Aero
06-08-2021, 06:43 AM
This guide will show you a simple and free, albeit somewhat tedious method to bot on a Mac via a virtual machine (VM). I saw another quick guide on Virtual Box for Mac here, but it was a bit light on the details so hopefully this helps! There are definitely better methods out there, but if all you want to do is SS for this year's Altador Cup then this should be good enough :)
Caveats: This method will likely produce a VM that's too slow to successfully AB.
You Will Need:
- A Mac
- Virtual Box from Oracle ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
- A copy of Microsoft Windows. We will use the free ISO for Windows 10 from Microsoft ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). This will take about 2 hours to download unless you have very good internet. You do NOT need an activation code. More about that below.
Steps:
1. Install Virtual Box and open it. You should see a program like this when it starts up (ignore the left side menu and my main screen, as yours should be empty if this is the first time you're installing Virtual Box!)
You don't need to change any of the default settings they suggest.
Screenshots:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Just keep pressing continue until you see create:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Continue through the installation- to reiterate, you don't have to change any of the default settings they suggest. Just press continue until you get the option to press create.
2. Start up your new virtual machine by selecting it in the left menu of the first screen we saw. Either double click or press the Green Start Arrow to the right of where the NEW button was we used in Step 1.
You should now get a pop up to install an OS. If you accidentally close this screen, I'm sorry, I don't know how to get it back. I would just right-click delete your partition in the left menu and start Step 1 again since it's pretty quick.
If this is your first time, Virtual Box will not know where the downloaded OS file, in this case, Microsoft Windows 10, is. Use the Add button to peruse through your downloads or wherever you put the ISO of Windows we downloaded before beginning this process.
Screenshots:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Select the OS you want:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Follow the steps to set up Windows as normal.
(Optional) 3. Use Microsoft Edge to download your browser of choice
What do you mean we don't need an activation code for Windows?
Windows 10 now does not require activation to use. If your copy is inactive, after the first month, you won't be able to do things like change your background and stuff. Since you're probably not going to try to do much on a VM as slow as Virtual Box, this doesn't really matter. You will get a popup message on the righthand side of your screen though that says your copy is inactive. How much this annoys you is up to you, and you can find cracks for this online too if you want.
Virtual Box is slow as f. What other options are there?
Two other VMs you can explore are Boot Camp ([Only registered and activated users can see links]), supported by Apple itself, and Parallels ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). Boot Camp is pretty far involved compared to using both Parallels and Virtual Box, though, and Parallels itself cost money (unless you know where to look) and may not be impervious to lag either, though certainly better than Virtual Box.
WineBottler and PlayOnMac are two more options that don't involve VMs. They are based on Wine, which is a project that allows one to run Windows executables on Linux/Mac and in this case, Mac. I could get neither to work for me, however, so YMMV. I got stuck on the cK authorization screen for the SS every time. It would definitely be great if they did work because they are very lightweight and simple to use.
Caveats: This method will likely produce a VM that's too slow to successfully AB.
You Will Need:
- A Mac
- Virtual Box from Oracle ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
- A copy of Microsoft Windows. We will use the free ISO for Windows 10 from Microsoft ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). This will take about 2 hours to download unless you have very good internet. You do NOT need an activation code. More about that below.
Steps:
1. Install Virtual Box and open it. You should see a program like this when it starts up (ignore the left side menu and my main screen, as yours should be empty if this is the first time you're installing Virtual Box!)
You don't need to change any of the default settings they suggest.
Screenshots:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Just keep pressing continue until you see create:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Continue through the installation- to reiterate, you don't have to change any of the default settings they suggest. Just press continue until you get the option to press create.
2. Start up your new virtual machine by selecting it in the left menu of the first screen we saw. Either double click or press the Green Start Arrow to the right of where the NEW button was we used in Step 1.
You should now get a pop up to install an OS. If you accidentally close this screen, I'm sorry, I don't know how to get it back. I would just right-click delete your partition in the left menu and start Step 1 again since it's pretty quick.
If this is your first time, Virtual Box will not know where the downloaded OS file, in this case, Microsoft Windows 10, is. Use the Add button to peruse through your downloads or wherever you put the ISO of Windows we downloaded before beginning this process.
Screenshots:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Select the OS you want:
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Follow the steps to set up Windows as normal.
(Optional) 3. Use Microsoft Edge to download your browser of choice
What do you mean we don't need an activation code for Windows?
Windows 10 now does not require activation to use. If your copy is inactive, after the first month, you won't be able to do things like change your background and stuff. Since you're probably not going to try to do much on a VM as slow as Virtual Box, this doesn't really matter. You will get a popup message on the righthand side of your screen though that says your copy is inactive. How much this annoys you is up to you, and you can find cracks for this online too if you want.
Virtual Box is slow as f. What other options are there?
Two other VMs you can explore are Boot Camp ([Only registered and activated users can see links]), supported by Apple itself, and Parallels ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). Boot Camp is pretty far involved compared to using both Parallels and Virtual Box, though, and Parallels itself cost money (unless you know where to look) and may not be impervious to lag either, though certainly better than Virtual Box.
WineBottler and PlayOnMac are two more options that don't involve VMs. They are based on Wine, which is a project that allows one to run Windows executables on Linux/Mac and in this case, Mac. I could get neither to work for me, however, so YMMV. I got stuck on the cK authorization screen for the SS every time. It would definitely be great if they did work because they are very lightweight and simple to use.