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New York, 9:35 AM
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  • posts about #macos more →

    How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free

    Urban Renewal, OS 9 Edition

    Final Round of Psystar vs Apple Might Be Called Off

    First Snow Leopard Update: 10.6.1 Is Here

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of ErasmusCaterpillar ErasmusCaterpillar
    10/19/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Great article, I personally use VMware Fusion but Virtualbox is an excellent free alternative.

    Mac OS X Server is currently the only version of OSX that can be (legally) virtualized, and only on Mac hardware. If you want to run Mac OS X desktop in a virtual machine, it's definitely hackintosh time.
     Reply
    Rex the Decadent promoted this comment ErasmusCaterpillar was starred ErasmusCaterpillar was unstarred
    Image of Navin R Johnson Navin R Johnson
    10/19/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Virtualize ANY OS? I've virtualized Windows under Linux and Linux under Windows.

    I've seen plenty of people running Windows in Mac OS.

    BUT how do I run OS X in a virtual machine? Is it done? Does it have to be a hackentosh install disk. I need details. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    Navin R Johnson was starred Navin R Johnson was unstarred
    Image of Eric Riley Eric Riley
    10/19/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    How would I go about making a Virtualized copy of Windows Server 2003? I have a key/iso through MSDNAA and I wanted to play with it a little bit before I start building my server from scratch. (I'm undecided between Linux and Windows Server ATM) #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    jeffk promoted this comment Eric Riley was starred Eric Riley was unstarred
    Image of jeffk jeffk
    10/24/09

    @Eric Riley: If you are running Windows, install MS Virtual Server or MS Virtual PC, and you can install Windows Server 2003 in a new virtual machine.

    VirtualBox probably works as a host too, but I have not tried it. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    jeffk was starred jeffk was unstarred
    Image of bf4cb4 bf4cb4
    10/18/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Is there any way I would be able to delete this partition if I decided that virtualizing isn't that great for me? #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman promoted this comment bf4cb4 was starred bf4cb4 was unstarred
    Image of John Herrman John Herrman
    10/18/09

    @bf4cb4: Yeah, it's not a real partition. It's just a file inside your main OS's filesystem. No risk! #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman was starred John Herrman was unstarred
    Image of bf4cb4 bf4cb4
    10/18/09

    @John Herrman: Thank you very much! I tried it out with Ubuntu but didn't really see the point, so I'm gonna get rid of it #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman approved this comment bf4cb4 was starred bf4cb4 was unstarred
    Image of rneugebauer000 rneugebauer000
    10/18/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    One common [dream] scenario - for me - is to migrate from XP or Vista by first installing Windows 7 in a virtual machine and getting everything to run smoothly, and then to move the OS from the virtual machine to the host PC.

    a) It would be nice to know whether it is possible to move a Virtual Box image to become a natively installed operating system.

    b) I wish the article would give information on whether all drives of the host machine (in my case, a PC) are available to the virtual machine, and whether there is a way to access the virtual machine's drive[s] from the host system.
     Reply
    John Herrman promoted this comment rneugebauer000 was starred rneugebauer000 was unstarred
    Image of John Herrman John Herrman
    10/18/09

    @rneugebauer000: a) I don't think this is possible. You could theoretically restore your virtual partition, bit-by-bit, to your main machine, but the installed drivers, among other things, would be all wrong.

    b) You can share any folder in the host OS with the guest OS. This is pretty great. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman was starred John Herrman was unstarred
    Image of TressaCaesar TressaCaesar
    10/18/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Can the virtual machine file be located on an external hard drive? If so, are there speed restrictions?

    For example, can a 50 GB virtual machine file be located on a FW400 external HD? What about a 16GB thumb drive?
     Reply
    John Herrman promoted this comment TressaCaesar was starred TressaCaesar was unstarred
    Image of John Herrman John Herrman
    10/18/09

    @TressaCaesar: Totally! You can put the virtual machine anywhere. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman was starred John Herrman was unstarred
    Image of london-rhino london-rhino
    10/18/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Hopefully it'll be easier than running vmware. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    UnderLoK promoted this comment london-rhino was starred london-rhino was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/18/09

    @london-rhino: VMWare is better for a number of reasons, but seeing as though VBox is free, that makes up for what it lacks. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of Zander Zander
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Nice. Could you run KDE 4 on it? #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman promoted this comment Zander was starred Zander was unstarred
    Image of John Herrman John Herrman
    10/18/09

    @Zander: Sure man, just install any common Linux distribution that uses KDE. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    John Herrman was starred John Herrman was unstarred
    Image of mle70 mle70
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    any suggestions what would be the lightest windows install for a macbook 2gb of ram?
     Reply
    UnderLoK promoted this comment mle70 was starred mle70 was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/18/09

    @mle70: You could go with embeded or one the the "lite" version of XP. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of Rowdy Yates Trail Boss Rowdy Yates Trail Boss
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    I don't know how well this stacks up with vmware server, but if it does perform better, I would hope there would be an easy process for migrating a virtual machine from one to the other. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    UnderLoK promoted this comment Rowdy Yates Trail Boss was starred Rowdy Yates Trail Boss was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/18/09

    @Rowdy Yates Trail Boss: I haven't done it, but I'm almost positive there is.

