macOS Tahoe on Proxmox,
in one command.

Building a macOS VM on Proxmox by hand means hunting an OpenCore image, patching a plausible SMBIOS into it, fetching a recovery from Apple, converting it, and guessing which virtual CPU the guest will accept. This script does all of it in one pass — and picks the CPU model from what your host actually supports, so the same command works on an AVX2 Xeon and on an old AMD box.

Five steps, on the Proxmox host, as root.

Run it in a terminal and it asks for the essentials — macOS version, storage, RAM, disk size — with Enter accepting the defaults. Every setting is also an environment variable, which skips its question; with no terminal the defaults apply, so automation stays non-interactive.

Proxmox VE 7.2 or later, a 64-bit Intel/AMD host with virtualization enabled and at least SSE4.2 (AVX2 recommended), ~5 GB free on the ISO storage plus the VM disk, and internet access on the host and in the VM.

# as root on the Proxmox host
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devfrp/macos-tahoe-proxmox/main/install.sh | bash

# with settings, no questions asked
curl -fsSL …/install.sh | \
  VMID=990 CORES=8 RAM=16384 DISK=120 STORAGE=local-zfs bash

qm destroy <VMID>
rm -rf /root/macos-tahoe-installer

# 1. the VM starts on its own (unless START=0)
# 2. open the console, let OpenCore boot
#    macOS Base System
# 3. Disk Utility → erase the large VirtIO disk
#    (APFS, GUID partition map)
# 4. quit, then Install macOS Tahoe
#    (30-60 min, several reboots — always let
#     OpenCore pick the default entry)
# 5. on the desktop, detach the recovery disk:
qm set <VMID> --delete sata0

Once macOS is installed, this copies OpenCore to the VM's own EFI partition, detaches the installer media and reboots the VM from its disk — run it on the Proxmox host.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devfrp/macos-tahoe-proxmox/main/install.sh \
  | bash -s -- finalize <VMID>

# from inside macOS
sudo diskutil mount disk0s1
cp -R /Volumes/LongQT-OpenCore/EFI_RELEASE/EFI /Volumes/EFI/

# then on the host
qm set <VMID> --delete ide2 --delete sata0 --delete sata1
qm set <VMID> --boot order=virtio0

The script already generates a random SMBIOS per VM — enough for the installer and Software Update. Apple services additionally need a hidden hypervisor: add VMHide to EFI/OC/Kexts and to config.plist, with vmhState=enabled in boot-args, then reboot the VM before signing in. Check the generated serial on Apple's coverage page first — signing in to Apple services from a VM may violate Apple's terms, and a serial that happens to resemble a real device should be regenerated with GenSMBIOS.

The five things that actually go wrong.

• VIRTUAL CPU
  Auto-selected · a generic Intel virtual CPU matching what the host can provide — Haswell-noTSX-IBRS with AVX2, SandyBridge-IBRS with AVX only, Nehalem-IBRS with SSE4.2. Force one with CPU_MODEL=… (e.g. CPU_MODEL=host).
• UPDATE ERROR
  "An error occurred preparing the software update" · the stock OpenCore ISO ships a placeholder SMBIOS (iMac19,1, all-zero serial) that Apple's installer rejects. The script now always generates a real one — delete the cached /root/macos-tahoe-installer/opencore-boot-<version>.img and re-run to regenerate it if you built the VM before this fix.
• NON-AVX2
  Host without AVX2 · the VM boots through a small OpenCore boot disk (sata1) carrying CryptexFixup — no ISO rebuild involved, and finalize folds it into the VM's own EFI partition. Delta updates are not available; update via full installers.
• BOOT LOOP
  Instant reset · check that cat /sys/module/kvm/parameters/ignore_msrs returns Y — reboot the host after the first install if needed.
• CONSOLE
  No mouse/keyboard, slow display · use the noVNC console; USB passthrough can be added afterwards. A slow display is normal — the VM has no GPU acceleration. GPU passthrough is possible but out of scope here.