VMware Mac OS X Guest Package for ESX, Workstation, Player, Server and Fusion

[Donk]

Upgrade to OS 10.6.6 worked Ok. Used the lite update, not the combo update. Haven't tried the App Store.

 

Used 10.6.6 Combo and that is fine as well.

[MSoK]

Used 10.6.6 Combo and that is fine as well.

Not that it needs confirming having come from both Zenith432 and Donk, but all is well with 10.6.6, also if you are not aware it has added a Mac version of the App Store, so you will be able to buy all your favourite Apps all over again but this time for the Mac! Mind you a quick look at the comments for the perennial favourite Angry Birds not all is well in the translation from touch control to mouse / touchpad control, perhaps better to wait a couple of updates, although Flight Control seems to be OK.

 

A Happy New Year to everyone on InsanelyMac, especially the Geeks, Sages, Legends, etc. keep up the great work, Cheers MSoK.

[Kid 996]

Please point into proper direction/post, if necessary

 

Have MacPro with Snow Leopard and retail Mac OS X 10.6.3 Retail

 

I want to virtualize it and put inside VM Player 3 on Windows 7 machine.

 

I tried some Darwin based steps from some other site, but was never able to install from DVD.

 

From this thread, it seems to be possible, but I may not have proper Darwin iso and/or initial VM setup.

 

Where can I find necessary steps/downloads?

[scousi]

Used 10.6.6 Combo and that is fine as well.

 

I have some issues with 10.6.6 combo:

 

Flash sites no longer work (Safari hangs and must be killed manually)

Mouse is "fast" and weird

Overall performance is sluggish

 

Does anyone have these issues?

 

Upgraded from 10.6.4.

 

CPU is Intel i5-430M

[xbc]

Please point into proper direction/post, if necessary

 

Have MacPro with Snow Leopard and retail Mac OS X 10.6.3 Retail

 

I want to virtualize it and put inside VM Player 3 on Windows 7 machine.

 

I tried some Darwin based steps from some other site, but was never able to install from DVD.

 

From this thread, it seems to be possible, but I may not have proper Darwin iso and/or initial VM setup.

 

Where can I find necessary steps/downloads?

 

The easiest way to do this is to generate a clean OSX install following the guides in this post. Using either donk's method or even easier with Albert's unlocker. Once you have a clean install ready to go use the Migration Assistant to migrate all your information from the real mac to the virtual one.

[scousi]

I have some issues with 10.6.6 combo:

 

Flash sites no longer work (Safari hangs and must be killed manually)

Mouse is "fast" and weird

Overall performance is sluggish

 

Does anyone have these issues?

 

Upgraded from 10.6.4.

 

CPU is Intel i5-430M

 

Flash is fixed.

 

Uninstall flash and re-install version 10.0.r45 from Adobe archives.

 

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html

[xbc]

Just a heads up... I know everyone here loves flash or at least requires it for the web experience. The problem with installing version 10.0.r45 is that it has a very big security issue related to that version. Unfortunately it is also the last version that doesn't use Quartz Extreme acceleration which is why Safari and other browsers crash on a flash page and a newer version of the flash plugin.

 

So I have a middle of the road solution which is to:

 

1) Install the latest flash and use Firefox 3.x.

2) Install NoFlash plugin on Safari to avoid freezes.

 

For some reason Firefox 3 does not let a newer flash run Quartz Extreme acceleration so the new plugin works with it. With this method don't have an insecure version of flash installed and you can still use flash on Firefox 3.x. But yeah you wouldn't be able to use flash on Safari and it also would not work on Firefox 4 or any other browser that allows the newer versions of Flash to turn on the Quartz Extreme acceleration.

 

This is a compromise solution which will have to do until we get a Quart Extreme enabled driver for our VM

 

BTW.. MSOK did you have a chance to look at my vmlog files I posted a few posts back?

[xbc]

Ask and you shall receive, they have just release a beta driver that supports flash with the 3d acceleration. Works great on Workstation 7.

 

Check this thread out

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1617931

 

Hat tip to Zenith432.

