How Do I Create A VirtualBox VM From An Existing macOS Mojave APFS Volume

apfsisovirtualboxvirtualization

I saw a related post but the instructions were specific to VMware Fusion, which I am not using.

With Carbon Copy Cloner, I created a bootable backup of the existing macOS Mojave installation that I want to turn into a VM.

Do I need to include The Container when I convert that clone into an iso or cdr?

Yesterday, I made a macOS Mojave VM directly from the macOS Mojave Installer using the instructions and tools here: AlexanderWillner/runMacOSinVirtualBox

The post about doing this with VMware suggests adding the iso/cdr clone of the boot drive you want to virtualize to an existing Mojave VM. Would this work in VirtualBox, given that VirtualBox still doesn't technically support booting from APFS drives?

I'm not particularly familiar with VirtualBox and I don't want to purchase VMware or Parallels. What will be the simplest way to convert my existing macOS Mojave APFS installation into a VirtualBox VM?

Best Answer

I suggest you use the free Parallels Lite found in the app store. You have to pay to run Windows! Running macOS is free. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parallels-desktop-lite/id1085114709?mt=12

Virtual box doesn't support macOS that well.

Related Solutions

How to create an encrypted APFS volume from the command-line

It seems that the volume was created correctly, but hdiutil attach just provides misleading output when you try to mount a disk with an encrypted volume on it. If you use -nomount and then proceed with diskutil commands instead, everything seems to work.

Here's the flow (there may be shortcuts but this is running from a script, so sometimes it detaches and reattaches because that's how the script is organised):

>>> hdiutil create -megabytes 1 -layout GPTSPUD -fs apfs -volname encrypted encrypted.dmg
    created: .../encrypted.dmg

>>> hdiutil attach -nomount encrypted.dmg
    /dev/disk2              GUID_partition_scheme           
    /dev/disk2s1            Apple_APFS                      
    /dev/disk3              EF57347C-0000-11AA-AA11-0030654 
    /dev/disk3s1            41504653-0000-11AA-AA11-0030654 

>>> diskutil mount disk3s1
    Volume encrypted on disk3s1 mounted

>>> diskutil apfs deleteVolume disk3s1
    Started APFS operation
    Deleting APFS Volume from its APFS Container
    Unmounting disk3s1
    Deleting Volume
    Finished APFS operation

>>> diskutil apfs addVolume disk3 APFS encrypted -nomount -stdinpassphrase
    Exporting new encrypted APFS Volume "encrypted" from APFS Container Reference disk3
    Started APFS operation on disk3
    Preparing to add APFS Volume to APFS Container disk3
    Creating APFS Volume
    Created new APFS Volume disk3s1
    Disk from APFS operation: disk3s1
    Finished APFS operation on disk3

>>> hdiutil detach /dev/disk3
    "disk3" unmounted.
    "disk3" ejected.

>>> hdiutil detach /dev/disk2
    "disk2" unmounted.
    "disk2" ejected.

>>> hdiutil attach -nomount encrypted.dmg
    /dev/disk2              GUID_partition_scheme           
    /dev/disk2s1            Apple_APFS                      
    /dev/disk3              EF57347C-0000-11AA-AA11-0030654 
    /dev/disk3s1            41504653-0000-11AA-AA11-0030654 

>>> diskutil apfs unlockVolume disk3s1 -stdinpassphrase
    Unlocking any cryptographic user on APFS Volume disk3s1
    Unlocked and mounted APFS Volume

>>> diskutil mount disk3s1
    Volume encrypted on disk3s1 mounted

>>> hdiutil detach /dev/disk3
    "disk3" unmounted.
    "disk3" ejected.

>>> hdiutil detach /dev/disk2
    "disk2" unmounted.
    "disk2" ejected.

>>> hdiutil attach -nomount encrypted.dmg
    /dev/disk2              GUID_partition_scheme           
    /dev/disk2s1            Apple_APFS                      
    /dev/disk3              EF57347C-0000-11AA-AA11-0030654 
    /dev/disk3s1            41504653-0000-11AA-AA11-0030654 

>>> dd if=/dev/disk3 of=encrypted.img

    1968+0 records in
    1968+0 records out
    1007616 bytes transferred in 0.049776 secs (20242977 bytes/sec)

>>> hdiutil detach /dev/disk3
    "disk3" unmounted.
    "disk3" ejected.

>>> hdiutil detach /dev/disk2
    "disk2" unmounted.
    "disk2" ejected.

I erased an APFS Volume containing a second OSX installation (trying out Mojave) but the Mac keeps trying to boot into it

You can change the default to boot High Sierra by either of the following:

Select High Sierra from the Startup Disk pain of the System Preferences application.
Hold down the control key when selecting High Sierra from the Startup Manager.

You still have Mojave code in your APFS container. In your case, do the opposite of the answer you linked to.

BTW: You can also elect to not delete this code. The code will not interfere with the operation of the Mac and occupies very little space.

IN OTHER WORDS:

Note: Below I have assumed APFS Volume "Preboot" is disk2s2 and APFS Volume "My Recovery" is disk2s3.

You can use Disk Utility under High Sierra to remove the APFS volume containing Mojave. However, removing Mojave also requires steps where commands are issued in a Terminal application window. Below are the remain steps needed to remove Mojave.

Open the Disk Utility application.
Get the file system UUID of the High Sierra volume . Right click the icon for the High Sierra volume in the Disk Utility application and select Get Info. Here, I will assume the file system UUID is 2E0E6320-5D0A-4181-B465-ABFF2CBBFC27.
Boot to macOS Recovery.
Open a Terminal application window.
Enter the command below to disable System Integrity Protect (SIP) on next restart.
```
sudo  csrutil  disable
```
Boot back to High Sierra.
Open a Terminal application Window.
Determine the UUID of the deleted APFS Mojave volume. Start by entering the commands given below.
```
diskutil  mount  disk2s2
cd  /Volumes/Preboot
ls
```
The UUID of the deleted APFS Mojave volume should be the same as the name of the directory (folder) that is not the UUID for the High Sierra volume (2E0E6320-5D0A-4181-B465-ABFF2CBBFC27). Here, I will assume this is 832D1AE3-C9F2-454F-BE45-64E1ECBA38AA.

Enter the commands below to remove Mojave from APFS Volume Preboot.

rm  -Rf  832D1AE3-C9F2-454F-BE45-64E1ECBA38AA
cd  ~
diskutil  unmount  disk2s2

Enter the commands below to remove Mojave from APFS Volume My Recovery.

diskutil  mount  disk2s3
cd  "/Volumes/My Recovery"
rm  -Rf  832D1AE3-C9F2-454F-BE45-64E1ECBA38AA
cd  ~
diskutil  unmount  disk2s3

Reset the SIP settings, by entering the command given below.
```
sudo  csrutil  clear
```
Restart the Mac

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to create an encrypted APFS volume from the command-line

I erased an APFS Volume containing a second OSX installation (trying out Mojave) but the Mac keeps trying to boot into it

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