Effortless macOS VM Installation with New Macinabox - Ventura & Sonoma Support

In this tutorial, I walk you through the process of installing macOS (from High Sierra to Sonoma) using the New Macinbox, on an Unraid server. This method makes it incredibly easy to select and install any version of macOS that you need.
⚠️ Important Note: To stay compliant with Apple’s EULA, this Unraid server in the video is running on genuine Apple hardware, which is clearly shown in the video. This ensures that the macOS virtual machines in this video operates within legal boundaries.
Please, if you can and want to support the channel and donate you can do so by Paypal here www.paypal.com... or check my patreon page / spaceinvaderone
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[@julian.morgan]

Thanks for all your hard work on this Ed! I'm writing this on a 2011 Macbook Pro with a fried GPU running Ventura thanks to Opencore Legacy Patcher - this being what anyone should do if they have an old Mac and want to run a current version of Mac OS. That said, having built Opencore based hackintoshes for my desktop machines for many years now, I'm intrigued about the pros and cons of just running it in a VM compared to bare metal.

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

If you are an experienced hackintosher then you will find the VM very easy. Really thats just what the VM is a virtual Hackintosh. You can pass through a GPU, USB controller etc and configure as you would on a Hackintosh. Also VM is not picky about what CPU you have AMD/Intel etc. Backing up is easy just backup the disk. There are many advantages IMO. Thanks for watching :)

[@julian.morgan]

@@SpaceinvaderOne What you say about backing up is interesting. On hackintosh Apple basically broke the option to make straightforward clones with what they've done to separate the OS from user space. So easy to back up user space but not the whole thing as a 'package' you can use on different hardware. This particularly applies to the need to do USB port mapping on Windows before trying to install MacOS (since Catalina I think?) and this will be motherboard and even case specific if you want to access all your ports. Thunderbolt is a whole other level of hassle. Anyway I'll give it a try thanks to this update - hugely appreciated thanks again Ed.

[@johnbell1810]

"Run on Apple hardware" My PC box physically sits on top of my old macmini, so technically everything runs on Apple hardware.

[@Mr.Vox365]

Thank you for all your help. Your guides help me a lot in my Unraid journey this year.

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

You're very welcome, I am glad you enjoy the videos. Thankyou so much for the super thanks :)

[@mousbleu]

Funny, i was checking the old video yesterday. Time to install a new vm.

[@rollyourowntech2902]

Great video! I have had it on my list for a while to set up a MacOS VM on my Unraid host. This is terrific. I have upgraded iMacs with OpenCore, along with Mac Pro towers. I own a LOT of apple hardware, some of which I have running for various tasks. This is a terrific project. Thank you!

[@evan6568]

I am SO excited for this! Thank you for all you do!

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

You are very welcome :)

[@xamievilx]

Thanks! Excited to play around with this.

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

Your welcome. Thankyou so much for the super thanks :)

[@IEnjoyCreatingVideos]

Great video as always Ed! Thanks for sharing it with us!💖👍😎JP

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

Thankyou. Glad that you enjoyed it :)

[@theplexorcist]

edit: I was able to make changes after upgrading to 6.12.13, but i think it was probably the reboot that solved the issue. So anyone else having the same issue, start there. The only way I can get it to load is to use the default settings.. changing anything like cpus or ram gives me "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)." have removed the VM (without disk) several times, manually removed nvram files. tried different cpuargs. nothing works unless i set it back to default. and run last cpuarg option.. im on 6.12.8 with an i7 10th gen. hopefully someone figures out a workaround as ive seen im not the only one.

[@saltyoldman781]

Great content as always!!

[@themagiceye6723]

Great video Ed. Would love if you could do a quick Nextcloud revisit to help us plonkers who are not sure how to safely upgrade since the container update process changed a number of months back. I've found it impossible to get a clear, straightforward answer on what needs to be done. Thanks!

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

I will be making a new Nextcloud video but I will be basing it I think on the Nextcloud Alll in One container as after recently speaking to Josh a co founder of Nextcloud he has his set this way and it is their preferred method today. Not sure when the video will be maybe next month?

[@Tombatin]

For some reason after the VM boots the first time and I get to Disk Utility I can only see one disk, seems like it is the base image, anyway the one that has 2.87 gigs free. No other disks are shown even they are mounted according to VM logs. I only pointed the virtual disk location to SSD only -share, no other changes made to the docker or the vm.

[@slatBANG]

19:58 I’ve followed it all through and getting “Guest has not initialized the display yet” when I start the VM and try to VNC onto it. Any ideas? Can I add my GPU at this point or does it need VNC first? Either way I’m stuck right now

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

Best to install before adding GPU. If you have an issue “Guest has not initialized the display yet” This happens sometimes on a VM when nvram is not right. Just delete the vm (but choose not to delete the disks) Run macinabox again and it will see the existing disks etc and recreate a new vm with new nvram. Then you should be good

[@jlmbkd]

@@SpaceinvaderOne I am also getting stuck on the "“Guest has not initialized the display (yet)” message. I did not add a GPU, and I've tried deleting the VM only several times, as well as with the disks, and nothing has helped. I've also tried Sonoma and Ventura. I am on an Intel i9-13900. Thank you for another fantastic video!

