Windows emulator for mac. CrossOver - run any Windows programs under Mac OS
Windows program, you will have to use third-party software. The most popular solution is the free Wine emulator. He is different high performance, thanks to which programs do not "slow down". cons Windows emulator for mac OS is that it is not friendly with some applications.
How to use the Wine emulator on macOS?
- In order for the emulator to work on a PC with macOS, you must first download and install the XQuartz utility.
- After installing it, the computer must be restarted.
- Next, download the emulator itself. This can be done on the official website.
- During installation, you will be asked if additional components need to be installed. Agree.
- Wait for the installation to complete. After that, the software can be found in the following directory: /Users/your_account/.wine. It will be hidden, so use the guide on how to find hidden folders.
- For Windows startup you need to enter the command "wine program.exe" or run the installation file hidden folder in the previous paragraph.
Advantages and disadvantages of Wine
Advantages of emulators for Windows:
- No licensed software required.
- This method significantly saves system resources.
- Complicated setup. Before using any software, it must first be configured. This is especially difficult to do with games.
- Compatibility. Some "heavy" applications that take a lot of system resources may not work correctly or not work at all.
Virtual machines
The output is a complete operating system, only it is located on the "virtual" hardware. It turns out that another OS is created inside one, which, when launched, takes part of it random access memory.
On the this moment there are several such virtual machines. They are paid and free. For the most part, they are indistinguishable from each other. Unless, in free, the functionality is limited.
How it works:
- Installing an additional OS from removable media or a boot disk image.
- Specifies the number of resources that the secondary OS can use.
- Installing and using applications.
- Switching between systems.
What are virtual machines - top best
- - the most popular paid program. Thanks to it, a hybrid of systems is created. Any applications start immediately, regardless of which system they belong to.
Photo: Parallels Desktop 
Advantages and disadvantages of virtual machines
- Ability to work with two systems at the same time.
- Easy to access files.
Negative:
- Loss of performance due to simultaneous operation of two systems.
- Some applications (usually games) do not work.
What is BootCamp?
This is a program that allows you to install "windows" on your Macbook. The system will take a separate place on the hard drive and will work regardless of the "apple".
For this you will need:
- 50 GB free space in internal memory.
- Boot disk with Windows.
Advantages and disadvantages of Boot Camp
- This method is not resource intensive, because only one OS can be used at the same time.
- All applications and games are seamlessly installed and working.
- To switch between OS, you need to restart your computer every time.
- There will be no access to files of different systems.
What to choose: Wine emulator, virtual machines, Boot Camp?
If you cannot decide which method to use, then the following recommendations are for you:
- boot camp needed, first of all, for those who will use the games.
- A virtual machine is needed when you need to use two operating systems at the same time.
- The emulator is suitable for simple tasks and infrequent use.
Conclusion
There are no such people who would not deal with the Windows OS. Over time, some "windows" users are moving to an "apple" system. But they still have programs on their “windows” that have no analogues on the Mac, and without which they cannot do without.
There are several solutions for such a problem: running Windows programs in MacOS using the Wine emulator, virtual machines, or Boot Camp. Each has its own characteristics and disadvantages, and only you will determine what suits you best.
When moving from Windows to Mac OS, perhaps the most common first thought is how will I live without my favorite Windows programs?
There are a sufficient number of ways to solve this issue and this cannot but rejoice! Each method is good in its own way and there are both paid methods and free ones. To begin with, it is worth deciding whether you really want to use Win programs under Mac OS? Perhaps now you think that way, but over time, I assure you, windows on the background of Mac OS will seem miserable to you and a search for alternatives will begin in order to move away from Windows systems and forget it like a terrible buggy dream.
Well, in the meantime, you don’t have such thoughts yet and the feeling of some uncertainty in the selection of alternatives remains, let's look at one of the good options for running programs for Windows under Mac OS.
Let's take a look at the Windows emulation options and figure out together which of the options the utility solves in the review.
- Boot Camp- installs windows with a second operating system and does not allow the use of two operating systems at the same time. This method is good because Windows uses all the resources of the computer to the maximum, in particular, it makes it possible to play.
