Virtualising OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Article ID = 148Article Title = Virtualising OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Article Author(s) = Graham Needham (BH)
Article Created On = 12th March 2019
Article Last Updated = 27th March 2019
Article URL = https://www.macstrategy.com/article.php?148
Article Brief Description:
Instructions for installing, setting up and virtualising OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Virtualising OS X 10.11 El Capitan
The ability to virtualise OS X 10.11 El Capitan is important and very useful as it is an easy way to run 32-bit applications that do not run on macOS 10.15 or later. MacStrategy presents this special guide to virtualising Mac OS X / OS X / macOS.This article deals with setting up/installing a virtual machine with Mac OS X 10.6 clean/from scratch. If you would like to transfer an existing Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 to a virtual machine, or take a Mac OS X 10.6 bootable storage device/clone/disk image and convert it into a virtual machine please see this article instead.
Virtualisation Software
- Parallels Desktop
[£79.99 inc VAT - 14 day free trial available]
- VMWare Fusion [£70.00 inc VAT - 30 day free trial available]
- Oracle VirtualBox [FREE - Open source under GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2]
Instructions
NOTE: This document was written using a Mac mini (2014 model) with macOS 10.14 Mojave running in 64-bit only test mode and using Parallels Desktop 14.1.2, VMWare Fusion 11.0.2 and VirtualBox 6.0.4.Preparation
NOTE: You will need a Mac and the OS X 10.11 El Capitan installer.- Obtain your preferred virtualisation software (see list above)
- Obtain the OS X 10.11 El Capitan installer and copy it to your local Desktop/hard disk:
- If you already have this installer archived/backed up you are good to go
- If you purchased OS X 10.11 El Capitan you might be able to re-download the installer - go to Macintosh HD > Applications > App Store > Purchased tab at the top > login if necessary > check your purchase history list to download Mountain Lion
- You may still be able to download OS X 10.11 El Capitan for free from Apple
- If you haven't already, make a backup/archive of the OS X 10.11 El Capitan installer e.g. copy it to an external storage device
- Purchase/install/update your preferred virtualisation software
- On later versions of macOS your preferred virtualisation software will require specifically allowing their System Extension(s) to run via System Preferences > Security & Privacy, plus they may require to be granted access to Accessibility
- Make sure you have plenty of free hard disk space (a basic 10.11.6 install is about ~20GB before your own applications and you'll need at least twice that if you need to clone it for multiple installations), plus you need ~6GB for Parallels to create a bootable disk image file from the installer, so we recommend at least 75GB of free space (100GB+ if you're looking to virtualise and use Adobe Creative Suite)
- Make sure your actual, physical Mac has a working internet connection e.g. use a web browser to go to https://www.apple.com and see if you can view a web page
- Create a dedicated folder to share files/documents with the virtual environment e.g. in your Documents folder create a folder titled "1011SharedFolder"


Parallels Desktop Instructions
- Open Parallels
- Go to File menu > New
- Click on "Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file" and click Continue
- If Parallels automatically finds the OS X 10.11 installer you put on your Desktop/local hard disk earlier (as per the preparation section above) click "Continue"
- Otherwise click on "Choose Manually", click "Image File" and locate the OS X 10.11 installer/drag it to the window
- Click Continue to begin installing OS X
- Parallels will need to create a bootable disk image file from the installer so at the warning message click "Continue" and Save the "macOS image file" to the default location
- Name your virtual machine e.g. "OS X 10.11"
- Tick the "Customize settings before installation" option
- Choose your required custom settings - they can be changed later. We recommend:
- General > CPUs and Memory e.g. 2 CPUs and 4GB RAM)
- Options > Sharing - for best security set "Share Folders' to "None", untick 'Share iCloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive' + 'Map Mac volumes to virtual machine' and click "Custom Folders…" to add your dedicated shared folder e.g. in your Documents > "1011SharedFolder" (as per the preparation section above)
- Hardware > Video > Video memory - the more memory assigned the higher the resolution available for the virtual environment
- Hardware > Network > Source > choose "Ethernet" - the virtual environment will use your physical Mac's Ethernet network configuration
- Hardware > Sound & Camera > untick "Share Mac Camera"
- Close the settings window and click "Continue"
- The virtual machine will reboot to the OS X install screen (Apple logo + whirling wheel underneath)
- Follow the on screen instructions
- At the OS X Utilities screen, click "Install OS X" and click "Continue"
