Windows 10 is a great operating system. It has its quirks and annoyances, but which operating system doesnât? Even if youâre beholden to Microsoft and Windows 10, you can still shop around.
What better way to do that than from the safe confines of your existing operating system with a virtual machine? This way, you can run macOS on Windows, which is perfect when you want to use Mac-only apps on Windows.
So, hereâs how you install macOS in a virtual machine on Windows, making a virtual Hackintosh that lets you run Apple apps from your Windows machine.
What Files Do You Need to Create a macOS Virtual Machine on Windows 10?
You can close all the windows on your Mac computer in Safari with a keyboard shortcut, or by navigating to the top toolbar. The keyboard shortcut to close all windows on a Mac is option + command + W.
Jun 20, 2017 Use Trackpad Gestures to See All Open Windows on Mac with Mission Control For MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Magic Trackpad, and Mac trackpad users in general, you can access Mission Control immediately with a gesture: Swipe Up Four Fingers on the Trackpad to activate Mission Control. Thatâs the Command key, and itâs the key to all the shortcuts listed here. It works kind of like the Control key on a Windows PC, except itâs in a handier spotâtypically on both sides of.
Before delving into the âhow-to,â you need to download and install the essential tools. The tutorial details how to create macOS virtual machines using both Oracle VirtualBox Manager (VirtualBox) and VMware Workstation Player (VMware Player).
Not sure which to use? Learn more about the differences between VirtualBox and VMware.
You need a copy of macOS, too. Catalina is the latest macOS version. You can find the download links for macOS Catalina in the next section.
This tutorial will focus on installing macOS Catalina in a virtual machine running on Intel hardware, using either VirtualBox or VMware Player.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to any AMD hardware, so I cannot provide a tutorial.
There is, however, the code snippet that anyone using an AMD system requires to boot a macOS Catalina using VMware on AMD hardware.
The process to launch the macOS Catalina virtual machine is the same as the Intel version but uses a slightly different code snippet. You can find the tutorial and the code snippet in the section below.
Furthermore, you will find links to several AMD macOS Catalina, Mojave, and High Sierra virtual machine tutorials, at the end of the article.
Download macOS Catalina Virtual Image
Use the following links to download macOS Catalina for both VirtualBox and VMware.
If the Google Drive reaches its download limit, right-click the file and select Copy to create a copy in your own Google Drive. You can then download the macOS Catalina virtual image from there.
Please note that these links may stop working from time to time. If that is the case, please leave a comment, and Iâll fix them as soon as possible.
After the virtual image finishes downloading, right-click, and extract the file using your favorite archive tool. For instance, right-click, then select 7-Zip > Extract to âmacOS Catalina.â
How to Create a macOS Catalina Virtual Machine with VirtualBox
Before creating the macOS virtual machine, you need to install the VirtualBox Extension Pack. It includes fixes for USB 3.0 support, mouse and keyboard support, and other useful VirtualBox patches.
Download: VirtualBox Extension Pack for Windows (Free)
Scroll down, select All supported platforms to download, then double-click to install.
Create the macOS Catalina Virtual Machine
Open VirtualBox. Select New. Type macOS.
VirtualBox will detect the OS as you type and will default to Mac OS X. You can leave this as is.
Regarding the virtual machine name, make it something memorable yet easy to type. Youâll need to input this name in a series of commands, and it is frustrating to type a complicated name multiple times!
Next, set the amount of RAM the macOS virtual machine can use. I would suggest a minimum of 4GB, but the more you can give from the host system, the better your experience will be.
Remember, you cannot assign more RAM than your system has available, and you need to leave some memory available for the host operating system. Learn more about how much RAM does a system need?
Now, you need to assign a hard disk, which is the virtual image downloaded previously. Select Use an existing virtual hard disk file, then select the folder icon. Browse to the VMDK file, then select Create.
Edit the macOS Catalina Virtual Machine Settings
Donât try and start your macOS Catalina virtual machine yet. Before firing the virtual machine up, you need to make a few tweaks to the settings. Right-click your macOS virtual machine and select Settings.
Under System, remove Floppy from the boot order. Ensure the Chipset is set to ICH9.
Select the Processor tab. Assign two processors. If you have a CPU with power to spare (such as an Intel Core i7 or i9 with multiple extra cores), consider assigning more. However, this isnât vital.
Make sure the Enable PAE/NX box is checked.
Under Display, set Video Memory to 128MB.
Now, under Storage, check the box alongside Use Host I/O Cache.
Finally, head to the USB tab and select USB 3.0, then press OK.