- Installing Windows/Linux virtual machines etc... This method allows you to run Windows in a separate window or organize it as a separate desktop. This method is good because we can use several OS at the same time and even switch to Unity mode, which allows you to open Windows programs like regular Mac OS programs, i.e. you will have on the screen open programs, without working windows desktop. This method is very good and suitable for owners powerful computers. The disadvantages include the impossibility of installing "heavy" 3D games. the emulator does not fully support your video card. Same for disadvantages this method can be attributed to the unnecessarily occupied space by the emulated system and the "guzzling" of a certain percentage of your computer resources (RAM, processor).
- Installing Windows emulators. This option is the best if you need to constantly run some kind of non-resource-intensive program, which has no alternatives for Mac OS, although today emulators also allow you to run "heavy" 3D games (but I have not tested this). Emulators are good because they create a certain “bottle” for each program, in which the program itself is located, as well as vital important files to launch it. This method allows you to significantly save space and resources on your computer.
Today we will get acquainted with the third option "Installing emulators in Windows"(later everyone else).
There are options for paid emulators and free ones. Free ones usually require a lot of gestures and discussions on how to use them. In paid ones, it all comes down to simple mouse clicks.
One such emulator is CrossOver ($60) and is still considered the best tool today!
The first huge plus of the program is the support of the Russian language. You will not have any difficulties using the program, and now I will show and tell you everything.
The program does not have outstanding interfaces (outwardly it reminds me of the good old one), because. you know what its main task is. After installing and running the program in the system menu, we see:
Let's try to take any sample program, for example the VKMusic program under Windows. Download the installation file VKMusic_4.45.exe
Next, in the system menu, select "Configure" and "Install software"
This window opens. In the list of supported programs, there are many things. You can bother and pay attention to it. Even if the list does not contain the program that you want to install - you still install it and it will work, but for this it is important to scroll down the list and in the tab " Unsupported Applications" choose " Other Application"
Next, go to the "Choose an installer" section.
I think comments here will be redundant. Just specify the path to the installation file of the program, in our case VKMusic_4.45.exe in the Finder.
pay attention to the label exe file, it is in the form of the CrossOver logo. In fact, to install the program, you could immediately click on it and it produced automatic installation, however, my task is to introduce you to the program so that you can navigate it.
so, you have chosen the installation file. Now you can safely press the "Install" button in the very bottom right corner and CrossOver will create separate bottle and will install it. However! before installation, you have the opportunity to select the axis under which the program runs (xp, win2000, etc.), as well as rename the bottle itself. To do this, go to the section "Select a bottle into which to install"
Here you choose under what OS your program works and enter the name of the bootle.
If you have installed games before and want to store them in one bottle, then choose a finished bootle with installed game and program.
What is the best way to create new bootles or store everything in one?
when creating a bootl, as I wrote above, vital system files from Windows are added to it. Of course, a program that takes 12 MB will weigh 300 megabytes, due to the added system files. If you create new bootls, they will waste your HDD disk space, but again, all these are trifles. I prefer not to bother and every time I create new ones, so that later I can delete the excess with peace of mind.
And here is the installation process:
1. A bottle is created
2. The installation of the program starts in the same way as on Windows. I did not recognize the encoding of Russian words, it's okay.
just install it like a normal Windows program. the path in this case is inside the bottle itself, there is no point in changing it.
Ready.
Now we try to run the installed Windows programs at: 
That's all love.
P.S
1. Label installed windows The program is also added to the "Mission Control" Mac OS and looks like a normal Mac OS application: 
2. If you need to manually change internal files programs in the bootle, for example, transfer game saves to the program folder or something else, this is done simply: 
3. Where does CrossOver store bootlies? 
4. Is it possible to install programs that do not have an installation?
Possible!
The settings in the next window are quite important. Click the Customize button at the bottom left.
If you have an AMD processor:
- Select the AMD option under System.
If you have an Intel processor:
- All Updates selected at the top.
- In the Bootloaders combo box, select newest Chamelion.
- In the Kernels combobox, select Legacy Kernel.
Then click Done and continue with the installation using the Install button. To speed up the installation, select Skip during the disk check step.
