The Advanced Guide for running macOS within QEMU

Host Requirements, Host Configuration, Setting Expectations, GRUB and systemd-boot Support, Package Configuration, Bridged Networking using systemd, IOMMU Viability, x86_64 and PowerPC Support, OpenCore for Q35 as Mac Pro models, Hardware Compatibility Charts, DarwinFetch + DiskProvision, Virt-Manager XMLs, Single and Dual GPU Setup passthrough, QEMU and macOS Debugging, Fake Core Count for incompatible CPU Topologies, CPU Thread Pinning, VirtIO Thread for disk images, Motherboard Audio passthrough, Bridged Networking on Ethernet, KB/M Sharing via Evdev, Custom Memory Mapping, USB Controller Mapping, Display Overrides, sPPT / Zero-RPM Disable, Legacy NVIDIA Patching, Home of the VMHide Kernel Extension. Welcome to DarwinKVM!

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This is the git repo, Follow the Docs here!

This is NOT a Pre-Built EFI! You are responsible for creating one reading the documentation above.

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The entries can have various (but not all) information tagged:

Name of OS release

Mac Model (####) - ModelIdentifier#,#

Another supported Mac Model (####) - ModelIdentifier#,#

Architecture - Mac Product Name - Credits: @username

Product Version - Product Codename (Product Build Number) - Graphics Processing Unit

The entries can have multiple screenshots of the various versions of said release. The gallery is sorted by chronological order. 10.6.8 will appear above 10.6.4 and so on. We also have Server variants, and AppleInternal copies running under DarwinKVM showcased here. Preservation is key! Submit your very own screenshot via the Discord in the #showcase channel for consideration in the next update.

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macOS Tahoe

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

26.1 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

26.0.0 Developer Beta 1 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

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macOS Sequoia

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

15.1.1 - WX 9100 16GB - x86_64 - Credits: @athleticat

15.1 - RX 6650 XT 8GB - x86_64 - Credits: @f0xb4t

15.0 Developer Beta 1 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

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macOS Sonoma

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

14.7 - RX 5700 XT 8GB - x86_64 - Credits: @Naymmmm

14.5 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

14.4 Beta - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

14.3 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

14.2.1 - RX 6750 XT 12GB - x86_64 - Credits: @heliokroger

14.1 - RX 6800 XT 16GB - x86_64 - Credits: @haxi0

14.0 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

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macOS Ventura

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

13.5.1 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

13.5 - GTX 1050 Ti 4GB - x86_64 - Credits: @Zormeister

13.5 - RX 5600 XT 6GB - x86_64 - Credits: @rolowilde

13.4 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

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macOS Monterey

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

12.7.5 - RX 6600 8GB - x86_64

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macOS Big Sur

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

11.7.10 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - x86_64

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macOS 10.16

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

AppleInternal GoldenGateSpike (20A2314a) - VESA / VGA Graphics - x86_64

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macOS Catalina

Mac Pro (2019) - MacPro7,1

10.15.7 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - x86_64

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macOS Mojave

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.14.6 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB - x86_64

10.14.6 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - x86_64

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macOS High Sierra

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.13.6 - GTX 470 1280MB

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macOS Sierra

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.12.6 - GTX 470 1280MB

10.12.5 - AppleInternal Phoenix (16F5049f) - GTX 470 1280MB

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Mac OS X El Capitan

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.11.6 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB - x86_64 - GPU Donated By: @PJFrye

10.11.6 - NVIDIA GTX 760 2048MB - x86_64 - Credits: @lexira1n

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Mac OS X Yosmite

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.10.5 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB - x86_64 - GPU Donated By: @PJFrye

10.10.5 - NVIDIA GTX 760 2048MB - x86_64 - Credits: @lexira1n

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Mac OS X Mavericks

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.9.5 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB - x86_64 - GPU Donated By: @PJFrye

10.9.5 - NVIDIA GTX 760 2048MB - x86_64 - Credits: @lexira1n

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Mac OS X Mountain Lion

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.8.5 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB - x86_64 - GPU Donated By: @PJFrye

