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kholia/OSX-KVM

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Run macOS on QEMU/KVM. With OpenCore + Monterey + Ventura + Sonoma support now! Only commercial (paid) support is available now to avoid spammy issues. No Mac system is required.

75 mentions on Hacker News by 67 people: 6 stories, 69 comments · first 2016-09-22 · latest 2026-04-21

Mentions per year 75 mentions · busiest year 2020 (16)
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  1. See https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by clifflocked · 2026-04-21 · in Framework Laptop 13 Pro
  2. Officially? You can't get a license. Unofficially? https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by mmastrac · 2026-01-01 · in Quickemu: Quickly create and run optimised Windows, macOS and Linux VMs
  3. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by vbezhenar · 2025-11-08 · in How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2
  4. …https://developer.apple.com/documentation/virtualization/run... there's also osx-kvm (non-apple) https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by tough · 2025-06-14 · in Whatever Happened to Sandboxfs?
  5. …dropped completely, a VM Hackintosh makes more sense to me than building a physical Hackintosh. [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by Abishek_Muthian · 2025-01-02 · in Developing inside a virtual machine
  6. You need macOS, which you can run in a VM (e.g. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM ) or by setting up a hackintosh.
    comment by MYEUHD · 2024-12-31 · in Things we learned about LLMs in 2024
  7. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM https://github.com/Coopydood/ultimate-macOS-KVM https://github.com/notAperson535/OneClick-macOS-Simple-KVM https://github.com/topics/osx-kvm
    comment by mmerlin · 2024-11-16 · in M4 Macs can't virtualise older macOS
  8. Also see: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by OuterVale · 2024-11-12 · in OS X (macOS) inside a Docker container
  9. ▲ 1
    Make a Mac OS virtual machine
    story by miloliki · 2024-06-02 · 0 comments
  10. …up learning how to use qemu and it works great...and as a bonus I was able to run a hackintosh (via https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM ) and it works near flawlessly, which was something I was never able to accomplish with Virtualbox…
    comment by orthecreedence · 2024-02-08 · in VirtualBox KVM Public Release
  11. …Agreement (EULA) tells us that we can't do this. This repo has some good references on the topic: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM?tab=readme-ov-file#is-this...
    comment by ozgune · 2024-01-30 · in Show HN: Open-source x64 and Arm GitHub runners
  12. …a bit, mac os x guest vm with pcie passthrough seems possible on linux. Dropping the links below: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM https://github.com/yoonsikp/macOS-KVM-PCI-Passthrough
    comment by terminalcommand · 2023-08-18 · in FreeBSD Bhyve Virtualization
  13. …keyboard/mouse can be accomplished by using evdev /event device/ passthrough.) More information: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM/blob/master/notes.md#gpu-p...
    comment by gary17the · 2023-08-13 · in VirGL – A virtual 3D GPU for use inside QEMU virtual machines
  14. …You can also run macOS in docker, but it’s ultimately running through qemu/kvm as well[2] 1. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM 2. https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX
    comment by ransackdev · 2023-07-11 · in Lima: A nice way to run Linux VMs on Mac
  15. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by Aleklart · 2023-07-10 · in Lima: A nice way to run Linux VMs on Mac
  16. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM also works (also not very legal)
    comment by flatiron · 2023-04-03 · in Safari releases are development hell
  17. …OSX-KVM, and then using cibuildwheel to crossbuild to arm64. Pretty dang easy. I set up OSX-KVM ( https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM ) and it worked really well. Having archlinux is a huge plus for this (it's why the docker image uses it),…
    comment by thejosh · 2023-01-14 · in Docker-OSX: Run macOS VM in a Docker
  18. Dual boot into a linux OS and run : https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM The repo works well. Tweak the CPU cores and type for emulation. If you're running an Intel CPU you're pretty set as you wont be required to emulate as if you were one…
    comment by whb07 · 2022-09-11 · in Ask HN: As a Windows developer and user, can anyone recommend a Mac for testing?
  19. Take a look here https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM . Post install, I use the "Opencore-Boot.sh" script to boot the machine and inside of it modify the cpu "Penryn" to Icelake one assuming you're running a Ryzen one. I did get some warnings…
    comment by whb07 · 2022-09-03 · in In Praise of QEMU
  20. Checkout https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM . The README is pretty complete.
    comment by whb07 · 2022-09-03 · in In Praise of QEMU
  21. …major release updaters independently from the Mac Store (e.g. using the script from OSX-KVM). [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by kogepathic · 2022-08-20 · in The erosion of the Mac experience
  22. What about virtualization? https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by jesprenj · 2022-08-09 · in Implementing parts of the Swift compiler in Swift
  23. …defaults to a Core 2 Duo, though with 2 cores and SMT. https://github.com/foxlet/macOS-Simple-KVM https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM That being said, just browsing through that site, it doesn't immediately seem like it's this family of…
    comment by glowingly · 2022-04-14 · in Linux Hardware Database
  24. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM You can also run OSX in qemu too.
    comment by kimown · 2022-03-04 · in iPhone 11 Emulated on QEMU
  25. …along the same lines as you. There is a section in the linked github titled "is this legal"[0] [0] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM#is-this-legal