Use Command Prompt to Add Custom Code to VirtualBox
It still isnât quite time to fire up your macOS Catalina virtual machine. In its current configuration, VirtualBox doesnât work with your macOS VMDK.
To get it up and running, you have to essentially patch VirtualBox before the macOS virtual machine will function. To do this, you need to enter some code using the Command Prompt. All the details are below.
Start by closing VirtualBox. The commands will not execute properly if VirtualBox or any of its associated processes are running.
Once closed, press Windows Key + X, then select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.
If your menu only shows the PowerShell option, type command into your Start menu search bar. Then right-click the Best Match, and select Run as Administrator.
The following code works for VirtualBox 5.x and 6.x.
Use the following command to locate the Oracle VirtualBox directory:
Now, enter the following commands, one by one. Adjust the command to match the name of your virtual machine. For instance, my virtual machine name is â
macoscat .â Here are the commands:
After the completion of the commands, and presuming you encountered no errors, close the Command Prompt.
Boot Your macOS Mojave Virtual Machine
Reopen VirtualBox. Double-click your macOS virtual machine to start it. You will see a long stream of text, followed by a gray screen.
The gray screen can take a moment or two to clear, but donât panic. Once the screen clears, macOS Catalina will begin installing. When it resolves, you will arrive at the macOS âWelcomeâ screen.
From here, you can set your macOS Mojave virtual machine up as you see fit.
Pro Tip: Take a snapshot of your virtual machine once it passes the gray screen. If anything goes wrong down the line, you can return to the Welcome screen setup and start the process again.
Once you complete the macOS setup, take another one so you can jump straight into your macOS installation. Head to Machine > Take Snapshot, give your snapshot a name, and wait for it to process.
How to Create a macOS Catalina Virtual Machine Using VMware Workstation Player
Prefer VMware over VirtualBox? You can create a macOS Catalina virtual machine using VMware that works exactly the same as VirtualBox. And, just as with VirtualBox, VMware also requires patching before the macOS Catalina virtual machine will work.
This part of the tutorial works for Intel and AMD systems. AMD users must use the second code snippet when editing the virtual machine VMX file. Read through the tutorial to see what this means exactly.
Patch VMware Workstation Player
In the âmacOS Catalina Virtual Imageâ section is the VMware Player Patch Tool. Before commencing any further, download the patch tool.
Then, browse to the location you downloaded the patch tool to. Extract the contents of the archive. This process works best when the folders are on the same drive (e.g., the VMware root folder and extracted archive are both found on the C: drive).
Make sure VMware is completely closed. Now, in the patcher folder, right-click the win-install command script and select Run as Administrator. The script will open a Command Prompt window, and the patch-script will run.
Do pay attention. The script whizzes by, and you need to keep watch for any âFile not Foundâ messages.
The most common reason for a âfile not foundâ or a âsystem cannot find the file specifiedâ message is installing VMware Workstation Player in a different location to the default folder, and executing the patch from a different directory.
Once the patch completes, you can open VMware.
Create the macOS Catalina Virtual Machine with VMwareMacos Command Line
Select Create a New Virtual Machine. Choose I will install the operating system later.
Now, select Apple Mac OS X, and change the Version to macOS 10.14. If you donât see the macOS options, it is because the patch didnât install correctly.
Next, you need to choose a name for your macOS Catalina virtual machine. Choose something easy to remember, then copy the file path to somewhere handyâyouâre going to need it to make some edits in a moment.
On the next screen, stick with the suggested maximum hard disk size, then select Store virtual disk as a single file. Complete the virtual disk creation wizard, but do not start the virtual machine just yet.
Edit the macOS Mojave Virtual Machine Settings
Before you can boot the virtual machine, you must edit the hardware specifications. Plus, you need to tell VMware where to find the macOS VMDK.
From the main VMware screen, select your macOS Catalina virtual machine, then right-click, and select Settings.
Like VirtualBox, bump the virtual machine memory up to at least 4GB. You can allocate more if you have RAM to spare.
Under Processors, edit the number of available cores to 2.
Now, under Hard Disk (SATA), you need to remove the hard disk created earlier. Select Remove and VMware will remove the disk automatically.
Now, select Add > Hard Disk > SATA (Recommended)> Use an existing disk. Browse to the location of the macOS VMDK and select it.
Edit the macOS Catalina VMX File for Intel Hardware
This section is for Intel users and it involves the final set of edits you need to make before switching your VMware macOS Catalina virtual machine on!
Close VMware. Head to the location you stored the macOS virtual machine. The default location is:
Browse to macOS.vmx, right-click, and select Open withâ¦, select Notepad (or your preferred text editor). Scroll to the bottom of the configuration file and add the following line:
Save, then Exit.
