Linux users on Arch or Manjaro attempting to install macOS/OSX in VMWARE, or QEMU/KVM, will greatly benefit from this tutorial.

UPDATED 3rd July 2020

3 ways to run.

1. Docker-OSX version: good to have a look, instantly run
2. Virt-Manager: import macOS-libvirt-Catalina.xml script from the xml file in OSX-KVM
3. OpenCore script ./OpenCore-Boot.sh

If you want to test it out, run my Docker-OSX project: https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX

SKIP ANY INSTRUCTIONS THAT ARE LIKE THIS

RELEASED: Dockerfile full auto macOS installer. Will be released May 28th 2020.

Mac OSX in a Docker Container released: https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX

This tutorial now covers:
MacOS VM on Arch, Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, RHEL or Fedora.

Dockerfile available! Instant run docker-osx run:

# insta run on any OS
docker pull sickcodes/docker-osx
docker run --privileged -e "DISPLAY=${DISPLAY:-:0.0}" -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix sickcodes/docker-osx

Virt-Manager Local Installation with xml file.

Check if your CPU has virtualization. This out of the following command must be greater than 0.
It tells you how many cores can be used in virtualization. You might see 8, 12, 64.

# ALL DISTROS
# egrep -c '(svm|vmx)' /proc/cpuinfo

If you see 0 when you ran the above command, then boot into your BIOS and turn on “Hardware Virtualization.”
If you see 1, 2, 3 … any number greater than 0 then you can ready!

This tutorial is great for Linux users who want to use XCode 10 or 11 on Linux without Dual Booting!

How to Install macOS VM on Linux

Linux System Requirements:

• about 20-40gb of free space
• Intel VT-x / AMD SVM: in your BIOS turn on “hardware virtualization” or similar

Suggestions:

• highly recommend using an SSD
• where you download and run the scripts will determine which drive the OSX image will be created on

ARCH ONLY: an aur package manager, such as yay.
If you don’t have yay (Arch User Repository package manager):
ARCH LINUX USERS ONLY
pacman -S git make automake gcc python go autoconf cmake pkgconf alsa-utils fakeroot –noconfirm
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

Next, we will need git & python as we will need to clone some repositories.

# ARCH LINUX
sudo pacman -S git python

# UBUNTU DEBIAN
sudo apt install git python

# CENTOS RHEL FEDORA
sudo yum update -y
sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install git python -y

We are going to download the official the MAC iso/dmg file, which is around 6GB downloaded.
Make sure you download the iso in the disk or device that you are going to run the VM from.
A great way to download OSX ISO files is using gibMacOS:

git clone https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS.git
cd gibMacOS
chmod +x gibMacOS.command
./gibMacOS.command

# if this doesn't work
python gibMacOS.command
python2.7 gibMacOS.command
python2 gibMacOS.command

This will run a small Python script that will allow you to download the official Mac iso files from *.apple.com

The version that I run is Mojave 10.14.6.

macOS Mojave 10.14.6 (18G103)

Next, you will need qemu & libvirt for virtualisation and emulation.
Also required during qemu installation:
– dnsmasq for networking
– virt-manager
– bridge-utils for additional networking Requirements

# ARCH LINUX ONLY
sudo pacman -Syu qemu libvirt dnsmasq virt-manager bridge-utils flex bison ebtables edk2-ovmf netctl libvirt-dbus libguestfs

# UBUNTU DEBIAN
sudo apt install qemu qemu-kvm libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system bridge-utils virt-manager dnsmasq

# CENTOS RHEL FEDORA
sudo yum install libvirt qemu-kvm -y

Now, enable libvirt and virtlogd

• libvirt is libraries required for virtualisation
• virtlogd is logging of the qemu virtual instances

sudo systemctl enable libvirtd.service
sudo systemctl enable virtlogd.service

Additionally, you will require the following packages which are found only in the Arch User Repository.

