In this article, we at iLounge will guide you on how to get iMessage on PC. We will do our best to guide you with the easiest and best method available.
Just so you know, iMessage is not available for any Windows PC. Therefore, we will be using an alternative method to run iMessage on your PC.
Don’t worry, you wont need to jailbreak your iphone.
Here’s how to get iMessage on PC
In order to get iMessage running, you will first need to download and install VirtualBox. The VirtualBox software will then allow you to install macOS Mojave on your Windows PC.
Once macOS Mojave is installed inside the VirtualBox, you can then run iMessage on your computer without a problem.
If you aren’t sure what VirtualBox is, it’s a software that allows you to create virtual machines on a Windows PC for free.
While macOS Mojave is an operating system made by Apple Inc. for Mac devices.
Step 1: Download VirtualBox
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- Go to VirtualBox website.
- Download the VirtualBox software on your PC by clicking the “Windows Hosts” link.
- Install the VirtualBox software.
Step 2: Download macOS Mojave
To download the macOS Mojave VirtualBox image, click here. Once the file is downloaded, extract the .rar file. Just so you know, the file 6GB in size.
If you wish to download it via Torrent, download this file.
Extracting .rar file
If you aren’t able to extract .rar file, you may need to download a software that would allow you to do so. The best software to extract a .rar file would be 7-Zip, which is free to download.
Warning: While the macOS Mojave is originally developed by Apple Inc., this version of the macOS Mojave was modified for VirtualBox by Techsviewer and not by the official developers from Apple. Therefore, you may use this on your own risk. Currently, there is no VirtualBox image by the official company.
Step 3: Install macOS Sierra on VirtualBox
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- Open the VirtualBox software on your PC.
- Click “New”.
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- Set the name as “MacOS”.
- Set the Type as “MacOS X”.
- Set the Version as “macOS 10.13 High Sierra (64-bit)” and click “Next”.
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- Set a memory limit and click Next. (At least 2048MB/2GB)
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- Select “Use an existing virtual hard disk file” and click the tiny folder icon.
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- Go to the “Downloads” folder or to the location where you extracted the macOS Mojave VirtualBox image .rar file.
- Select the “macOS Mojave 10.14.4 HFS by Techsviewer.vmdk” file and click “Open”.
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- Now click on the “Create” button.
- In the search “Command Prompt” by typing “CMD” in the search box.
- Right click on the “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator”
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- Then run the following commands (copy one command at a time and replace Your VM Name to the VM name you entered in Step 3 above. It most probably be MacOS).
cd “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\”
VBoxManage.exe modifyvm “Your VM Name” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
VBoxManage setextradata “Your VM Name” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct” “iMac11,3”
VBoxManage setextradata “Your VM Name” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion” “1.0”
VBoxManage setextradata “Your VM Name” “VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct” “Iloveapple”
VBoxManage setextradata “Your VM Name” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey” “ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc”
VBoxManage setextradata “Your VM Name” “VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC” 1
Here’s how the commands listed above will look like in the Command Prompt:
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- Once the above commands have been executed in the Command Prompt, go back to the VirtualBox software, click on the “Start” button.
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- Allow a few seconds for the macOS Mojave to load and proceed with the installation.
- During the installation, you will be asked to enter your iCloud login details. Enter the same iCloud ID that your iPhone is connected to.
Note: In case your mouse gets locked inside the VirtualBox, hit the right CTRL key on your keyboard to move out of the VirtualBox.
Using iMessage on PC via macOS Mojave in VirtualBox
After the macOS Mojave installation has completed, click on the “iMessage” icon at the bottom of the screen. Checkout the screenshot below to give you an idea of how the icon looks like.
What if the iMessage icon is not visible?
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- Go to “Launchpad”.
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- Click on “Messages”.
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- You should now have access to iMessage.
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If for some reason the macOS isn’t running inside VirtualBox, you may need to change some settings for the virtual machine (VM). Techsviewer has written a full guide on how to get their macOS VirtualBox image to run along with tweaks that may need to be done for the virtual machine.
I personally don’t know much debugging when it comes to fixing a virtual machine. Therefore, if you are facing any type of errors when starting up the macOS in VirtualBox, please do comment on the full article guide by Techviewers.
Can I run iMessage on my PC that runs on a different operating system?
Yes, you can! Thanks to VirtualBox, they have developed their software to work on many operating systems.
Here is a list of the operating systems where VirtualBox works in order for you to run macOS for iMessage on your PC:
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- All Windows operating systems.
- Ubuntu 18.04 / 18.10 / 19.04 / Debian 10
- Ubuntu 16.04
- Ubuntu 14.04 / 14.10 / 15.04
- Debian 9
- Debian 8
- openSUSE 15.0
- openSUSE 13.2 / Leap 42
- Fedora 29 / 30
- Fedora 26 / 27 / 28
- Oracle Linux 7 / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 / CentOS 7
- Oracle Linux 6 / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 / CentOS 6
- Solaris / SunOS
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You can download the VirtualBox for the operating systems listed above by clicking here.
Is there any easier way to run iMessage on PC?
Well, it depends. If you own a Mac device at home, then you are in luck. Even if you have an old Mac at home that is not in use, now is the time that you can take some advantage from it.
If you don’t own a Mac device, then you would need to follow the steps I listed above to run iMessage on your PC. The following steps are for those who own a Mac but still wishes to use iMessage on a Windows computer.
I know most of you reading this article guide will think, what’s the point of sharing a method when you don’t even own a Mac device? Well, the following steps are for those who wish to run iMessage on their office PC or on a computer where they can’t use their Mac device.
In the following steps, I will guide you how you can connect a PC to your Mac device without having to carry it around with you. You will learn to remotely use your Mac device to use iMessage via a computer where iMessage is not available.
Please note that you will need to download and install Google Chrome on both devices. Your Mac and Windows computer must be connected to the internet at all times to use iMessage.
Here’s how to run iMessage on your PC via your Mac device
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- Download and install the Chrome Remote Desktop Extension for Google Chrome on your Mac and Windows device.
- Now go to the Remote Desktop extension in the Google Chrome browser on your Mac computer and write the access code on a piece of paper (Or take a picture on your phone if you are lazy).
- On your Windows computer, open the Chrome Remote Desktop in the Google Chrome browser and click “Access”.
- Enter the access code you wrote down at step 2 from your Mac computer.
- You should now have access to your Mac computer to send messages via iMessage.
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Will the iPadian software run iMessage on PC?
The answer is no. Many blogs have written a guide to get iMessage running on a Windows computer by installing a software called iPadian. The software basically gives you a feel of how the iPadOS looks like on an iPad. While it actually doesn’t run on iOS at all.
Did my guide help you run iMessage on your PC? The process is a little lengthy, however, it’s worth following to get iMessage running as there is no alternative method.
Do let me know in the comments below on how things turned out with you. I personally use the same methods to use iMessage on my Windows PC.
The setup is a one-time process so it’s definitely worth the effort.
