MacOS Monterey as VM on TrueNAS Scale

[Nicholas Flamy]

Yeah, I did.

4 things might be the issue:

1. Single space in front of `command_line_args:`
2. It should not all be in one line. (Though it should automatically split it into multiple lines so that's probably not the issue)
3. Your config might have some things in the wrong order, also, I wouldn't use CPU set to host when you first set it up because I couldn't get it working and others seemed to struggle, try my config first. Also, your keyboard config might not work.
4. You forgot to hit enter and have a line after it.

 

[marshes]

Yeah, I did.

If not mistaken, every time you go into the service menu, it by default comments out the lines. But! Any changes you make by uncommenting, editing, and saving do stick. Just, it seems when you reopen the service menu they get commented out.

As a sanity check, you can change one of the lines that shows up in the GUI like number of cores and see it reflected in the GUI.

Tripped me up a few times too as it seemed like my changes weren’t saving, but they are, just need to remove the hashtag commenting out the line each time you renter the menu and make a change.

 

[eseanq]

If not mistaken, every time you go into the service menu, it by default comments out the lines. But! Any changes you make by uncommenting, editing, and saving do stick. Just, it seems when you reopen the service menu they get commented out.

As a sanity check, you can change one of the lines that shows up in the GUI like number of cores and see it reflected in the GUI.

Tripped me up a few times too as it seemed like my changes weren’t saving, but they are, just need to remove the hashtag commenting out the line each time you renter the menu and make a change.

Okay, glad that this was mentioned! I kept going in and checking and was seeing that it comments the lines again.

I'll have to do some more tests cause it still kept hanging at the apple logo

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Did you edit the TrueNAS config?

MacOS Monterey as VM on TrueNAS Scale

Is there any guide or video for installing MacOS (Monterey) on TrueNAS Scale as a VM?

www.truenas.com

Edit 1:
You start by going to TrueNAS shell, then enter the CLI:
`sudo cli`

Then we'll first get to the vm service:
`service vm`

Then check what VMs you have, we need the id, if this is the first ever vm created on the machine it will be 1 I think:
`query`

Then now that we have the id we cane edit the config (I put the number pne for this command, if your id for your MacOS VM is different then put that number instead):
`update 1`

Now you'll be in the text editor. Look around this topic and you'll find the info you need. I can provide more if you need it. Also, you have to delete the hashtags in front of whatever you change for it to save. Then hit escape and then select yes to save and hit enter.


Edit 2:
So in my screenshots I blurred out the osk. It's the same for every Mac so Google how to find it, it can be found anywhere, technically Apple could get mad about it being shared so that's why I redacted it.

Here's what worked for me:
```
command_line_args: -device isa-applesmc,osk="<redacted>"
-smbios type=2 -device '{"driver":"usb-kbd","id":"input1","bus":"usb.0","port":"2"}'
-global nec-usb-xhci.msi=off -global ICH9-LPC.acpi-pci-hotplug-with-bridge-support=off
-cpu Haswell-noTSX,kvm=on,vendor=GenuineIntel,+kvm_pv_unhalt,+kvm_pv_eoi,+hypervisor,+invtsc
```

I took some example screenshots:
(Notice in the screenshots I deleted the hashtags to edit the config. I hit backspace 3 times for each one, deleting 2 spaces and the hashtag. Not sure if deleting the two spaces is necessary but doing this every time has worked every time for editing this correctly.)

You might wanna check this comment I made if you havent seen the edits. I edited it twice (sorry.)

 

[eseanq]

You might wanna check this comment I made if you havent seen the edits. I edited it twice (sorry.)

Okay so I setup a new VM to start with a clean slate and was able to use these exact settings. I have 2 RAW files attached to the VM, 1 being the OC iso, the other being the installer IMG. Upon trying to start the VM I get a call error

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Okay so I setup a new VM to start with a clean slate and was able to use these exact settings. I have 2 RAW files attached to the VM, 1 being the OC iso, the other being the installer IMG. Upon trying to start the VM I get a call error

This is what my set up looks like. (Also, what are your specs, primarily concerned about what CPU you have?)