Most of them are on Github if you want to compile them yourselves.
Installing these will take some time, so one-by-one install these:
# ARCH LINUX ONLY
# you may need the following
yay uml_utilities # read below if doesn’t install
yay libguestfs # libguestfs is in arch/comminuty-testing now too
yay ebtables
yay firewalld
sudo firewalld

Update May 2020: ARCH uml_utilities may need to be installed in the following way:

# ARCH ONLY
# the current version of uml_utilities may need to be installed in the following way
# because the pkgbuild has a tiny error, if it gets fixed, this snippet will still work fine with r
yay –getpkgbuild uml_utilities
cd uml_utilities
perl -i -p -e “s/provides=\(\’\’\)/provides=\(\)/g” PKGBUILD
perl -i -p -e “s/conflicts=\(\’\’\)/conflicts=\(\)/g” PKGBUILD
makepkg -si

If you are on Debian or Ubuntu

# DEBIAN UBUNTU
sudo apt install qemu qemu-kvm libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system bridge-utils virt-manager uml-utilities dmg2img wget libguestfs-tools

The following program qt-virt-manager is huge and takes a long time to compile but you might need it:
# yay qt-virt-manager

You should reboot now to apply kernel changes for qemu.

# reboot if you just installed kvm
sudo modprobe kvm
reboot

After reboot, download the OSX-KVM Repository:
This folder will be referred to as the OSX-KVM folder.

Your macOS disk will be created in the folder we are about to download into.

Make sure you choose a disk with enough space.

git clone https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM.git
cd OSX-KVM
# if you didnt use gibMacOS to download the OSX ISO you can use: 
# ./fetch-macOS.py

Converting macOS BaseSystem.dmg into Disk Image

In the gibMacOS folder that you downloaded earlier, navigate into:
macOS Downloads > publicrelease, and then the folder of the OSX Version that you downloaded.

Inside the macOS version folder that you downloaded from gibMacOS, we will turn the .dmg into .img
Make sure you have enough disk space here!

Find BaseSystem.dmg inside the gibMacOS downloaded folder. It should be around 500mb.
Convert it to .img:

# do this inside gibMacOS/macOS Downloads/publicrelease/061-26589 - 10.14.6 macOS Mojave/
qemu-img convert BaseSystem.dmg -O raw BaseSystem.img

# or do it inside any version auto
qemu-img convert gibMacOS/macOS\ Downloads/publicrelease/*/BaseSystem.dmg -O raw BaseSystem.img

Now move the BaseSystem.img that you just created FROM the gibMacOS folder -> TO THE OSX-KVM FOLDER

Decide now how big you want the macOS disk size to be.

I want an 80GB macOS disk size so I run the command below.
Note: do not change “mac_hdd_ng.img” or it will break the scripts later.

qemu-img create -f qcow2 mac_hdd_ng.img 80G

The 80GB empty disk has been created.
The macOS image is ready.

Now, create the network for the OSX VM

If you have successfully installed all the AUR packages above, you should be able to run this:

Run these commands one-by-one:

Update July 2020: Networking fix. Open OpenCore-Boot.sh

Replace the networking line in OpenCore-Boot.sh with the following:

-netdev user,id=net0, -device e1000-82545em,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:09:49:17

If you want SSH access, using this (ssh -p 10922 user@localhost)

-netdev user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp::10922-:22, -device e1000-82545em,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:09:49:17

Update June 2020: Networking fix. Open OpenCore-Boot.sh

# Replace line 40 in OpenCore-Boot.sh
-netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:c9:18:27 \
# with:
-netdev user,id=net0 -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:09:49:17

perl -p -i -e \
‘s/-netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:c9:18:27/-netdev user,id=net0 -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:09:49:17/’ \
./OpenCore-Boot.sh

sudo ip tuntap add dev tap0 mode tap
sudo ip link set tap0 up promisc on
sleep 1
sudo virsh net-start default
sudo virsh net-autostart default
sudo ip link set dev virbr0 up
sleep 1
sudo ip link set dev tap0 master virbr0

Mac is now ready to boot.

If everything looks okay, you are ready to boot macOS on Arch Linux.
If everything is not okay, leave a comment, I usualy reply within 24 hours. use imgur.com to link to image if you want to post a screenshot

Boot macOS

# new shell boot script version! As of May 2020
./OpenCore-Boot.sh

# old tutorial, may fail
./boot-macOS-NG.sh

Boot and Installation Process

Hint: in QEMU, press Ctrl + Alt + G to gain control of your mouse again.

