Virtualization: the ultimate Swiss Army knife in an IT position

Virtualization is an important tool when working in an IT environment. It can be really useful to troubleshoot issues with users for servers. In an all windows studio environment it can be critical when it seems almost everyone else is using OS X. Virtualization is a powerful tool if you have a motherboard that supports the function and can really help you improve your productivity and just keep you agile for whatever may come up. Virtualization of almost any operating system is possible on PC, Mac or Linux using Virtualbox for free.
It requires a little knowledge of file systems, boot sectors and if you have hackintosh’d anything before your probably pretty comfortable with this stuff. A few things need to be in order.
You must have BIOS set to enable virtualization. Check the manufacturer’s instructions for this but it’s usually under advanced BIOS features.
Next for virtualizing OS X under Virtualbox you will need to download the latest version. It’s available free here.
A DVD vanilla installation disc or an ISO of OS X is the only thing you may have trouble obtaining.
As well you will need a boot loader to start the installation disc.
Chameleon or iBoot work well here.

Next set up Virtual box by giving it enough resources. Enabling I/O APIC AND disabling Enable EFI. There is a pretty good tutorial here about these options and where to find them.

Set a virtual disk for OS X to install to and in Virtualbox select your boot loader under the SATA controller you find your virtual disk under. Once in the installer choose disk utility from the toolbar and format your virtual disk under OS X. Install to that freshly made partition.

SOMETIMES THIS DOESN’T GO AS SIMPLY AS ALL THAT!

You might need a few boot flags once you get OS X started after installation. The hackintosh community has a good list of them. I used:

-v -x -f PCIRootUID=0 GraphicsEnaber=No

Once inside you may feel the need to update but avoid apples updates as they can really muck things up. Software updates on the other hand should be fine. Enjoy virtualization and using your PC, Mac or Linux to the max.