**VIDEO GUIDE** How to Install MacOS Mojave or High Sierra as a VM


SpaceInvaderOne

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Thanks to Unraid and the great video tutorials Heigh Sierra 10.13.1 runs smoothly.

 

However, there are occasional problems during the boot process:
Approximately every 2nd and 3rd boot is unsuccessful. The CPU load then alternately changes between the 4 cores. Each core has about 10 seconds 100% load, then the next. I have to force a VM shutdown ...

 

Please help me with the problem solving?

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I had this running pretty well for a few days then it stopped booting.  It looks like files on unraid were deleted (no idea how...).  I'm now 100's of miles away from the unraid server but I do still have the flash drive with the install files on it.  Is there anyway to do the install remotely?  I no longer have the .img file on the server that was created with the qemu-img command.

 

Is there a way to do this remotely?

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I had this running pretty well for a few days then it stopped booting.  It looks like files on unraid were deleted (no idea how...).  I'm now 100's of miles away from the unraid server but I do still have the flash drive with the install files on it.  Is there anyway to do the install remotely?  I no longer have the .img file on the server that was created with the qemu-img command.
 
Is there a way to do this remotely?


That happened to me a few months ago. I assumed I had just done something daft and not realised.

To access remotely I have OpenVPN installed in a docker to get onto my local network then access unRaid as normal
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Hi everyone !

 

It's once again me ;) I am still having troubles with enabling gpu passthrough to my Mac El Capitam VM. I will start with a little history. It all started with unraid 6.3.5 and nvidia gpu (Quadro K2000). I did set up the mac vm and could pass the gpu. System was working perfectly about 3 - 5 hours and than usually crashed with gpu artifacts. Same thing (graphical glitches) were happening with Win 10. I took out the nvidia card and went with classical torture test on normal computer. It passed with flying colors. After inserting it back to server problem was still occurring ( glitches resulting in crash ). Then I started with 6.4 betas. In unRaid 6.4b15 situation was improving but still wasn't perfect ( problems with VM restarts ). Then I decided to switch graphic card to AMD Radeon 6670. Simultaneously unRaid was upgraded to 6.4b20 and windows 10 VM with GPU passthrough became rock solid. In both betas I couldn't get my mac to boot with gpu. What is interesting, I can still run VM with VNC.  When editing xml and switching GPU's I often get duplicate PCI adress warning. Usually I just delete this line of code and let unRaid fill them itself but it turns out not to be working. 

 

How to add GPU to xml without PCI address duplication error?

 

What might be causing problems is that I got Clover installed and configured to boot nvidia card. What settings do I need to change in clover to boot AMD GPU ?

 

Here is my xml:

 

<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>
  <name>ElCapitan</name>
  <uuid>f6e0a0d1-e5d8-b311-2c07-91f6d1780347</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Linux" icon="arch.png" os="linux"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>8388608</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>8388608</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='1'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='2'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='3'/>
  </cputune>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-q35-2.10'>hvm</type>
    <loader readonly='yes' type='pflash'>/usr/share/qemu/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd</loader>
    <nvram>/etc/libvirt/qemu/nvram/f6e0a0d1-e5d8-b311-2c07-91f6d1780347_VARS-pure-efi.fd</nvram>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough' check='none'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='2' threads='2'/>
  </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>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/local/sbin/qemu</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/cache/shares/elcapitan/ElCapitan.img'/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='sata'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='2'/>
    </disk>
    <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>
    <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='0x10'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='2' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='2' port='0x11'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='3' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='3' port='0x12'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='4' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='4' port='0x13'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x3'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='5' model='dmi-to-pci-bridge'>
      <model name='i82801b11-bridge'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1e' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='6' model='pci-bridge'>
      <model name='pci-bridge'/>
      <target chassisNr='6'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x05' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:51:66:48'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <model type='e1000-82545em'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x06' slot='0x01' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
    <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes' websocket='-1' listen='0.0.0.0' keymap='en-us'>
      <listen type='address' address='0.0.0.0'/>
    </graphics>
    <video>
      <model type='qxl' ram='65536' vram='65536' vgamem='16384' heads='1' primary='yes'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x0'/>
    </video>
    <memballoon model='none'/>
  </devices>
  <seclabel type='none' model='none'/>
  <qemu:commandline>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='usb-kbd'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='usb-mouse'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='isa-applesmc,osk=GOT THE RIGHT KEY'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-smbios'/>
    <qemu:arg value='type=2'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-cpu'/>
    <qemu:arg value='Penryn,vendor=GenuineIntel'/>
  </qemu:commandline>
</domain>

 

Edited by Froger
forgot to paste xml :)
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For adding a GPU to the xml setup a fedora or Ubuntu VM and install virt manager. Using it to add hardware to your xml is easy mode. I added a GPU, usb sound card and a Bluetooth adapter without fiddling with the xml. As for the amd card thing I think there's something using clover configurator you can toggle.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

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Did that. I can hear my GPU starting ( fan spinning ) with gpu passthrough, but I can't see a thing ( no signal ). On nvidia card I could see clover but VM would hang on apple logo and then crash. On  AMD i can't see anything. Monitor says " No signal ". I am pretty confident that xml is edited correctly for gpu passthrough. What about clover settings ?

