On Wednesday October, 31st, everybody can get a free copy of CrossOver with 12mths support.
CrossOver is an emulation layer for MacOS X and Linux. In contrast to virtualization solutions like VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox, it allows running thousands of Windows applications, tools and games without having to install a legit Windows operating system.
We suppose Apple will not like that, but Oracle’s latest version of VirtualBox 3.2 Beta 1 now supports virtualization of Apple’s Mac OS X.
Legal View
Although Apple’s license agreement clearly prohibits installing Mac OS X on other hardware than Apple’s, the screenshot shows that even the Windows version of Mac OS X is prepped to run Mac OS X as guest operating system.
On the other hand Apple’s license agreement is not valid in all countries. It cannot be applied in Germany and some other countries for example.
Technical View
To satisfy Apple’s Aqua binary encryption it is required to supply two operating system decryption keys (OSK0 and OSK1) to the kernel extension “Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext”. Although it is no secret that Mac OS can be run on PC hardware using decryption emulators like netkas’ fakesmc.kext, anyhow at the moment it is unclear if Oracle integrated those operating system decryption keys into VirtualBox.
[Update]
VirtualBox does not circumvent Apple’s binary protection. A VirtualBox developer confirmed, that Apple hardware is required in order to run Mac OS as guest in VirtualBox. So without tempering either with VirtualBox’ EFI or with Mac OS X it is not possible to run OS X in VirtualBox on a PC.
On the other hand a closer look at the EFI booter integrated in VirtualBox could reveal either how to modify PC Bios‘ to boot Mac OS X DVDs natively or how to expand our beloved Chameleon.
“and first for something complete different”: Muzaq… coding or administrating system can’t do without gooood muzaq. Check our latest tunes here :-)
History
VirtualBox is an open source virtualization software. Originally it has been developed by a german company named Innotek, which has been acquired by SUN Microsystems in 2008. SUN Microsystems in turn has been acquired by ORACLE in 2010.
Innotek originally collaborated with Connectix on Virtual PC – a virtualization software targeting the Mac OS platform. Connectix has been bought by Microsoft in 2003. Innotek then decided to develop VirtualBox.
Status Quo
VirtualBox is used by many companies for virtualization and thus developing. Palm for example uses VirtualBox for WebOS development in an emulated environment. Thus allowing either Linux, Mac OS or Windows host systems for development.
CPU VT-X/AMD-V Issue
After configuring a dual core virtual machine and trying to start you may encounter a message box indicating:
VERR_VMX_MSR_LOCKED_OR_DISABLED
This issue may occur no matter which host operating system you’re using. The reason for this might be:
Known Workarounds
As we’re currently using VirtualBox only on the Windows XP platform we categorized this article under Win, anyway it is very likely that the same issue also occurs under Linux or Mac OS, as VirtualBox on all platforms derives from the same source code.
Any suggestions, hints or things need to be added? Don’t hesitate to tell us below…