    VMWare has better hardware support within the VM itself, but Vbox "works" which is good enough for most people.

    If you're runnin ESX then it's more of an issue of hardware than the platform itself, at least in my experience. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of fongyuen000 fongyuen000
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    anyone know if virtualbox can use an existing bootcamp installation of windows? or it has to be a new installation?
     Reply
    UnderLoK promoted this comment fongyuen000 was starred fongyuen000 was unstarred
    Image of UnderLoK UnderLoK
    10/18/09

    @fongyuen000: You can install it on a partition, but it has to be a fresh install afaik. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    UnderLoK was starred UnderLoK was unstarred
    Image of DaSazonator DaSazonator
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    How much is 'a lot of RAM'? #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    soggy_cheerio promoted this comment DaSazonator was starred DaSazonator was unstarred
    Image of soggy_cheerio soggy_cheerio
    10/18/09

    @DaSazonator: You can never have too much RAM. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    soggy_cheerio was starred soggy_cheerio was unstarred
    Image of DaSazonator DaSazonator
    10/18/09

    @soggy_cheerio: But you can have too little. I have 2 gigs and that probably isn't enough to run a virtualized Mac OS. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    DaSazonator was starred DaSazonator was unstarred
    Image of nachobel nachobel
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Thanks for this John! Any advantages to using Boot Camp to intsall a windows OS the traditional way over using this method (in your experience)? #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    puhsitch promoted this comment nachobel was starred nachobel was unstarred
    Image of puhsitch puhsitch
    10/17/09

    @nachobel: Mainly it's for more complete hardware compatibility and full use of the system's resources.

    The next version of Fusion is going to include much better 3D support, but for the most part right now, you're not going to have the best time with games and such within a virtual machine. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    puhsitch was starred puhsitch was unstarred
    Image of KTK1990 KTK1990
    10/17/09

    @nachobel: One of the reasons I use virtual machines is because I have some Windows only programs. It is a big timesaver when your switching between OS X and Win XP every few minutes. No need to reboot into the other OS. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    KTK1990 was starred KTK1990 was unstarred
    Image of KTK1990 KTK1990
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    There is also a paid Virtual machiene, VMware Fusion. It is for OS X, and runs great. I tried running making a Virtual Machiene of OS X, all I got was a Kernal panic when it booted up in vmware fusion. But from what I have read from their site that OS X Server is supported and can be a virtual machiene. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    KTK1990 was starred KTK1990 was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    10/17/09

    @KTK1990: Let me get this straight, VMWare Fusion is a great virtual machine, it causes kernel panics when you try to use it, but it's a great piece of VM software? #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    KTK1990 promoted this comment Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of KTK1990 KTK1990
    10/17/09

    @Nathan Obbards: It only caused a kernel panic when I was in 10.5.6 on a August 08 iMac with 4 gigs of ram. Running a win xp vm with 1 gig of ram allocated to it, 512MB of ram for another xp vm, and 512Mb of ram on a iDeneb version of 10.5.5. I got to where it boots for the first time and got a kernel panic.
    I havent tried VirtualBox yet, but after this I might try it on my test pc. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    KTK1990 was starred KTK1990 was unstarred
    Image of Zoolook Zoolook
    10/17/09

    In reply to How To: Virtualize Any OS For Free
    Wake me up when you can virtualise OS X #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    Zoolook was starred Zoolook was unstarred
    Image of dallasmay dallasmay
    10/17/09

    @Zoolook: Good morning. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    switchblade saints promoted this comment dallasmay was starred dallasmay was unstarred
    Image of switchblade saints switchblade saints
    10/17/09

    @dallasmay: HA #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    switchblade saints was starred switchblade saints was unstarred
    Image of Dr. H. F. Danger Dr. H. F. Danger
    10/17/09

    @Zoolook: I am sure there is a way of doing it with the hacked OSX, you just have to find the right combination. #virtualizationhowto
     Reply
    Dr. H. F. Danger was starred Dr. H. F. Danger was unstarred
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