(Guide Updated August 12, 2020)
Qemu can run PPC Mac OS 9.0, 9.1, 9.2 and PPC OSX 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5
This guide assumes you are installing Mac OS 9.2 on a 2gb file that will act as your hard disk for Mac OS.
The CD image you install from is called MacOS9.2.iso and the hard disk is called MacOS9.2.img
Installations of other versions of Mac OS or OSX (roughly) follow the same path.
NOTE: When trying to install Mac OS 9.0.4 you need to make sure to use a version that contains a Mac OS ROM version 5.6 or above.
Also make sure to set the -M parameter to -M mac99.
qemu-img.exe create -f raw -o size=2G MacOS9.2.img
qemu-system-ppc.exe -L pc-bios -boot d -M mac99,via=pmu -m 512 ^ -prom-env "auto-boot?=true" -prom-env "boot-args=-v" -prom-env "vga-ndrv?=true" ^ -drive file=MacOS9.2.iso,format=raw,media=cdrom ^ -drive file=MacOS9.2.img,format=raw,media=disk ^ -sdl ^ -netdev user,id=network01 -device sungem,netdev=network01 ^ -device VGA,edid=on
Short explanation of the content of the file:
qemu-system-ppc.exe starts qemu with all the following as parameters:
-L pc-bios defines the location of bios files to be used.
-boot d defines to boot from a drive entry marked as a cdrom, “-boot c” would define to boot from a drive entry marked as disk.
-M mac99 defines the mac model used(*).
-m 512 defines the amount of memory (in Mb) for OS9/OSX.
-prom-env “auto-boot?=true” -prom-env “boot-args=-v” define boot parameters for openbios and Mac OSX. The “-v” makes the boot process verbose
-prom-env “vga-ndrv?=true” loads the qemu-vga.ndrv file to provide on the fly resolution swithing. Setting this to false ignores the driver
-drive file=MacOS9.2.iso,format=raw,media=cdrom defines the name, location, format, and type of a cdrom (or dvd) image file to be used
-drive file=MacOS9.2.img,format=raw,media=disk defines the name, location, format, and type of a hard disk image file to be used
-sdl instructs Qemu to use SDL for the graphical display
-netdev user,id=network01 -device sungem,netdev=network01 tell qemu to use the sungem network device on a qemu-internal DHCP server
-device VGA,edid=on presents additional resolutions to choose from in the guest
(*)The mac model entry accepts 3 options for the via parameter:
mac99,via=pmu (with PMU, supporting usb mouse and keyboard)
mac99,via=pmu-adb (this allows some older Mac OS/Mac OS server builds to use a keyboard and mouse through the adb bus)
mac99,via=cuda (default, this allows use of the older adb (Apple Desktop Bus), now less supported cuda)
To install Mac OS, you first need to partition the hard disk, so after you booted from the CD go into the “Utilities” folder and start the “Drive Setup” program. Select the entry “<not initialized>” and click “Initialize” and again in the next window. After initialization has finished and a disk icon has appeared on the desktop, quit the program.
You can then start the installation of Mac OS. Shut down Mac OS after the installation has finished.
To boot the installed Mac OS, you need to edit the qemu.bat file: Change the “-boot d” argument to “-boot c” . Also reverse the order in which your disk and cd rom entry are listed in qemu.bat. When booting with “-boot c”, make sure your hard disk image file is listed first. Save the file. Double-click qemu.bat and Mac OS will boot from the hard disk.
Done.
If you want to install software, make an image of the CD-Rom and attach it to Qemu. Add a disk after the hard disk like below to qemu.bat:
"-drive file=Name-of-CD-image.iso,format=raw,media=cdrom" (without the quotes!)
or for a second hard disk:
"-drive file=Name-of-hard-disk-image.img,format=raw,media=disk" (without the quotes!)
And save the file. Start qemu.bat. The CD image (if readable by Mac OS) will appear on the desktop for you to use.
You can set the initial size and colour depth of the boot window, using the -g parameter like this:
"-g 1024x768x32" (Without the quotes!)
Once in Mac OS, you can use the monitors control panel to set the desired screen size and colour depth.
