***GUIDE*** Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan – VM on unRAID


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Hello guys!

 

I'm new to unRAID (actually, I haven't received yet the components to put together my new rig).

 

In any case, I'm a Mac user, I do graphic design and I currently use an iMac i7 from late 2013. It's funny because what got me into the Mac world was actually building my first hackintosh back in 2008 when the InsanelyMac forums were the reference (I heard now its tonyx86).

 

What got my attention from unRAID is the ability to get into one PC your NAS/Dockers/etc but also a perfectly-capable VM with all this passthrough technology. However we all know that keep running a hackintosh could be risky when new updates and stuff goes out, so I think making a virtual machine of OS X is a much better option for reliability as you can just back it up and have that copy safe in case something goes wrong after an update.

 

So, my question is... can you create with unRAID an El Capitan VM that is as performing and stable as a normal Mac as you can actually do with Windows VM? (of course buying adequate hardware). I'm not thinking on doing this now, but it could be an option when the time to upgrade my iMac comes

 

Thank you!

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Hi.

 

Thanks Archedraft for the excellent walkthrough. I've gotten both Yosemite and El Capitan installed without any issues (haven't messed with passthrough though as there are no GPUs in the system. I use Teamviwer in place of VNC and that works perfectly). Well, except for one little thing.

 

When I try to set the timezone in Time & Date, there is no other option then PST... I would like to have it set to CET (or at least have it calculate the correct time and dates for DST-changeover), but don't know how. Any suggestions?

timezone_selection.JPG.2bdff47fd3f3adcc9ff46e9b18ec6f39.JPG

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You click on the map where you are iirc...

Ok, that was just odd...

I tried clicking the map before and nothing happened. This time I just kept clicking it for a while, and suddenly it allowed me to chose a different region.

 

Have been a Mac user since 1990 (and mixed Mac and Windows since 2000), and never encountered that behaviour.

 

Thanks anyways. I was starting to wonder if there was something that needed to be done in the XML or something :) Still kinda new to both unRAID and Linux in general (or the OS X Terminal for that matter). However I'm having lots of fun experimenting with docker containers and VMs

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You click on the map where you are iirc...

Ok, that was just odd...

I tried clicking the map before and nothing happened. This time I just kept clicking it for a while, and suddenly it allowed me to chose a different region.

 

Have been a Mac user since 1990 (and mixed Mac and Windows since 2000), and never encountered that behaviour.

 

Thanks anyways. I was starting to wonder if there was something that needed to be done in the XML or something :) Still kinda new to both unRAID and Linux in general (or the OS X Terminal for that matter). However I'm having lots of fun experimenting with docker containers and VMs

 

maybe the first time you didnt click on the lock first to unlock it to allow changes?

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maybe the first time you didnt click on the lock first to unlock it to allow changes?

Yeah, might have been. I was kinda tired at the time, so probably overlooked that :D

 

Anyways, I'm impressed at how stable it's been running so far. I'm at the point where I'm thinking about using unRAID as a base OS for my main gaming/work/everything rig for the next time I upgrade my MB and then run different VMs for the various uses I have for the machine. I would really like to have a desktop Mac again (they are just so damn expensive and hardly upgradable) and this seems like a lot less of a gamble (and way cheaper, considering using just one PC for everything) then a pure hackintosh build.

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Yeah i love my unraid setup. My mac vm is the fastest mac i have. My 2013 macbook pro gets a geekbench score of around 11000 whilst my vm gets 26800, so thats very close to the macpro 2013 with xeon 2697 v2 but at a fraction of the cost!!

That's AWESOME! and how's the SSD speed? I'm interested on using PCIe NVME SSDs and was wondering how's the performance?

 

Thanks!

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Strange thing..... I have a working VM, however if I edit the VM and change the CPU allocation, it completely changes my XML. Removes lines, adds lines, in fact its like a Win 10 template now. Maybe a bug in beta 21?

Limetech doesn't see it as a bug, it's been that way since the beginning, and they have ignored or explained away all the complaints about it. Their viewpoint is that all normal XML changes should be taken care of by the GUI, and manually editing the XML shouldn't ever be done. They only allow it to enable advanced users to make changes that aren't supported by the GUI, and according to them advanced users should be able to keep up with their custom XML edits by manually saving the changes externally and reapplying said changes when necessary.

