(A clause explicitly permitting virtualization on a Mac host first appears in the SLA of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.) Many posts online detail these, but they’re out of date and no longer work. As I write this, 10.13 High Sierra is the newest version of macOS, and 10.12 Sierra is the next most recent. Free, Open-Source Virtualization for Mac OS X Intel-based Mac OS X users now have yet another virtualization solution to choose from now that Innotek has announced a Mac version of its VirtualBox.
MacOS, the operating system previously known as Mac OS X, is beautiful, stable, and typically attached to a $1000+ MacBook / iMac. If we want to run macOS on a Windows PC, without the very particular hardware required for Hackintosh, a Mac OS X virtual machine is the next best thing. With Paragon Virtualization Manager for Mac OS X, you can pack up your Mac and take it with you wherever you go. The program can take an exact image of your hard drive and convert it into a virtual drive for use in VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox. VMware has been in the virtual machine game since 1998 and offers three different.
Have you ever found yourself working on someone else’s Mac and wishing it was set up like your own? It can be very frustrating to have to put up with other people’s settings and inferior programs when only you really know how you like things to be set out. With Paragon Virtualization Manager for Mac OS X, you can pack up your Mac and take it with you wherever you go.
The program can take an exact image of your hard drive and convert it into a virtual drive for use in VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox. Take it with you on a portable hard drive and then you can use it on any other system as a guest operating system in any of these environments. When you load up the program, all you need to do is select the disk with your Mac installation on it and then choose the virtual image format you want to use. You can opt to span the image across different 2GB files for portability. Then choose the external drive that you want to copy it to.
Once the image is taken, you can create a new virtual machine in the matching enviroment and boot up a copy of your Mac. You could use this to demonstrate software to a friend or to solve an argument about the best possible Mac set up. It also provides you with an isolated environment in which to try out new software, without damaging your main installation, which can be very handy.
Note that you need to register at www.paragon-software.com/home/vm-mac/download.html to obtain your serial code.
Verdict:
This is a nifty program should you want to take an image of your Mac on the road but you can only virtualize it under another Mac host.
Apple’s macOS is a great operating system. But even amazing operating systems have shortcomings, one of them being not being able to execute some important applications. In the case of macOS, there are software like Microsoft Access, Adobe Photoshop and other Windows based applications that demand Microsoft Windows for operation. However, Microsoft and Apple despite being competitors, have always tried to fill the gaps in terms of supporting each other’s applications. Virtualization has helped them achieve this task allowing Mac devices to run Windows applications and vice versa.
Hence, if you are a Mac user who also wants to run Windows operating system with macOS, this article will benefit you.
Free Virtualization Software For macOS:
In this article, we’ve discussed about the best and free virtualization software for Mac devices. Have a look at them!
Boot Camp
When talking about running another operating system on Mac, we cannot ignore Boot Camp, Apple’s own utility to run Windows on Mac computers. Even Though, Boot Camp is not a virtualization software, there’s no better software you can lean on when it comes to playing Windows-based games on Mac PC.
The software comes preloaded on Mac and permits Mac users to use both Windows and macOS on the same device. Additionally, as the operating system directly executed from the hard drive, it also renders better user experience compared to virtualization software.
The only disadvantage other than only being able to run Windows is that you need to restart the computer every time you want to switch to the other operating system. Therefore, like virtualization software, you can’t use both operating systems parallelly.
Note: – Many Mac users use both Boot Camp and a virtualization software for quick access and better performance. You can do that too if you’ve got enough resources on your Mac device.
QEMU
QEMU or Quick EMUlator is another great software that is open source and supports Linux, Windows and macOS. What it does is, it emulates (imitates) software and hardware types and controls administrative privileges in order to run the guest operating system.
The source code is directly injected into the host machine, which helps QEMU to offer near-native performance. QEMU is perfect if you want a pint-sized virtual machine that can be stored in a compact flash drive. However, you need some patience to install QEMU. Here’s how you can install QEMU on your Mac: –
- Download and install Homebrew. Visit the official website https://brew.sh/
- Open terminal on Mac
- Type “$ brew install qemu” in the terminal
Further, get an image file of the operating system you want to use on Mac (you can find it online) and run it until you’re bored!
See Also: 5 Best Photo Management Apps For Mac In 2018
VMWare
If you want things to be simple, use VMWare. The free version of VMWare allows its users to run all major operating systems on your Mac machine. VMWare is pretty old and popular in the game and hence over time evolved a lot according to user requirements. It offers three versions: The Free VMWare Workstation Player, VMWare Fusion ($79.99) and VMWare Workstation ($249.99).
The paid versions are generally used by professionals. But if you’re a home user, VMWare Free can cater your needs. Popular operating systems such as Linux and Windows are efficiently supported by VMWare.
Virtual Mac Os X Online
The software is user-friendly and installs conveniently unlike QEMU. You can seamlessly switch the operating systems and can be called as one of the most dependable options available out there.
VirtualBox
VirtualBox is a skillful virtualization application that is entirely free! Yes, the source code of the software is owned by Oracle. VirtualBox is a powerful software that offers smooth switching capabilities on macOS. The software can be quickly installed and supports all major operating systems.
VirtualBox comes together with software packages that are specially created to benefit users to transfer files between the host and the guest operating systems. The program offers laudable hardware support, multi-screen resolution, 3D virtualization and many other features. Basically, VirtualBox deserves a thumbs up when it comes to the number of features for no money at all. Click here to download VirtualBox.
These are the best free Mac software that are stable and can be used to deploy various operating systems on your Mac. Use them and share your experience in the comments section below. Also, do not hesitate to ask any questions related to installation or usage.
Virtualize Mac Os X Vmware Workstation
Mac Os In Virtualbox
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