a macOS Catalina virtual machine using VMware that works exactly the same as VirtualBox. And, just as with VirtualBox, VMware also requires patching before the macOS Catalina virtual machine will work.

This part of the tutorial works for Intel and AMD systems. AMD users must use the second code snippet when editing the virtual machine VMX file. Read through the tutorial to see what this means exactly.

Patch VMware Workstation Player

In the “macOS Catalina Virtual Image” section is the VMware Player Patch Tool. Before commencing any further, download the patch tool.

Then, browse to the location you downloaded the patch tool to. Extract the contents of the archive. This process works best when the folders are on the same drive (e.g., the VMware root folder and extracted archive are both found on the C: drive).

Make sure VMware is completely closed. Now, in the patcher folder, right-click the win-install command script and select Run as Administrator. The script will open a Command Prompt window, and the patch-script will run.

Do pay attention. The script whizzes by, and you need to keep watch for any “File not Found” messages.

The most common reason for a “file not found” or a “system cannot find the file specified” message is installing VMware Workstation Player in a different location to the default folder, and executing the patch from a different directory.

Once the patch completes, you can open VMware.

Create the macOS Catalina Virtual Machine with VMware

Select Create a New Virtual Machine. Choose I will install the operating system later.

Now, select Apple Mac OS X, and change the Version to macOS 10.14. If you don’t see the macOS options, it is because the patch didn’t install correctly.

Next, you need to choose a name for your macOS Catalina virtual machine. Choose something easy to remember, then copy the file path to somewhere handy—you’re going to need it to make some edits in a moment.

On the next screen, stick with the suggested maximum hard disk size, then select Store virtual disk as a single file. Complete the virtual disk creation wizard, but do not start the virtual machine just yet.

Edit the macOS Mojave Virtual Machine Settings

Before you can boot the virtual machine, you must edit the hardware specifications. Plus, you need to tell VMware where to find the macOS VMDK.

From the main VMware screen, select your macOS Catalina virtual machine, then right-click, and select Settings.

Like VirtualBox, bump the virtual machine memory up to at least 4GB. You can allocate more if you have RAM to spare.

Under Processors, edit the number of available cores to 2.

Now, under Hard Disk (SATA), you need to remove the hard disk created earlier. Select Remove and VMware will remove the disk automatically.

Now, select Add > Hard Disk > SATA (Recommended)> Use an existing disk. Browse to the location of the macOS VMDK and select it.

Edit the macOS Catalina VMX File for Intel Hardware

This section is for Intel users and it involves the final set of edits you need to make before switching your VMware macOS Catalina virtual machine on!

Close VMware. Head to the location you stored the macOS virtual machine. The default location is:

Browse to macOS.vmx, right-click, and select Open with…, select Notepad (or your preferred text editor). Scroll to the bottom of the configuration file and add the following line:

Save, then Exit.

You can now open VMware, select your macOS Mojave virtual machine, and fire it up!

Edit the macOS Catalina VMX File for AMD Hardware

This section is for AMD users. Like the above section, AMD users must also edit the VMX file before proceeding. The AMD edit involves a few more lines than the Intel version, but you can copy and paste the data into the file.

Close VMware. Head to the location you stored the macOS virtual machine. The default location is:

Browse to macOS.vmx, right-click, and select Open with…, select Notepad (or your preferred text editor). Scroll to the bottom of the configuration file and add the following lines:

Save, then Exit.

You can now open VMware, select your macOS Mojave virtual machine, and fire it up!

Install VMware Tools to Your macOS Catalina Virtual Machine

You now need to install VMware Tools, which is a set of utilities and extensions that improve mouse handling, video performance, and other useful things.

With the macOS virtual machine running, head to Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.

The installation digavsc will appear on the macOS desktop. When the option appears, select Install VMware Tools, then allow it access to the removable volume. Follow the guided installer, which will require a restart on completion.

Troubleshooting

There are a couple of things that can go wrong during the macOS virtual machine installation in VMware Player Workstation.

1. If you cannot see “Apple Mac OS X” during the virtual machine creation wizard, then you need to revisit the patch process. Ensure every process associated with VMware Player is off.
2. If you receive the message “Mac OS X is not supported with binary translation” when starting the virtual machine, there is a strong chance you need to activate virtualization in your BIOS/UEFI configuration.
3. If you receive the message “VMware Player unrecoverable error: (vcpu-0)” when starting the virtual machine, you need to head back to the macOS.vmx configuration file to ensure you added the extra line and saved the edit.
4. If you’re running AMD hardware and get stuck at the Apple logo, first power off the virtual machine. Now, head to Settings > Options > General. Change the Guest operating system to Microsoft Windows, and the Version to Windows 10 x64. Press OK, then attempt to power up the virtual machine again. Once the Apple logo passes, power down the virtual machine, then set the Guest operating system option back to Apple Mac OS X, selecting the correct version.

macOS Virtual Machines for AMD Hardware

Apple uses Intel hardware to power desktops and laptops. Configuring a macOS virtual machine using Intel hardware is easier because the hardware specifications are very similar.

With AMD, the opposite is true. Because Apple does not develop macOS on AMD hardware, creating a macOS virtual machine on an AMD system is trickier.

Adding to this, I don’t have an AMD system to test macOS virtual machines on, so I cannot give you a detailed tutorial. I can, however, point you in the direction of several macOS AMD virtual machine tutorials that do work, so long as you are patient and follow each step accordingly.