At the CLOVER Boot Manager screen, select:
Boot macOS Install from macOS Base System

After about a minute, the macOS recovery GUI will appear and you can select your language.

When you reach the macOS Utilities screen, seleck “Disk Utility”

In the top left, select “Show All Devices”. Not required to see the disk we are using, but helpful to visualize what is happening

Select the disk which has 80GB and is “Uninitialized”.

Click on “Erase” and erase the 90GB disk.

Do not change the Format or Scheme.

Erasing the disk here does nothing to your real computer. This is a virtual drive.

Create a new partition for macOS on your QEMU Drive

NOTE: YOU MUST REDUCE THE DISK SIZE BY A SMALL AMOUNT TO BE ABLE TO PRESS APPLY

After you have erased the disk, click “Partition”.

Change 85.6 to 85.5 and you will be able to press apply.

Note: this will NOT steal 80GB straight away from your hard drive:  it’s just virtually allocating it from your host machine’s disk.

When that has finished, you can close the “Disk Utility”

Select Reinstall macOS.

Have fun using macOS on Linux with QEMU!

Finsihed installing OSX on Linux in a VM!

Update May 2020 fixes for existing Mac OSX Virtual Machines:

virsh is now included in libvirtd.

Something happened to my tun setup but I documented the fix in this article about TUN/TAP OSX-KVM

You may need to remove the git version of virsh that we are using and use the one from libvirtd:

# Replace line 40 in OpenCore-Boot.sh 
-netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:c9:18:27 \
# with:
-netdev user,id=net0 -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:09:49:17

# remove the existing networks created by the old package
# dont worry, these will get created again when you reinstall qemu and libvirt
# 
sudo pacman -R virsh
sudo ip link delete virbr0
sudo ip link delete virbr0-nic
sudo pacman -S libvirt qemu
reboot

It seems we don’t need this command any more because the libvirt package includes virsh.
Remove any virsh commands from your boot scripts (the bonus one above).

# I removed these
# sudo virsh net-create default
# sudo virsh net-autostart default

qemu-system-x86_64: could not configure /dev/net/tun (tap0): Operation not permitted

You must turn on the bridge if you are using bridged networking.

sudo systemctl restart libvirtd.service
sudo systemctl restart virtlogd.service
sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd.service
sudo systemctl enable --now virtlogd.service
sudo ip tuntap add dev tap0 mode tap
sudo ip link set tap0 up promisc on 
sleep 1
sudo virsh net-start default
sudo virsh net-autostart default
sudo ip link set dev virbr0 up
sleep 1
sudo ip link set dev tap0 master virbr0

bash ./OpenCore-Boot.sh

Or

command “sudo virsh net-start default” hangs

This error happened when I updated the kernel.

Solved by reinstalling qemu and libvirt:

# Replace line 40 in OpenCore-Boot.sh 
-netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:c9:18:27 \
# with:
-netdev user,id=net0 -device vmxnet3,netdev=net0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:09:49:17
sudo pacman -R virsh
sudo ip link delete virbr0
sudo ip link delete virbr0-nic
sudo pacman -S libvirt qemu
reboot

Then change the networking mode to Usermode. You can do that by importing the whole thing into virt-manager by using the file named macOS-libvirt-Catalina.xml. Happy to help with any questions you might have!

Increase Screen Resolution on MacOS Virtual Machine QEMU!

– Automatically fixed in the new OpenCore-Boot.sh version
– Use the new OpenCore-Boot version!

MY OSX-KVM LIBVIRT XML FILE

Has networking but no SSH to the guest (You can SSH from the guest to the host, just start sshd on Arch Linux via systemctl start sshd.service)

Change the absolute paths below (/home/user/OSX/OSX-KVM to your OSX-KVM folder.)

