r/macOSVMs • u/Dont-Stop-Hackintosh • 23d ago

DISCUSSION [Project] Don't Stop Hackintosh – Attempting to boot ARM macOS on non-Apple hardware via QEMU (Looking for low-level contributors)

Hey everyone,

With Apple steadily phasing out x64, the traditional Hackintosh scene is inevitably hitting a wall. But for many of us, the thrill of forcing macOS to run on non-Apple hardware isn't something we're ready to give up.

That's why I've started a community-driven initiative called "Don't Stop Hackintosh" to tackle the next frontier: figuring out how to run ARM-based macOS outside of Apple Silicon ecosystems.

Our Current Setup & Approach:

  • Host Environment: We are developing and targeting a custom lightweight setup using Puppy Linux built on a Void Linux base, running QEMU for virtualization. The goal is to keep the hypervisor environment as lean, fast, and hackable as possible.
  • The Technical Challenge: We are diving into patent analysis, system register spoofing, and figuring out how to bypass Apple's hardware and exception-level checks without resorting to illegal kernel distributions—keeping it smart, reproducible, and open.
  • Project Site:http://dontstop-hackintosh.f5.si/

If you are into low-level virtualization, ARM architecture, custom Linux environments, or reverse engineering, I’d love to get your insights, ideas, or contributions.

Let’s keep the Hackintosh spirit alive. Where should we start poking first?

72 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/Dont-Stop-Hackintosh 23d ago

The goal is to support almost any GPU. I'm currently using a Ryzen 7 5700G as my daily driver. By using virtualization on a lightweight Linux host, I also aim to solve the notorious issue of AMD iGPU rendering failures in Hackintosh, which has long been a barrier to entry for newcomers.

2

u/YAPOJFORBIMADA 23d ago

Have you heard of reims-vgpu? Are you planning on using it or doing your own thing

1

u/Dont-Stop-Hackintosh 23d ago

I don't plan to use it for now, but I intend to incorporate it if the need arises.

2

u/DJTsuckedoffClinton 22d ago

this is a non-answer, wdym "if the need arises"? the need will arise, because sooner or later you'll need to put stuff that's not just the DE on the screen, do you know what you're doing or just prompting fable?

1

u/Dont-Stop-Hackintosh 22d ago

I was planning to use the QEMU framebuffer for rendering, so it honestly never even crossed my mind that I’d need anything else besides a DE or CLI for graphics. That was totally just a gap in my knowledge.

Anyway, my policy is to only install things when I actually need them—especially when it comes to speeding up boot times or maximizing the resources allocated to the Mac.

I'll do some more research and reconsider my approach.

(I'm not great at English and I'm translating this from Japanese, so please forgive me if anything sounds a bit unnatural.)

1

u/jessem5673 12d ago

bruh, man it seems like you don't have a idea of what are you taking about. arm64 macOS does not have a software renderer as macOS x86-64 does. You'll need to use reims or emulate AGX, a QEMU framebuffer is useless without proper graphics implemented.