Virtualbox 6.1.3 fails to boot Catalina 10.15.2

[adamwolf]

Hi folks! Thanks for this amazing tool!

I am running macOS 10.15.2, and have installed macinbox, Virtualbox and Vagrant.

I ran sudo macinbox --box-format virtualbox, and it appears to have succeeded. I then created a tmp directory, went into it, and vagrant init macinbox, and virtualbox starts up. I eventually get to a EFI text screen that ends in Found fs2:\System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi, loading...

I have left it there overnight and it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[bacongravy]

Hi @adamwolf, thank you for writing this up. This looks similar to the issue reported here: AlexanderWillner/runMacOSinVirtualBox#95

...which may in fact be in a bug in Virtualbox:
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19188

The stated workaround, of using a previous OS version's boot.efi, is not really viable for macinbox. I think best path forward right now if you want to use macinbox is to either use Catalina 10.15.1 instead of 10.15.2, or Parallels instead of Virtualbox.

[adamwolf]

Wow! What a fast response!

Is there a way for me to build a 10.15.1 base while being on 10.15.2?

[Korop]

The same issue with 10.15.3 just has checked the macinbox with it.

[bacongravy]

Yes, you can build a 10.15.1 box while being on 10.15.2. You just need a copy of the 10.15.1 installer someplace. You can use the --installer or --installer-dmg options to override which installer is used as the source. You might be able to use installinstallmacos.py to download a 10.15.1 installer if you don't currently have one.

[adamwolf]

Thanks! I can't find any way, from softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer to installinstallmacos.py or even just google, to download 10.15.1 or 10.15.0 anymore.

This is going to be trickier than I thought.

[jaanus]

@bacongravy can you confirm that this is specific to Virtualbox, and that you have seen 10.15.2 working in Parallels?

[bacongravy]

@jaanus I have not personally confirmed that Parallels or VMware Fusion work with 10.15.2 or 10.15.3, but I also have not heard any reports about those failing, either.

I should be able to confirm that this issue does not impact Parallels later today.

[bacongravy]

@adamwolf If you're willing to use a box that someone else built, check out this project: https://app.vagrantup.com/ramsey/boxes/macos-catalina

I haven't tried myself, but from reading the documentation it looks like you could get a Virtualbox-format box with macOS 10.15.1 from Vagrant Cloud. I can't vouch for the contents of the box, though. Use at your own risk!

[adamwolf]

I have been able to find a 10.15 install DMG from a university tech support FTP. *sob sob*

…

On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 2:08 PM David Kramer ***@***.***> wrote: @adamwolf <https://github.com/adamwolf> If you're willing to use a box that someone else built, check out this project: https://app.vagrantup.com/ramsey/boxes/macos-catalina I haven't tried myself, but from reading the documentation it looks like you could get a Virtualbox-format box with macOS 10.15.1 from Vagrant Cloud. I can't vouch for the contents of the box, though. Use at your own risk! — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#47?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAAIWYINFGJV6HHGP3NNXK3RAMXTJA5CNFSM4KNLIXT2YY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEKMMJDY#issuecomment-580437135>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAIWYJ7F2S5526DRLPXQHDRAMXTJANCNFSM4KNLIXTQ> .

[bacongravy]

I was able to use macinbox to generate a VMware Fusion box from the 10.15.3 installer and the box boots successfully with VMware Fusion 11.5.1.

[bacongravy]

I was also able to use macinbox to generate a Parallels box from the 10.15.3 installer and the box boots successfully with Parallels Desktop 15.0.0.

HOWEVER, if I use Parallels Desktop 15.1.2 to create the box, then the created box fails to boot. (15.1.2 can boot the box created by 15.0.0.) It appears that the prl_convert tool is producing an unbootable hdd with version 15.1.2. This is an entirely unrelated issue that I will file separately.

[andreiborisov]

@bacongravy I can confirm the box made with Parallels Desktop 15.1.2 doesn’t start

[DanielWright]

The bug in VirtualBox appears to have been fixed in the 6.1.4 release. I'm able to run macOS 10.15.3 boxes without issue.

[bacongravy]

@schrodincat The issue with Parallels Desktop issue have been filed as #49. Thanks for the confirmation.

Since the issue with VirtualBox has been fixed with the 6.1.4 release I am going to close this issue.