Running OS X in Virtual PC in a Windows 7 machine? [closed]

Question

Just wondering, has anyone tried to run OS X in a VM environment running in Windows 7? What's the performance like? Any issues in regards to development of iOS software?

I have to emphasize this is mostly for software development, I don't mind so much if something minor like video playback or Adobe Photoshop doesn't run in VM, so long as all the relevant tools and APIs as well as connectivity to an iOS device runs fine.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, and I really mean that, it is a violation of the OS X software license to virtualize any version of OS X Client on any hardware.

OS X Server Snow Leopard and later may be virtualized on Apple Hardware and support exists in both VMware Fusion, Parallels, VirtualBox for doing so. None of them will virtualize OS X client. There are hacks which will get you around their checks, but it is still a violation of your OS X client license.

I have seen OS X Client and server virtualized using VirtualBox on both Apple and non-Apple hardware, so it is doable.

The fact that you cannot virtualize OS X Client on even Apple Hardware is a major pain for anyone engaged in testing software to run on OS X. While I can on a single system - and in fact we use Macs for it - exercise a full range of Windows configurations, I can't do the same for OS X Client legally.

Answer 2

OS X runs quite well in VMware after you've done the necessary tricks to get it to install in the first place. You don't get 3D acceleration but everything else is good.
There are quite a few well written guides on how to get an installation going.

eg. http://www.online-tech-tips.com/mac-os-x/install-snow-leopard-on-pc/

Answer 3

There used to be a program called PearPC, it ran, but with not very good performance. I believe you can get VMware to run Snow Leopard, according to this post, but performance will ultimately depend on the host machine's hardware.