[@colinholmes7180]

@@jlmbkd I had the same problem. Updating from 6.12.10 to 6.12.13 fixed it.

[@ReallyBigCookie]

Thanks! I have used your previous version a couple of times on two different UnRaid boxes. Now I have used this version a couple of times. The issue I am running into… Ventura system report shows 1 core when the default configuration is for 2. Also it would really help if you could tell us how to completely remove every bit of of a VM on UnRaid. I have one UnRaid box that shows one that can’t be removed. I have checked appdata, domains, and isos, and nothing is there, but yet it shows under VMs. I appreciate your knowledge and work!

[@cbaservs]

cleverly made Ed...thanks

[@MrFlakk]

Having lots of issues getting this to work. Followed instructions to a T and seeing "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)" in most attempts. One time I was able to get through only to see that the only disk I can see is the install disk, with no disk to install the OS to.

[@DavidSmith-fh3yi]

Thanks for this. I literally installed Ventura last night on a proxmox box, having failed on unraid previously trying to use the mackinabox installer. This works brilliantly. One question I have is about audio. I use VNC to access the VM, but there is no audio, is there a work around like a Windows VM where you can use a Virtio driver ?

[@ianchroniclesyt]

Aww man I wish you did the igpu passthrough bit as well. I don't want to use a dedicated gpu because of the power draw and heat.

[@jdbriant]

Anytime I try to change cpu cores, ram, add a usb, I get “Guest has not initialized the display (yet)” It only works when I'm at the base 2 cores 4gb of ram.

[@colinholmes7180]

I had the same problem. Updating from 6.12.10 to 6.12.13 fixed it.

[@jdbriant]

@@colinholmes7180 That worked for me too. Now I just have to figure out why USB is not working.

[@EduardTheThird]

Thank you!

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

Your welcome :)

[@EduardTheThird]

@@SpaceinvaderOne Previously ran Big Sur, deleted and upgraded to Sonoma without any issues! It is way easier now. Wil we be able to upgrade Sonoma to Sequoia in the OS itself?

[@mastermoarman]

Have you considered doing a frigate unraid install?

[@MT-yo3mg]

Like others, I too am getting the "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)." error. Followed your video 100%. Unraid v6.12.3, on a Ryzen 5700G CPU. Any suggestions? Thanks for the awesome video, as always. :)

[@MT-yo3mg]

Oh something worth noticing perhaps; when running (and thus getting that error), the first core of my cpu which I selected is at 100%. When the VM is off it's idle. All other cores are idle as well (on or off).

[@dfgdfg_]

Would this work on an AMD APU like the 3200G?

[@dusterl1472]

FWIW it works on my 1900X threadripper, so I dont think AMD is an issue. I just know the integrated graphics are (would be, Im pretty sure) a no go

[@dfgdfg_]

@@dusterl1472 thanks, you've saved me lots of time :)

[@JoeAnshien]

After formatting disk it reboots to a 3 icon screen: macOS base system, UEFI shell, Reset NVRAM. I pick macOS but just loops. Thanks

[@1480750]

It seems like if you give the VM a name macinabox will insert that name into the downloaded install.img file name. I named mine Sonoma1 and ended up with a Sonoma1-install.img which caused things to fail because macinabox was looking for Sonoma-install.img A quick fix was renaming the file in the isos directory, editing any value in macinabox setup but changing it right back, then hitting apply Edit: Doesnt matter, it wont boot opencore anyway. "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)." Unraid 6.11.5 Edit2: It works if I scrap everything and do not name the VM, just like was done in the video Edit3: Quits working if I try to edit the VM at all so it is not the name thing. I added cores and increased the ram, re-ran macinabox and got the fixed notification, right back to the display error again.

[@christiandavies7650]

You'll need to re-run the Macinabox docker container every time after you edit the VM. Just makes sure the XML is valid for the config.

[@ReesArchibald]

@@christiandavies7650 that doesn't fix this error. I have the same issue and the xml appears to be perfect and I am getting macinabox messages saying the xml is fixed. yet opencore isn't working and I get "Guest has not initialized the display (yet)."

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

Thanks for pointing this out. I have just pushed a fix to the container to address this.

[@ReesArchibald]

@@SpaceinvaderOne amazing. Thank you very much.

[@TheChosenOne-KQX]

Will there be any issue along with Apple license if I install this on a non Apple device?

[@dusterl1472]

Shhhh.... if you dont tell, we wont...

[@UKgamer87]

when is unraid 7 fully out?

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

I dont have an exact date but it will be soon. A few thinks being ironed out at present.

[@UKgamer87]

@@SpaceinvaderOne thanks

[@wilsmith7173]

I could only get this to work using the default 2 core, 4 gb ram model. Which is pretty darn slow. I've tried a few options listed as in the comments. Used Sonoma and Ventura. If I modify the then run Macinabox again I get ' “Guest has not initialized the display yet” '. No matter what options I try or even if i go back to the default, I get the same message. If I remove the VM only and leave the disk, rerun Macinabox then it works again but only on default. Any ideas on what to try next?