# copy the big wall of text below
# edit and save as osxkvm.xml
virsh define osxkvm.xml
# open virt-manager and run!

<domain xmlns:qemu="http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0" type="kvm">
  <name>macOS</name>
  <uuid>2aca0dd6-cec9-4717-9ab2-0b7b13d111c3</uuid>
  <title>macOS</title>
  <memory unit="KiB">4194304</memory>
  <currentMemory unit="KiB">4194304</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement="static">4</vcpu>
  <os>
    <type arch="x86_64" machine="pc-q35-4.2">hvm</type>
    <loader readonly="yes" type="pflash">/home/user/OSX/OSX-KVM/OVMF_CODE.fd</loader>
    <nvram>/home/user/OSX/OSX-KVM/OVMF_VARS-1024x768.fd</nvram>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode="custom" match="exact" check="none">
    <model fallback="forbid">qemu64</model>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset="utc">
    <timer name="rtc" tickpolicy="catchup"/>
    <timer name="pit" tickpolicy="delay"/>
    <timer name="hpet" present="no"/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type="file" device="disk">
      <driver name="qemu" type="qcow2" cache="writeback" io="threads"/>
      <source file="/home/user/OSX/OSX-KVM/OpenCore-Catalina/OpenCore.qcow2"/>
      <target dev="sda" bus="sata"/>
      <boot order="2"/>
      <address type="drive" controller="0" bus="0" target="0" unit="0"/>
    </disk>
    <disk type="file" device="disk">
      <driver name="qemu" type="qcow2" cache="writeback" io="threads"/>
      <source file="/home/user/OSX/OSX-KVM/mac_hdd_ng.img"/>
      <target dev="sdb" bus="sata"/>
      <boot order="1"/>
      <address type="drive" controller="0" bus="0" target="0" unit="1"/>
    </disk>
    <controller type="sata" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1f" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="0" model="pcie-root"/>
    <controller type="pci" index="1" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="1" port="0x8"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="2" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="2" port="0x9"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="3" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="3" port="0xa"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="4" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="4" port="0xb"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="5" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="5" port="0xc"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="6" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="6" port="0xd"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="7" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="7" port="0xe"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="8" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="8" port="0xf"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x7"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="9" model="pcie-to-pci-bridge">
      <model name="pcie-pci-bridge"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x01" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="virtio-serial" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x02" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="ich9-ehci1">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x07" function="0x7"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="ich9-uhci1">
      <master startport="0"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x07" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="ich9-uhci2">
      <master startport="2"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x07" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="ich9-uhci3">
      <master startport="4"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x07" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <interface type="user">
      <mac address="52:54:00:92:d4:7b"/>
      <model type="e1000-82545em"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x0"/>
    </interface>
    <serial type="pty">
      <target type="isa-serial" port="0">
        <model name="isa-serial"/>
      </target>
    </serial>
    <console type="pty">
      <target type="serial" port="0"/>
    </console>
    <channel type="unix">
      <target type="virtio" name="org.qemu.guest_agent.0"/>
      <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </channel>
    <input type="tablet" bus="usb">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </input>
    <input type="mouse" bus="ps2"/>
    <input type="keyboard" bus="usb">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="3"/>
    </input>
    <input type="keyboard" bus="ps2"/>
    <input type="tablet" bus="usb">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="2"/>
    </input>
    <graphics type="spice" autoport="yes">
      <listen type="address"/>
    </graphics>
    <video>
      <model type="cirrus" vram="16384" heads="1" primary="yes"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x09" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
    </video>
    <hostdev mode="subsystem" type="usb" managed="yes">
      <source>
      </source>
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="4"/>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model="none"/>
  </devices>
  <qemu:commandline>
    <qemu:arg value="-device"/>
    <qemu:arg value="isa-applesmc,osk=ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc"/>
    <qemu:arg value="-smbios"/>
    <qemu:arg value="type=2"/>
    <qemu:arg value="-cpu"/>
    <qemu:arg value="Penryn,kvm=on,vendor=GenuineIntel,+invtsc,vmware-cpuid-freq=on,+pcid,+ssse3,+sse4.2,+popcnt,+avx,+aes,+xsave,+xsaveopt,check"/>
  </qemu:commandline>
</domain>