Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine
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wrote on 5 May 2024, 00:23 last edited by
Hi everyone,
After reading what has been said on this subject, including on this forum, I understand that cross-compiling on macOS for Windows is not as easy as that to manage in Qt.
The best solution seems to be to recompile the project in a virtual machine of the target system.
So that's what I'm trying to do from a virtual Windows 11 hosted on my MacBook's macOS Sonoma, but unfortunately I can't manage to load my project into Qt Windows and have no idea how to import the configuration infos from my project file (.pro) into a 'cmake.txt'.
Thanks for your help with the procedure.
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wrote on 5 May 2024, 05:37 last edited by Aronox 5 May 2024, 05:38
Hi! I am absolutely not the person to asnwer this question because I am VERY new to Qt and C++ but I can help you i think. I actually use Qt for my university project and what I do I just load the project into windows/mac by clicking the .pro file.
If the project was created on windows, then it asks for a mac configuration and if it was made on mac then it asks for a windows configuration. I just simply configure the project and it just works. And yes on both systems i am using qmake.
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Hi everyone,
After reading what has been said on this subject, including on this forum, I understand that cross-compiling on macOS for Windows is not as easy as that to manage in Qt.
The best solution seems to be to recompile the project in a virtual machine of the target system.
So that's what I'm trying to do from a virtual Windows 11 hosted on my MacBook's macOS Sonoma, but unfortunately I can't manage to load my project into Qt Windows and have no idea how to import the configuration infos from my project file (.pro) into a 'cmake.txt'.
Thanks for your help with the procedure.
wrote on 5 May 2024, 05:46 last edited by Pl45m4 5 May 2024, 05:47@MortyMars said in Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine:
have no idea how to import the configuration infos from my project file (.pro) into a 'cmake.txt'.
Then you are not only switching the OS, but also the build system (Mac -> Win and QMake -> CMake).
Even if it's not the recommended way for a new Qt project anymore, you can still use the*.profile and import your Qt project as QMake project. You don't need to switch to CMake. -
Hi! I am absolutely not the person to asnwer this question because I am VERY new to Qt and C++ but I can help you i think. I actually use Qt for my university project and what I do I just load the project into windows/mac by clicking the .pro file.
If the project was created on windows, then it asks for a mac configuration and if it was made on mac then it asks for a windows configuration. I just simply configure the project and it just works. And yes on both systems i am using qmake.
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@MortyMars said in Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine:
have no idea how to import the configuration infos from my project file (.pro) into a 'cmake.txt'.
Then you are not only switching the OS, but also the build system (Mac -> Win and QMake -> CMake).
Even if it's not the recommended way for a new Qt project anymore, you can still use the*.profile and import your Qt project as QMake project. You don't need to switch to CMake.wrote on 5 May 2024, 09:23 last edited byHi @Pl45m4 ,
Thanks for this lead, which indicates that my problem is a configuration problem.
I have to admit that I'm a bit confused between my two Qt installations, the one on macOS and the one on Windows, because I can't configure the same settings for my project on one side and the other.
When I try to open a .pro file on the Windows side I get this message :
"No valid configuration files could be found.
All the configuration files found in the "Y:\Qt\Procedures4XP\Procedures4XP.pro.user" directory are not suitable for the current version of Qt Creator, for example because they were written by an incompatible version of Qt Creator, or because a different configuration path was used."I also don't understand anything about adding "kits" and configuring them...
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Hi @Pl45m4 ,
Thanks for this lead, which indicates that my problem is a configuration problem.
I have to admit that I'm a bit confused between my two Qt installations, the one on macOS and the one on Windows, because I can't configure the same settings for my project on one side and the other.
When I try to open a .pro file on the Windows side I get this message :
"No valid configuration files could be found.
All the configuration files found in the "Y:\Qt\Procedures4XP\Procedures4XP.pro.user" directory are not suitable for the current version of Qt Creator, for example because they were written by an incompatible version of Qt Creator, or because a different configuration path was used."I also don't understand anything about adding "kits" and configuring them...
wrote on 5 May 2024, 12:58 last edited by@MortyMars yes that error is normal. from what little knowledge I have about Qt you see when you load the .pro file Qt creator looks for configuration file but they are different as Windows uses MinGW and Mac uses native files. I get that when ever I open up a project make in Windows on Mac and I just simply choose to configure the project.
