What is SheepShaver PPC emulator (for Windows + Mac OS X)?

SheepShaver is a PowerPC (PPC) emulator which allows you to run Mac OS 7.5 up to Mac OS 9.0.4 on various platforms, such as on Windows.  SheepShaver started as a commercial project in 1998 but is now open source since 2002.  SheepShaver is not perfect (it cannot run MacOS 9.1 or 9.2), but enables users to run the vast majority of PPC software for Macintosh on their PC, which is all things considered, extraordinary, especially back in the year 1998.

These bundles were put together by @that-ben and are intended to be the easiest possible for beginners.  They already contain a compatible ROM file (1998-07-21 - Mac OS ROM 1.1 from an iMac G3), a 250MB hard disk image on which Mac OS 9.0.4 is already installed (as well as an optional empty 30GB, yes 30 gigabytes, disk image to accomodate heavy disk space use).  The base hard disk image comes with a bunch of useful software on it, but please note that this 250MB disk image is not intended for users to install more software.  If you intend to install software in your SheepShaver VM, then you will need to expand that blank 30GB file, attach it in SheepShaver preferences and copy the Mac OS 9 System Folder from the 250MB disk image to the 30GB one.

Pre-installed software includes: QuickTime 4.1 for multimedia playback, Stuffit Deluxe 7.0.3 for extracting/compressing Stuffit archives and MacBinary files (such as .sit, .hqx or .bin), Toast 5 Titanium for mounting/creating CD images (such as .iso or .toast), Virex 6.1 which was the best antivirus for Mac around year 2000, SoundApp which is an extraordinary compatible music player (plays close to 100 different formats such as .mp3, .wav or .mod) and a bunch of useful utilities such as Super ResEdit 2.4, DiskCopy 6.4 and TaskMenuBar 2.4.2.

 

ON WINDOWS: If you want to use SheepShaver 2.4 or older for the first time, you'll first need to install GTK+ :)  RTFM: https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver_setup

ON MODERN MAC OS X: If you see an error like "SheepShaver is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash" it simply means that your Mac OS X environment security is preventing you from launching it, but it's simple to overcome.  Go to the menu bar and set this: Apple > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Allow apps downloaded from > Anywhere.  This following note should no longer apply to the current release, but is kept here for reference about the previous SheepShaver release from 2021: If you do not see the "Anywhere" option (e.g. on macOS Big Sur) you have to run the GateKeeper Helper command file via control-click > open, then choose option #3 to disable GateKeeper.  Now choose option #5 then drag and drop the SheepShaver Wrapper onto the Terminal window and press ENTER.  Then, launch SheepShaver Wrapper via control-click > open.  RTFM: https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sheepshaver_mac_os_x_setup

 

See also: Basilisk II - a 68K emulator with floppy support

 

Download SheepShaver PPC emulator (for Windows + Mac OS X)

Architecture

Intel x86-64

Compatibility notes

For Windows: All you need to do is unzip the file, follow the instructions file inside the "1 - Install First" folder and you'll be ready to run old Mac software in seconds.

For Mac: All you need to do is set the "Unix Root" folder you see on the VM desktop, it allows you to share files between Mac OS X and the VM Mac OS.  It's fine if you do not set it, but know that it's gonna default to your /Users/your-username/Documents/ until you set it elsewhere.

SheepShaver is crashing while booting Mac OS 9? If the VM crashes while booting, try to re-launch it another time.  This happens with SheepShaver, it's not 100% stable and sometimes extensions loading while the virtual Mac OS is booting can crash SheepShaver, notably the Virex antivirus extension.  Re-launching it often bypasses the issue.

SheepShaver crashes when booting Mac OS 8.1? You need the Old World Mac ROM listed separately (see the downloads).  Shut down SheepShaver if it's running, then launch the SheepShaverGUI and under the Memory/Misc tab, select that Old World Mac ROM file, then start SheepShaver and it should boot Mac OS 8.1 successfully.

 

Additional information about QuickTime in SheepShaver from the user "eep" :

The maximum Quicktime version that works in Sheepshaver is 4.1.2

You need to set your RAM to 512MB