Virtual Machines ('VM') allow you to runanother operating system(or even the same one) on top of the current system you're currently running. For example, it's possible to run (say)Windows XP on your Windows 7machine in a separate window. This requires that your computer currently uses an x86 (32 or 64 bit)processor (be it Intel or AMD). The virtual machine then virtualizes the hardware so that the guest operating system (theone you're running in a separate window) thinks it the only one running on the machine. The programs running in the guestare isolated from your main computer, making such a system very useful for programmers,webmasters using multiple browsers,and even just the ordinary person who wants to test different software without the latter harming their real machine.And it's also useful if you use a Mac, and want to run Windows programs alongside your Mac software.
An Android emulator is a tool that simulates Android mobile devices (both hardware and software) on your computer. It allows you to install and utilize Android apps natively on your computer or laptop. These emulators run on both PC and Mac. Let’s see how Android emulators work to better understand the capability of Android emulators. At present, I know of no software emulator that can emulate an Intel x86 Macintosh or to run OS X in a virtual machine on a PC. Note: if you are looking for an emulator or virtual machine that runs on a Mac and allows you to emulate a PC, running operating systems like Windows, you should try the Free x86 PC Emulators and Virtual Machines page.
This one is simple to use and set up besides being a feature-rich emulator. It comes in a free and a paid version. Genymotion stands out of all because of its capable OpenGL graphic cards. This makes it one of the best and fastest Android emulators. It comes with plugins for both Eclipse and Android Studio. Every Proxy is an Android app and cannot be installed on Windows PC or MAC directly. Android Emulator is a software application that enables you to run Android apps and games on a PC by emulating Android OS. There are many free Android emulators available on the internet.
Emulators are slightly different. They allow you to run an operating system that requires (say)an Intel/AMD x86 processor on a completely different CPU (processor). For example, it may allow you to run Windows XP ona PowerPC processor (something that normally won't work, since Windows XP requires an x86 processor). In other words,unlike the VM which only has to virtualize some of the hardware, emulators have to emulate everything, including theCPU. As such, emulators tend to be much slower than VMs.
This page lists both VMs and emulators for the Intel/AMD x86 (32 or 64 bits) processors (meaning that they eitheremulate the x86 or are virtual machines that run on the x86). The guest 'machines' they create may or may not(depending on which software you choose) be able to provide access to your real computer's USB drives, CD/DVD drives,printers, network, etc.
Requirements: Some of the virtual machine software require your computer to have a processor (CPU) withhardware virtualization support.As far as I know, all modern AMD Athlon 64 bit CPUs have this (note: I said Athlon, not the budget Sempron).Things are more confusing where Intel CPUs are concerned, since the support for hardware virtualization (or 'VT' as Intel calls it)seems a bit haphazard across their product range (that is, even if you have a higher-end CPU, it doesn't necessarilymean the chip has VT support). To check if your Intel chip has VT support, look for it inIntel's Virtualization Technology List. Even worse, even if your chiphas such support, some computer manufacturers may have disabled it in the BIOS.
Some additional useful terminology that you may find useful: in the world of emulators and virtualmachines, the host refers to your real, physical computer that you're currently using to read thispage. For example, if you're using a computer running Mac OS X, then that computer is your host computer, Mac OS X isyour host operating system, and so on. If you run a virtual machine on that computer, and install (say)Windows 7 into thatvirtual machine, then that Windows 7 is the guest operating system.
Note that this page does not list commercial software. If you need the latter, and you are a macOS user,you also have the option of usingParallels Desktopfor Mac.
Related Pages
Pc Emulation Software For Mac Free
- Free 68k and PowerPC Macintosh Emulators - emulate a Mac even if you don't have one
Free PC Emulators / IA-32 / x86 / x64 (x86-64) Emulators, Virtualization and Virtual Machines
VirtualBox is a virtualization solution that runs on Windows and Linux 32-bit hosts, and supporting, as guest OSes,Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux, Solaris,OpenSolaris, OS/2 and OpenBSD. It supports shared folders and virtual USB controllers in addition to the usualfloppy and CDROM drive support. Note that the downloadable binaries can only be used for personal use or evaluation purpose.
VMWare Player allows you to use virtual machines that run operating systems likeLinux, Windows,FreeBSD, etc, on top ofyour existing Windows or Linux system.
This is a special version of the free Microsoft Virtual PC software designed specifically for users ofWindows 7. It requires your computer to havehardware virtualization support inthe CPU. The raison d'être of this virtual machine is to allow you to run Windows XP programs in a virtual modealongside your Windows 7 programs in a highly integrated fashion. Unlike the typical virtual machine,your programs act and behave as though they are directly running within your host system itself, and can interact not only withyour hardware but also your desktop, documents, music and video folders. In other words, this is meant as a backward compatibilitytool for you to run older programs on Windows 7. You should not use this if your intention is to test/debug programs andwant to protect your main system. You can apparently also run Vista and Windows 7 as guest machines.
