Running a macOS VM on a GNU/Linux platform
Running a macOS VM on a GNU/Linux platform
I aim to handle everyday tasks like office work and organize photos with some photo editing. I won’t be tackling heavy jobs such as video editing or coding. My idea is to set up Xubuntu on a laptop’s secondary hard drive and run MacOS via VMware or similar virtual machine software. My main concerns are SSD speed impact on the VM performance and the ideal RAM size for this workload. Since I can’t afford a MacBook, I’m considering a gaming laptop with MacOS inside VMware. Regarding system choices, I’m unsure if Intel or AMD is better suited for this setup. For the secondary storage, a NVME drive would be appropriate. Photo editing may need hardware acceleration, so I should check if the software supports it.
No need to run macOS on Linux; you can operate it inside Ubuntu without issues. It won’t consume much system resources compared to Windows 11.
do you guys think that I should wait for next year's intel 13th gen CPU as well as rtx 40 series for this? when will the newest gen laptop come out though?
Linux capabilities apply across systems, making virtual machines less necessary. Installing Linux isn't always required unless you plan to use it. Be mindful that installing macOS in a VM may be prohibited in certain regions if you don't own the hardware. Allocate at least 8 GB, but 12 GB is ideal for smooth performance. A 32 GB option suits those on a tighter budget. For laptop suggestions, refer to the dedicated guide at
Sosumi is a tool that simplifies setting up a macOS virtual machine using QEMU. I haven't used it for serious productivity work, just for testing purposes only, so I can't comment on its reliability. The number of CPU cores and RAM allocated to the VM influence its performance. I ran it on a standard hard drive, so I'm unsure how much an SSD would improve things. You can find more info on GitHub: https://github.com/popey/sosumi-snap. Some videos I watched were useful, including one that also shows an alternative VM option.
I'll work with Linux as well as macOS and Windows. Otherwise, I would have purchased a MacBook right away. I believe I'll have to wait for the next model next year when it comes to laptops; the one I'm using now barely handles office tasks. LOL
this is actually pretty easy (with vmware) you need 3 things(and vmware ofc): -vmware unlocker -a macos recovery vmdk -the vmware tools for macos iso the first one you can find here: paolo-projects/unlocker (use the lnx-...sh files to install) the second one you can find here : High_Sierra_10.13.vmdk(mediafire) Big Sur 11.1.vmdk (mega.nz) this wil get you a working vm, but a really slow and unworkable one... so you also need the vmwaretools-darwin iso to install on the vm. depending on your disto they might be availeble in the package manager (on gentoo they are): or you can also download them from here: /com.vmware.fusion.tools.darwin.zip.tar or for the other ones: http://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw.../packages/ as a personal note: I userd the High sierra one because i intended to install it later to bare metal using opencore ( OpenCore.git ) and since i have a Nvidia GfxCard in my system and High Sierra is the latest verion of macos that has nvidia drivers for it ... other than that there is no good reason not to install the latest: Big Sur i think
Certainly! When you mention preparing to install using OpenCore, it implies you're aiming to create a custom build or a modified system. This often relates to setting up a hackintosh, where you customize hardware and software to run different operating systems.
Yes and no, Hackintosh is a past tense concept. Now you can simply install the official Apple version on any PC using OpenCore: a guide is available here – https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/. The OpenCore GitHub repository is also accessible at https://github.com/acidanthera/OpenCorePkg. You’ll also need gibMacOS from GitHub to download the official ISO/DMG/Recoveries from Apple servers. Depending on your hardware, you might also require different kext files, which are MacOS drivers. For more details on this, refer to the first link in the post; there’s no OS X version built for AMD yet. Results on Intel CPUs and chipsets appear to be more reliable.