[@wilsmith7173]

updated from Unraid 6.12.10> 6.12.13. made no difference to Macinabox Vm

[@techpchouse]

the coolest dude in YT :)

[@chrisperrywv]

Hey fellas! I have an issue if anyone can help. I had previously tried to install Macinabox and failed (about 3 months ago) yesterday I tried to install the new one but it didn’t show in VMs. Then I deleted some but not all of the files in app data hoping that would uninstall everything (I’m a noob) that didn’t work. Some of the folders I didn’t have permissions to delete thru windows browser browsing the share and I don’t know how to do it directly thru unraid. Now apps shows macinabox as installed with no option to uninstall and it doesn’t show in VM’s at all and most of the folders are deleted from the appdata share… help 😭

[@959aviation]

Does iMessage and Handoff work on the VM?

[@tomyslo]

iMessage works, but for handoff to work you need a compatible WiFi and Bluetooth adapter. You can find which ones are compatible on hackintosh forums and websites

[@tomyslo]

I installed Sonoma and updated to Sequoia - MacOS 15 (aka Sequoia) is now detecting if you're using a virtual machine and will disable some Apple ID functionality. I know Macinabox doesn't "support" Sequoia, but I still can't be the only one who tried, right? Do you have any plans to support Sequoia in the future? Have you already played around with it and found came to the same conclusion as me? Any way to bypass Apple's check?

[@heyLucifurr]

Trying to install Monterey but the ISO when loaded is Sonoma.

[@kevinwade1253]

Been trying about an hour to install sonama but no luck, so changed to ventura and that works, reason why not the latest O/S will not download from template?

[@tomyslo]

I've seen another person have a problem when they named the VM "Sonoma1" and then the install image wouldn't get recognized because it was still named "Sonoma" or something like that. I'm currently installing MacOS Sonoma, with the VM image being "Sonoma" - maybe try that if this is your issue.

[@kevinwade1253]

@@tomyslo Thanls for reply but i restarted server and tried again and it installed.

[@espressomatic]

No need to run any opencore SW once booted to MacOS to make any changes? No more SN, EFI, etc? Changes to make it boot directly to MacOS instead of bootloader?

[@tomyslo]

That's still required, because it's still using OpenCore as the bootloader. If you don't want a separate "disk" for the bootloader, you have to copy the EFI contents to your OS drive.

[@salocin74]

For "Machine" in your VM settings, you have the option of "Q35-9.0". The latest version I have on mine is "Q35-7.2". Are there any instructions on updating the QEMU machine version? I searched UnRAID documents and couldn't find anything.

[@tomyslo]

If I'm not mistaken, you get newer versions when updating Unraid. I'm currently on Unraid 7.0.0-beta.1 and my latest is Q35-8.2. Ed is on Unraid 7.0.0-beta.2 and his latest is Q35-9.0. I don't know of another way to do it but it may be possible.

[@salocin74]

@@tomyslo That makes sense! Thanks!

[@dusterl1472]

Wondering if its possible to pass-through dedicated SSD?

[@dfgdfg_]

Almost certainly

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

sure is :)

[@dusterl1472]

I figured as much, but what with the half a dozen vdisks a macos vm makes you create, I had doubts... I'll experiment and see what happens! Ive been running unraid (and defacto following your guides!) since... oh... around 2016ish? Hell, youre the reason I got a threadripper board! I hope to keep seeing more awesome content! Oh maybe an XP VM (*I* loathe xp, but my wife... yeah... she loves it. But I refuse to let a bare metal machine on the internet thats running XP...

[@tomyslo]

It is! You can go the `/dev/disk/by-id/...` route, pass-through a whole SATA controller or an NVMe drive. Some disks might not be supported (check Dortania's OpenCore Install Guide) - in that case, you can add kexts.

[@lukasmeis7026]

Is it possible to install on a server with a AMD Ryzen cpu?

[@tomyslo]

Theoretically yes, I've seen some people on Reddit do it. If I'm not mistaken, the `CPUARGS` in the Macinabox Docker template are "masking" the CPU to the guest OS, so MacOS thinks you have a Skylake Intel CPU, when in reality you could have a Ryzen. I'm not 100% sure though!

[@RocketLR]

Does Unraid support Apple silicon?

[@michael86495]

Is anyone else getting warning: host doesn't support request feature: xxxx?

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

Don't worry about that message.If you see those warnings, it just means your host doesn’t support some CPU features requested by the VM. The VM will still run fine, so you can safely ignore the warnings.

[@tomyslo]

@@SpaceinvaderOne Does that mean that the CPUARGS need to be changed / modified? Is it possible to get rid of those warnings?

[@pascalcollet3897]

Hi ed thanks this is peak. Quick question do we need to do the opencore thingies like with the « old » macinabox?

[@DrPanchito]

Boom!

[@_m.a-x]

3!

[@TechySpeaking]

First

[@pmcnano]

First! 😂

[@SpaceinvaderOne]

You sure were. Thanks for watching :)