The purpose of this repository is to share my personalized (i.e. cleaned up, streamlined) QEMU KVM Hackintosh configuration using libvirt and OpenCore. This is an updated snapshot of what I am currently running on my relatively simple mini-ITX build.
Like many people, I began with general purpose KVM Hackintosh repositories such as:
- kholia/OSX-KVM: Run macOS on QEMU/KVM. With OpenCore + Big Sur support now! Only commercial (paid) support is available.
- foxlet/macOS-Simple-KVM: Tools to set up a quick macOS VM in QEMU, accelerated by KVM.
However, in trying to be as universal as possible, these prebuilt options leave you with a lot of extra configuration that will not be applicable to any particular setup. This also makes it more difficult to maintain the build, and can lead to a slower and overall less stable setup.
I kept reading/learning, eventually coming across some of the excellent more targeted resources out there:
- ** Hackintosh ** Tips to make a bare metal MacOS - VM Engine (KVM) - Unraid
- macOS / Hackintosh – Nicholas Sherlock
- Leoyzen/KVM-Opencore: Opencore Configuration of KVM Hackintosh with tweaks
- Pavo-IM/Proxintosh: MacOS install using Proxmox on AMD system with all system components passthrough to MacOS
Starting from my initial bloated configuration, I have slowly been able to trim down the unneeded components, toward the goal of maintaining the bare minimum configuration sufficient to achieve a functional build. As such, this configuration will not work on your system out of the box. Instead, it is here to show examples of the possible changes you might explore for your own rig.
johncolby's Completed Build - Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core, M1 Mini ITX Tower - PCPartPicker
Ubuntu linux host details
❯ inxi -Faz
System:
Kernel: 6.14.0-29-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
avail: hpet,acpi_pm parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.14.0-29-generic
root=/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-root ro quiet splash vfio-pci.ids=14e4:43a0 vt.handoff=7
Console: pty pts/0 DM: GDM3 v: 46.2 Distro: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550I AORUS PRO AX serial: <superuser required>
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: F20d date: 09/02/2024
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2 gen: 3 level: v3 note: check
built: 2020-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm) family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 0x71 (113) stepping: 0
microcode: 0x8701034
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache: L1: 384 KiB
desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB L3: 32 MiB desc: 2x16 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2639 high: 3802 min/max: 550/4208 boost: enabled scaling:
driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 3591 2: 3802 3: 1723 4: 3654 5: 3099
6: 1723 7: 3593 8: 1723 9: 1723 10: 1723 11: 3592 12: 1723 bogomips: 86242
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities:
Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
Type: retbleed mitigation: untrained return thunk; SMT enabled with STIBP protection
Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: always-on; RSB filling;
PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT] vendor: Sapphire
driver: vfio-pci v: N/A alternate: amdgpu arch: RDNA-1 code: Navi-1x process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
built: 2019-20 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f
class-ID: 0300
Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa gpu: vfio-pci tty: 128x45
API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: swrast surfaceless: drv: swrast
inactive: gbm,wayland,x11
API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 note: console (EGL sourced)
renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.2 256 bits)
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Navi 10 HDMI Audio driver: vfio-pci alternate: snd_hda_intel pcie: gen: 4
speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab38 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: vfio-pci
alternate: snd_hda_intel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0b:00.4
chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.14.0-29-generic status: kernel-api tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Apple
driver: vfio-pci v: N/A modules: bcma pcie: speed: Unknown lanes: 63 link-max: gen: 1
speed: 2.5 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:43a0 class-ID: 0280
Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
IF: eno1 state: up speed: 2500 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-3: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1
bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp6s0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: br-57ba6366edbb state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
IF-ID-2: br0 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
IF-ID-3: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-4: veth5e79caf state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
IF-ID-5: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-6: vnet0 state: unknown speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, sshd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1
mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-8:4 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
Report: hciconfig ID: hci1 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block:
hardware: no software: yes address: <filter>
Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 694.29 GiB (74.5%)
SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 56.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 929.32 GiB size: 913.66 GiB (98.31%) used: 693.86 GiB (75.9%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 252:1 mapped: vgubuntu-root