After the message "Installation finished" appears and the reboot timer appears, press the right Ctrl key. Then select Devices from the top toolbar of Virtual Box, click CD/DVD Devices and select Unmount CD/DVD Device. Then go to Machine and click on Reset. After that, you will see the chameleon bootloader and OS X loading.
Once the download is complete, you will see the OS X settings screen! You are one step away from success. However, I found a small pitfall, which is that virtualization only works on one core. Maybe it's because of the distribution, but maybe not. Other issues that have not yet been resolved are sound not working and the inability to change the display resolution. However, in all other respects it is complete. virtual computer on Mac OS X!
Addition
There are some decisions regarding audio and resolution.
To change the resolution, open Finder and select the OS X drive on the left. Open the Extras directory. Right click on com.Apple.Boot.plist and open it in TextEdit. Insert the following at the very beginning:
or any other suitable resolution. Select "Save as" and save to your desktop by unchecking the Unicode box and choosing the name com.apple.boot.plist . After that, drag this icon from the desktop to the extras directory, overwriting the original file, entering the password if prompted.
Do not install system updates. If you need updates, you need another ISO image that already has updates installed. If you install updates directly from Apple, they will conflict with custom patches and the Chameleon bootloader. This is just a warning.
And for those of you who are having trouble booting, try a different version of Chameleon or a different OS kernel. Sometimes it helps. If you get USB related errors, try disabling USB in VirtualBox settings and see the result.
Free mac emulator in windows
Sometimes you want to try some new operating system to get a practical impression. I have done this many times, for example. LifeHacker recently wrote about running a Mac OS X emulator on Windows. Why not look at the Mac first, so that later you can scold or praise it with arguments? In turn, for a better understanding, I translate the article from English.
We have already seen how to run Snow Leopard in VMWare. But virtual VMWare machine- paid, you can use the free VirtualBox instead. In addition to the virtual machine itself, we also need an ISO image of OSX86. The Hazard group has posted a well configured Snow Leopard installer, just google it. Of course, if you think that downloading a pirated image will have a bad effect on your karma, then nothing prevents you from buying it.
Once you have both the virtual machine and the image, install Virtual Box, launch this emulator and select New at the top left of the toolbar.
In the dialog that appears, select the settings as in the following picture and click the Next button.
In the next window, select the size of the RAM. Most likely, 1024MB will be more than enough.
After clicking Next, create the virtual disk. A 20GB dynamic size disk will suffice. Virtual Disk dynamic type does not take up extra space on your hard drive, but is slightly inferior in performance to static virtual disk. For us it is not essential. Click Next.
A window will appear with summary information on the virtual machine being created. Click Finish.
Now select the virtual machine settings from the Settings option in the toolbar.
In the window that appears, remove the option Enable EFI.
In the same dialog box, select Storage . Click on the word Empty next to the virtual DVD drive.
Then click on the green plus icon at the bottom of this window. In the dialog that opens, select the OSX86 ISO image you downloaded earlier and click OK.
Now in the main VirtualBox window, click the Start button (located on the left).
In the emerging command line type -v and hit enter. This is necessary for detailed diagnostics if something goes wrong. Next, the download will continue and you should see a screen with a choice of language. Select a language and click Next . If, for some reason, the mouse does not respond to movement, use the keyboard shortcut Right-Ctrl-I . Click on Continue and Agree . Then launch Disk Utility by going to Utilities in the menu.
On this screen, select 20GB VBOX HARDDISK. Click the Erase tab, type OSX in the Name field, and click the Erase button. The disk preparation process will not take long. When finished, select Disk Utility from the menu and click on Quit. This will take you back to the installer, where select the drive you just created and click Continue.
macOS is an advanced yet reliable operating system that many PC users prefer over Windows 10. Unfortunately, installing the Apple platform on a computer from another manufacturer is not so easy. The easiest and most convenient way is to boot a virtual machine.
Requirements for installing macOS on a Windows PC
For Mac installations OS X (10.5 and above) on a Windows PC will need a virtual machine. You can use VMWare, which allows you to run the macOS operating system in Windows environment. As for the hardware requirements, they are as follows:
- 8 GB of RAM.
- CPU Intel Core i3, i5 or i7.
- 128 GB hard drive.