[appledad]

Ok, First - Thanks for all the great information in this and some of the other threads.

 

I successfully installed OS X 10.6.3 using the albert's unlocker method and vmware workstation 7. That was on my Core i7 laptop. Now i'm trying to get this running on my desktop which was really the whole point for me. Problem is the desktop is a Phenom Quad Core. I've read and seen that you can't use the albert's unlocker method with AMD - is this correct? If so, i'm assuming I should use the darwin method - which I've tried using darwin310.iso. Not sure what i'm missing. I'm attaching one of my vmx files, vmlog file. I'm sure there is something simple i'm missing but after pouring over this and the other 103 page thread - i'm not sure. Also, I should mention that originally for the first try I just copied my virtual machine over from the laptop - including the vmx file and already installed virtual drive. Not sure if this will work or if I have to reinstall on this machine.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Wow it is late - this is the 103 or 104 page thread I was looking at. The other one I looked at for the albert unlocker method is here - unlocker method

not sure if this will help you but i have an amd phenom and i was able to load os x 10.6.4 with the empire efi legacy loader. i also updated to 10.6.6 yesterday.

[Kid 996]

The easiest way to do this is to generate a clean OSX install following the guides in this post. Using either donk's method or even easier with Albert's unlocker. Once you have a clean install ready to go use the Migration Assistant to migrate all your information from the real mac to the virtual one.

 

where do these methods described?

post begins with description for VMW7, but it did not work for VMPlayer. any diviations?

[naivivvuli]

Hi everyone!

 

I have attempted the Snow Leopard Installation into a Dell R710 Server.

 

Specs:

 

ESXi 4.1

CPU - Intel Quad E5520

Memory - 48gbs

 

 

I do have a legit copy of the Snow Leopard 10.6.3 which I obtained for $29.00 USD. I turned it into an ISO using IMG burn and dumped it into the datastore of my ESXi server.

 

First off, I want to say that the installation attempt has failed, and I would like help and inputs from everyone who has done it on this CPU.

 

This is what I have done so far:

 

Virtualization Technology is enabled in the BIOS.

VmWare ESXi 4.1 is the latest version

Dumped Snow Leopard ISO into datastore (legit copy)

Downloaded vmware-darwin310-macosx1064 and dumped into datastore as well

 

I used Vmware vsphere and connected to the ESXi server which I attempted the installation.

 

Created a new virtual machine using the wizard

Did a custom installation wizard

Name of virtual machine - MAC OS X

datastore location - virtual machines

Virtual Machine Version 7

Guest Operating System: Other (FreeBSD 64bit)

CPU Processors: 1

Memory: 1024MB

Network: Virtual Machines Adapter: E1000

SCSI Controller: LSI Logic Parrallel

Hard Disk Size: 20gb

Virtual Device Node for hard disk: IDE (I chose IDE because it worked vs. SCSI)

 

Then I booted from the darwin.iso, changed the cd to the macosx.iso pushed F5.

It recognized the DVD. I pushed enter to start from the DVD i see the Apple Logo for 2secs then my VM restarts. (I connected directly to the ESXi via vSphere Client)

 

The problem keeps occurring. I was wondering if I was mixing a step. I've went through the entire thread, and tried every option available. Can someone point something out for me. Thanks!

[MSoK]

Hi everyone!

 

I have attempted the Snow Leopard Installation into a Dell R710 Server.

 

Then I booted from the darwin.iso, changed the cd to the macosx.iso pushed F5.

It recognized the DVD. I pushed enter to start from the DVD i see the Apple Logo for 2secs then my VM restarts. (I connected directly to the ESXi via vSphere Client)

 

The problem keeps occurring. I was wondering if I was mixing a step. I've went through the entire thread, and tried every option available. Can someone point something out for me. Thanks!

