With the macOS Catalina recently out, it’s a nice opportunity to check out those features by installing it. While installing or upgrading from the previous version is simple especially on Apple computers. Often users would like to try these features on Windows, which isn’t that hard as well. On Windows, they would have some options to take, which we did talk that there were no more than three ways to try macOS on Windows. Of those methods, one of them is pretty awesome plus quite interesting to experiment with. That is installing macOS Catalina on VirtualBox. Here’s how to Install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox.
Without a penny charging, VirtualBox is a superb virtual machine app that runs most of the operating systems including macOS Catalina. It provides almost all the features that are required to run and work on a virtual machine. With all these things, macOS Catalina installed on VirtualBox lacks some features that we’ve fixed some of them such as macOS Catalina screen resolution, speed up slow running macOS Catalina. All of those are only possible with how to Install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox.
That done, there are still some qualities that it lacks. These are, CPU support, GPU support, speed improvements and more. These features are definitely an improvment or even required for most users that will do the work seamlessly. To diagnose and troubleshoot all these struggles, the Guest Tool is the perfect tool for this. With the new version of VirtualBox particularly VirtualBox 6 out, it supports Guest Tool plus a new VMSVGA option that improves the overall performance of a virtual machine. In this post, I’ll show how to install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox.
Table of Contents
Guest Tool
Just like VMware Tools on VMware, it is a pack of useful tools and utilities which enhance all aspects of a virtual machine. As a result, it will improve the performance of running a virtual machine on VirtualBox that will cover all the operations and tasks. In specific, it improves most of the aspects such as mouse and keyboard performance, GPU tasks and operations, display and screen resolution up to 16:9, more CPU support, quick operations and a lot more. In this post, we’ll see how to install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox.
Install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox
While the process of installing the Guest Tool is similar to installing VMware Tools on VMware, it’s worth making it specifically for newbies or unique users who are new to it. The process isn’t different to do on other versions of macOS, like macOS Mojave or macOS High Sierra. So let’s get started with seeing how to Install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox.
Change The Graphics Controller to VMSVGA
First off, open VirtualBox and select the macOS Catalina then click on the Settings icon.
The next step to Install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox is to select the Display tab and increase the video memory to 128 MB then select VMSVGA for the Graphics Controller.
Install Guest Tool on macOS Catalina on VirtualBox
Once that’s done, it’s time to switch the virtual machine. So, switch the macOS Catalina then from the top menu, select Device > Optical Drives > Choose Disk Image then select the VirtualBox Guest Tool by Geekrar.
When the VMware Tools window popped up, open Install VMware Tools.
Proceed with the installation wizard by clicking on Continue.
When installing, the System Extension Blocked error will appear, so click on Open Security Prefrences.
Then it will open the System Preferences. There, click on the lock then enter your password. Then click on Allow.
Ignore with the legacy system extension by clicking OK on it and click Restart on the wizard.
When the Mac is up again, the System Extension Blocked will appear, click on Open System Preferences.
Then unlock the lock and click on Allow.
Now reinstall the VirtualBox Guest Tool once more to make it work. Do it like you did before.
When the installation is finished, click on Restart.
Check Graphics Display
When the Mac is up, click on the Apple logo icon and select About This Mac.
Then the Graphics should be Display 128 MB. If it is then it’s okay otherwise, you may need to reinstall the VMware Tools to make this work.
Switch to Full-Screen Resolution Mode
Time has come to switch from the default screen resolution to full-screen resolution mode.
Now open Terminal and enter this command.
Sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Tools/vmware-resolutionset 1920 1080
When you’re asked for password, enter it. It will quickly change the resolution. To enter the full-screen resolution, simply press right Ctrl + F. It will look like this.
Finally, it will be done like this.
Once that’s done, it will be all done. It’ll probably speed up the performance, display, screen resolution and a lot more.
That’s all to there it is. If there’s something that’s remaining, let us know in the comments down below.
for now, thank you for the detailed step, and I got them installed on my vm
but to think that….I can’t use usb or even shared folder, this thing is the one I’m waiting for…..
