How to Install macOS Catalina on VirtualBox on Windows PC?

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MacOS 10.15 Catalina is the 16th biggest Operating system of Apple which is out now for developers and currently, it is on beta 1. According to Apple, the Public Beta will be available for users in July. Since it is new and yet it is on Beta version, this Operating has very interesting cool new features. On Yesterday’s Apple’s WWDC Apple released WatchOS 6, TVOS, iOS 13, Mac Pro 2019, iPadOS and Finally macOS 10.15 Catalina. If you are not a developer who wants to hands on the macOS Catalina, it is better for you to use VirtualBox. VirtualBox is an open source virtualization software available for all platforms of windows, mac os, Linux and Solaris. However, comparing VirtualBox with VMware will be disgusting because of VMWare Workstation Pro, far better and awesome with functionalities. But the bad thing about VMware Workstation Pro is it is not free however you can use the VMware player as an open source but instead of using that you have to use VirtualBox to Install macOS Catalina on VirtualBox on Windows PC.

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Table of Contents

Step 1. Download Required Files:

  • VirtualBox: VirtualBox is an open source software for Virtualization, where it is can support all types of Guest operating, such as windows, mac, Linux and Solaris.
  • VirtualBox Extension Pack: VirtualBox extension pack is a set of tools provided by the Oracle company for users to solve the freezing errors of Mouse and keyword. Actually, this is not the concept, but one of the reasons can be because after macOS 10.13 high Sierra the apple file system is changed to APFS. And VirtualBox is designed for HFS, that’s why most of the time the freezing error generates.
  • WinRAR: WinRAR is a simple software which can be used for compressing and opening the special extension .zip .rar and more. However, if you have used, you know it is free, instead, you can use the open source Alternative software 7Zip. The goal of being required here is, to extract the macOS 10.15 Catalina Virtual Image, which is compressed in a RAR File.
  • macOS 10.15 Catalina Virtual Image (VMDK File): The last thing which is required is the Virtual Image of macOS 10.15 Cataline itself. macOS 10.15 Catalina Virtual Image comes into, 2 different versions of HFS and APFS. As I mentioned below, VirtualBox is designed for HFS versions of Mac, In addition, you can’t use APFS on VirtualBox. If you want to use the macOS 10.15 Catalina APFS on VirtualBox, it has a special bootloader within the OS, which can bypass and convert itself to the HFS.

Download macOS 10.15 Catalina VMDK File

How to Fix the Download Error (Download quota exceeded for this File)

Because of too many users and traffic on the site, the download link might give the error “Download quota exceeded for this file”. You face this error because the file is too large or is shared with many people. To access and download the file follow the following steps.

Step 1. Go to Google Drive and log in with your account.

Step 2: Open the download link given above, right click on the image file and Select Make a Copy. Google will create a copy of the file in your Google Drive (My Drive).

Step 3. Go to My Drive and right click on the copied file and select Download to download the image.

Step 2. Install VirtualBox on Windows on PC

I assume you have downloaded the VirtualBox free the provided above link. The Installation process of VirtualBox is so much easy, If you know it, skip and move to Step 3.

  1. Double click on the Set up to launch.
  2. Bypass the welcome window by clicking next, next, and next.
  3. You will be warned for the Network, ignore it by selecting Yes.
  4. Now Click Install to copy the Files of VirtualBox.
  5. Once the Installation is done click finish.

Step 3. Install VirtualBox Extension Pack to Avoid Freezing errors.

As I said above while installing the macOS 10.15 Catalina the mouse and keyboard won’t work, so in order to avoid the error install the Extension. Double click on the Extension pack to run the installer and click Install. And After that agree with the license, then wait until the installation completes.

Installing VirtualBox Extension Pack

Step 4. Create a New Virtual Machine for macOS Catalina on Windows on PC

Step 1. After you have downloaded the macOS 10.15 Catalina, go ahead and extract it. The actual size of macOS 10.15 Catalina is more than 8 GB, and when we compress them, it becomes 6 GB.

Extract the macOS 10.15 Catalina

Step 2. To Create a New VM, launch the VirtualBox, click new, and give a name for the VirtualBox.

Specify a location for it.

Select the Mac OS X Version.

With Mac OS X (64 bit).

Name the VM

Step 3. Specify an amount of RAM but make sure the amount RAM should be above the 2 GB.

Step 4. Here is the step where you will address the Virtual Machine to the downloaded MacOS Catalina. To do that select the third option know as “select use an existing Virtual Hard Drive”, then click browse and locate the extracted macOS 10.15 Catalina.

Step 5. Edit the Virtual Machine Settings

The created VM needs customization, so when you are done with creating a New Virtual Machine (VM). Open the settings of the VM which you just created and linked the macOS 10.15 Catalina. For very first setting move to the system tab and uncheck the floppy drive.

Uncheck Floppy Disk

Now go to the process tab and increase the number of processors from 1 to 2 processors.

Increase Number of Processor

Navigate to the Display tab, their increase the amount of memory from 1 to 128 bit.

Increase Video Memory

The very last setting here you have to configure is the USB 3.0, so go to the USB tab and enable the USB 3.0 (xCHI) Controller.

Enable USB 3.0

Step 6. Applying codes to Avoid Errors Using Command Prompt

These codes which you are applying inside the CMD will solve the errors such as –cpuidset, it modifies the VM as an Apple Product. In simple words, these codes will enable many features of mac for the VM.

Step 1. In order to Apply these codes, go to file menu> and select Exit. Please keep in mind if you close the VM by click on the X, it won’t close completely, it means it is running in the background, so, exit it.

Exit the VirtualBox

Step 2. Copy the codes from Below Code Panel, instead of the “Your VM Name”, type the name of the VM which you created before in Step 3.

cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\" 
VBoxManage.exe modifyvm "Your VM Name" --cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff 
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct" "iMac11,3" 
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion" "1.0" 
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct" "Iloveapple" 
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey" "ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc" 
VBoxManage setextradata "Your VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC" 1

Step 3. Search for CMD on the Start Menu, right click on it and run as Administrator.

Copy each code line by line and paste it inside the CMD, and hit enter, if it was fine you won’t see an error, so move on to the next line of code.

Codes on CMD and Notepad

Step 7. Install the macOS 10.15 Catalina on VirtualBox on Windows on PC

If you have passed all the other steps, congratulations you are at the last Step, and it is very easy. Since it is so easy that’s why I won’t provide any screenshot, again if you faced any difficulties please let me know in the comment.

  1. Launch the VirtualBox and Run the Create Virtual Machine.
  2. When you are welcome to welcome window, select your language, and country.
  3. If you have another keyword except for the one which you are using and click continue.
  4. Select don’t transfer any information to this mac.
  5. Here you have to decide whether you want to log in to your account with an Apple ID or no. I will go local account without Apple ID.
  6. Agree to the terms and conditions of Apple.
  7. Create a User Account for your macOS 10.15 Catalina.
  8. Choose a look between the light or Dark mode.
  9. Continue on the Express Set up window.

Bottom Line

Hey, congratulations for your success of installing macOS 10.15 Catalina on VirtualBox Windows on PC. I wish you guys best of luck for further experiencing with Apple Products. According to if this post helpful and worthy of sharing, please don’t hesitate.

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