My boot disk is a VirtIO disk that is a Zvol. The Opencore ISO is a raw file as AHCI.

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Also, I have Sonoma successfully running, what version are you attempting?

 

[eseanq]

Host CPU is Intel Xeon L5640, and I'm trying to get Monterey to be installed.

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Host CPU is Intel Xeon L5640, and I'm trying to get Monterey to be installed.

Okay, that version should be easier. Also, I forgot to explain the installer config. That has to be a raw file as AHCI.

 

[eseanq]

Okay, that version should be easier. Also, I forgot to explain the installer config. That has to be a raw file as AHCI.

Any reccomendations for the config? When I try to start the VM I get the same message about the call error

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Any reccomendations for the config? When I try to start the VM I get the same message about the call error

What CPU mode are you using? Also, we may have to change it for you since your CPU is from 2010.

https://www.truenas.com/community/attachments/screenshot_20240205_152916_chrome-jpg.75374/

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Maybe changing to host from Haswell?
We may also have to try Penryn.
The correct thing is probably in a Proxmox tutorial somewhere.


```
command_line_args: -device isa-applesmc,osk="<redacted>"
-smbios type=2 -device '{"driver":"usb-kbd","id":"input1","bus":"usb.0","port":"2"}'
-global nec-usb-xhci.msi=off -global ICH9-LPC.acpi-pci-hotplug-with-bridge-support=off
-cpu host,kvm=on,vendor=GenuineIntel,+kvm_pv_unhalt,+kvm_pv_eoi,+hypervisor,+invtsc
```

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Host CPU is Intel Xeon L5640, and I'm trying to get Monterey to be installed.

So I pulled up this page:

Westmere (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

On the right side bar, it shows the instruction sets.

 

[eseanq]

Maybe changing to host from Haswell?
We may also have to try Penryn.
The correct thing is probably in a Proxmox tutorial somewhere.


```
command_line_args: -device isa-applesmc,osk="<redacted>"
-smbios type=2 -device '{"driver":"usb-kbd","id":"input1","bus":"usb.0","port":"2"}'
-global nec-usb-xhci.msi=off -global ICH9-LPC.acpi-pci-hotplug-with-bridge-support=off
-cpu host,kvm=on,vendor=GenuineIntel,+kvm_pv_unhalt,+kvm_pv_eoi,+hypervisor,+invtsc
```

Ayyyy. This is working (so far). Installing now!

 

[eseanq]

Not sure what's causing it but the installation seems to lock up with ~10 or so minutes remaining (prior to all of the reboots). Might give it a go with a different OS version or something

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Not sure what's causing it but the installation seems to lock up with ~10 or so minutes remaining (prior to all of the reboots). Might give it a go with a different OS version or something

Pretty sure it's just failing to reboot on its own. What I did is I'd wait like 30 minutes after it seems to freeze up then reboot it. Then the next time I needed to do that wait a little while before manually rebooting.

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

Also, be mindful that the web spice client seems to lock up after a few minutes of inactivity. Refreshing the page and logging into the client works.

 

[luuk]

so are all of you running the MacOS VM without any GPU passthrough?
I can only fit 1 GPU. TNS currently runs fine without any GPU (on a Ryzen 5600x). But if I add 1 GPU, it is not possible to passthrough it because TNS suddenly needs one.

There are 3 options:

1. do some trickery in TNS, with the risk of having to redo it for each TNS update, as described in https://www.truenas.com/community/t...single-gpu-for-passthrough.100390/post-691678
2. buy a different CPU with integrated graphics, such as the Ryzen Pro (so I don't loose ECC support)
3. run Proxmox as main OS and MacOS (and TNS) in a virtual machine

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

so are all of you running the MacOS VM without any GPU passthrough?

I am.

 

[Nicholas Flamy]

FYI, some stuff, like opening a minimized window will make it chug for a sec.