OK,

Have you installed the datastore dumped unzipped version of "vmware-darwin310-macosx1064", if not look at the original manual for steps 5 to 8. Once installed you create the OS X VM as you have done, then try and boot it, it will fail, then amend the vmx file, as per the manual, only with ESXi 4.1 you can use guestOS = "darwin10-64". This will enable all the pre-load stuff from Donk's darwin iso to be applied, DO NOT mount Donk's darwin iso, only mount your OS X SL DVD or ISO. At boot use the F8 and F5 combination to see your OS X DVD, then press enter, you may need some additional command line options to get to the OS X to install, see the posts around page 85 on this topic.

 

where do these methods described?

post begins with description for VMW7, but it did not work for VMPlayer. any diviations?

Kid,

Use Albert's "Unlocker" with VMware Player 3.1.3, but use Donk's updated script rather than Albert's original. Albert's unlocker is at the beginning of the topic, and the link below points to Donk's undated script:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1529856

 

Provided you have an Intel CPU with VT-x enabled in BIOS and a retail DVD of OS X 10.6.x, you should be able to install OS X from the "New Virtual Machine Wizard" Select Apple Mac OS X as the Guest operating system and Mac OS X Server 10.6 64-bit as the version.

The only fly in the ointment, is if your retail DVD is 10.6.3 and your processor is a Core i3, i5 or i7, then you will need to add a CPUID mask to your VMX configuration file, see the link below:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1551966

 

Ok, First - Thanks for all the great information in this and some of the other threads.

 

I successfully installed OS X 10.6.3 using the albert's unlocker method and vmware workstation 7. That was on my Core i7 laptop. Now i'm trying to get this running on my desktop which was really the whole point for me. Problem is the desktop is a Phenom Quad Core. I've read and seen that you can't use the albert's unlocker method with AMD - is this correct? If so, i'm assuming I should use the darwin method - which I've tried using darwin310.iso. Not sure what i'm missing. I'm attaching one of my vmx files, vmlog file. I'm sure there is something simple i'm missing but after pouring over this and the other 103 page thread - i'm not sure. Also, I should mention that originally for the first try I just copied my virtual machine over from the laptop - including the vmx file and already installed virtual drive. Not sure if this will work or if I have to reinstall on this machine.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Wow it is late - this is the 103 or 104 page thread I was looking at. The other one I looked at for the albert unlocker method is here - unlocker method

OK,

As you have realised neither Albert's "Unlocker" or Donk's "darwin iso" support AMD processors, you need to have a look at Zenith432's SnowKitty topic, see link below:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1288448

 

Since this installs OS X on to a second virtual disk, you may be able to bypass the first stage and move on to modifying the kernel, from a copy of your current intel based OS X VM, only a theory, good luck.

 

BTW.. MSOK did you have a chance to look at my vmlog files I posted a few posts back?

Sorry xbc, been busy at work, will try and have a look, cheers MSoK.

[naivivvuli]

OK,

Have you installed the datastore dumped unzipped version of "vmware-darwin310-macosx1064", if not look at the original manual for steps 5 to 8. Once installed you create the OS X VM as you have done, then try and boot it, it will fail, then amend the vmx file, as per the manual, only with ESXi 4.1 you can use guestOS = "darwin10-64". This will enable all the pre-load stuff from Donk's darwin iso to be applied, DO NOT mount Donk's darwin iso, only mount your OS X SL DVD or ISO. At boot use the F8 and F5 combination to see your OS X DVD, then press enter, you may need some additional command line options to get to the OS X to install, see the posts around page 85 on this topic.

 

 

You are awesome. I got the installation started. I edited the VMX file based on the manual.pdf and I got to the Installation Screen using additional commands found on page 85 as you have quoted.

 

rd(0,1)/legacy_kernel -v -f -x rd=disk1s3

 

I added the following lines to my VMX file:

 

#guestOSAltName = "FreeBSD (64-bit)"

ich7m.present = "TRUE"

smc.present = "FALSE"

keyboard.vusb.enable = "TRUE"

mouse.vusb.enable = "TRUE"

 

^Done so towards the end of the file. The keyboard was working but not the mouse. So I got up to

"Select the disk where yo uwant to install MAC OS X" and I can't tab on the keyboard to try to go to utilities. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

--

 

Woops, I added the USB controller and now it works. Thanks. You guys are amazing!

