Install Guest Additions on macOS 10.15 Catalina. about macos-virtualbox-vm

[DovahBrownies]

I am not able to enter recovery mode with this: sudo nvram recovery-boot-mode=unused && sudo shutdown -r now

is there any other way to enter recovery mode? or am I doing anything wrong?

To Enter Recovery Mode Without VM Terminal or Recovery CDs

1. Make sure you insert the MacOS installation disk (In this case, Catalina):
   

2. Restart your virtual MacOS:
   

3. When the shutdown cycle completes and a startup cycle begins (when the terminal goes completely black), start pressing the boot menu key. It could be either ESC1, F81, or F12. You'll be presented with a BIOS-like menu. Choose Boot Manager:
   

4. Here you'll want to select the VBOX CD-ROM to boot from the Catalina disk we inserted in step 1:
   

5. After a few moments you'll be taken to the recovery menu. Restarting your Virtual MacOS will reboot the machine back into its normal state.

I can't believe this wasn't laid out in clear steps before. I had to figure this out myself from prior experiences. All other posts or answer suggest using a VM terminal or downloading a recovery disk.

[NoWhereMan1979]

I did instructions but what i got was share clip board. no full screen, no shared folders. tested on Catalina in Virtual Box 6.1.22.
Thanks for help.

[codeclinic]

Thanks for this info. I've tried so many different combinations and this is the first and only one that actually works.

Should we revert the /System/Library/Extensions/ back to its original ownership and permissions? If so, do you know what they should be set to?

Also, do you know if the VBox GA's will persist if I update the OS to Big Sur? I know that installing Vbox GA's on Big Sur is currently not-doable, so not sure if it's safe to update.

tHANKS:

[end2endzone]

I'm glad it helped you.

I did not tried to revert permission changes on /System/Library/Extensions/. I am using this VM as a test machine so I don't really care about vulnerabilities related to this change.

I do not have plans to upgrading to Big Sur. Like you said, I have read the same posts about compatibility problem with GA on Big Sur. I don't know if the installation will persist. Actually the files may still be available but they may not load. Installing on Catalina and then upgrading to Big Sur might be a possible workaround. If you every try, keep me posted.

[end2endzone]

Hi. I am sorry but I did not tried the Shared Folder feature of VirtualBox so I cannot help you with that.

What I did for file sharing...
If you need to share files from macOS, you can enable samba file share from within macos directly. You can search for mac enable file share samba on google for multiple instructions guide. For example, this or this seems to be good starting points.

To enable a higher resolution or full screen...
You need to change settings in Virtualbox to enable custom resolutions. Since I am on Windows, I executed the following batch file which enabled 1600x900 resolution :

@echo off
cd /d "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"

set VM_NAME=MacOS Catalina 10.15

REM The following might be required on AMD CPU
REM See https://www.wikigain.com/install-macos-catalina-on-virtualbox-on-windows/
VBoxManage.exe modifyvm "%VM_NAME%" --cpu-profile "Intel Xeon X5482 3.20GHz"

REM Change default resolution of 1024x768
REM https://www.professionaltutorial.com/fix-macos-catalina-screen-resolution-on-virtualbox/
REM VBoxManage setextradata "%VM_NAME%" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1024x768
REM VBoxManage setextradata "%VM_NAME%" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920x1080
VBoxManage setextradata "%VM_NAME%" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1600x900
pause

You need to change the variable VM_NAME to the actual name of of your virtual machine inside VirtualBox. Mine was named MacOS Catalina 10.15. I prefer having a windowed maximum resolution of 1600x900 instead of full screen. You might only have to change 1600x900 by 1920x1080 to enable full screen on your side.

I have left the web site references were I have found this information. Feel free to take a look at them. They might explain in details what all these commands are doing.

[NoWhereMan1979]

Hi. I am sorry but I did not tried the Shared Folder feature of VirtualBox so I cannot help you with that.

What I did for file sharing...
If you need to share files from macOS, you can enable samba file share from within macos directly. You can search for mac enable file share samba on google for multiple instructions guide. For example, this or this seems to be good starting points.

To enable a higher resolution or full screen...
You need to change settings in Virtualbox to enable custom resolutions. Since I am on Windows, I executed the following batch file which enabled 1600x900 resolution :

@echo off
cd /d "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"

set VM_NAME=MacOS Catalina 10.15

REM The following might be required on AMD CPU
REM See https://www.wikigain.com/install-macos-catalina-on-virtualbox-on-windows/
VBoxManage.exe modifyvm "%VM_NAME%" --cpu-profile "Intel Xeon X5482 3.20GHz"

REM Change default resolution of 1024x768
REM https://www.professionaltutorial.com/fix-macos-catalina-screen-resolution-on-virtualbox/
REM VBoxManage setextradata "%VM_NAME%" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1024x768
REM VBoxManage setextradata "%VM_NAME%" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1920x1080
VBoxManage setextradata "%VM_NAME%" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution 1600x900
pause

You need to change the variable VM_NAME to the actual name of of your virtual machine inside VirtualBox. Mine was named MacOS Catalina 10.15. I prefer having a windowed maximum resolution of 1600x900 instead of full screen. You might only have to change 1600x900 by 1920x1080 to enable full screen on your side.

I have left the web site references were I have found this information. Feel free to take a look at them. They might explain in details what all these commands are doing.

Thank a lot. It is better than 1024x768 that i was stuck in.☺

[ekawahyu]

I am not able to enter recovery mode with this: sudo nvram recovery-boot-mode=unused && sudo shutdown -r now

is there any other way to enter recovery mode? or am I doing anything wrong?

[ekawahyu]

@DovahBrownies Thank you for this instruction!

[tuanpht]

I've tried this, it works for sharing clipboards

https://stackoverflow.com/a/54186352/6595322

[nojsja]

After do all above, my vm stucks on boot, any suggestions?

[Alex533704]

Hello,i followed all steps above but when i try to inject GuestAdditons into macOS i still have a error message:cannot insert optical disk GuestAddition in Virtual Machine

I' m using macOS catalina in VirtualBox.

Please help me

[changken]

Thanks to your tutorial!

[hurelhuyag]

Only shared clipboard working. Is anyone get a working shared folder?

[nalsminator]

Thanks man!