QEMU supports the emulation of x86 processors, ARM, SPARC and PowerPC. Host CPUs (processors that can run the QEMUemulator) include x86, PowerPC, Alpha, Sparc32, ARM, S390, Sparc64, ia64, and m68k (some of these are still indevelopment). When emulating a PC (x86), supported guest operating systems include MSDOS, FreeDOS, Windows 3.11,Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Linux, SkyOS, ReactOS, NetBSD, Minix, etc. When emulating a PowerPC, currently tested guest OSesinclude Debian Linux.
Xen is an open source virtual machine that allows you to run multiple guest operating systems partitioned in their ownvirtual machines. It currently runs on Linux (as the host operating system). Supported guest operating systems includeLinux, Windows XP (work in progress), NetBSD and FreeBSD. Unlike some of the other virtual machines and emulators, however,Xen requires you to have a modified version of the operating system as the guest OS.
Bochs is an open source emulator for IA-32 (Intel x86) machines. It has the ability to emulate a 386, 486, Pentium,Pentium Pro, AMD64, with or without MMX, SSE, SSE2 and 3DNow, with common I/O devices (such as a SoundBlaster sound card,a NE2000 compatible network card, etc) and a custom BIOS.You can run Windows 95/NT, Linux and DOS as guest operating systems in that machine. Your guest OS will be installed in alarge file which the emulator will use to mimic a hard disk for the emulated machine. Supported platforms (and hereI mean platforms on which Bochs will run) include Win32 (Windows 9x/ME/2k/XP), Macintosh, Mac OS X, BeOS, Amiga MorphOS,OS/2, and Unix/X11 systems (including Linux).
JPC is a PC emulator written using the Java programming language,and thus runs on any computer that has theJava runtime environment installed (eg Windows, Linux,Mac OS X, etc). At the time this mini-review was written, the emulator is able to run all versions ofDOS as well as some versionsof Linuxand OpenBSD. Note: if you need to run seriousprograms (other than DOS games), you should probably choose one of the other emulators onthis page. The emulator is probably intended more for academic interestand amusement than serious emulation tasks. (It is after all an emulator running on a virtual machine.)
OpenVZ is a server virtualization software built on Linux. If you have ever signed up with aweb hosting company that provides virtual private servers (VPS),they are probably running some sort of server virtualization software similar to this. The software allows you to create isolated environments torun individual copies of operating systems and provide a supposedly secure virtual environment (VE) that behaves like standalone servers.
DOSEMU is a well-known DOS emulator that runs in Linux (host OS). It can even run Windows 3.x in DOS emulation.
DOSBox is an x86 emulator with a built-in DOS. It was created primarily to run DOS games. It emulates a 286/386 inreal and protected modes, XMS/EMS, a graphics card (VGA/EGA/CGA/VESA/Hercules/Tandy), SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra sound card,etc. You can apparently even run the old 16-bit Windows 3.1 in the emulator. Host operating systems (ie, platforms onwhich you can run the DOSBox emulator) include Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, BeOS, FreeBSD, MorphOS and Amiga68k.
WINE, which stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator, allows you to run Windows programs in Linux and other Unix-type systems.It is a layer that emulates the Windows API on Unix systems running X. You do not need to have Windows at all to run yourWindows applications in WINE. If you are looking for Windows emulators or clones, you may also want to check out theFree Windows Clones, Emulators and Emulation Layerspage.
Plex86 is a virtual machine for running Linux on x86 machines. It only runs on a Linux running on an x86 machine.
Minde is an emulator that allows you to run some DOS applications, demos and games under Linux.
PCEmu emulates a basic 8086 PC with a VGA text-only display, allowing you to run some DOS programs. It runs under Linux.The program is no longer maintained.
Business Plan Software For Mac
[Update: the Q website seems to have disappeared.]Q is a port of QEMU (see elsewhere on this page) thatallows you to run Windows, Linux, etc, on your Mac. You can exchange files between your host and guest operating systems.Q runs on Mac OS X running on either an Intel processor or the older PowerPC G4/G5 processor. Depending on whether yourun it on OS X Lion or earlier, it can emulate a PC (x86 or x86_64 processor), a PowerPC (PPC), a G3,a Sun4m (32 bit Sparc processor), Sun4u (64 bit Sparc processor), Malta (32 bit MIPS processor) and a Mac99 PowerMac.(The Sparc, MIPS and possibly x86_64 guests are not available on Lion, at the time I write this.)It emulates a Soundblaster 16 card, a Cirrus CLGD 5446 PCI VGA card (or a dummy VGA card with Bochs VESA extensions),a PS/2 mouse and keyboard, 2 PCI IDE interfaces with hard diskand CD-ROM support, a floppy disk, NE2000 PCI network adapters and serial ports.
- How to Register Your Own Domain Name - how to get your own domain name
It will appear on your page as:
Listed on this page are Macintosh emulators: some of them emulate a 68k Macintosh (such as what you get inthe Macintosh Quadra, Performa, Classic, etc), others emulate a PowerPC Macintosh. Note that if you are usinga 68k Mac emulator and wish to run Mac OS (such as System 7.5.5, etc), you will need to havea real Mac around somewhere since such systems require you to have a Mac ROM. (the various emulators usually provide you with instructionson how you can make a copy of the ROM from your real Mac).