 

P.S. Tried all the outputs from GPU - no difference.

P.S.2 Do I have to uninstall nvidia web drivers ?

Edited by Froger
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I uploaded a ISO of the usb boot disk that I've successfully used to install in the past to unRAID (I'm not local to the unRAID server for a while) to try to reinstall OSX that somehow corrupted the vdisk.  I've followed the video to install but did the qemu-img command on the iso file instead of the usb disk.

 

Clover boots but doesn't show any disk option.  Any ideas what could be causing this?

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Hello you all,

 

first of all I got everything working now. Got a USB3 PCIe card and passed that through to my OSX VM and now Bluetooth, WLAN, Handoff and everything works.

 

However I'm not that happy with my very slow GPU. It's a NVIDIA GT 710 with PCIe x1 and only 1 GB VRAM. Originally I got that as a GPU for UNRAID itself and wanted to use my other GPU an AMD Radeon R7 240 for the VMs. That works fine in Windows 10, but for OS X I have to use the GT 710. But because my Server isn't fast enough to properly run Windows 10 and OS X at the same time, I think it would be a better solution to get rid of the Radeon GPU (which sits in my PCIe x16 slot) and get a better GPU that works fine with Windows AND OSX and use the GT 710 only for UNRAID GUI.

 

So can you recommend a proper GPU that works in OS X?

The GPU should also be able to do HEVC decoding in Windows 10 because my CPU isn't able to do that properly.

I'm not a big gamer, so it doesn't have to be High End. Just a proper card that OS X does support.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Greets

Schlichi

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33 minutes ago, Schlichi said:

Hello you all,

 

first of all I got everything working now. Got a USB3 PCIe card and passed that through to my OSX VM and now Bluetooth, WLAN, Handoff and everything works.

 

However I'm not that happy with my very slow GPU. It's a NVIDIA GT 710 with PCIe x1 and only 1 GB VRAM. Originally I got that as a GPU for UNRAID itself and wanted to use my other GPU an AMD Radeon R7 240 for the VMs. That works fine in Windows 10, but for OS X I have to use the GT 710. But because my Server isn't fast enough to properly run Windows 10 and OS X at the same time, I think it would be a better solution to get rid of the Radeon GPU (which sits in my PCIe x16 slot) and get a better GPU that works fine with Windows AND OSX and use the GT 710 only for UNRAID GUI.

 

So can you recommend a proper GPU that works in OS X?

The GPU should also be able to do HEVC decoding in Windows 10 because my CPU isn't able to do that properly.

I'm not a big gamer, so it doesn't have to be High End. Just a proper card that OS X does support.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Greets

Schlichi

 

any GPU will be bottlenecked in a x1 slot.

 

I run several osx vm's on gt 710's. they do fine for basic use/tasks. 

 

if you want great 4k then go gtx 1070/80. A gtx 1060 can do some lower bitrate 4k as well (I use one for 4k video editing using proxy sources but it can't handle 150mbps 4k raw files)

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11 minutes ago, Schlichi said:

But for UNRAID GUI only the x1 should be ok. Or not?!

 

Is the GTX 1070 supported by OS X?

And do I really Need such an expensive GPU for HEVC 4K Video decoding? I‘m not really a gamer.

 

Greets

Schlichi

 

unRaid is fine on x1

 

1070 is supported once you install the Nvidia web drivers.

 

I own a 1050. it won't do 4k.

I own a 1060. it will do limited 4k.

1070 is a bit more powerful than both and will handle 4k.

GPU prices are high because of miners.

this is life.

 

If you give up on 4k, then you can get by on spending less. I use the 1050 for photoshop editing and it handles it just fine. 

Edited by 1812
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Schlichi,

Per this page:  https://www.techspot.com/article/1131-hevc-h256-enconding-playback/

See which cards support HEVC.  On my server, I run a GTX 960 with 2GB of ram on my OSX VM to power (2) 4k displays and it does everything I need it to do.  I have not specifically test HEVC, but I have definitely used H.265.  Do some reading on what cards will meet your needs.