• Mojave AMD Vanilla Guide From Windows via AMD OS X
• High Sierra 10.13.1 VM for VMware Player for Ryzen/FX/APU via AMD OS X
• Mojave AMD VirtualBox via AMD OS X

The AMD OS X forum is a great resource for macOS virtual machines. You can find many more forum threads regarding AMD macOS virtual machines, too.

macOS Catalina Virtual Machine Installation Complete

You have two options to choose from for your macOS Catalina virtual machine. Both options are great if you want to give macOS a try before making the switch from Windows and enjoy some of the best Apple apps on offer.

You can use a virtual machine to test other operating systems too. For instance, here’s how to install a Linux distro in a virtual machine.

Are you looking to learn more about virtual machines?

Check out our VirtualBox User’s Guide, which teaches everything you need to know, or our guide to creating a virtual machine using Windows 10 Hyper-V.

Read the full article: How to Run macOS on Windows 10 in a Virtual Machine

Earlier to use a second Operating System, we either used another machine or do a dual boot, but with time everything has changed. We can now explore multiple Operating Systems without installing another one on our system. No longer you need to purchase a new machine or make space for another Operating System. Virtualization software for Windows has made it possible to use dual operating systems on a single machine.

Virtualization allows users to test a software or the entire operating system without installing or removing the default OS from the PC. Virtualization allows using different Operating Systems on regular PC for testing, experiments, coding or any sort of reasons. For example, if you want to work on a Mac interface on your Windows Laptop or Windows 10 on a Mac Machine, you can do this by using free VM software for Windows 10. Here is a review and comparison of the best virtual machine for Windows 10.

Best virtual machine for Windows 10:

VMware Workstation Pro

VMware Workstation Pro is one of the best virtualization software for Windows that gives you a wide range of features to explore. VMware Workstation Pro allows you to run multiple operating systems on a single machine without installing different operating systems. All these OS run as a virtual machine and lets you test and build the software with utmost compatibility with almost all the operating systems.

VMware Workstation Pro Features

• Ultimate Companion to vSphere Integration
• Create multiple screenshots or rollback to a point with snapshots
• Clones for Rapid Duplication uses linked clones to quickly initiate a VM
• Supports DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.3 for High-Performance 3D Graphics
• Allows you to create enormous VMs on 16 vCPUs, 64 GB of memory and 8 TB of virtual disks
• REST API offers over 20 controls for operations like VM Power, Host and Guest VM
• Test App flexible Virtual Network Simulation for powerful virtual networking
• Supports heavy application to run on Server and Desktop VM environment
• Protect your data on VMware Workstation Pro by Restricted Access on VM
• VMware Workstation Pro supports 4K UHD / QHD High-Resolution Display
• Share Virtual Machines among your teammates in the organization
• Compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, and other platforms

Parallels Desktop

If you want to experience a Windows Desktop environment on a Mac system or vice versa, Parallel VM is the best virtualization software for Windows and Mac systems. Even Apple provides ‘Boot Camp’ as their free too to run a virtual machine, however, regular users, need to switch to parallel VM. Whatever is your native OS, you can run a different OS side-by-side. A parallel desktop is often required when you want to run an application that doesn’t support your OS and needs a different OS.

Parallel VM allows you to get Windows Notifications in the Mac notification center. The latest built of Parallel VM allows simulating Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10 environments on your Mac machine. All Mac and Windows applications can run side-by-side using Parallel VM without rebooting the system. File sharing between OS is also possible with the Parallel VM.

Parallels Desktop Features

• Virtual RAM & Virtual CPUs for each VM session
• Easy download and installation process of Windows 10
• Optimized and updated to work with macOS Catalina (10.15)
• Customized Touch Bar for instant access of Windows applications
• Connect & Pair USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, and all Bluetooth devices
• 24/7 premium phone & email support for business cloud services
• One-Click tuning of Retina Display and performance as per need
• Network conditioner to simulate instant access to Windows 10
• Virtual machine encryption for added security

You may also check out the list of complete Features of Standard, Pro and Business edition.

Oracle VM Virtualbox

The Virtualbox Windows 10 VM is one of the best virtual machines for Windows as it gives you a wide range of host and guest combinations. The second most amazing fact about Virtualbox Windows 10 VM is it’s FREE of cost available for all OS.

Irrespective of Windows XP onwards, Linux level 2.4 and above, Windows NT, Server 2003, OpenSolaris, Solaris, and even OpenBSD Unix, you have it all packed in one free VM software for windows 10.

Virtualbox Windows 10 VM also runs on Mac machines, and host a client Mac VM session as well. It only takes 30 MB of disk space even after being such a powerful Windows 10 VM software. The disk space may increase to certain Gigabytes depending on the virtual OS you are trying to use.

Oracle VM Virtualbox Features

• Virtualbox Windows 10 VM has a super portability feature regardless of OS
• It doesn’t require hardware virtualization as it got built-in hardware acceleration
• Virtualbox Windows 10 VM supports shared folders, seamless Windows with 3D virtualization
• It has incomparable hardware compatibility with multiple Input/Output and Processing devices
• Connect with any Remote machine display using the Virtualbox Windows 10 VM
• Capture multigeneration snapshots of your sessions for future references

Check out the list of complete Features of the Virtualbox Windows 10 VM edition.

Comparison Chart

Virtual Machine For Mac Os

Summing Up

In the comparison of the best virtual machine for Windows 10, VMware Workstation Pro scored as the top Windows 10 VM. Though Virtualbox Windows 10 is a free VM software for Windows 10 simulation for experiments. However, if you are a regular user, you should opt for the best virtual machine for Windows with complete features.

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