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The guide below explains how to install OS X Yosemite 10.10 in a virtual machine using the free and powerful VirtualBox.
Legal disclaimer: This guide aims to explain how to create a virtual machine on a regularly purchased Apple computer, running a genuine Mac OS X operating system, for testing purposes only.
Howto
- Download Yosemite from the App Store
- Open Terminal.app
- Install
iesd, to customize OS X InstallESD:
gem install iesd
- Turn install image into base system:
iesd -i "/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app" -o yosemite.dmg -t BaseSystem
- Convert into UDSP (sparse image) format:
hdiutil convert yosemite.dmg -format UDSP -o yosemite.sparseimage
- Mount the InstallESD …
hdiutil mount "/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg"
- … as well as the sparse image:
hdiutil mount yosemite.sparseimage
- Copy base system into sparse image:
cp "/Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem."* "/Volumes/OS X Base System/"
- Unmound InstallESD …
hdiutil unmount "/Volumes/OS X Install ESD/"
- … as well as the sparse image:
hdiutil unmount "/Volumes/OS X Base System/"
- Unmount both mounted disks via
diskutil:
diskutil unmountDisk $(diskutil list | grep "OS X Base System" -B 4 | head -1)
diskutil unmountDisk $(diskutil list | grep "OS X Install ESD" -B 4 | head -1)
- Convert back to UDZO format (compressed image):
hdiutil convert yosemite.sparseimage -format UDZO -o yosemitefixed.dmg
- Add
yosemitefixed.dmg as a live cd in virtual box
- Change the chipset of your virtual machine to “PIIX3“
- Start your VM, open Disk Utility within installer and create a new HFS+ partition on the virtual disk
- Install it!
