ESXi 5 Mac OS X Unlocker

[Donk]

Well I think my 2950 II just doesn't like OSX Virtualization..just set up a DELL XPS 420 and boom...installation is happening as I type, quick and painless it seems.

Go figure....I would have thought that the Dell 2950 II would have worked as the processor is stated to have VT-x. Its a Dual Core Xeon 5050 3Ghz. Maybe a different Xeon? Say a an E5345 Quad Core or such? I dunno...

Still scratching my head over this one....maybe the Dell 2950 II hardware? Anyone have any thoughts on this.....

 

Thanks for all the support I get around here though...just glad its working on the Dell XPS 420....cpu is Q6600

 

Have you enabled VT-x in the BIOS and cold power cycle. Physically pull the power cord and leave it for a minute.

[Jeff Risdon]

Have you enabled VT-x in the BIOS and cold power cycle. Physically pull the power cord and leave it for a minute.

No but Ill try that next..I did check for Virtualization in the bios and enabled it...it didn't say whether or not it was VT-x

[Jeff Risdon]

Hi Donk...

I cold power cycled my 2950 II and the same thing happened. I did exactly what I did on the Dell XPS 420 which worked, on the 2950 and it had the same results

Perhaps a different cpu? Or maybe the Dell 2950 II hardware just isnt compatible...dunno. I did run this though:

I got back a 3 which tells me that VT is enabled in the bios and can be used....

Thanks for all your work Donk!!

1. Run this command:
    
   # esxcfg-info|grep "HV Support"
    
   The output of the HV Support command indicates the type of Hyper-visor support available. These are the descriptions for the possible values:
    
   0 - VT/AMD-V indicates that support is not available for this hardware.
   1 - VT/AMD-V indicates that VT or AMD-V might be available but it is not supported for this hardware.
   2 - VT/AMD-V indicates that VT or AMD-V is available but is currently not enabled in the BIOS.
   3 - VT/AMD-V indicates that VT or AMD-V is enabled in the BIOS and can be used.
   

 

been looking around the net for answers...does EPT need to be available for this to work? Thanks!

[Donk]

does EPT need to be available for this to work? Thanks!

 

Nope should just need VT-x. I am wondering if xnu kernal doesn't like the CPU.

 

Try masking it using this:

 

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

 

Needs to be VMX file, or through the advanced Guest options dialog.

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/232183-snow-leopard-on-vmware-and-disabled-cpu-error/

[sofakng]

I just updated my ESXi host to 5.1.0b (build 914609, released 12/20/2012) and I'm having the same problem. My host is a single host, no cluster or vCenter. With the unlocker applied, the system works fine for the first couple of VM power-ups, but then power-ups fail.

 

Once power-ups start failing, if I run /bin/vmx from the command line:

/var/log # /bin/vmx
Error during version check: Failed to get vmkernel version: 0xffffffff

 

And these lines appear in vmkernel.log every time I try to run /bin/vmx

2013-01-04T19:09:35.149Z cpu0:88884)VmkAccess: 637: vmx: access denied:: dom:appDom(2), obj:vmxSys(66), mode:syscall_allow(2)
2013-01-04T19:09:35.149Z cpu0:88884)VmkAccess: 922: VMkernel syscall invalid (16384)

 

Uninstalling the unlocker fixes the problem. I've tried installing/uninstalling the unlocker twice since updating to 5.1.0b.

I'm having this EXACT same problem. I'm running ESXi 5.1.0 build 914609... Here is the vmkernel.log: http://paste.ubuntu.com/5574332/

[Donk]

I'm having this EXACT same problem. I'm running ESXi 5.1.0 build 914609... Here is the vmkernel.log: http://paste.ubuntu.com/5574332/

 

Sorry I have looked at this before and haven't a clue what is going on. The only issue at VMware site with these errors was with NFS datastore, but that was unrelated to the unlocker.

[Jeff Risdon]

Hi Donk,

Yeah tried putting cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101" in the VMX file and boot using -v npci=0x2000 and now get the following.

Im begining to think its the CPU

Edited March 1, 2013 by Jeff Risdon

[Donk]

Hi Donk,

Yeah tried putting cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101" in the VMX file and boot using -v npci=0x2000 and now get the following.

Im begining to think its the CPU

 

You are right, it looks like the CPU is too old or something is missing, as the trap is for invalid opcode.

[Jeff Risdon]

Hi Donk,

Yeah been doing some research on this and Im gonna get a couple of x5355 quad cores which will work fine on my 2950. There cheap out there if you look around. The x5355 also was used in some of Apple's MAC towers. Ill report back once I get them and let ya know

Thanks for all your help!