You can now open VMware, select your macOS Mojave virtual machine, and fire it up!
Edit the macOS Catalina VMX File for AMD Hardware
This section is for AMD users. Like the above section, AMD users must also edit the VMX file before proceeding. The AMD edit involves a few more lines than the Intel version, but you can copy and paste the data into the file.
Close VMware. Head to the location you stored the macOS virtual machine. The default location is:
Browse to macOS.vmx, right-click, and select Open withâ¦, select Notepad (or your preferred text editor). Scroll to the bottom of the configuration file and add the following lines:
Save, then Exit.
You can now open VMware, select your macOS Mojave virtual machine, and fire it up!
Install VMware Tools to Your macOS Catalina Virtual Machine
You now need to install VMware Tools, which is a set of utilities and extensions that improve mouse handling, video performance, and other useful things.
With the macOS virtual machine running, head to Player > Manage > Install VMware Tools.
The installation digavsc will appear on the macOS desktop. When the option appears, select Install VMware Tools, then allow it access to the removable volume. Follow the guided installer, which will require a restart on completion.
Troubleshooting
There are a couple of things that can go wrong during the macOS virtual machine installation in VMware Player Workstation.
macOS Virtual Machines for AMD Hardware![]()
Apple uses Intel hardware to power desktops and laptops. Configuring a macOS virtual machine using Intel hardware is easier because the hardware specifications are very similar.
With AMD, the opposite is true. Because Apple does not develop macOS on AMD hardware, creating a macOS virtual machine on an AMD system is trickier.
Adding to this, I donât have an AMD system to test macOS virtual machines on, so I cannot give you a detailed tutorial. I can, however, point you in the direction of several macOS AMD virtual machine tutorials that do work, so long as you are patient and follow each step accordingly.
The AMD OS X forum is a great resource for macOS virtual machines. You can find many more forum threads regarding AMD macOS virtual machines, too.
macOS Catalina Virtual Machine Installation Complete
You have two options to choose from for your macOS Catalina virtual machine. Both options are great if you want to give macOS a try before making the switch from Windows and enjoy some of the best Apple apps on offer.
You can use a virtual machine to test other operating systems too. For instance, hereâs how to install a Linux distro in a virtual machine.
Are you looking to learn more about virtual machines?
Check out our VirtualBox Userâs Guide, which teaches everything you need to know, or our guide to creating a virtual machine using Windows 10 Hyper-V.
Read the full article: How to Run macOS on Windows 10 in a Virtual Machine
Apple's macOS platform includes Terminal, which is equivalent to Command Prompt in Windows OS. Since the macOS is based on UNIX, Terminal might give you a vibe of a dangerous tool where one wrong command can wreck your system. Sure, it is valid only to an extent. There are a bunch of harmless commands that are usable in customizing the interface and other settings of macOS.
The Terminal on macOS can be extremely useful in tweaking the performance of your Mac. Now it entirely depends on what you want to achieve. In case you have been dreading to use it, you can always get comfortable by using simpler tricks. Here are the top 11 terminal command tricks to try on your Mac.
Also on Guiding TechHow To Speed Up a Slow MacRead MoreNote: While selecting/copying a command, make sure you scroll all the way towards right to select the complete command in the gray box. Otherwise partial commands will not work as intended.1. Open Folders
One of the coolest ways to get familiar with the Terminal is to use it to open files and folders. I know that clicking on Finder will do the same. However, using Terminal, you can open a specific folder or a file without exposing your file structure to anyone.
Let's say you want to open your Documents folder. Then you can type the following command and then hit Enter.
And that opens my Documents folder. There's a DOCX file in there. I can use Terminal to open that too. For that, you need to type out the command with some requirements â the path of the respective file:
Open -a 'Application Name' /Path/to/File
So for opening the DOCX file in the Documents folder of my Mac, I typed in the command below and then hit Enter:
That opens up the specific file using the predefined program. You can also use the wildcard character (*.extension) instead of the full filename. However, if you have more than one file in carrying the same extension, then it might freeze your Mac for a bit. 2. Change Default Save Screenshot Location
By default, the macOS Mojave stores the screenshots on the Mac's desktop. Now if you have iCloud sync enabled, which I am sure you do, then it keeps uploading to your account. Thankfully, you can change the save location for the screenshots instead of crowding your desktop.
Here's the command you need to type before hitting Enter:
In the above command, you can provide any specific file location instead of ~/Downloads as shown.
After hitting Enter, I need to reset the SystemUIServer for the changes to take effect immediately. So feed in the following command.
