October 21, 2014
There are a lot of guides out there on how to install Mac OS X Yosemite under VirtualBox, but unfortunately most of them are A) for the developer preview, or B) for Windows. While most of the steps are pretty much what you need, there are a handful of missing things that will make the process "Just Not Work" for the final retail release of Yosemite.
Here's my complete step-by-step guide on how to install Yosemite under VirtualBox with a Yosemite host.
- First thing you'll need to do is download the Yosemite Installer from the App Store. It will save as "Install OS X Yosemite" in your /Applications folder.
- Once it's there, open a Terminal and run the following commands:
• sudo gem install iesd (If you've already previously installed iesd you can skip this step.)
• cd ~/Desktop (We move to the Desktop to make it easier to get rid of the files we don't need.)
• iesd -i /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app -o yosemite.dmg -t BaseSystem
• hdiutil convert yosemite.dmg -format UDSP -o yosemite.sparseimage
• hdiutil mount /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg
• hdiutil mount yosemite.sparseimage
• cp /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.* /Volumes/OS X Base System/
• hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/
• hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS X Base System/
(Most guides get this wrong, and simply tell you to use "unmount" rather than "detach.")
• hdiutil convert yosemite.sparseimage -format UDZO -o yosemitefixed.dmg - Now you need to open VirtualBox, but leave your Terminal open because we aren't done there just yet.
- In VirtualBox, create a new VM and name it. ("Mac OS X Yosemite" is probably a good choice.)
- If you can spare it, give the machine 4GB of RAM, otherwise the default 2048 should be fine.
- Go ahead and create a 20GB Virtual Hard Drive. Make it a Dynamically Allocated VDI.
- Once the machine has been created, highlight it in the main VirtualBox window and click "Settings."
- In the Settings window under "System > Motherboard" make sure "Chipset" has PIIX3 selected.
- Click over to "Display" and max out the Video Memory.
- Now move to "Storage" and choose the optical disc from the "Storage Tree" menu. (At this point it should be labeled "Empty.")
- Next to the dropdown by "CD/DVD Drive" you will see a small CD icon. Click it, and select "Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file..." then navigate to yosemitefixed.dmg on your Desktop and select it.
- Check the "Live CD/DVD" checkbox, and then click "OK" to close the settings window.
- Start the VM. You won't see an Apple logo while the system boots, but rest assured the system is starting.
- IF YOUR MACHINE DOES NOT START FULLY, you will probably be stuck at an error that says "Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport." If so, power off the Virtual Machine, go back to your Terminal and type: VBoxManage modifyvm 'YOUR YOSEMITE VM NAME' --cpuidset 1 000206a7 02100800 1fbae3bf bfebfbff then close Terminal and restart the VM.
- You should now be at the Welcome screen for the Mac OS X Installer. At this point you will need to partition your virtual disk image, so you should click "Continue" which will open the menubar at the very top of the screen.
- From the top menubar, select "Utilities" and then choose "Disk Utility."
- Once Disk Utility opens, you will see your VBOX HARDDRIVE in the left side. Select it, then click the "Partition" tab.
- Under "Partition Layout" select "1 Partition." Name it "Macintosh HD" and use the "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" format. Click "Apply" and then "Partition" on the dialog that appears.
- Quit Disk Utility to return to the OS X Installer, and then install OS X to the drive partition you just created.
At this point, all you need to do is wait out the install and then once the VM reboots, you will be presented with the OS X Welcome Screen as if you've just booted a brand new Mac. Once you've gotten the initial setup finished and you've finally arrived at your Desktop, I recommend taking a snapshot of the VM, so you can revert back to your fresh install at any time.
Enjoy, and feel free to comment if you have any questions.
(16:31)
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