EmuGUI documentation

The legal side of macOS on EmuGUI

Yes, EmuGUI has got the ability to emulate some older versions of macOS. However, due to the license agreement which prohibits you from installing this system on non-Apple machines and some countries ignoring this by law, here is an article to help you.

Disclaimer

  1. I'm not a lawyer. If you are at all unsure, please get help from a real lawyer. This article comes with absolutely no warranty.
  2. I can't list every country. Please check your local copyright laws.

The obvious: Apple's EULA

First, we look at the End User License Agreement (EULA) from Apple themselves. According to the EULA of macOS 12 Monterey (Last visit on 15th June, 2022), you're only allowed to use it on Apple-branded systems. You can view the EULA here. However, some copyright laws don't incorporate that and that's where we're going to look next.

The US copyright laws

Note: I could only do possibly inaccurate research but at least I got some results.

Now, we look at what the USA (where Apple is from) has to say. According to my research, it is in the most part illegal to install macOS on non-Apple hardware via DMCA. However, some say if you have got a real Mac, installing macOS on your... let's say Lenovo machine would fall under Fair Use, meaning this operation would fall under the gray area.

Do you know more about this? Please let me know!

The German copyright laws

Note: In Germany, I was able to find out more (I'm German) and can tell you a bit more clearly. However, this might still get too inaccurate. Please consult a lawyer if you are at all unsure.

The German copyright laws are possibly less strict than the US-American DMCA. The Germans do prohibit piracy but the macOS case is unclear. Let's say, as some German tech sites like GIGA or PC-Welt could write an article about installing macOS on VirtualBox on a Windows machine without getting in trouble with Apple, I assume this falls under gray area.