F5F Stay Refreshed Hardware Desktop Execute commands in a virtual environment on macOS with virt-manager and KVM support.

Execute commands in a virtual environment on macOS with virt-manager and KVM support.

Execute commands in a virtual environment on macOS with virt-manager and KVM support.

M
Momoney8607
Junior Member
3
01-17-2022, 08:43 AM
#1
Hello team, yesterday I set up a Mac OS VM using the new tutorial from the passthrough website. Everything functioned well until I switched to Virt-Manager. Now, any input device inside the VM isn't responding. The mouse is stuck in the top-left corner, and neither can I move it nor type with the keyboard. When I power on, macOS shows a login screen, but the password field cursor keeps blinking—probably not a crash. I can't log in without any peripherals.

System details: Intel i9 9900K, MSI Z370-A Pro RTX 2080 Ti, running Manjaro Minimal XFCE on x64. macOS High Sierra via passthrough git (Catalina didn’t boot).

What I've tried so far:
- Enabled Intel IOMMU with Grub
- Passed through Intel USB Controller via GUI
- Passed through USB devices separately via GUI
- Tested the "reddit" solution—used a fake USB tablet instead of a mouse
- Switched to VirtIO devices
- Changed to PS/2 keyboard (no PS/2 mouse)
- Updated USB controller to USB 2, 3, and default (piix3-uhci)
- Added a second keyboard and mouse; nothing works yet

I removed all peripherals except PS/2 because I can't remove them.

This is my current OSX.xml file. I've disabled all except PS/2, since I can't remove them.

Spoiler: <domain>...</domain>
<name>OSX</name>
<uuid>f7e2f098-4826-4b4a-bf59-668d09a93260</uuid>
<memory unit="KiB">11718750</memory unit>
<currentMemory unit="KiB">11718750</currentMemory unit>
<vcpu placement="static">16</vcpu>

OS details:
- Arch: x86_64
- Machine: pc-q35-6.2
- HVM
- Loader: readonly = yes
- PFLASH: /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/firmware/OVMF_CODE.fd
- NVRAM: /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/firmware/OVMF_VARS-1024x768.fd
- Boot device: hd
- Features: acpi, pae

Additional settings:
- CPU mode: custom (match = exact)
- Check: none
- Topology: 2 sockets, dies=1, cores=4, threads=2
- Clock offset: UTC
- Power off: destroy
- On reboot: restart
- Crash handling: destroy

Suspend options: disabled
Suspend to disk: disabled
Devices:
- Emulator: qemu-system-x86_64
- Disks:
- /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/ESP.qcow2 (file) → sda
- /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/AppleTest3.qcow2 (file) → sdb
- Driver: qemu, qcow2, raw

I've tried changing USB controller models and added a second keyboard/mouse, but nothing works. Let me know if you need more help.
M
Momoney8607
01-17-2022, 08:43 AM #1

Hello team, yesterday I set up a Mac OS VM using the new tutorial from the passthrough website. Everything functioned well until I switched to Virt-Manager. Now, any input device inside the VM isn't responding. The mouse is stuck in the top-left corner, and neither can I move it nor type with the keyboard. When I power on, macOS shows a login screen, but the password field cursor keeps blinking—probably not a crash. I can't log in without any peripherals.

System details: Intel i9 9900K, MSI Z370-A Pro RTX 2080 Ti, running Manjaro Minimal XFCE on x64. macOS High Sierra via passthrough git (Catalina didn’t boot).

What I've tried so far:
- Enabled Intel IOMMU with Grub
- Passed through Intel USB Controller via GUI
- Passed through USB devices separately via GUI
- Tested the "reddit" solution—used a fake USB tablet instead of a mouse
- Switched to VirtIO devices
- Changed to PS/2 keyboard (no PS/2 mouse)
- Updated USB controller to USB 2, 3, and default (piix3-uhci)
- Added a second keyboard and mouse; nothing works yet

I removed all peripherals except PS/2 because I can't remove them.

This is my current OSX.xml file. I've disabled all except PS/2, since I can't remove them.

Spoiler: <domain>...</domain>
<name>OSX</name>
<uuid>f7e2f098-4826-4b4a-bf59-668d09a93260</uuid>
<memory unit="KiB">11718750</memory unit>
<currentMemory unit="KiB">11718750</currentMemory unit>
<vcpu placement="static">16</vcpu>

OS details:
- Arch: x86_64
- Machine: pc-q35-6.2
- HVM
- Loader: readonly = yes
- PFLASH: /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/firmware/OVMF_CODE.fd
- NVRAM: /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/firmware/OVMF_VARS-1024x768.fd
- Boot device: hd
- Features: acpi, pae

Additional settings:
- CPU mode: custom (match = exact)
- Check: none
- Topology: 2 sockets, dies=1, cores=4, threads=2
- Clock offset: UTC
- Power off: destroy
- On reboot: restart
- Crash handling: destroy

Suspend options: disabled
Suspend to disk: disabled
Devices:
- Emulator: qemu-system-x86_64
- Disks:
- /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/ESP.qcow2 (file) → sda
- /home/michael/macOS-Simple-KVM/AppleTest3.qcow2 (file) → sdb
- Driver: qemu, qcow2, raw

I've tried changing USB controller models and added a second keyboard/mouse, but nothing works. Let me know if you need more help.

G
Gamerking136
Member
58
01-17-2022, 08:43 AM
#2
In Virtual Machine manager, include "VirtIO Tablet." It seems to resolve the input issues I encountered. This works even on a much less powerful device than yours.
G
Gamerking136
01-17-2022, 08:43 AM #2

In Virtual Machine manager, include "VirtIO Tablet." It seems to resolve the input issues I encountered. This works even on a much less powerful device than yours.