Apps required to install a Mac on a Windows PC or laptop
You also need to download the macOS image. The password is "xnohat".
How to Install Mac OS X on Windows
Step 1 Install latest version VMWare Workstation.
Step 2. Unpack Unlocker 2.0.8 and run the "win-install.cmd" file as an administrator.
Step 3. After launch, you need to wait until the patch is installed and unlocks the ability macOS installations in VMWare. Open VMWare and create a new one virtual machine (automatic method). In the window that appears, select "Apple Mac OS X". In the Version list, select Mac OS X 10.7 or any newer version.
Step 4. After clicking the "Next" button, a virtual machine will be created. In order for macOS to work properly, you need to configure Hardware. To do this, select "Edit Virtual Machine Settings".
Step 5. Click the "Add" button, then double-click "Next" and select "Use an Existing Virtual Disk" and click "Next" again. Now select the image you downloaded earlier operating system and click "Finish".
Step 6. After completing all the settings, click on the blue start button and follow the instructions on the screen to install OS X.
Hello Khabrovites. Recently, I needed to write in Objective C under Mac OS X. My hardware is not the most suitable for any assemblies, and religion does not allow me to sit completely in this OS. I decided to install Mac OS X on a Qemu virtual machine in Linux.
Here is a list of everything I have used:
-Gentoo Linux 64bit
-Qemu 0.10.5
-KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) 88-r1
-KVM support in the Linux kernel
-Processor supporting Intel Virtualization Technology(in my case it is Core2Duo E6400)
-Linux kernel>=2.6.20
-Assembly Mac OS X iATKOS v7 (Leopard 10.5.7)
Let's move on to setting up, in the kernel you need to add KVM. Download sources, unpack, run make menuconfig:
Processor type and features->Paravirtualized guest support
Note:
-KVM paravirtualized clock
-KVM guest support
-Paravirtualization layer for spinlocks
Further, a new Virtualization option appears in the root of the kernel configuration
We go there and note:
-Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) support
-KVM for Intel processors support
-KVM trace support
-PCI driver for virtio devices
-Virtio balloon driver
We collect, install, and reboot with a new kernel.
Now install Qemu with KVM support, and KVM itself
USE="kvm" emerge qemu
emerge kvm
Now let's move on to shamanism with a virtual machine.
Create a virtual hard disk:
qemu-img create -f raw macos.disk 30G
If we are going to run Qemu not as root, we need to give permission to other users to read / write to the device /dev/kvm:
chmod 0666 /dev/kvm
We launch:
kvm -boot d -hda macos.disk -m 900 -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net tap -usb -no-reboot -no-shutdown -vga std -cpu core2duo -cdrom 10.5.7.iso
-hda the path to our virtual hard disk
-cdrom let to the image
-no-shutdown -no-reboot necessary so that in case of an error, the emulator window “freezes” and you can read the error
-net nic,model=rtl8139 emulate network card Realtek 8139
-net tap in order for the guest system to see the host system on the network, a TAP device is required
-m 900 the amount of memory given to the guest system
-boot d loading from sitiroma
-usb USB support
-cpu core2duo Core2Duo processor emulation
We load the disk. Partitioning a hard drive with Disk Utility(choose from the menu above).
Driver setup.
Before pressing the button Install pay attention to the button Customize
Things we need to choose:
x86 ACPI
Disabler
OHR
Remove TyMCE
CardBus
USB
Intel SATA/IDE
Kernels
Apple PS/2
Can be installed. We are waiting for about 30 minutes.
Mac OS X installed, set up.
Now in the line to run we change -boot d with -boot c to boot from the hard drive.
We are loading. Now we need to come up with something with the network.
Searching on the Internet PCGenRTL8139Ethernet.kext, install it, it is very easy to install using the kextinstaller program. While there is no network, you can transfer the necessary files to the system via a USB flash drive, for example, add -hdb /dev/sdb(path to flash drive device)
Reboot the guest OS.
Now, in order for the network in Mac OS X to work, you need to go to the network management, select the Ethernet device, turn it off (Off), and then turn it on and configure the desired IP (for example, 192.168.1.1), and configure the tap0 device on the host system:
ifconfig tap0 192.168.1.2
