Is there a way to launch a macintosh virtual machine window inside of a Microsoft OS

[Bill Thompson]

Is there a way to launch a macintosh virtual machine window inside of a Microsoft Operating System?

I once worked as a contract programmer at Star Net (http://www.starnet.com/), a company that provided the ability to have a window on your Microsoft WIndow's desktop where you could have UNIX session going.

There are at least three companies that do this sort of thing, now that I think about it

.Recently I have come across a problem where I could only run a program on a 32 bit operating system. I found out that the solution was to run a utility by Microsoft called Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 that is a window on my Vista Computer where I can install Windows XP inside and run it as a vitrtual machine.

So, naturally, I wonder if there is such a thing for someone who wants to run a Macintosh OS on top of or inside his Vista computer. Is there?

Of course the benefit of something like this would be huge. First of all, web masters could actually test out how their web sites look on a Macintosh without having to have a seperate computer to try it out on.If something like thid does not exist, someone should make one.

[Christian Klippel]

There are a few problems with that.

First of all, you can not buy MacOS X standalone for regular PC's. It usually comes with a Mac, is offered as updates, and in any case only runs on a Mac computer. The Mac's have a TPM module built in that is part of the protection scheme of OS X, so that it can not run on regular PC's.

There are cracks available, from what i know, that allow to run OS X on a normal PC. So, legally there is no way of doing what you want to do. Anything that would make it happen is surely illegal. Take a look here (http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Vmware_how_to) for example.

However, you could have a Mac running somewhere and have it's desktop in a window on your machine, Google for "OS X VNC" if you want to do that. That would be a perfectly legal thing to do.

Greetings,

Chris

[geni]

Of course the benefit of something like this would be huge. First of all, web masters could actually test out how their web sites look on a Macintosh without having to have a seperate computer to try it out on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_%28web_browser%29#Safari_for_Windows


If something like thid does not exist, someone should make one.

That would be highly illegal at best.

[GreNME]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_%28web_browser%29#Safari_for_Windows

Not the same, from what I'm told. I live with a web developer who needs many browsers for just that reason, and she's told me they look different on the different operating systems, not because of the browsing engine but how the engine is rendered on the operating system.

That would be highly illegal at best.

Yes it is, which is a major problem I have with the Macintosh, actually. OS X being locked into Apple hardware is the single most significant reason that Macintosh computers still sell, and that's why Apple's allowed to completely control what hardware it's allowed to install on (from a legal standpoint). If OS X were ever opened up to PCs, the Macintosh market share would be cut in half within a year.

[Earthborn]

So, naturally, I wonder if there is such a thing for someone who wants to run a Macintosh OS on top of or inside his Vista computer. Is there?Depends. How recent do you want the Mac OS to be? (http://www.linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=minivmac)

[GreNME]

Depends. How recent do you want the Mac OS to be? (http://www.linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=minivmac)

And that's not the only one. I was toying around with this little emulator (http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/) back before Apple finally caved in and joined the x86 world. Ran 10.2 like a dog and I never could get the NIC to work quite right, but after the switch to Intel there was little impetus for me to keep fiddling with it.

[BenBurch]

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

[PhreePhly]

There are a few problems with that.

First of all, you can not buy MacOS X standalone for regular PC's. It usually comes with a Mac, is offered as updates, and in any case only runs on a Mac computer. The Mac's have a TPM module built in that is part of the protection scheme of OS X, so that it can not run on regular PC's.

There are cracks available, from what i know, that allow to run OS X on a normal PC. So, legally there is no way of doing what you want to do. Anything that would make it happen is surely illegal. Take a look here (http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Vmware_how_to) for example.

However, you could have a Mac running somewhere and have it's desktop in a window on your machine, Google for "OS X VNC" if you want to do that. That would be a perfectly legal thing to do.

Greetings,

Chris

Quick point of clarification. OSX does NOT use the TPM. The biggest difference is that intel Macs make use of EFI instead of the old PC BIOS. All you need is an EFI emulator, and the proper hardware and you can run a "hackintosh".

It is, however, not legal to do so in many jurisdictions. Also, Apple has clearly stated in their EULA that running OSX virtualized is also not legal.

To the OP, the best way to do this is purchase a mac and run Vista virtualized (via Parallels) or use boot camp and run Vista or Win 7 as the main OS and boot into OSX when needed.

PhreePhly

[Christian Klippel]

Quick point of clarification. OSX does NOT use the TPM. The biggest difference is that intel Macs make use of EFI instead of the old PC BIOS. All you need is an EFI emulator, and the proper hardware and you can run a "hackintosh".

Ah, thanks for that info. I thought i had read somewhere a long time ago that OS-X uses the TPM to see if it is running/booting on a real Mac. Seems i was wrong.

Greetings,

Chris