ID-2: /boot raw-size: 732 MiB size: 703.1 MiB (96.05%) used: 433 MiB (61.6%) fs: ext4
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-3: /boot/efi raw-size: 512 MiB size: 511 MiB (99.80%) used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 976 MiB used: 508 KiB (0.1%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-2
maj-min: 252:2 mapped: vgubuntu-swap_1
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 59.5 C mobo: 50.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.25 GiB used: 25.42 GiB (81.3%)
Processes: 322 Power: uptime: 19m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep avail: s2idle
wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 12.47 GiB
services: power-profiles-daemon,upowerd Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5)
default: graphical tool: systemctl
Packages: 2606 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2585 libs: 1135 tools: apt,apt-get pm: snap pkgs: 21 Compilers:
gcc: 13.3.0 alt: 9/11/12 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: pty pts/0 (SSH) inxi: 3.3.34
IOMMU Group 0:
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Root Complex [1022:1480]
IOMMU Group 1:
00:01.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 2:
00:01.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge [1022:1483]
IOMMU Group 3:
00:01.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge [1022:1483]
IOMMU Group 4:
00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 5:
00:03.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 6:
00:03.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge [1022:1483]
IOMMU Group 7:
00:04.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 8:
00:05.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 9:
00:07.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 10:
00:07.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B] [1022:1484]
IOMMU Group 11:
00:08.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 12:
00:08.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B] [1022:1484]
IOMMU Group 13:
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:790b] (rev 61)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:790e] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 14:
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 0 [1022:1440]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 1 [1022:1441]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 2 [1022:1442]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 3 [1022:1443]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 4 [1022:1444]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 5 [1022:1445]
00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 6 [1022:1446]
00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse/Vermeer Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 7 [1022:1447]
IOMMU Group 15:
01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
IOMMU Group 16:
02:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 500 Series Chipset USB 3.1 XHCI Controller [1022:43ee]
02:00.1 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 500 Series Chipset SATA Controller [1022:43eb]
02:00.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 500 Series Chipset Switch Upstream Port [1022:43e9]
03:04.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:43ea]
03:08.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:43ea]
03:09.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:43ea]
04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983 [144d:a808]
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller [10ec:8125] (rev 05)
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 [8086:2723] (rev 1a)
IOMMU Group 17:
07:00.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 XL Upstream Port of PCI Express Switch [1002:1478] (rev c1)
IOMMU Group 18:
08:00.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 XL Downstream Port of PCI Express Switch [1002:1479]
IOMMU Group 19:
09:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT] [1002:731f] (rev c1)
IOMMU Group 20:
09:00.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 HDMI Audio [1002:ab38]
IOMMU Group 21:
0a:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Function [1022:148a]
IOMMU Group 22:
0b:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP [1022:1485]
IOMMU Group 23:
0b:00.1 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Cryptographic Coprocessor PSPCPP [1022:1486]
IOMMU Group 24:
0b:00.3 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller [1022:149c]
IOMMU Group 25:
0b:00.4 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller [1022:1487]
macOS guest details
- Remove tons of unneeded legacy drivers (
HiiDatabase.efi,NvmExpressDxe.efi,OpenUsbKbDxe.efi,Ps2KeyboardDxe.efi,Ps2MouseDxe.efi,UsbMouseDxe.efi,VBoxHfs.efi,XhciDxe.efi,mXHCD.kext). - Remove tons of legacy quirks/workarounds from OC
config.plist(many more can be cut out!). - Remove some OC bells/whistles that I don't need and therefore just cause clutter (
AudioDxe.efi,OpenCanopy.efi,OpenShell.efi,CrScreenshotDxe.efi). - Remove
SSDT-DTGP.aml(not needed; can use the PMPM method instead for enabling power management inSSDT-PLUG.aml). - Remove
SSDT-EC.aml(not needed;AppleBusPowerControllerattaches fine without it under Catalina, and KVM OVMF firmware doesn't have a real EC that needs to be turned off). - Remove
SSDT-USBX.aml(not needed; USB power properties can be added to USB port mapping kext (USBmap.kext). - Remove
MCEReporterDisabler.kext(not getting kernel panics, so not needed). - Remove
SSDT-PLUG.aml(not needed for CPU power management, which the hypervisor manages). - Personalized
USBmap.kextcreated withUSBMap.
- Clean up the messy PCI configuration (can cut down on the number of controllers to what is needed, delete the PCIe to PCI legacy bridge, etc.).
- Remove default emulated USB 3 controller.
- Remove additional unneeded USB 1/2 controllers.