[nxkev]

Thank Donk for the unlocker, very easy to use and Ken73 and Daft for the simple tutorial on page 18. I was able to get Mac ML set up with the instructions provided.

 

I installed this on my home/test box running ESXi 5.1.

• Motherboard: Asrock z77 Pro3
  
• Chip: i5 3470
  
• Ram: 2x8gb Cosair DDR3
  

I was able to mount the VMWare Tool straight from the vSphere client and install it very easily.

 

I installed OS X Server, and going to be playing around with a few of the services.

[Hominidae]

Many thanks for the unlocker!

 

...running ESXi 5.1.0 build 914609.....applied unlocker 1.1.0

Host is Supermicro X8SIL-F with 32GB RAM and XEON L3426 CPU (HT, vt-x, vt-d enabled in BIOS)

VM is SL10.6 64bit with 1 vCPU (1 socket, 2 cores), 2GB RAM

 

Installed SL 10.6.3 by booting from DVD.iso (on virtual IDE drive)

Also installed combo SL 10.6.8 update and vmware tools.

After that, changed vGPU to autodetect and all video-modes showed up.

 

No tweaks for EFI boot or else are needed at all.

 

I am a happy camper!

 

regards,

Hominidae

[Jeff Risdon]

Hi All...

Just got my X5355 quad core cpu's and put them into my Dell 2950 II and BAM! It all works fine with no problems at all....OSX booted right up and the install was a breeze

So it was the Xeon 5050 CPU's that were the culprit.

Thanks Donk for all your hard work and support!

[MSoK]

Hi All...

Just got my X5355 quad core cpu's and put them into my Dell 2950 II and BAM! It all works fine with no problems at all....OSX booted right up and the install was a breeze

So it was the Xeon 5050 CPU's that were the culprit.

Thanks Donk for all your hard work and support!

Jeff,

Glad your new processors resolved the issue, I know we have run into issues with unsupported CPU's in the past, hence the requirement for the CPUID mask, Donk and I worked on to resolve an SL 10.6.0 / 10.6.3 issue when Core i and Xeon 5600 series processors first arrived.

 

OS X is not forgiving if it finds an unsupported processor, it expects to find a processor in a current Apple Mac for Lion and ML or time relevant CPU for SL. Apple have often had to produce specific patched versions of OS X when they have introduced new hardware. The point of this rambling, do not expect retail OS X to run just because your CPU support VT-x, a little more investigation may be required, to ensure a smooth installation.

[MSoK]

The latest patch for ESXi 5.1 ESXi510-201303001.zip pushing ESXi 5.1 to build 1021289 works fine with OS X ML using the Unlocker v1.1.0".

[madmax14304]

sgreszcz,

Rumor is it that the USB passthrough issue is finally fixed in

ESXi510-201303001.

I haven't tried it yet but I'm planning on it.

 

 

Update: USB Passthrough working on newest patch. So is unlocker.

[MSoK]

Just for information OS X 10.8.3 was released 14th March 2013, and I have successfully installed the OS X 10.8.3 update under both ESXi 5.1 and Workstation 9.0.2 using both the downloaded combo update and via software update.

[Donk]

New Home for Download

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/20-vmware-unlocker-for-os-x/

[MSoK]

New Home for Download

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/20-vmware-unlocker-for-os-x/

I have also uploaded the VMware CDS Repository link for all versions of the darwin.iso including the latest darwin.iso (5.0.3) to the new InsanelyMac download area see link below:

 

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/31-darwiniso/

 

Please note: I originally posted the darwin.iso file, but to ensure InsanelyMac did not breach VMware's EULA regarding VMware Tools it was decided just to post the link to the relevant location on the VMware web site.

[Keyser0]

First I have to say thank you to all involved in this! This rocks!

 

I've read all over the thread that this isn't compatible with vCenter, but I have a few questions...

 

Is there anyone that is using vCenter server that IS NOT having issues like most people? If so please provide details on your setup. (vCenter standalone or appliance? Hardware? etc..)

 

How not compatible is it? Should ESXi hosts patched with Unlocker not even be added to a vCenter server? Or is it just that the OS X VMs shouldn't be created, modified, or connected to through the console while connected to a vCenter server?

 

Is anyone looking into making it compatible with vCenter? Anyone know if it's even possible or impossible? Interested in knowing why it won't work with vCenter.

 

I took the vSphere VCP class last week and I'm working towards taking the exam. I have two Dell rack servers from Ebay on the way so I can setup a lab to practice for the exam, so I'll obviously be using vCenter with them. I'd love to be able to use the Unlocker on them for some ideas I have. Wish I knew enough about ESXi and vCenter to start working on it myself.

 

Thanks again to all those involved!