- After the installation completes and the virtual machine reboots please be patient, especially with any black/white/grey screens - everything can be slower in a virtual environment
- At the Welcome screen follow the on screen instructions
- Select your country
- Select your keyboard
- Transfer Information to This Mac > Don't transfer any information now
- Enable Location Services > your choice
- Apple ID > Don't Sign in (Skip)
- Terms and Conditions > Agree
- Create Your Computer Account + tick "Set time zone based on current location"
- Diagnostics & Usage > untick "Send diagnostics & usage data to Apple" + "Share crash data with app developers"
- Go to Actions menu > Install Parallels Tools…
- Install Parallels Tools, following the on screen instructions and restart the virtual machine when complete
- Set the screen resolution as required
- Set your Finder > Preferences
- To avoid confusion with your primary computer rename the virtual machine's hard disk from Macintosh HD to something that is different to your current hard disk e.g. "OS X 10_11 HD"
- Go to Apple menu > App Store… > Updates tab > install all available updates (except full macOS upgrades) especially any security updates
- Keep going to Apple menu > App Store… > Updates tab and installing all available updates until there are no more updates to install
- NOTE: If you are going to use this virtual environment on multiple computers or you just want a backup:
- In Parallels "Shut down" the virtual machine and choose shut down again to force the Mac to shut down if necessary
- In the Finder go to the Parallels virtual machine folder (usually Macintosh HD > Users > your home directory > Library > Parallels)
- Copy/duplicate/archive the OS X 10.11 virtual machine file (pvm)
- Copy this file to the same place on additional Macs with Parallels as required (usually Macintosh HD > Users > your home directory > Library > Parallels)
- In Parallels go to Window menu > Control Center
- Select the OS X 10.11 virtual machine (don't open it or start it)
- Go to File menu > Clone and make a clone of the virtual machine
- Copy the clone to additional Macs with Parallels as required
- Check the OS X 10.11 Notes section below







VMWare Fusion
- Open VMWare Fusion
- Go to File menu > New
- At the 'Select the Installation Method' screen click on "Install from disc or image" and click Continue
- Locate the OS X 10.11 installer and drag it to area in the window and click Continue
- At the 'Finish > Virtual Machine Summary' screen click "Customize Settings" at the bottom
- Name your virtual machine e.g. "OS X 10.11"
- Choose your required custom settings
- We recommend:
- Processors & Memory > CPUs and Memory e.g. "2 processor cores" and 4096MB [4GB])
- Network Adapter > tick "Connect Network Adapter" and choose "Ethernet" - the virtual environment will use your physical Mac's Ethernet network configuration
- Hard Disk (SATA) > virtual machine drive size of 75GB
- USB & Bluetooth > untick "Share Bluetooth devices with the virtual machine"
- Close the settings window and click "Finish" if necessary
- Click the start button/triangle in the middle of the screen to begin installing OS X
- The virtual machine will reboot to the OS X installer (Apple logo + whirling wheel underneath)
- Follow the on screen instructions
- At the OS X Utilities screen, click "Install OS X" and click "Continue"
- After the installation completes and the virtual machine reboots please be patient, especially with any black/white/grey screens - everything can be slower in a virtual environment
- At the Welcome screen follow the on screen instructions
- Select your country
- Select your keyboard
- Transfer Information to This Mac > Don't transfer any information now
- Enable Location Services > your choice
- Apple ID > Don't Sign in (Skip)
- Terms and Conditions > Agree
- Create Your Computer Account + tick "Set time zone based on current location"
- Diagnostics & Usage > untick "Send diagnostics & usage data to Apple" + "Share crash data with app developers"
- Go to Virtual Machine menu > Install VMWare Tools
- Install VMWare Tools, following the on screen instructions and restart the virtual machine when complete (you may get a message about the installer certificate being out of date and this appears to stop the Tools installing so things like drag and drop are not supported [with this guest OS])
- If you want to configure shared folder(s) go to Virtual Machine > Sharing > Sharing Settings… > tick "Enable Shared Folders' add your dedicated shared folder e.g. in your Documents > "1011SharedFolder" (as per the preparation section above)
- Set the screen resolution as required
- Set your Finder > Preferences
- To avoid confusion with your primary computer rename the virtual machine's hard disk from Macintosh HD to something that is different to your current hard disk e.g. "OS X 10_11 HD"
- Go to Apple menu > App Store… > Updates tab > install all available updates (except full macOS upgrades) especially any security updates
- Keep going to Apple menu > App Store… > Updates tab and installing all available updates until there are no more updates to install