10.8.5 - NVIDIA GTX 760 2048MB - x86_64 - Credits: @lexira1n

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Mac OS X Lion

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

10.7.5 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - x86_64

10.7.5 - GTX 470 1280MB - x86_64

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Mac Pro (2010) - MacPro5,1

Xserve Xeon (2009) - Xserve3,1

Mac mini (2009) - Macmini3,1

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.6.8 - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - x86_64

10.6.8 Server - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - x86_64

10.6.2 - AppleInternal Factory (10C540) - ATI Radeon HD 5450 2GB - i386

10.6 - Developer Preview 1 (10A190) - PowerPC

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Mac OS X Leopard

Mac Pro (2009) - MacPro4,1

Mac Pro (2008) - MacPro3,1

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.5.8 - VESA / VGA Graphics - i386

10.5.4 - VESA / VGA Graphics - PowerPC

10.5 Server - VESA / VGA Graphics - i386

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Mac OS X Tiger

Mac Pro (2007) - MacPro2,1

Mac Pro (2006) - MacPro1,1

Apple Developer Transition Kit (2005) - ADP2,1

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.4.11 - VESA / VGA Graphics - i386

10.4.11 Server - VESA / VGA Graphics - i386

10.4.11 - VESA / VGA Graphics - PowerPC

10.4.7 - VESA / VGA Graphics - i386

10.4.1 - Apple DTK Build 8B1025 - VESA / VGA Graphics - i386

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Mac OS X Panther

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.3 - VESA / VGA Graphics - PowerPC

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Mac OS X Jaguar

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.2 - VESA / VGA Graphics - PowerPC

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Mac OS X Puma

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.1 - VESA / VGA Graphics - PowerPC

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Mac OS X Cheetah

PowerMac G4 AGP (1999) - PowerMac3,1

10.0.3 - VESA / VGA Graphics - PowerPC

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Need Help?

If you run into any issues, you can join the DarwinKVM Discord server! Feel free to ping the @Helpers role within a help channel for support. Hexley provides our discord users with a multitude of commands to assist anyone who may need specific actions performed. Such features that Hexley offers aim to speed up the process with command such as:

/genplatinfo - Generates PlatformInfo for a given Mac model

/checkcoverage - Allows to get a serial numbers Coverage status

/pci - Find PCI devices by vendor ID and device ID.

/usb - Find USB devices by vendor ID and device ID.

/link - Quickly link a URL for someone.

/time - Displays the time of a given user.

Contributing to the Documentation

If you have any changes or improvements you'd like to contribute for review and merge, to update misinformation or outdated information, as well as maybe even adding whole new pages, you can follow the general outline below to get a local copy of the documentation running.

Instructions written for macOS hosts but is adoptable to other OSs.

1. Install/Update brew

   • Visit https://brew.sh/ for instructions and information.

2. Install/Update ruby

   • Once brew is installed, you can run brew install ruby in your terminal.
   • If using ZSH (any recent versions of macOS) Be sure to read the post install text as it suggest you should run the following command to export to PATH:
     • echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/ruby/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
     • Restart Terminal for changes to apply.

3. Install/Update gem and bundler

   • Run gem update in your terminal window.
   • Run gem install bundler in your terminal window.

4. Fork DarwinKVM, git clone your fork, navigate to Docs directory.

   • git clone --recursive git@github.com:yourusername/DarwinKVM.git
   • cd DarwinKVM/docs

5. Installing Docs dependencies, and running the server.

   • Run bundle install in your terminal window.
   • Running bundle exec jekyll serve --incremental will build and run a live copy of the DarwinKVM docs on port 4000 by default.
   • To change the port, you can specify the IP address and port to run on, allowing local mobile devices to also connect and preview DKVM Docs.
     • bundle exec jekyll serve --host YOUR_IP_ADDRESS --port PORT --incremental

You'll now be able to see the changes you make update live so you can work quickly and preview the final look of your Markdown files easily. Once you are done making your changes you can then proceed to submit a Pull Request for review, and eventual merge to Main.

A big thanks to all contributors and future contributors! ꩓