 

From there, almost all of the NVidia GTX cards will work with the NVidia web drivers.  From what I've read, the Radeon cards are easier to get working with OSX, but I have not had any personal experience.  All my cards are NVidia and all of them have been running in OSX at some point, including eGPU on some previous versions of the OS.

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Thank you!

So this card should be okay, right?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 Mini OC, 4GB

If yes, I'll get a used one from eBay.

 

I know that High Sierra supports HEVC, but I thought only with compatible CPUs from newer Macs and NOT with NVIDIA GPUs.

But if you say it also works with NVIDIA GPUs - it's even better. :-)

 

Oh and I got another question:

When I start my macOS VM I can see in the log the following error:

Domain id=7 is tainted: custom-argv

 

It's only when I boot up the VM and only in the log file. The VM boots just fine. Do you have any idea what that is? Or should I just ignore it?

 

Greets

Schlichi

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On 1/21/2018 at 1:05 PM, Ray said:

I uploaded a ISO of the usb boot disk that I've successfully used to install in the past to unRAID (I'm not local to the unRAID server for a while) to try to reinstall OSX that somehow corrupted the vdisk.  I've followed the video to install but did the qemu-img command on the iso file instead of the usb disk.

 

Clover boots but doesn't show any disk option.  Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

I'm having the same problem as you.  I've tried the latest version of Clover (r4380) and the one suggested in the description of the Creating Install Media guide (r4220) and both times Clover sees no disk.

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4 hours ago, Schlichi said:

Thank you!

So this card should be okay, right?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 Mini OC, 4GB

If yes, I'll get a used one from eBay.

 

I know that High Sierra supports HEVC, but I thought only with compatible CPUs from newer Macs and NOT with NVIDIA GPUs.

But if you say it also works with NVIDIA GPUs - it's even better. :-)

 

Oh and I got another question:

When I start my macOS VM I can see in the log the following error:

Domain id=7 is tainted: custom-argv

 

It's only when I boot up the VM and only in the log file. The VM boots just fine. Do you have any idea what that is? Or should I just ignore it?

 

Greets

Schlichi

Schlichi, I did not verify any of the information I linked.  I would definitely recommend you do some searching to determine that 960 will definitely do what you need it to.  I said I have a fullsize 960 that I'm using (2) 4k monitors on in High Sierra.  Before you spend money on hardware, just do a couple searches to verify everything I referenced for you.  I don't want to be responsible for you spending money on something that might not work as you would expect.

 

1 hour ago, raiditup said:

 

I'm having the same problem as you.  I've tried the latest version of Clover (r4380) and the one suggested in the description of the Creating Install Media guide (r4220) and both times Clover sees no disk.

Did you follow the directions to create the .img file from the USB?  You're not trying to boot the USB directly, are you?

Gridrunner has a video linked in the High Sierra video about how to create the USB flash drive for installation and then I believe the High Sierra installation video is what explained how to create the .img file to use as the installation disk for the VM.

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4 hours ago, ckoepf said:

Schlichi, I did not verify any of the information I linked.  I would definitely recommend you do some searching to determine that 960 will definitely do what you need it to.  I said I have a fullsize 960 that I'm using (2) 4k monitors on in High Sierra.  Before you spend money on hardware, just do a couple searches to verify everything I referenced for you.  I don't want to be responsible for you spending money on something that might not work as you would expect.

Don't worry. Of course I googled a bit and what I found supported your statement, that the GTX 960 can indeed decode H.265/HEVC in Windows. It should also be WAY sufficient for my other needs, as I'm only a very casual gamer and also got a PS4...

 

I don't want to spend 300€or more for a GPU that I don't really need. A used GTX 960 for 90-100€ would be okay. Especially because my CPU is "only" a Xeon E3-1231v3.

 

Greets

Schlichi

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Schlichi, sounds like you have a good plan.  I wouldn't spend money on something not really necessary either.  From an OSX stand point, that card will definitely work with the NVidia web drivers.  Just follow gridrunner's procedures for passing through an NVidia card in OSX.

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On 19/01/2018 at 4:45 PM, planetwilson said:

Anyone know how I make use of the previous folder on the tab drive to try and boot the previous version to try that out?

 

 

Update: didn’t make any difference. Something else is going on bit frustrating

 

So in the end I created a new VM and edited it with Virt Mgr form an Ubuntu VM as suggested slightly earlier. That seemed to resolve all my issues, passthough now working again. I can't quite work out what the changes in the XML were though.

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