 

Theoretically they will be refining the GUI to the point that manual XML editing will no longer be necessary, at which point they will remove the ability to manually edit it. I'll believe that when I see it.

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Yeah i love my unraid setup. My mac vm is the fastest mac i have. My 2013 macbook pro gets a geekbench score of around 11000 whilst my vm gets 26800, so thats very close to the macpro 2013 with xeon 2697 v2 but at a fraction of the cost!!

That's AWESOME! and how's the SSD speed? I'm interested on using PCIe NVME SSDs and was wondering how's the performance?

 

Thanks!

 

i just passed through an ssd to the vm using

<disk type='block' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <source dev='/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ADATA_SP910SS_8E2820002707'/>
      <target dev='hdd' bus='sata'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </disk>

 

using blackmagicdesign disk speed tests my results were all over the place. writes saying 1000mbs to 300mps  and reads from 100mbs to 1000. obviously something is wrong here. on my macbppk pro get constant writes of about 400 and reads 450.

however writing and reading files to the disk in vm and opening programmes is all very quick.

 

maybe there is another disk bench programme i can use to test thats better?

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Yeah absolutely, it can't be accurate if your disk is SATA3 capable of around 500mb/ on bare-metal and you are getting more than 1000mb/s on the test!

 

My wish was to get near bare-metal performance on the disk side (I know I can get it from GPU) so I could take seriously this VM-for-work idea I had in mind, rather than building an entire hackintosh!

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btw gridrunner! how many cores do you share with your OS X VM to get 26k of performance? Do you use it on a regular basis? I'm thinking about create a VM and use it to work to replace my iMac 27 late 2013 i7!

 

it took all 12 cores 24 threads to get that score. If you want me to benchmark other core counts let me know. My base core speed is 2.4 with all core turbo of 2.7

 

I use it often but dont run more than 4 cores usually. Just wanted to see what benchmark i could get with all my cores assigned

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btw gridrunner! how many cores do you share with your OS X VM to get 26k of performance? Do you use it on a regular basis? I'm thinking about create a VM and use it to work to replace my iMac 27 late 2013 i7!

 

it took all 12 cores 24 threads to get that score. If you want me to benchmark other core counts let me know. My base core speed is 2.4 with all core turbo of 2.7

 

I use it often but dont run more than 4 cores usually. Just wanted to see what benchmark i could get with all my cores assigned

 

Ah, gotcha!

 

Btw, do you have working App Store and iMessage?

 

Thanks a lot!

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Hi guys,

 

I have been trying to install an os x vm for a few days now but keep hitting road blocks.

 

First road block was that I was unable to create a bootable iso because I currently don't have access to a working mac to do it on. So I said, hey, I'll install an earlier version like the snow leopard and use that to make the iso for el capitan. Well, that didn't work either. I tried snow leopard and lion isos and they didn't work for various reasons (snow leopard just got stuck right after the apple logo, with a white background and the spinning wheel of death).

 

Mavericks came closest to actually installing. With verbose, I can see that it did a bunch of stuff, but then got stuck after finding the ethernet. Attached is the screenshot I got. Still, the spinning wheel of death. I don't even get to the welcome page.

 

I used the template from the first post with the latest chameleon as the kernel.

 

Any ideas where I might have gone wrong?

 

Thanks

Capture23.PNG.8c17e8b997baf0dc259e0478285d7eb6.PNG

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Hello guys,

 

I'm trying to read my OSK key from my Mac but I'm unable to. I've tried using smc_read from http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/ and I get

 

REDACTED-THANK-YOU-FREAKIN-APPLE-ENGINEERS

 

I've also tried SmcDumpKey from http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/#sec_3_2_1 but it seems not not work in a VM of Linux as I get the same as above

 

I also tried to boot from a Live USB distro natively on my iMac and MacBook Pro (debian and ubuntu) and still getting the same results when dumping OSK0 and OSK1 keys

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Hello guys,

 

I'm trying to read my OSK key from my Mac but I'm unable to. I've tried using smc_read from http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/ and I get

 

XXXXXXXredactedXXXXXXXXX

 

I've also tried SmcDumpKey from http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/#sec_3_2_1 but it seems not not work in a VM of Linux as I get the same as above

 

I also tried to boot from a Live USB distro natively on my iMac and MacBook Pro (debian and ubuntu) and still getting the same results when dumping OSK0 and OSK1 keys

 

That is the key  ;)

 

Apple engineers must have had a sense of humor. But I believe Apple copyrighted it, so you may want to edit your post and remove it.