The latest Qemu for Windows builds emulate a network device that is supported out of the box for Mac OS 9.0 up to OSX 10.5
However, you can also use the realtek 8139 device. This requires installation of the appropriate drivers. You can download them from the Realtek site, or all drivers in one iso from here
There are several ways to get networking going in Windows:
Note: this is activated by default on Qemu-system-ppc.exe, so doesn't need to be mentioned explicitly on the command line:
You need to install the OpenVPN tap driver, bridge it with your normal ethernet connection and use the following in the qemu command line:
If you want to run two installations of Mac OS/OSXsimultaneously, Qemu needs to be able to tell the network devices apart. You can add a mac address to the networking device:
and make sure you add a different mac address to the second instance:
Please note that adding a mac address other than the default to the network device leads to the discovery of a new network card in OSX. You need to configure that card through the network preferences.
To allow two qemu instances to “see” each other on the network and also have internet access, you can install a second tap device and bridge both tap devices with the default network connection. You must then also use different mac addresses for each connection:
Qemu can use socket networking to connect two peers. The peers will have no internet access, but can exchange data between each-other.
The set one guest to be a listener for network traffic:
Set the other guest to connect to the listener:
For both instances, set the TCP/IP settings manually to a free ip address in your IP range and set the subnetmask to 255.255.255.0. No other settings have to be made.
You can provide services running on the guest to the host by forwarding ports to the host. To provide access to e.g., a webserver running in the guest you can use:
The webserver running on the guest is then accessible through e.g., http://localhost or http://name-or-ip-adress-of-machine from other machines running on your network.
In Windows:
-Make sure you have some folder shared
-Bridge your tap device with your default network interface (see above)
-Start Mac OS 9 through Qemu with tap networking
-Use DHCP on the Mac side.
In Mac OS 9:
-Install DAVE 6.2.1 (find it at Macintoshrepository.org)
-Shut down and start Mac OS
Follow the setup assistant.
-name, company, serial number
-Netbios name: (f.i., QemuOS92)
-Workgroup: WORKGROUP (should be found automatically)
-Description: (f.i., QemuOS92)
-Login at startup: unchecked
Overview:
Computer Name: QEMUOS92
Workgroup Name: WORKGROUP
Description: QemuOS92
Use DHCP to make additional settings
-Sharing local files: check I don’t want to share my local files
(if “Use DHCP to make additional settings” is not shown, check DHCP in the NetBIOS Control Panel)
-Start the Chooser, select your host as server. Enter username, password, leave domain as is.
-You will get an unknown error….
-In the SERVER box, click Add Share. At Share enter a share name on your host. Click OK, and OK.
The share appears on your desktop, you can now exchange files through the share.
There are multiple way to print from the guest operating system to the host:
Print directly to a networked printer you have Mac OS/OSX drivers for. This assumes you have set up tap networking so Mac OS can see the windows network and networked printer.
Print to a file that is moved to the host to print. How to print to e.g., a pdf file depends on the guest operating system.
In Mac OS: First drag any mounted CD from the desktop into the trash
Open the Qemu Monitor by pressing Ctrl-Alt-2
Type “info block” to find the name of the CD drive in Qemu (most likely: ide1-cd0)
Type “eject ide1-cd0”
Type “change ide1-cd0 Driveletter:/path/name-of-cd-image.iso” (note the forward slashes!)
Close the Qemu Monitor by pressing Ctrl-Alt-2 again (do not close the window by clicking the close button)
Also see the qemu documentation here: https://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Change_cdrom
NOTE: you cannot mount Mac formatted CD's, but other formats work
Open the Qemu Monitor by pressing Ctrl-Alt-2
Type “info block” to find the name of the CD drive in Qemu (most likely: ide1-cd0)
Type “change ide1-cd0 /dev/cdrom” (note the forward slashes!)
Close the Qemu Monitor by pressing Ctrl-Alt-2 again (do not close the window by clicking the close button)
Qemu is being actively developed. This means that some new features can become available that are not yet incorporated into the official source code. Currently there are several such developments, in various states of reliability:
-Sound support. Note: sound will only work with less than 1024Mb of memory
You can download some of these experimental builds for our forum under Experimental builds : http://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=9028
Qemu will not boot Mac OS when memory is set to 64Mb or less.
