Running Mac OS X guest OS in VirtualBox

[Jason Hsu, Rubyist]

I have plenty of experience using Linux as a host OS and as a guest OS.

I like using VirtualBox for Ruby on Rails development because of its ability to save snapshots.  In my early days, I found this indispensable for installing Ruby on Rails.  I still like VirtualBox for Ruby on Rails development, because it allows me to save a snapshot of a fresh installation.  When I think I've finished an app, I have easy access to a fresh Ruby on Rails installation where I can try out my app and make sure that I've included all dependencies in the *.gemspec/Gemfile and that the setup procedure in my README file is complete.  I'm surprised that using VirtualBox isn't standard operating procedure.

I have been learning to develop Ruby on Rails on a Mac (I learned the Linux way first), and I have installed Linux as a VirtualBox guest OS on my Mac.

However, I've been unable to install Mac OS X Mavericks in a guest OS on my Mac OS X Mavericks host.  I've followed procedures I found online for creating an ISO file from the installation file (which I got by downloading but not installing the installation file from the Apple store), but OS X didn't boot up on the guest system.  I just ended up with an empty black screen. 

Has ANYONE here SUCCESSFULLY installed Mac OS X as a guest OS?  Exactly what procedure did you follow in creating the ISO file?  Or could it be that the ISO file isn't the problem, and I missed some critical detail in the boot up process?

Yes, I was so spoiled by Linux.

[Chris Tonkinson]

> I'm surprised that using VirtualBox isn't standard operating procedure.

In fact it *has* become something of a standard procedure to use
VirtualBox, but implicitly through Vagrant (which is a UI layer on top
of your virtualization platform).

More recently the Docker project is starting to gain traction here as
well (which could appeal to your love of snapshots), although the
technical bar is higher for Docker, and since you mention OSX
specifically, Docker support for OSX is pretty young.

I'd compare and contrast Vagrant and Docker for your needs before diving
deeper into OSX Inception just for the sake of development.

Cheers!
-Chris

Chris Tonkinson
Forge Software
ch...@forgecrafted.com
800.875.3048 x1

[Shiva S]

> Has ANYONE here SUCCESSFULLY installed Mac OS X as a guest OS?

Yes, I have. Have mavericks running in a Virtualbox VM hosted on mavericks. Followed similar internet instructions (link below).. have Virtualbox v 4.3.10r93012 didn't have to do anything special (I was actually looking to make the BIOS EFI etc., but ddin't have to do any of that, it just worked!)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5478615?tstart=0

use DVD section, this will lead you to an iso file, mount .iso file to virtualbox cdrom, boot from it and you should be good to go.

[Jason Hsu, Rubyist]

I followed the instructions for generating the Mavericks ISO file.  It doesn't work when I try to boot it up in VirtualBox.  There's just a blank black screen.  Did I miss an important detail?  

[Jason Hsu, Rubyist]

Some updates:

1.  Seeing screen output when you boot up with the Mac OS X ISO file requires going to the Settings -> Display menu and providing enough video memory.  The default setup is virtually no video memory.  Setting it to the full 128 MB of video memory allowed me to see screen output.

2.  During the process of booting up, the screen froze with the last message as "hfs: mounted OS X Base System on device root_device".  Going to the terminal and entering the command "VBoxManage modifyvm MacOSX --cpuidset 1 000206a7 02100800 1fbae3bf bfebfbff" (assuming "MacOSX" is the name of the virtual drive) allowed me to make it past this stage.

3.  When you reach the OS X Installer, you need to go to the Utilities menu and partition your virtual hard drive.  Otherwise, the installer will not recognize it and thus not give you the option of installing OS X on it.