- NOTE: If you are going to use this virtual environment on multiple computers or you just want a backup:
- Go to Virtual Machine menu > Shut down and click the "Shut Down" button
- Quit VMWare Fusion
- In the Finder go to the Fusion virtual machine folder (usually Macintosh HD > Users > your home directory > Library > Virtual Machines)
- Copy/duplicate/archive the OS X 10.11 virtual machine file (pvm)
- Copy this file to the same place on additional Macs with Fusion as required (usually Macintosh HD > Users > your home directory > Library > Virtual Machines)
- If you have Fusion "Professional", in Fusion select the OS X 10.11 virtual machine from the Virtual Machine Library (you cannot create clones using the standard version of Fusion - use the copy method above instead)
- Click Virtual Machine and select "Create Full Clone"
- Type a name for the clone e.g. "OS X 10.11 Clone" and click Save to make a clone of the virtual machine
- The clone file is created in the Fusion Virtual Machines folder (usually Macintosh HD > Users > your home directory > Library > Virtual Machines)
- Copy the clone to additional Macs with Fusion as required
- Check the OS X 10.11 Notes section below






VirtualBox
We could not get VirtualBox to create an OS X 10.11 guest OS - it would never boot the OS X installer - we tried at least 10 different methods all documented out there on the internet but none of them worked. However, we discovered a neat little trick of easily creating the virtual machine in VMWare Fusion (a 30-day trial download is available) and then copying the virtual machine over for use in VirtualBox - here are the step-by-step instructions:NOTE: This trick was performed on a Mac mini (2014 model) with macOS 10.14 Mojave using the trial version of VMWare Fusion 11.0.2 and VirtualBox 6.0.4.
- Install VirtualBox heeding the advice in our Preparation section above
- Open VirtualBox to get it running and then Quit it
- Download a trial version of VMWare Fusion
- Install VMWare Fusion heeding the advice in our Preparation section above
- Install OS X 10.11 using the instructions in our VMWare Fusion section above
- Stop the OX 10.11 virtual machine in VMWare Fusion if it is running and then Quit VMWare Fusion
- Go to Macintosh HD > Users > ~your home directory~ > VirtualBox VMs folder (if this folder doesn't exist, create it) > inside this folder create a new folder called "OS X 10.11 from Fusion" > keep this window open
- Open a new Finder window and go to Macintosh HD > Users > ~your home directory~ > Virtual Machines > locate the OS X 10.11 virtual machine you created in VMWare Fusion e.g. "OS X 10.11" > right/control click on it and select "Show Package Contents" from the contextual menu
- Copy, not move, all the files from this folder to the "OS X 10.11 from Fusion" folder you created two steps ago in the VirtualBox VMs folder
- Now you're ready to use this virtual machine disk with VirtualBox
- Open VirtualBox
- Click on the "New" icon
- Click on "Expert Mode"
- Name your virtual machine e.g. "OS X 10.11"
- Set 'Type' to "Mac OS X"
- Set 'Version' to "Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan (64-bit)"
- Set 'Memory Size' to 4096MB (4GB)
- Set 'Hard Disk' to "Use an existing virtual hard disk file"
- Click on the folder icon with the little green up arrow in the bottom right of the window
- Navigate to Macintosh HD > Users > ~your home directory~ > VirtualBox VMs folder > OS X 10.11 from Fusion and select the "Virtual Disk.vmdk" file
- Click "Choose"
- Click "Create"
- Select the new virtual OS on the left and click "Settings" at the top
- Set your virtual OS settings. We recommend:
- Display > Screen > Video memory - the more memory assigned the higher the resolution available for the virtual environment e.g. set it to 128MB
- Audio > UNTICK "Enable Audio" - according to the VirtualBox forums it is best that audio is disabled
- Click "OK"
- Click "Start"
- The virtual machine will boot into OS X 10.11



OS X 10.11 Notes
Security Notes
OS X 10.11 is no longer supported with security updates so be sure to follow our recommendations for securing older operating systems, specifically:- Don't use Apple Safari as it is no longer updated and thus it is not secure - use a supported web browser e.g. Firefox or Chrome
- Don't use Apple Mail as it is no longer updated and thus it is not secure
- Don't install unsupported web plug-ins and disable old plugins:
- Go to OS X 10_11 HD (or whatever you have named the virtual hard disk) > Library
- If there is no folder named "Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)", create a new folder named that
- Open the "Internet Plug-Ins" folder and move all the items in it to the "Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled)" folder NOTE: To move the files you will need to authenticate as an administrator of the computer.
- Restart the virtual machine (go to Apple menu > Restart)
General Notes
Coming soon…Running 32-bit Applications
- macOS 32-Bit Applications To Be Unsupported In The Future
- Virtualising Adobe Creative Suite with Mac OS X / OS X / macOS
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