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Hi guys,

 

I have been trying to install an os x vm for a few days now but keep hitting road blocks.

 

First road block was that I was unable to create a bootable iso because I currently don't have access to a working mac to do it on. So I said, hey, I'll install an earlier version like the snow leopard and use that to make the iso for el capitan. Well, that didn't work either. I tried snow leopard and lion isos and they didn't work for various reasons (snow leopard just got stuck right after the apple logo, with a white background and the spinning wheel of death).

 

Mavericks came closest to actually installing. With verbose, I can see that it did a bunch of stuff, but then got stuck after finding the ethernet. Attached is the screenshot I got. Still, the spinning wheel of death. I don't even get to the welcome page.

 

I used the template from the first post with the latest chameleon as the kernel.

 

Any ideas where I might have gone wrong?

 

Thanks

 

After several days, I figured out the fix.

 

In the xml, I changed the machine element to "pc-q35-2.5" from "pc-q35-2.3" and it showed the welcome screen. Before, it would always get stuck on the Apple logo splash screen.

 

Archedraft, could you include a note about it in the original post? I believe in the unraid betas this is a required change as I tried it on various versions including El Capitan, Mavericks, Lion and Snow Leopard.

 

Thanks

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Hi guys,

 

I have been trying to install an os x vm for a few days now but keep hitting road blocks.

 

First road block was that I was unable to create a bootable iso because I currently don't have access to a working mac to do it on. So I said, hey, I'll install an earlier version like the snow leopard and use that to make the iso for el capitan. Well, that didn't work either. I tried snow leopard and lion isos and they didn't work for various reasons (snow leopard just got stuck right after the apple logo, with a white background and the spinning wheel of death).

 

Mavericks came closest to actually installing. With verbose, I can see that it did a bunch of stuff, but then got stuck after finding the ethernet. Attached is the screenshot I got. Still, the spinning wheel of death. I don't even get to the welcome page.

 

I used the template from the first post with the latest chameleon as the kernel.

 

Any ideas where I might have gone wrong?

 

Thanks

 

After several days, I figured out the fix.

 

In the xml, I changed the machine element to "pc-q35-2.5" from "pc-q35-2.3" and it showed the welcome screen. Before, it would always get stuck on the Apple logo splash screen.

 

Archedraft, could you include a note about it in the original post? I believe in the unraid betas this is a required change as I tried it on various versions including El Capitan, Mavericks, Lion and Snow Leopard.

 

Thanks

 

I'm guessing your using the new beta version?

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Hi guys,

 

I have been trying to install an os x vm for a few days now but keep hitting road blocks.

 

First road block was that I was unable to create a bootable iso because I currently don't have access to a working mac to do it on. So I said, hey, I'll install an earlier version like the snow leopard and use that to make the iso for el capitan. Well, that didn't work either. I tried snow leopard and lion isos and they didn't work for various reasons (snow leopard just got stuck right after the apple logo, with a white background and the spinning wheel of death).

 

Mavericks came closest to actually installing. With verbose, I can see that it did a bunch of stuff, but then got stuck after finding the ethernet. Attached is the screenshot I got. Still, the spinning wheel of death. I don't even get to the welcome page.

 

I used the template from the first post with the latest chameleon as the kernel.

 

Any ideas where I might have gone wrong?

 

Thanks

 

After several days, I figured out the fix.

 

In the xml, I changed the machine element to "pc-q35-2.5" from "pc-q35-2.3" and it showed the welcome screen. Before, it would always get stuck on the Apple logo splash screen.