[Donk]

Is there anyone that is using vCenter server that IS NOT having issues like most people? If so please provide details on your setup. (vCenter standalone or appliance? Hardware? etc..)

 

How not compatible is it? Should ESXi hosts patched with Unlocker not even be added to a vCenter server? Or is it just that the OS X VMs shouldn't be created, modified, or connected to through the console while connected to a vCenter server?

 

Is anyone looking into making it compatible with vCenter? Anyone know if it's even possible or impossible? Interested in knowing why it won't work with vCenter.

 

 

My thoughts are:

 

1. Everyone has these issues as unless you are running ESXi on real Apple hardware, certain HOST variables are incorrectly set. To get around that currently the ESXi Host BIOS and Apple SMC driver would need to be hacked. There may well be other checks that vCenter makel.

 

2. I definitely wouldn't add it to vCenter. Had some reports that vCenter can mess up the unlocker especially if using vMotion.

 

3. At this point I persoanlly don't have the time or interest in hacking this any further. Whilst I do use VMware vCenter, this was actually a project I started to run on Workstation on Windows To be honest all my work and personal machines are now Macs so I don't need this patcher, but continue to help out because it was useful to me in the past, and is useful to others now.

[Keyser0]

My thoughts are:

 

1. Everyone has these issues as unless you are running ESXi on real Apple hardware, certain HOST variables are incorrectly set. To get around that currently the ESXi Host BIOS and Apple SMC driver would need to be hacked. There may well be other checks that vCenter makel.

 

2. I definitely wouldn't add it to vCenter. Had some reports that vCenter can mess up the unlocker especially if using vMotion.

 

3. At this point I persoanlly don't have the time or interest in hacking this any further. Whilst I do use VMware vCenter, this was actually a project I started to run on Workstation on Windows To be honest all my work and personal machines are now Macs so I don't need this patcher, but continue to help out because it was useful to me in the past, and is useful to others now.

Thanks Donk! Kind of a bummer that it won't work on vCenter but the fact that ESXi will run on a Mac Mini is awesome. It opens up so many uses for me, but takes away some too.

[MSoK]

 

Thanks Donk! Kind of a bummer that it won't work on vCenter but the fact that ESXi will run on a Mac Mini is awesome. It opens up so many uses for me, but takes away some too.

I have asked the question on the VMware forum regarding Apple MiniMac ESXi Servers and vCenter clusters, with OS X in mind, as provided the SMC patch is applied if you are running late 2012 MiniMac 6,2 hardware then the "Unlocker" is not required to run OS X, and in theory should be supported by vCenter. Unfortunately I do not have the hardware to test at the moment. You might find the following link useful and worth following:

 

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/423099?start=0&tstart=0

[Keyser0]

Thanks MSoK. I'll check it out.

 

After installing Mountain Lion on my ESXi host that I ran the Unlocker on, I was noticing the the CPU had high usage at idle. I remembered reading in the thread that the screensaver should be disabled, so I turned it off. Problem is, turning it off only "works" if the user stays logged in. If I log out but keep the VM running, the screensaver is enabled and eventually turns on.

 

Anyone know how to disable the screensaver in OS X so it doesn't run when a user is logged out?

[Osiros]

Guys I got another thread going, but this one is getting alot of views, but Im getting the Apple splash screen on the setup, I did the unlock script. But I did have the esxi controlled by Vcenter at one point but removed it. Could this be causing my issue. BTW im running esxi 5.1 on a Dell with PE5700.

[MSoK]

Thanks MSoK. I'll check it out.

 

After installing Mountain Lion on my ESXi host that I ran the Unlocker on, I was noticing the the CPU had high usage at idle. I remembered reading in the thread that the screensaver should be disabled, so I turned it off. Problem is, turning it off only "works" if the user stays logged in. If I log out but keep the VM running, the screensaver is enabled and eventually turns on.

 

Anyone know how to disable the screensaver in OS X so it doesn't run when a user is logged out?

Yes, the Screen Server should be turned to Never, but also set the Energy Saver settings to Never, i.e. Computer sleep and Display sleep, also un-tick the "Put hard disks to sleep when possible", "Wake for Ethernet network access" and "Allow power button to put the computer to sleep".

 

To turn off or indeed change the Screen Saver at logon, you need to start a Terminal windows and run the System Preferences as root.

 

Start a Terminal window and run the following command:

 

sudo /Applications/System\ Preferences.app/Contents/MacOS/System\ Preferences

 

This will launch the familiar System Preferences page, but now you are running as "root". You should notice that the Screen Saver will be set to the default "20 Minutes" rather than the "Never" you set while logged in as the user, change the setting to "Never" and the Screen Saver will be removed from the logon screen.