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I have a legitimate copy of Mac OS X. I want to install Ubuntu on my new AMD computer as my host OS, then install Mac OS X as the guest OS via VirtualBox.

Does anyone know if this will be an easy thing to do? Will I need some kind of hack job to get OS X working via VirtualBox?

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VirtualBox can't currently run OS X, but is slowly moving in the right direction. Version 3.1 has EFI support, which would be the first requirement for running vanilla (non-hacked) OS X Server as a guest. Keep an eye on this topic in the forums for updates.

VMware can, with some fiddling, run recent OSx86 (hackintosh) distros. VirtualBox can apparently just about run an out-of-date Deadmoo hack, but it's probably not worth it for testing software on OS X as the results are very unstable.

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  • And you're right - recent versions of VirtualBox indeed support OSX as guest.
    – eug
    Aug 7, 2011 at 7:34
  • @eug: Actually, it only supports OS X Server. Aug 6, 2013 at 15:03
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This is not an easy thing to do and the legality is not clear - although, I think it is generally accepted that by doing this, you are breaking the Apple EULA which states that Apple software can only be installed on Apple Hardware.

I have personally not seen OSX on VirtualBox, but have seen it on a variety of VMware Products, Anyway, for this sort of thing, your best source for information is OSx86 Project.

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This method to run Mac OS X as guest on virtualbox with Windows, worked well. I tested and used. http://www.sysprobs.com/install-mac-os-1055-leopard-virtualbox-314-installation-dvd

This method doesn't require installation DVD, just download the VMDK file and use with Sun VirtualBox

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It would be much easier to run OS X as your main OS and run Linux under virtualization.

As to the licensing issues involved, OS X Server is the only version of OS X licensed to run under virtualization.

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VirtualBox runs Mac OS X perfectly fine nowadays, but you need great hardware to do so smoothly (2016 Dell XPS 13 is not quite enough to run it without micro-lags). There are no guest additions available though, so clipboard sync and shared folders are not supported. Mouse Integration works just fine though!

In order to replace the features you'd expect from guest additions, you can use VNC (which does support clipboard sync) and SMB (for sharing folders). Here's a detailed walkthrough on how to set this up.

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