[~zZz~]

if You can get a compatible VMWARE TOOLS, then You can copy/ paste and forth between host/ guest no problemo!!! search...

 

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

 

is this CPU don't support. so is there anyway I can do. I just want to have the ability to copy & paste between host and guest.

 

Thanks.

[user515]

Hello guys,

 

This is how I successfully installed Mac OS X 10.6.3 in Vmware Workstation 7:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 430M with Intel VT enabled (should definitely work with other CPUs)

 

Host: Windows 7 64bits

 

Soft: Vmware Workstation 7.1.0 build 261024 (should work with other versions)

 

Guest: iAtkos S3 v2 (Mac OS X 10.6.3), (thats what I had, but probably the Apple retail image will work too)

 

 

 

 

This is not a complete guide, just a helper. I wanted to create a new thread, but didnt had enough privileges, if someone can, please copy-past this post in a new thread to help new comers

 

1- First you need to patch vmware workstation with albert's patch. probably not totally necessary , but worth trying

 

2-Create a new Mac OS X 10.6 virtual machine in vmware, use default settings, check if an audio adapter is added, if not add it, before starting, edit it's vmx file

 

3-Basically, these are the changes that I made:

 

* comment or remove (if listed): firmware = "efi"

 

* add the next 3 lines:

 

cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101"

monitor.virtual_exec = "hardware"

monitor.virtual_mmu = "software"

 

 

removing the efi firmware is necessary to use the "busratio" command later in case the os fails to load (probably related to speedstep feature), if you can load iatkos or other images correctly, then no need for this change or later for the "busratio" flag

 

cpuid to address some issues with 10.6.3 and new CPUs

 

the other 2 lines were copied from this forum

 

 

4- I had problem with vmware and my cpu that prevented the os from booting, which I corrected by adding this command before booting (type F8 in the bootloader screen), change the value accordingly to your cpu: http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=642 or cpuz

 

busratio=19

 

5- Continue the setup, personally I deselected every patch in the iAtkos s3 v2 except the bootloader, and it seems to work perfectly so far. Don't forget the busratio trick everytime you boot

 

6-Everything should be fine now, if you used busratio, you can add it to com.apple.Boot.plist (google it) and forget about it, you can uncomment or put back: firmware = "efi" in the project's vmx file

 

7-Finally install Zenith432's drivers (audio+video) from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vmsvga2/

 

you can check the latest video driver (should support opengl) here:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=199507

 

don't forget to enable 3D in vmware

 

 

 

 

The os is pretty responsive.

 

I'm not sure if it is ok to update, I am in the process of testing right now.

 

Otherwise, enjoy

[jon2010b]



I've had to give in.... and plead for assistance in getting SL running on my ESX4.1 box.

(I already have it running successfully on VMworkstation, so know the ISO etc are valid)

 

I have copied the contents of "vmware-darwin310-macosx1064" and executed the script


Q. are the files and directory required after the running of the script? i.e. /datastore/blah/vmware-darwin310-macosx1064?

 

I created a new VM, booted, edited vmx as per manual and various threads (unsure of exact “guest name” for SL running under ESX 4.1 (64bit mode)

 

When I power up the VM it drops to the DHCP boot strap (as I assume it’s missing the bootloader for darwin), I can successfully boot any other ISO, inc Darwin etc).

 

So I guess my real question is, how does the newly created VM know where/how to load the Darwin ISO?

 

Hope you can help in cracking this one..reward pending

[MSoK]

Hello guys,

 

This is how I successfully installed Mac OS X 10.6.3 in Vmware Workstation 7:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 430M with Intel VT enabled (should definitely work with other CPUs)

 

Host: Windows 7 64bits

 

Soft: Vmware Workstation 7.1.0 build 261024 (should work with other versions)

 

Guest: iAtkos S3 v2 (Mac OS X 10.6.3), (thats what I had, but probably the Apple retail image will work too)

Thanks for you input, but you have made this more complex than it needs to be. I have created a new topic to act as a consolidation point for specifically installing OS X 10.6 under VMware Workstation or VMware Player, link below:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1622074

[Menno]

Hi there,

 

How's everything working on ESXi 4.1 update 1? I am firing up a testbox today to test some settings.

