How to Install macOS Big Sur on VirtualBox on Windows PC

In this article I will show you how to install macOS Big Sur on VirtualBox on your Windows Computer with either Intel or AMD Processor step by step.

REQUIREMENTS

1. VirtualBox – DOWNLOAD
2. VirtualBox Extension Pack – DOWNLOAD
3. Mac OS Big Sur ISO Image File (16GB) – DOWNLOAD
4. COMMANDS

How-to Install Big Sur on VirtualBox

STEP 1: Download VirtualBox and VirtualBox Extension Pack.
Click on Windows Host and it should start Downloading. Also Click on All Supported Platforms under the VirtualBox Extension pack to download.

And Lastly,
Download macOS Big Sur ISO Image File as well.
And you should have your downloaded files ready

STEP 2: Install VirtualBox after downloading by double clicking on it and following the prompt.

After installing VirtualBox we have to add the extension pack we downloaded to VirtualBox.
Double Click on VirtualBox Extension Pack in your download folder and it should load up in VirtualBox, Agree to the terms and Install.

STEP 3: After installing the Extension Pack, Click on the Tab icon as shown below and head back to the welcome page.

STEP 4: Click on New to create a new Virtual Machine
Set the Machine to macOS Big Sur or whatever you want, leave the folder option as it is, Select the ISO Image and Specify the Big Sur image file we downloaded earlier from the requirements section.
Set the Type to Mac OS X and Version to Mac OS X (64 bit) and then next.

STEP 5: Set the Base Memory (which is your RAM) to whatever you want to allocate to this machine and then Set the Processor Cores as well then Next.
Note: You shouldn’t allocate more than 40% of your PC resources to your Virtual Machine else it’ll slow down your main PC.

STEP 6: Select Create a Virtual Hard Disk Now and set a disk size for your macOS machine.
NOTE: At least 50gb

Then Click on Finish to Apply the Changes we’ve made.

STEP 7: After creating a new Virtual Machine, we have to make few changes to it.
Click on Settings. Copy your machine name from General Tab (we will make use of it later).

STEP 8: Click on System
You can change the Base Memory and Processor Cores whenever you want to make your Machine perform better.

STEP 9: Now click on Display
Then increase the Video Memory to 128MB and enable 3D Acceleration as shown below and then click Ok to apply changes.

STEP 10: One last thing before we install
We have to switch up VirtualBox settings for our Mac OS Virtual Machine so it recognises our PC as a Mac and installs without any issue.

Copy the commands below into Notepad on your PC.

Commands

Enter the commands one at a time, line by line. You can also download the commands HERE

cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"

VBoxManage.exe modifyvm "VM Name" --cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff

VBoxManage setextradata "VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct" "iMac19,1"

VBoxManage setextradata "VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion" "1.0"

VBoxManage setextradata "VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct" "Mac-AA95B1DDAB278B95"

VBoxManage setextradata "VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey" "ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc"

VBoxManage setextradata "VM Name" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC" 1

Copy the additional command only if you are using an AMD based CPU.

VBoxManage modifyvm "VM Name" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-6700K"

STEP 11: Change “VM Name” in the commands to your macOS machine name we copied earlier. And then run Command Prompt on your PC as Administrator.

STEP 12: Paste each command in command prompt and hit enter.
Line by line until you finish (you shouldn’t get any error).

Close Command Prompt after entering all the commands.

STEP 13: Now we can begin the installation.
Open VirtualBox and Click on Start to Start the Installation.

STEP 14: Set a Language for the Installation and Continue.
Click on Disk Utility and Continue.

STEP 15: Now select the Disk we allocated earlier and Erase (VBOX HARDDISK Media).
You can give it whatever name when erasing.

STEP 16: After Erasing the partition or drive, Close the Window and Click on Install macOS and then Continue.

STEP 17: Select the drive we just erased and then Continue and it should start Installing.
Note: It may take an hour or more to install and It’ll restart severally while installing. You just have to wait patiently and allow it install.

STEP 18: After about an hour of restarting over and over again it should be successfully installed and we can now setup based on our preference.
Set your Country, Region, Privacy settings and continue.

STEP 19: Also set a Username and Password for your machine and then choose between Light Mode and Dark mode Theme and Continue.

STEP 20: Setup Completed but we have to remove the installation ISO before we start using else it’ll boot into the Installation Page whenever we try to access it. Shutdown your macOS machine and then Open VirtualBox Settings.

STEP 21: Go to Settings on VirtualBox, then go to Storage, Right Click on macOS Big Sur 11.0 ISO File and remove attachment as shown below.

STEP 22: You can ow click on Start and Login to your macOS machine. Enjoy!

CONCLUSION

• Don’t forget to use the additional command in Commands if you are using an AMD Processor.
• If you encounter this error: Failed to query SMC value from the host (VERR_INVALID_HANDLE)
  Change SMC value from the commands from 1 to 0 and then run the commands again and then install.
• If you encounter any other error, you can use the comment section and I’ll be glad to help.

Check out a full video I made on how to install:

You may also want to check out: How to install macOS Ventura on Windows PC: Opencore Hackintosh