Here is a guide you can use to share folders- https://techrechard.com/how-to-share-folders-on-virtualbox-vmware-windows-mac/
Error: command not found when writing teh command in terminal
YES, THERE’S NO AUDIO!
I just installed the VM to test an audio related thing and it doesn’t work.
no audio seems to be an issue with most people running macOS Sierra and later. Some users say they got audio(in) to work in a Catalina guest, when “passed” through a webcam. I assuming that at least some USB-attached audio devices would work in High Sierra & later guest VMs.
To avoid the reboots, rename the ‘VMware Tools’ folder located under ‘/Library/Application Support/’. You can give it any name, and you will still benefit from the guest tool but won’t have the reboots.
thanks… this might be helpful for others.
Better rename only the shitty script inside…
sudo mv /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Tools/services.sh /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Tools/services.sh.old
But I don’t see the point of installing VMware tools because VirtualBox tools are not working regardless of VMware being installed or not. So, no USB, no share, no 3D acceleration, everything is slow etc. You know already.
VirtualBox 6.1.18 & Mac OS 10.5.5.
ya I am trying to update some of these older posts, but it might just be easier to re-write them as I do new installations
I had to wipe Catalina after installing this.
what? was there an error of some kind?
Hello! Congrats for this tutorial.It was quite helpful,so far. I have one issue.Now that i have VM ware tools in Vbox, i cannot copy paste text, or transfer files to/from VM. Both settings are bidirectional. Any help please?
How to enable sound output for macOS Catalina in virtual box windows 10?
Hi,
you have to launch this in the Terminal of the MacOs
Sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Tools/vmware-resolutionset 1920 1080
You’re the best people on the world, thanks!!!
Hi, the vm reboots every 10 minutes after doing this. Any idea on how to fix this? Thanks
Go into “Energy Saver” and increese “Computer sleep” from 10 minuttes to “Never” on the right side.. and uncheck “Put hard diskds to sleep when possible”
Hi, the vm reboots every 10 minutes after doing this. Any idea on how to fix this? Thanks
The same issue for me – everything works well until 10 minutes (exactly 10 minutes) has passed, then OS is rebooted.
Don’t install this. It will make your VM reboot for no reason ever few minutes. Wait for an update.
Hi!!
I installed perfectly but after 5 or 10 minutes working well, it hangs.
Any idea?
Thanks!
Hi, I followed this tutorial to run it on VirtualBox and it works perfectly, since I can set the resolution to 1080p. However, there are 2 problems. The first one is that now Catalina reboots continuously after about 10 minutes after starting the virtual machine.The second is that when restarting the resolution is restored to 1024×748. Has it already happened to someone? Is there a solution?
Have you set VMSVGA as display device in the machine settings in virutalbox?
I noticed that it doesn’t work with VBoxVGA.
Very nice Thank you guys!
Did erything like in the tutorial, and with the new method of installing mojave. https://www.geekrar.com/install-macos-mojave-on-virtualbox-on-windows-pc-new-method/
Then I start Safari and do a little bit, and after i guess 5 to 10 minutes everything freezes, and I’m not able to click anything, mouse is working fine 🙂
Maybe you have a hint for me?
What’s the password of the guest tool arhive? Thanks.
The password is the following:
Geekrar.com
Solved. Thanks for your mail.
Hi,
Works like a charm! Creating a few .command files makes it pretty easy to change the resolution from within the guest now. There is only one drawback: When starting the guest, it always defaults to 1024×768. Commands like
VBoxManage setextradata “OS X Name” “VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution” “1600×900”
do only work during boot with VMSVGA as Graphics Controller. As soon as the GUI starts, it falls back to said 1024×768. Any idea/method to change that behavior?
One other thing, that is probably related to the graphics driver: Apple Maps doesn’t seem to work (on Mojave). It only shows a black screen. Is that a known issue?
Would you mind to share the password for the Guest Tool archive?
Geekrar.com
Hi,
I’ve tried the step to install the VMware tools 5 times and after restarting, my Display is always 3MB rather than 128MB (even though that’s what I configured in the VM itself).
Any idea if I can try anything else from my end?
Hi
Thank you for this
How would you make an iPhone recognised in the VM ? I can see it in the VM but it is not picked by the OS or XCode
Thanks