    comment by mijoharas · 2021-12-03 · in OS X-KVM: Run macOS on QEMU/KVM
  26. …evdev[2] (event devices), you can game under macOS/QEMU or Windows/QEMU without any input lag. [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM/blob/master/notes.md#gpu-p... [2] https://passthroughpo.st/using-evdev-passthrough-seamless-vm...
    comment by gary17the · 2021-12-03 · in OS X-KVM: Run macOS on QEMU/KVM
  27. ▲ 166
    OS X-KVM: Run macOS on QEMU/KVM
    story by kristianp · 2021-12-03 · 70 comments
  28. …or recommend it in a commercial setting, but hobbyists should probably just fire up something like https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM to do builds.
    comment by mmastrac · 2021-12-02 · in Amazon EC2 M1 Mac Instances
  29. ▲ 5
    Run macOS on QEMU/KVM. With OpenCore, Big Sur, Monterey Support
    story by codetrotter · 2021-11-11 · 1 comment
  30. …buggy and a pain to set up. [1] https://blogs.vmware.com/workstation/2020/05/vmware-workstat... [2] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by Mogzol · 2021-09-16 · in iOS on QEMU
  31. I use this: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM It works quite well for me. Simulator works fine (though graphics are slow) and so does connecting a physical phone (by passing through the USB controller).
    comment by ginja · 2021-09-16 · in iOS on QEMU
  32. This is false. OSX runs fine on non-Apple hardware without patching. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by sneak · 2021-08-15 · in Asahi Linux for Apple M1 progress report, August 2021
  33. …be actually illegal (?) in some (?) countries to run macOS software on non-Apple hardware. [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by gary17the · 2021-08-10 · in Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained (2020)
  34. …: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Intel_GVT-g . And here for a script to deploy macOS on KVM : https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM . Side-note : vfio-mdev can now be unlocked on consumer-grades Nvidia cards too :…
    comment by luzeal · 2021-07-18 · in Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance
  35. …Catalina and Big Sur on Linux with OSX-KVM[1]. It does everything for you and more up-to-date. 1: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by slezyr · 2021-04-12 · in Linux, macOS, and Windows running simultaneously on a first gen Core i5
  36. …s://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/OSXKVM/ [2] https://github.com/myspaghetti/macos-virtualbox [3] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by protoman3000 · 2021-01-19 · in Sosumi Snap – Download and Install macOS in Ubuntu
  37. It kind of is, though. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by kchr · 2021-01-19 · in Sosumi Snap – Download and Install macOS in Ubuntu
  38. You may find the reasoning here interesting: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM The "secret" Apple OSK string is widely available on the Internet. It is also included in a public court document available here. I am not a lawyer but it seems…
    comment by userbinator · 2021-01-19 · in Sosumi Snap – Download and Install macOS in Ubuntu
  39. And also https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM (which I found by searching the OSK and finding another HN thread about from 2016, with the same conversations about legality, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12558195 )
    comment by _rs · 2021-01-19 · in Sosumi Snap – Download and Install macOS in Ubuntu
  40. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM/
    comment by based2 · 2021-01-03 · in macOS Simple KVM
  41. ▲ 3
    OS X-KVM: Run macOS on QEMU/KVM. With OpenCore and Big Sur Support Now
    story by based2 · 2020-12-31 · 0 comments
  42. Not the poster you're replying to, but a cheesegrater MP4.1 with Debian and this package ( https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM ) works just fine. Never bothered with GPU passthrough however.
    comment by mschuster91 · 2020-12-18 · in Apple has stopped providing standalone installers for macOS updates
  43. …or read the data/privacy disclosure link at the bottom of the first launch pane of any of them. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM if you need an easy way to fire up a fresh install.
    comment by sneak · 2020-11-25 · in Apple Silicon M1: Black Magic Fuckery
  44. https://github.com/foxlet/macOS-Simple-KVM https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by varbhat · 2020-09-27 · in Catalina VM
  45. IANAL. https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM I don't know if Apple has documentation somewhere.
    comment by megous · 2020-06-25 · in Apple sends a letter to Hey: Change your app or get out of the App Store
  46. …to be a keyboard and mouse to manually advance the installer, which is super lame "automation" [1] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM/blob/master/OpenCore-Boot....
    comment by kogepathic · 2020-06-05 · in macOS in QEMU in Docker
  47. You can read the main Github page here: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM It only works on Macs, it needs the toolchain and ROM I guess? Docker is just one step closer to porting it on the Windows and Linux platforms. Personally, if I…
    comment by orionblastar · 2020-06-05 · in macOS in QEMU in Docker
  48. It's also been done before: https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by nunez · 2020-06-04 · in macOS in QEMU in Docker
  49. …with KVM then that's likely the case. Looking at the Dockerfile in the OP, you can see it's using https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM/blob/master/OpenCore-Boot.... as the script to start the VM, and you can see the -smp 4,cores=2 in the qemu…
    comment by ecnahc515 · 2020-06-04 · in macOS in QEMU in Docker
  50. …eddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/gwg3e4/free_rele... [1] https://github.com/foxlet/macOS-Simple-KVM [2] https://github.com/kholia/OSX-KVM
    comment by miles · 2020-06-04 · in macOS in QEMU in Docker