Question Can macOS be installed on the XBox Series X?

[vailr]

Question: How close is the XBox Series X to being a normal PC? I'm assuming that some bios firmware alterations would be required in order to install an alternate operating system. Has anyone attempted installing either macOS (Hackintosh) or Windows on the XBox Series X? Thanks.

 

[TheELF]

From the first xbox they always put protections into the bios to prevent running any software they don't want to run and MS is really good at it.
Sony is not that far behind but PS consoles are always a little more vulnerable.

Xbox has developer mode that you pay like $20 for and that allows you to run UWP Universal Windows Platform software (mainly retroarch )but that's as far as you will be able to go for a lot of years on the new gen.

How to Put Your Xbox Series X or S into Developer Mode

Microsoft lets anyone play developer by installing Developer Mode on their Xbox Series X, S, or One console.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[vailr]

From the first xbox they always put protections into the bios to prevent running any software they don't want to run and MS is really good at it.

That they would put in roadblocks, was already assumed. However, the XBox Series X bios firmware should be able to be re-flashed & re-programmed with a "normal PC" type of firmware. Not saying it would be easy, and may (?) involve some soldering & de-soldering expertise. But if macOS could be made to run on that hardware, then you would have a sort of "Mini Mac Pro" Hackintosh for ~$500. The included XBox Series X GPU would be much improved over the GPU included with the Mac Mini.

 

[TheELF]

That they would put in roadblocks, was already assumed. However, the XBox Series X bios firmware should be able to be re-flashed & re-programmed with a "normal PC" type of firmware. Not saying it would be easy, and may (?) involve some soldering & de-soldering expertise.

Yes of course it's possible to flash it in theory, we are saying the same thing, yes the only problem is that it's very difficult and nobody knows how to do it.

 

[vailr]

Would probably look something like this video showing how to re-program a MacBook bios firmware:

 

[simas]

Question: How close is the XBox Series X to being a normal PC? I'm assuming that some bios firmware alterations would be required in order to install an alternate operating system. Has anyone attempted installing either macOS (Hackintosh) or Windows on the XBox Series X? Thanks.

not close. significant work to make this take any other OS besides what manufacturers intended (and paid for). remember that Sony/Microsoft are currently selling them at cost/at loss so they have zero interest in helping you achieve anything other than what they intended to run.

Also, remember that as time passes, this hardware becomes more and more obsolete - these are 8C16T Zen2 CPUs which are already superseded by Zen3 (20% IPC increase over what is in those consoles), likely to be Zen3+ in 2021 and Zen 4 beyond. In 2-3 years, the mainstream CPU from AMD is going to be 30-40% faster in IPC and also faster in frequency.

if you really want hackintosh , just buy any of the SFF units like ASRock deskmini, add CPU of your choice, $100 for RAM and you will have a machine <$600 that is upgradable, has more RAM, has actual support/bios updates, etc.

 

[vailr]

not close. significant work to make this take any other OS besides what manufacturers intended

Sorry: your argument isn't very convincing. A "regular PC" has the ability to play XBox games, which MS designed into Windows 10 to be able to do. A more likely scenario: the XBox Series X includes a specially designed bios firmware, which is resistant to being re-programmed. Either by de-soldering, using a USB chip programmer & re-soldering the bios chip, would be one possible solution. Or simply re-programming the bios firmware "in place", could also be a possibility.
As far as comparison with "SFF units like ASRock deskmini": the GPU included with the XBox Series X appears to be much better than any such "regular mini PC" that doesn't accommodate a current model of discrete video card. The XBox Series X GPU (~12 teraflops) alone appears to be worth something like $350, compared with current AMD video cards.
If some crypto-mining software could be installed on the XBox Series X (alternate boot O.S., when not playing games), I imagine the return on investment time would be under 4 months, at current mining profitability (Bitcoin >$29,000).

 

[simas]

Sorry: your argument isn't very convincing. A "regular PC" has the ability to play XBox games, which MS designed into Windows 10 to be able to do. A more likely scenario: the XBox Series X includes a specially designed bios firmware, which is resistant to being re-programmed. Either by de-soldering, using a USB chip programmer & re-soldering the bios chip, would be one possible solution. Or simply re-programming the bios firmware "in place", could also be a possibility.
As far as comparison with "SFF units like ASRock deskmini": the GPU included with the XBox Series X appears to be much better than any such "regular mini PC" that doesn't accommodate a current model of discrete video card. The XBox Series X GPU (~12 teraflops) alone appears to be worth something like $350, compared with current AMD video cards.
If some crypto-mining software could be installed on the XBox Series X (alternate boot O.S., when not playing games), I imagine the return on investment time would be under 4 months, at current mining profitability (Bitcoin >$29,000).

I think you are confusing the locked down system (which Microsoft fully controls and will control going forward including disabling anything it would find online should hardware be 'abused' (from their perspective)) with ability to run x86 games on commodity X86 hardware ('Windows 10' example). PS5 is also x86, so what? Could you get a hardware piece, keep it disconnected from net, do some weird thing to it and make it run your fridge? May be, but why? The amount of time and effort involved (and time is money) does not worth it, IMHO. You will also have write (and maintain) your own drivers, etc.

Ultimately, if you are stating this is easy and simple - go ahead and show us how to do it .

and the last thing here is the question of what is the value of your time. Is it is worthless (time spent has no monetary value) it is one thing, is your time is worth something than such DYI monsters make even less sense.
for me, I work a good tech job that pays enough to afford toys and tools. if I consult outside of that, it is also $150+ per hour. how many hours do I need to spend on this hack this, junk that, to take a console under warranty and turn it into some tinker toy that would not be warranted anymore, may stop working any second, and otherwise is barely above trash level in terms of usability and support? in that amount of time , if I need to, I rather work and buy whatever PC/upgrades/hardware I want/need without having to worry about any of those concerns.. i.e. if I want Mac mini , I just buy one.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Question: How close is the XBox Series X to being a normal PC? I'm assuming that some bios firmware alterations would be required in order to install an alternate operating system. Has anyone attempted installing either macOS (Hackintosh) or Windows on the XBox Series X? Thanks.

HW is close, but completely locked down. You can't install Windows, let alone MacOS.

 

[CluelessOne]

Not only that, who is going to write the hardware drivers for MacOS? Recall this article which tries to run regular Windows on an Xbox One hardware? Non updateable hardware etc.

 

[DigDog]

i have build a grand total of ONE hackintosh and therefore, with my infinite depth of wisdom, i can say without fear of contradiction that
it's impossible.

I mean, Apple could do it, but us mere mortals?
Apple OS are booted onto a device with a specific code that tells the OS kernel exactly WHAT combination of hardware it's being installed on. And if that hardware does not match, the boot fails.
Going from a 3770 to a 4770 took me 1 week of near-nonstop work in guesswork as to which bootflags, and in what order, would allow the installation.
Trying to do it on xbox motherboard is near impossible.