I also do one more thing, the files on my Windows documents folder are synced with google drive so what ever change I make and what ever new files I add are automatically streamed to my mac
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The .pro.user file can not be shared between different systems - it does not belong to the source tree even it is created in there by QtCreator
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The .pro.user file can not be shared between different systems - it does not belong to the source tree even it is created in there by QtCreator
wrote on 5 May 2024, 14:29 last edited byThank you for these clarifications.
Unfortunately it doesn't tell me how to add the right kit and open my macOS project on Windows... -
Thank you for these clarifications.
Unfortunately it doesn't tell me how to add the right kit and open my macOS project on Windows...@MortyMars said in Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine:
my macOS project on Windows...
You can not compile MacOS under Windows.
Install Qt and QtCreator with the Qt online installer then QtCreator should automatically detect the Qt installation. When you want to use MSVC you also have to install it separately. Nothing more needed.
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Thank you for these clarifications.
Unfortunately it doesn't tell me how to add the right kit and open my macOS project on Windows...wrote on 5 May 2024, 15:19 last edited byIf you have a working Qt installation on Mac and Windows, you can copy the project over to Windows and delete everything from the project folder except the
.h,.cppand oneyourProject.profile...
Everything else, files likesomething.pro.userorsomething.pro5372527362can be deleted. You can also delete the build folder if it's included in your project dir.
When you project is "clean", you just open QtCreator, load the project with "Open Project..." and then configure it using your local kit which is installed. -
@MortyMars said in Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine:
my macOS project on Windows...
You can not compile MacOS under Windows.
Install Qt and QtCreator with the Qt online installer then QtCreator should automatically detect the Qt installation. When you want to use MSVC you also have to install it separately. Nothing more needed.
wrote on 5 May 2024, 15:23 last edited by@Christian-Ehrlicher said in Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine:
You can not compile MacOS under Windows.
I understand that this is unfortunately not possible :-(
I misspoke, sorry.
I meant that I can't open the project created on macOS, in a Qt installation on Windows. -
If you have a working Qt installation on Mac and Windows, you can copy the project over to Windows and delete everything from the project folder except the
.h,.cppand oneyourProject.profile...
Everything else, files likesomething.pro.userorsomething.pro5372527362can be deleted. You can also delete the build folder if it's included in your project dir.
When you project is "clean", you just open QtCreator, load the project with "Open Project..." and then configure it using your local kit which is installed.wrote on 5 May 2024, 15:45 last edited by@Pl45m4, @Aronox, @Christian-Ehrlicher
After running the maintenance tool to consolidate my Qt installation, and deleting the 'myproject.pro.user' file, the project finally opens under Windows. That's great!
Thanks a lot @Pl45m4 for the help.I'm just discovering my application on Windows and I can see that I'm going to have to do some work to make the interface look similar to what I have on the macOS side (in particular the alignment of the text in my QComboboxes, and the size of the QTextedit fonts).
But that's another subject that will no doubt open up new posts ;-)Thanks again to everyone.
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M MortyMars has marked this topic as solved on 5 May 2024, 20:53
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Thank you for these clarifications.
Unfortunately it doesn't tell me how to add the right kit and open my macOS project on Windows...wrote on 6 May 2024, 14:35 last edited by@MortyMars here's how I do it, after I click to sleect a kit, i sleect the kit with the same Qt version (you have to have the same version installed to do this). And it just works.
See i have two debug files? That is one was created on MacOS and one on Windows. And "post_login" is the main project folder with the .h, .prp, .cpp and any other source files i have in there.
and google drive keeps the files synced between the two systems, no copying needed.
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@MortyMars here's how I do it, after I click to sleect a kit, i sleect the kit with the same Qt version (you have to have the same version installed to do this). And it just works.
See i have two debug files? That is one was created on MacOS and one on Windows. And "post_login" is the main project folder with the .h, .prp, .cpp and any other source files i have in there.
and google drive keeps the files synced between the two systems, no copying needed.
wrote on 6 May 2024, 21:21 last edited by Pl45m4 5 Jun 2024, 21:24@Aronox said in Loading a macOS project on a Windows virtual machine:
(you have to have the same version installed to do this)
No you don't ;-)
Unless there are major differences in your code and you use features that one version has and the other don't, the same code can be configured, for example, using a Qt 6.6 Kit on Windows and a Qt 6.7 or Qt 6.5 Kit on Mac.
When configuring a project that originates from Qt 6.7 with a very ancient kit that uses Qt 4.8, you might face some difficulties ;-)
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