I am going to try to VMDirectPath a highpoint rocket raid card with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. (Supported Rocketraid)

[Menno]

Just a small update. Everything is working great here in Snow Leopard Server. PCI Passthrough works great (RocketRaid and Realtek nix). The Intel E1000 virtualnics say they are connected to 1000mbit, but the speed is only 100mbit. Is this a limitation? Even with like 4 virtual nic's bonded to a vDS everything is 100mbit. With the realtek nic connected to the virtual machine i've got a steady gigabit transfer.

[an1r0n]

Just a small update. Everything is working great here in Snow Leopard Server. PCI Passthrough works great (RocketRaid and Realtek nix). The Intel E1000 virtualnics say they are connected to 1000mbit, but the speed is only 100mbit. Is this a limitation? Even with like 4 virtual nic's bonded to a vDS everything is 100mbit. With the realtek nic connected to the virtual machine i've got a steady gigabit transfer.

 

Hey Menno,

 

Small offtopic question, any chance of using passtrough for your VGA? I'm interested if you can passthrough your VGA card to Mac OS X, and add EFI strings.

 

If it matters, you can respond on private message as well

 

Thanks a bunch!

an1r0n

[Menno]

It's possible, but I have not yet looked into the matter. I have passed a GT240 to Snow Leopard Server and the PCI is readable by lspci. Didn't do any further research, because the VMware SVGA II driver by Zenith432 is great for remote desktop and is very very responsive. You should give it a try I guess.

[MSoK]

[Posted on behalf of dflohr, original post http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1650081 ]

 

Been on this site for a while. Sucessfully installed OSX to Dell 7 and 10 last year

 

Just started the ESXi 4.1 install of SL on to a Dell Poweredge 710 server Intel 5650 CPU.

 

Followed manual and a number of the many steps on the virtualization thread

 

1. Installed and script patched the vmware-darwin310-macosx1064

2. Created VM just like naivivvuli did in post 2086 on page 105

3. Edited .vmx as instructed with the lines from the manual and SCSI replaced with IDE

4. Booted from DVD F8 F5 sees the install DVD (early retail SL) added rd(0,1)/legacy_kernel -v -f -x rd=disk1s3

5. A lot happens on the console and then after a two minutes or so it gets stuck with a time-out error

 

I have attached a pdf with .vmx and a screen shot of the console where it times out.

 

Any assistance would be appreciated. Could the issues be around the early retail SL disk or the 5600 series processors?

 

Thanks much in advance.

 

Dan

 

[MSoK response to Dan]

 

Dan,

 

If you have a look at my post 2087 in response to naivivvuli and his subsequent post 2088. Also your Xeon 5600 sereis CPU may be an issue as support was only introduced from 10.6.4 onwards, so you may need the later 10.6.3 retail DVD, and you will also need to use a CPUID mask, see my consolidated post:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1622074

 

Cheers,

MSoK.

[PGHammer]

virtualbox 3.0 beta possible

 

first thanks for the post !

 

have not done any testing yet, but VB 3.0 might also be a good candidate, .. it's free

 

don't have vt-x on my desktop,... so need to upgrade,...

 

can you maybe try, to use your working VM image, and give VB 3.0 a shot ?

 

it be nice to be able to fire up an VM at work with leo in it,...

 

If you have a desktop Hack, the E3400, though a Celeron DC, does support VT-x (I got one for my [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] (7 x64 and Snow, but looking to add the Lion to the mix) for that very reason.).

 

It's also baby-chicks (aka CHEAP) - I got the CPU *and* a 2 GB thumb drive for less than $50 including tax combined.

[NSCXP2005]

PGHammer, Please can you contact me via PM. thanks

[MSoK]

Just a quick heads up, 10.6.7 was released today, the combo update appears to work fine with OS X under VMware Workstation 7.1.3 and Player 3.1.3 with either Donk's darwin.iso method or Albert's unlocker.