diff --git a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.h b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.h
index 1a66cec0e32..732b50d29ed 100644
--- a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.h
+++ b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.h
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ private:
     NSOpenGLContext *m_shareContext;
     QSurfaceFormat m_format;
     QPointer<QWindow> m_currentWindow;
+    bool m_didCheckForSoftwareContext;
 };
 
 QT_END_NAMESPACE
diff --git a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.mm b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.mm
index be5029b7e0f..b656025ec7e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.mm
+++ b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoaglcontext.mm
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ QCocoaGLContext::QCocoaGLContext(const QSurfaceFormat &format, QPlatformOpenGLCo
                                  const QVariant &nativeHandle)
     : m_context(nil),
       m_shareContext(nil),
-      m_format(format)
+      m_format(format),
+      m_didCheckForSoftwareContext(false)
 {
     if (!nativeHandle.isNull()) {
         if (!nativeHandle.canConvert<QCocoaNativeContext>()) {
@@ -262,6 +263,22 @@ bool QCocoaGLContext::makeCurrent(QPlatformSurface *surface)
 
     QWindow *window = static_cast<QCocoaWindow *>(surface)->window();
     setActiveWindow(window);
+
+    // Disable high-resolution surfaces when using the software renderer, which has the
+    // problem that the system silently falls back to a to using a low-resolution buffer
+    // when a high-resolution buffer is requested. This is not detectable using the NSWindow
+    // convertSizeToBacking and backingScaleFactor APIs. A typical result of this is that Qt
+    // will display a quarter of the window content when running in a virtual machine.
+    if (!m_didCheckForSoftwareContext) {
+        m_didCheckForSoftwareContext = true;
+
+        const GLubyte* renderer = glGetString(GL_RENDERER);
+        if (qstrcmp((const char *)renderer, "Apple Software Renderer") == 0) {
+            NSView *view = static_cast<QCocoaWindow *>(surface)->m_view;
+            [view setWantsBestResolutionOpenGLSurface:NO];
+        }
+    }
+
     update();
     return true;
 }
diff --git a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm
index d1f19f2de97..e86cc2d955c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm
+++ b/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qcocoawindow.mm
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ void QCocoaWindow::initialize()
             BOOL enable = qt_mac_resolveOption(YES, window(), "_q_mac_wantsBestResolutionOpenGLSurface",
                                                           "QT_MAC_WANTS_BEST_RESOLUTION_OPENGL_SURFACE");
             [m_view setWantsBestResolutionOpenGLSurface:enable];
+            // See also QCocoaGLContext::makeCurrent for software renderer workarounds.
         }
         BOOL enable = qt_mac_resolveOption(NO, window(), "_q_mac_wantsLayer",
                                                      "QT_MAC_WANTS_LAYER");