 

Archedraft, could you include a note about it in the original post? I believe in the unraid betas this is a required change as I tried it on various versions including El Capitan, Mavericks, Lion and Snow Leopard.

 

Thanks

 

I'm guessing your using the new beta version?

That's right I guess I asked for the additional pain and suffering when opted for the beta

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Hi guys,

 

I have been trying to install an os x vm for a few days now but keep hitting road blocks.

 

First road block was that I was unable to create a bootable iso because I currently don't have access to a working mac to do it on. So I said, hey, I'll install an earlier version like the snow leopard and use that to make the iso for el capitan. Well, that didn't work either. I tried snow leopard and lion isos and they didn't work for various reasons (snow leopard just got stuck right after the apple logo, with a white background and the spinning wheel of death).

 

Mavericks came closest to actually installing. With verbose, I can see that it did a bunch of stuff, but then got stuck after finding the ethernet. Attached is the screenshot I got. Still, the spinning wheel of death. I don't even get to the welcome page.

 

I used the template from the first post with the latest chameleon as the kernel.

 

Any ideas where I might have gone wrong?

 

Thanks

 

After several days, I figured out the fix.

 

In the xml, I changed the machine element to "pc-q35-2.5" from "pc-q35-2.3" and it showed the welcome screen. Before, it would always get stuck on the Apple logo splash screen.

 

Archedraft, could you include a note about it in the original post? I believe in the unraid betas this is a required change as I tried it on various versions including El Capitan, Mavericks, Lion and Snow Leopard.

 

Thanks

 

I'm guessing your using the new beta version?

That's right I guess I asked for the additional pain and suffering when opted for the beta

 

Indeed :) I have yet to upgrade so I suppose I should modify the first page to indicate that. On the plus side, it's nice that all the kinks will be worked out before I upgrade ;)

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FWIW the other day I tried installing a back up of mountain lion installer on my Mac.. and kept getting a message about it can't be verified..and may have got corrupt in download. Tried 2 more copies with the same result. Now I know they have worked recently. Then I tried to re-download from the app store but they did not show up. I called Apple, 1st time since the 80's, and out of 5 people no one had the answer. I suggested that they may have expired but everyone denied that. I did get the app store issue resolved. Later I googled expired ML installer and found that indeed Apples certificate for the downloaded installers expired on 2/14/16.. and all installers need to be downloaded again. The new certificate is good to 2023.. I also tried Lion with the same result.. I did find away around it by setting the date before installing to before the expiration date then setting it back. There are various other mods to fix it.

Just thought I would save someone a lot of grief. I basically lost 6 hrs of my life and will have to spend another 6 getting back to where I should have been. This apparently not only affects Apple but others like MS & etc except the expiration dates are different.

With a lot of software the original versions are gone so there is no way to go back to the version you need.

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Hi guys,

 

Quick questions about gpu passthrough. Based on the gpus listed in this thread, I decided to get a cheap Radeon 6450 (MSI branded). It passes through beautifully in Win 10 and Openelec. However, I'm having issues with OSX.

 

When I pass it through (either through hostdev or as qemu-args) I get the image on the screen through hdmi. However, OSX doesn't fully recognize it, I think it treats it as a basic gpu without any acceleration, so it is super slow in refreshing and kind of glitchy.

 

I added the boot option GraphicsEnabler=Yes

 

When I look in System Information, it lists the gpu as Radeon 7400 Series with 3MB vram (that's not a typo, it actually says 3MB :-)

 

I dug further and realized that my card is a little bit different than the regular 6450.

The regular 6450 is apparently recognized as device id 6779:1002 whereas mine is 677b:1002 (I guess the regular one has a Caicos chipset and mine has Caicos PRO, no clue what the difference is)

 

When I check the AMD6000Controller.kext, I see 6779:1002 listed in the Info.plist but no 677b:1002. That's probably why my card is not properly recognized.

 

As the next step, I tried to edit the kext and add my gpu's device id to see if it would work. I added it to AMD6000, rebooted, but same result. When I do kextstat, I see that the AMD6000 is not loaded even though my device is now listed there, and the System Information specifically recognizes it as device id 677b

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

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