So, you want to learn to use OSX, eh? Get a MacBook, then! Oh. Wait. You don't want to pay $1200 just to learn an OS. Well, good thing there's virtual machines!

The objective of this project is to have a fully running and functional install of Mac OSX Mountain Lion running in VirtualBox. I did this on a Linux machine, but it should be just as easy to do on a Windows machine.

Well, long story short, I wanted to learn to use OSX, but, I didn't want to shell out the money for a MacBook. Since this is about the next best thing, I figured I would give it a shot!

This project will walk through steps from installing VirtualBox, downloading the required materials, and setting up the VM.

There are a few things required to do this, and they are as follows.

• A 64 bit OS - OSX Mountain Lion is 64 bit, and therefore requires a 64 bit host machine
• VirtualBox and VirtualBox Extension Pack - Self explanatory. Both of these can be found at http://www.virtualbox.org
• Mountain Lion Disc Image - A hacked version of the Mountain Lion disc image is needed. Since linking directly to it would probably be considered “unethical”, I'll tell you to just use Google, and search for Olarilla Mountain Lion.
• HackBoot 1 and HackBoot 2 - These two ISO files are used to load the Mountain Lion disc image. Download links are here: HackBoot 1 HackBoot 2
• MultiBeast - This is used to get drivers to work correctly. It can be found at http://www.tonymacx86.com/downloads.php (signup required, unfortunately). Wait to download this, because it needs to be done in the VM once the OS has been installed.

For this step, I'm going to assume you already have VirtualBox installed.

1. Create a new VM, with the operating system set to “Mac OSX (64 bit)”. Click next.
2. Set the system RAM to a good amount. I used 2 GB, but more is always better. Click next.
3. Choose “Create New Disk”, and create a VDI format disk with dynamic storage.
4. Right click the new VM you just made in the list of virtual machines.
5. Under the “System” section, uncheck “Enable EFI”
6. Under the Storage section, click the icon next to the “CD/DVD Drive” drop down, then select “Choose a Virtual CD/DVD”. Browse to the HackBoot1.iso and click OK.

Now it's time to boot up the VM and actually get down to the install. Once you have booted it, follow these steps.

1. Click the CD/DVD icon at the bottom right of the VM window, and select “Choose a Virtual CD/DVD”. Browse to your downloaded Mountain Lion ISO, and click OK.
2. Click back into the virtual machine, and hit F5 on the keyboard. Instead of saying “HackBoot”, the DVD in the center should now say something along the lines of “OSX Install”. Select it, and hit enter.
3. Now you'll be in the actually OSX installer. As of right now, it won't see a hard drive. To fix this, click Utilities, followed by Disk Utility.
4. In Disk Utility, click on your VirtualBox harddrive on the left. Then, click the Erase tab. In the Erase tab, give the drive a name, and click erase. When done, exit Disk Utility.
5. Continue the installation as normal, following prompts.
6. If everything went correctly, OSX should have installed, and you can now shut down the VM.

Now that the OS has been installed, there are a few things we need to do to get things such as audio working correctly.

1. Much like above where we set the HackBoot1.iso in the VM settings, this time set the HackBoot2.iso
2. Start the virtual machine, and you should see the boot menu again. Select the option to boot off of the install drive.
3. Once the OS has booted, open Safari and go to the following link and download MultiBeast 5.5.5 - http://www.tonymacx86.com/downloads.php
4. Open System Prefences, and go to Security. Click the lock in the bottom left to allow these settings to be edited, and set “Allow Applications” to anywhere.
5. Run Multibeast. When you reach “Installation Type”, choose the following options:
   • UserDSDT Install
   • System Utilities
   • Drivers & Bootloaders > Kexts & Enablers > Audio > Realtek ALC8xx > AppleHDA Rollback
   • Drivers & Bootloaders > Kexts & Enablers > Miscellaneous > NullCPUPowerManagement
6. Once MultiBeast is done, open up Finder, and select Go To Folder in the menu bar. Type in /System/Library/Extensions
7. Find AppleGraphicsControl.kext and delete it. This allows the VM to boot without the HackBoot2.iso
8. Open Finder again, click Go To Folder, and this time type in /Extra
9. Find org.Chameleon.boot.plist and add the following lines (substitute your screen resolution for 1920×1080)

Graphics Mode
1920x1080x32

The final step is a little different, depending on the OS you are running. If you're running Windows, open Command Prompt and type the following (replacing C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox with the location of your install, VirtualMachineName with the name of your OSX VM, and 1920×1080 with your screen resolution):

LameWindowsCLI: cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
LameWindowsCLI: vboxmanage setextradata "VirtualMachineName" "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1080x32"

If you're running Linux, this is a little easier. Open up a terminal, and enter the following line (again, substituting VirtualMachineName with the name of your OSX VM and 1920×1080 with your resolution):

AmazingLinuxCLI: vboxmanage setextradata "VirtualMachineName" "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1080x32"

And once that is done, restart VirtualBox, and boot your VM. If all went correctly, you should be good to go!