Though it is not required, I would recommend restarting your Mac. 3. Change Screenshot Image Type
The macOS saves the screenshots in JPG format by default. You can change that to save them in PNG or PDF formats too. Here's how to do that quickly with this specific command:
After that, you need to kill the SystemUIServer again. Most commands which require some system changes shall mandate shutting down the SystemUIServer. So do that quickly. Now, your new screenshots will save in the PNG format. Do note that PNG files are generally larger than JPG files. So keep an eye on how much storage space they consume. 4. Show Hidden Files
Have you tried looking for the option to let the Finder show hidden files? Well, it is tougher than picking the show hidden files on Windows. I always forget how to enable that. Thankfully there is a helpful command that makes it happen in a few seconds.
After that, you need to force shut the Finder. Now you should see a lot of hidden files in the Finder. They would be greyed out but still visible. If you roll back this change, then you need to change TRUE to FALSE in the command. 5. Switch Off the Dashboard
Apple promoted the Dashboard view to access calculator and sticky notes quickly. I bet you rarely use that one for you can launch the Calculator app or Sticky Notes app using Mission Control of Spotlight. So you can switch it off and don't have to worry about opening it by mistake.
Here's the command to turn off the Dashboard.
Next, you must kill the Dock so that the changes are correctly applied. Now I don't have to worry about accidentally opening the Dashboard. If you want to switch it on again, then change TRUE to FALSE in the command. Also on Guiding TechHow to Install New Fonts in Mac OS XRead More6. Download Files
Did you know that you can download files using the Terminal? Yes, you don't need to keep the browser running just for that file. The only requirement here is that you must have the file's download link. So the command syntax is:
Macos Command For See All Windows 7
curl -0 downloadlink
First, navigate to the folder where you want to download the file. For that, you need to switch to the Downloads directory.
After that, you can feed the command to download the VLC for macOS from the official site. It would appear something like this:
Mac Command To See All WindowsNote: There is a letter O in the command and not the 0 (zero).7. Ditto for Backups
Copying files and taking backups on macOS is quite swift â thanks to the SSDs and the flash storage. However, it does take a while to copy a large amount of data. Thankfully, Terminal offers a useful command to copy files. Here's how you can do it while watching the name of files that the command copies.
ditto -V /currentpath/ /new/path/
Macos Command For See All Windows 7
So I want to copy the DMG downloaded in the previous section to the desktop.
That should do the needful. If you want to copy the files to an external drive, then you need to provide the destination path correctly.
8. Always Show File Path in the Finder
If you have switched from Windows recently, you would have noticed that the Finder on macOS doesn't show file path like the Explorer in Windows. However, you can force Finder to show you the file path with this command:
After hitting enter, you need to stop the Finder.
After you hit Enter, the Finder will relaunch. Then you should see the file paths at the top of the Finder window.
9. Power Chime on Connecting the Charger
Has it ever happened that you've connected the MagSafe charger to your Mac but forgot to flip on the power switch? I have lost the count. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this useful command that provides an audio feedback chime whenever I connect the MagSafe charger.
Feed this command in the Terminal and hit Enter.
10. Stop Your Mac from Sleeping
Often you are downloading a massive file, and you don't want your Mac go to sleep. If it is a temporary requirement, then a simple command can make it happen. Just type the following command, hit Enter and walk away from your Mac.
In this command, the number 600 signifies seconds. So with this command, the Mac won't sleep until 10 minutes (600 seconds). You can enter a relevant number of seconds or just the word 'caffeinate' to prevent your Mac from sleeping.
However, if you close that Terminal window, then the command will stop executing and the Mac will go to sleep on a predefined time.
11. Check Your Mac's Uptime
Wondering how long it has been since you've restarted your Mac? A simple restart can sort a lot of things in order and boost your Mac's performance. Here's a command to check your how long your Mac has been running without a Restart or a Shutdown
Macos Command Tab Between Same
That should give you all the details with a timestamp.
Also on Guiding Tech#productivityClick here to see our productivity articles pageUsing Terminal Is Fun
The Terminal is an absolute delight to use and tinker around in the macOS. However, we would strictly advise against using random commands provided by unverified sources or strangers. Other than that, these commands should run on latest macOS Mojave update till last few versions.
You should always double-check the Terminal commands that involve removing, deleting or disabling any service. If you stick to our list, then you would be confident of using Terminal like a pro.
Next up: Are you bored of the same old Lock Screen on your Mac? Here is a nifty guide that will show how to customize the lock screen on your macOS Mojave running Mac. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextHow to Customize the Lock Screen on macOS 10.14 MojaveAlso See#terminal #macos Did You Know
Thunderbolt 3 is a data and video transfer protocol and is developed by Intel.
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