At present, I know of no software emulator that can emulate an Intel x86 Macintosh or to run OS X in a virtual machine on a PC.
Note: if you are looking for an emulator or virtual machine that runs on a Mac and allows you to emulate a PC, running operating systems like Windows,you should try the Free x86 PC Emulators and Virtual Machines page instead.If you prefer the features, speed and completeness of support of a commercial software, take a look atParallels Desktop for Mac.
Skip directly to[ Power PC Mac Emulators ] |[ 68k Mac Emulators ]
Related Pages
- Free x86 PC Emulators and Virtual Machines - emulate a PC to run multiple OSes
Free PowerPC (PPC) Mac Emulators
QEMU supports the emulation of x86 processors, ARM, SPARC and PowerPC. Host CPUs (processors that can run the QEMUemulator) include x86, PowerPC, Alpha, Sparc32, ARM, S390, Sparc64, ia64, and m68k (some of these are still indevelopment). When emulating a PC (x86), supported guest operating systems include MSDOS, FreeDOS, Windows 3.11,Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Linux, SkyOS, ReactOS, NetBSD, Minix, etc. When emulating a PowerPC, currently tested guest OSesinclude Debian Linux.
SoftPear is a compatibility layer that allows you to run macOS on PC (x86) hardware. It works by dynamicallyrecompiling Mac programs (including Mac OS X) into x86 binary code that runs on your PC, and adding a layer thattranslates things like endianness.
This is essential a virtual machine that allows you to run macOS on top of a Linux host system that runs on a PowerPC computer.Supported host CPUs include the PowerPC 603, 604, G3 and G4. It also allows the use of AltiVec in the Guest OS if the CPU supports it. At the timethis was written, only PCI devices (hard disks, USB drives, CDROM and DVD drives, etc) that do not use DMA are natively supported.
SheepShaver allows you to run classic MacOS applications on BeOS and Linux. It includes a PowerPC emulator which isused if you are using a non-PPC system. It supports MacOS 7.5.2 to 8.6 as the guest operating system, a colour display,internet and LAN networking via Ethernet, serial drivers, SCSI Manager emulation, file exchange with the host OS,access to floppy disks, CD-ROMs, HFS(+) partitions on hard disks, sound, etc.
PearPC emulates a PPC (PowerPC) Macintosh, allowing you to run Darwin PPC, macOS and Linux in the emulated machine.Supported hosts include Windows and Linux (and possibly other Unix-type systems).
Free 680x0 (68K) Macintosh Emulators
The Advanced Mac Substitute is able to run 68K Mac applications without an Apple ROM or MacOS. It does this byreimplementing the API (that is, the programming interface) of the classic MacOS. The emulator runs onmacOS and Linux. The program is released as source code, so you will actually compile it intobinary (ie, executable) form before you can run it.
PCE/macplus is an open source emulator for theMacintosh 128K, Macintosh 512k, Macintosh 512ke, Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE and Macintosh Classic.It emulates the MC68000 microprocessor with RAM configurations from 128 KB to 4 MB. Precompiledversions of the emulator, including the ROM image and operating system software, that runs on Windows,are available. The C source code is released under the GNU General Public License. This is the Mac emulatorcurrently used by the Internet Archive for theirMacOS System 7.1 Compilation.
Mini vMac is an emulator for the Macintosh Plus and Macintosh SE. There are versions for Windows,Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 (PowerPC), Linux (x86), Pocket PC, and Macintosh 680x0. The source code is releasedunder the GNU GPL.
Basilisk II/JIT is an adaptation of the original Basilisk II Macintosh emulator (see elsewhere onthis page) to includea just-in-time (JIT) compiler (presumably speeding up the emulated machine). Host platforms include Linux/i386,FreeBSD/i386 and Windows. Guest OSes include the 68k Mac OS. Basilisk II/JIT is open source.
The Basilisk II Mac emulator allows you to emulate a 68k Macintosh on a variety of platforms, including BeOS (PowerPCand x86), Unix with X11 (including Linux, Solaris 2.5, FreeBSD and IRIX), AmigaOS 3.x, and Windows. The emulator isable to emulate a Mac Classic or Mac II depending on the Mac ROM you use (not included). Your emulated Mac has a colourdisplay, CD quality sound output, floppy disk drive, HFS partitions and files, CDROM drive, etc. You can easily movefiles between your host system and the emulated machine. Basilisk II is open source.
SoftMac is a 68k Macintosh emulator that runs under Windows. Fusion PC emulates a 68k Mac on MSDOS systems. Note thatin spite of what the website and software claims, I have never been able to get sound working on SoftMac (nor have,apparently, anyone else I know). You will need a Mac ROM for the emulator to work.
- How to Register Your Own Domain Name - how to get your own domain name
It will appear on your page as: