ESXi 5 Mac OS X Unlocker

[ThinkpadFan]

My real Mac does the same. There are lots of complaints on Apple forums about this happening.

I never realized that; I always thought this is only happening to me in my VM... thanks for clearing that up!

[lordsiris]

I'm happy to report that vCenter 5.5 with Unlocker works same way as it did in 5.1. Same limitations apply (unfortunately) but otherwise it works great.

Even HTML5 Console works after you fix silly VMware bug with env. variables. Console works on Windows, Linux and Mac machines and it's much faster and responsive than old Windows Client console.

 

I must add that Web client is resource hungry dog. It's probably due to heavy use of Flash but Its slow and I cant see myself using it at work. I hope VMware switches to HTML5 and Flash dies FAST. 

 

wally007, could you elaborate on the limitations? I would like to use vcenter 5.5 on esxi 5.5 primarily with the webgui. Sounds like you confirmed this worked with the 1.2 unlocker, did I understand that correctly? Also could you explain how to fix the env. variables item you mentioned?

 

Thanks!

[wally007]

Limitations of the vCenter WebGUI is that you can not power up the Mac Virtual Machine, you can not clone it and you can not use HA or migration features.

 

For powering up VM you'll have to use vSphere client and connect directly to the host. I have my Mac VM to automaticly start-up with the host so I almost never have to do it. If I need to reboot the VM< i just VNC into the Mac VM and reboot the Mac OS within.

 

Unlocker 1.2 did work for me and I'm using vCenter as I use Mac only as a server and i usually just ssh in. Windows and Linux VM's are fully compatible, as far as I tried (ie. you can clone the Windows VM just fine )

 

Here is the article how to fix the new HTML5 console.

 

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/09/html5-vm-console-does-not-work-after.html

 

Hope this helps

[MSoK]

Just a quick heads up, with the recent release of OS X 10.9 GM Seed taking Mavericks to Build 13A598 and also a supplemental update to OS X 10.8.5 taking Mountain Lion to Build 12F45, I can confirm both are working fine in ESXi 5.5.

[Ka Hooli]

VMware ESXi 5.x Unlocker 1.2.0
===============================
Copyright: Dave Parsons 2011-13
Patching files...
Patching bin/vmx
File mapped @0x3fff2b3c010 length 22929216
Found OSK0 @ 0x3fff3a94265
Found OSK1 @ 0x3fff3a9429d
Found SRVR @ 0x3fff3b241f6
Patching bin/vmx-debug
File mapped @0x3fff2b3c010 length 27924264
Found OSK0 @ 0x3fff3c0e8e5
Found OSK1 @ 0x3fff3c0e91d
Found SRVR @ 0x3fff3ca01f6
Patching bin/vmx-stats
File mapped @0x32002740 length 25723136
Found OSK0 @ 0x32f7cb15
Found OSK1 @ 0x32f7cb4d
Found SRVR @ 0x3300d926
Patching vmwarebase is not supported on this platform
Setting permissions...
Creating darwin.tgz...
bin/
bin/vmx
bin/vmx-debug
bin/vmx-stats
addr: 0, sz: 16065572, flags: 5
addr: 0xf54e3c, sz: 3416524, flags: 6
bin/vmx: textPgs: 3922, fixUpPgs: 0
Aligning executable bin/vmx
addr: 0, sz: 17618636, flags: 5
addr: 0x10ce47c, sz: 3529484, flags: 6
bin/vmx-debug: textPgs: 4301, fixUpPgs: 0
Aligning executable bin/vmx-debug
addr: 0, sz: 16203932, flags: 5
addr: 0xf7643c, sz: 3653996, flags: 6
bin/vmx-stats: textPgs: 3956, fixUpPgs: 0
Aligning executable bin/vmx-stats
Adding darwin.tgz to boot.cfg...
Acquiring lock /tmp/bootbank.lck
Copying darwin.vgz to /bootbank/darwin.vgz
cp: error writing to '/bootbank/darwin.vgz': No space left on device
Copying darwin.vgz to /bootbank/darwin.vgz failed: 1

Hey, long time reader, first post...

I'm getting the error above under ESXi 5.5.

 

When I run the following, I get this output...

# df -h /bootbank
Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on
VMFS-5     232.8G 165.5G     67.3G  71% /vmfs/volumes/Operating Systems
VMFS-5       2.7T   2.7T      8.0M 100% /vmfs/volumes/Data 2
VMFS-5       2.7T   2.7T      8.0M 100% /vmfs/volumes/Data 1
vfat       249.7M 249.2M    568.0K 100% /vmfs/volumes/d7e74ee2-3e936149-8a7b-27a1934ec1a3
vfat       249.7M 146.4M    103.4M  59% /vmfs/volumes/fb2745ee-2b19c1b9-364f-70789c4fa29d
vfat       285.8M 191.3M     94.6M  67% /vmfs/volumes/50fd9f3b-fa88e970-9e33-6805ca114558

...so yes, I've run out of space on the "/vmfs/volumes/d7e74ee2-3e936149-8a7b-27a1934ec1a3" volume which is "/bootbank".

 

The top volume is where I have my VM's stored, the next two is where I have data for my file server stored.  The last three volumes are on the 2GB USB key plugged inside my server that has ESXi 5.5 installed on it.

 

I've tried searching online on how to try and expand or resize the bootbank volume, but so far not having much luck.  Is anyone able to help with this?

[MSoK]

Ka Hooli,

 

The Filesystem sizes are the default for any ESXi 5.x install, and I have never run out of space on the volume containing the bootbank files (literally hundreds of installations), yes on the log volume especially if the ESXi is installed to SD, then we relocate the syslog to a location on a persistent Datastore.

 

So I can only suggest reinstall (be careful if your ESXi is installed on your 250GB disk as you will need to preserve the OS Datastore, by default it deletes all that is on the boot disk) ESXi, re-run the unlocker,add your Datastores and import your VM's, alternatively install ESXi to an SD Card or USB stick and see if you have the same problem.

[Ka Hooli]

Ka Hooli,

 

The Filesystem sizes are the default for any ESXi 5.x install, and I have never run out of space on the volume containing the bootbank files (literally hundreds of installations), yes on the log volume especially if the ESXi is installed to SD, then we relocate the syslog to a location on a persistent Datastore.

 

So I can only suggest reinstall (be careful if your ESXi is installed on your 250GB disk as you will need to preserve the OS Datastore, by default it deletes all that is on the boot disk) ESXi, re-run the unlocker,add your Datastores and import your VM's, alternatively install ESXi to an SD Card or USB stick and see if you have the same problem.

Thanks for the advise, ESXi is installed to a 2GB USB flash drive...  so with what you've said in mind, I'm thinking of (1) shutdown the server, (2) disengage the HDD's (to remove the datastores with the OS and file share data), (3) remove the USB flash drive and remove all partitions with my laptop, (4) reinstall the USB flash drive (5) power on server & reinstall ESXi 5.5 from fresh install, (6) reapply the unlocker, (7) shut down and re-engage HDD (as they are simple-swap, not hot-swap), (8) add the datastores and import the VM's.

 

The current ESXi install had started of as 5.1, then upgraded to 5.1u1, then yesterday to 5.5.  Not sure if that's had anything to do with it.

 

Once again, thanks

[MSoK]

Ka Hooli,

 

Since your ESXi install is on a USB flash drive, you should be able to do a simple install of ESXi 5.5 choosing your existing USB flash drive, a fresh install will delete all the existing partitions on the selected (USB) install drive, and leave all the other drives intact. Once you are up and running install the Unlocker and add your existing Datastores to the new ESXi environment and add the VM's to your inventory.

 

It maybe the upgrade path from 5.1 via u1 to 5.5 has resulted in the full partition problem, perhaps uninstalling the Unlocker between upgrades may have helped, but I generally do a fresh install of ESXi rather than upgrade, especially if the ESXi install is on SD or USB (less risk of deleting important Datastores and VM's).

[Rubyducky]

Quick note, I also could not get the console to work reliably similar to ipas. I am on ESXi 5.5 and am also using vCenter (5.5?). The console would work for a while, but then it would give the "Unable to connect" error on all VMs. I could not connect to the console through the web client, vSphere connected to vCenter, or even vSphere connected directly to the host. Restarting the VMs would bring the console back, but it would stop connecting again after a while. The host would also sporadically disconnect and reconnect to vCenter. Uninstalling the unlocker seems to have resolved everything. However, my other host running ESXi 5.1 and the unlocker but connected to the same vCenter server does not have these console connection issues. 

[zm_os]

copying darwin.vgz to /bootbank/darwin.vgz
cp: error writing to '/bootbank/darwin.vgz': No space left on device
Copying darwin.vgz to /bootbank/darwin.vgz failed: 1

I'm getting the error above under ESXi 5.5.

When I run the following, I get this output...

# df -h /bootbank
vfat       249.7M 249.2M    568.0K 100% /vmfs/volumes/d7e74ee2-3e936149-8a7b-27a1934ec1a3
vfat       249.7M 146.4M    103.4M  59% /vmfs/volumes/fb2745ee-2b19c1b9-364f-70789c4fa29d
vfat       285.8M 191.3M     94.6M  67% /vmfs/volumes/50fd9f3b-fa88e970-9e33-6805ca114558

...so yes, I've run out of space on the "/vmfs/volumes/d7e74ee2-3e936149-8a7b-27a1934ec1a3" volume which is "/bootbank".

 

 

We've run into the same issue with our HP based server as their custom ESXi image contains additional drivers which results in a large bootbank by default already. As far as I could tell the current unlocker script does not compress the built vtar file at the end, resulting in a rather large file to be copied to the bootbank partition. I was able to resolve this by adding an additional compression step with gzip at the end (all commands are basically reflecting what the unlocker script does and are relative to the path where the script is extracted):

# mkdir bin
# cp /bin/vmx bin/
# cp /bin/vmx-debug bin/
# cp /bin/vmx-stats bin/
# chmod +x ./esxi/Unlocker.ESXi
# ./esxi/Unlocker.ESXi bin/
# chmod 4555 bin/* 
# tar -czvf darwin.tgz bin/
# vmtar -c darwin.tgz -v -o darwin.vtar
# gzip darwin.vtar
# mv -i darwin.vtar.gz darwin.vgz
# BootModuleConfig.sh --add=darwin.vgz --verbose
# reboot

Maybe this could help you as well...

[Donk]

 

We've run into the same issue with our HP based server as their custom ESXi image contains additional drivers which results in a large bootbank by default already. As far as I could tell the current unlocker script does not compress the built vtar file at the end, resulting in a rather large file to be copied to the bootbank partition. I was able to resolve this by adding an additional compression step with gzip at the end (all commands are basically reflecting what the unlocker script does and are relative to the path where the script is extracted):

# mkdir bin
# cp /bin/vmx bin/
# cp /bin/vmx-debug bin/
# cp /bin/vmx-stats bin/
# chmod +x ./esxi/Unlocker.ESXi
# ./esxi/Unlocker.ESXi bin/
# chmod 4555 bin/* 
# tar -czvf darwin.tgz bin/
# vmtar -c darwin.tgz -v -o darwin.vtar
# gzip darwin.vtar
# mv -i darwin.vtar.gz darwin.vgz
# BootModuleConfig.sh --add=darwin.vgz --verbose
# reboot

Maybe this could help you as well...

 

 

Thanks for that. I didn't realise you could or should gzip the vtar as the input file is a tar.gz archive. I will look into this for next version.

[zm_os]

Thanks for that. I didn't realise you could or should gzip the vtar as the input file is a tar.gz archive. I will look into this for next version.

 

After quite some investigations I realised that the resulting file from

vmtar -c darwin.tgz -v -o darwin.vtar

is in fact a .tar (or rather .vtar) and not a .vgz file, although I would have expected a compressed file as well. It seems that vmtar decompresses the .tgz file but is not able to re-compress it again... somehow the syntax or the way vmtar works is not all that clear to me. To actually find out what is happening, I just looked at the provided files in the current bootbank and found out that these are mostly vtar files compressed with gzip. 

[Ka Hooli]

 

We've run into the same issue with our HP based server as their custom ESXi image contains additional drivers which results in a large bootbank by default already. As far as I could tell the current unlocker script does not compress the built vtar file at the end, resulting in a rather large file to be copied to the bootbank partition. I was able to resolve this by adding an additional compression step with gzip at the end (all commands are basically reflecting what the unlocker script does and are relative to the path where the script is extracted):

# mkdir bin
# cp /bin/vmx bin/
# cp /bin/vmx-debug bin/
# cp /bin/vmx-stats bin/
# chmod +x ./esxi/Unlocker.ESXi
# ./esxi/Unlocker.ESXi bin/
# chmod 4555 bin/* 
# tar -czvf darwin.tgz bin/
# vmtar -c darwin.tgz -v -o darwin.vtar
# gzip darwin.vtar
# mv -i darwin.vtar.gz darwin.vgz
# BootModuleConfig.sh --add=darwin.vgz --verbose
# reboot

Maybe this could help you as well...

 

 

That is exactly the issue I am having, as I too am using the HP customized ESXi image on my HP Server.

 

Thanks both MSoK & z.m_gmx

[MSoK]

Ka Hooli, z.m_gmx and Donk,

 

We use the HP custom image extensively as the majority of the ESXi hosts we install are HP ProLiant, however since they are in production environments we do not apply the Unlocker, so have never experience the out of space issue with the bootbank partition. I will roll up an ESXi host using the latest HP custom image of 5.5 and see if I run in to the same problem Ka Hooli had and hopefully Donk can provide me with a new version of the Unlocker with the compress version of the darwin.vgz, and I will report back on the results, if that is of value.

 

Cheers,

MSoK.

[Ka Hooli]

After doing a fresh install with the HP ESXi 5.5 image, this is the free file space...

# df -h /bootbank
Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on
VMFS-5     232.8G 157.1G     75.7G  67% /vmfs/volumes/Operating Systems
VMFS-5       2.7T   2.7T      8.0M 100% /vmfs/volumes/Data 2
VMFS-5       2.7T   2.7T      0.0B 100% /vmfs/volumes/Data 1
vfat       249.7M 174.2M     75.5M  70% /vmfs/volumes/ae4d62e7-f1e6bec1-7052-8b2157bdd288
vfat       249.7M   8.0K    249.7M   0% /vmfs/volumes/a98bd1ee-4d576dea-9891-c12e5d645944
vfat       285.8M 191.3M     94.6M  67% /vmfs/volumes/52539407-57c3eb29-138b-6805ca114558

I tried running the script unmodified OSx Unlocker v1.20 ESXi script, and it still had issues.  But when I run zm_os's script above, it worked fine.  I did add the command "BootModuleConfig.sh --add=darwin.vgz --verbose" to the end of zm_os's script, so to add the created file to the boot.cfg.

 

I'd say zm_os's script this worked because the files are being modified in the ../bin folder to where the Unlocker.ESXi file is.  On my machine this was on one of the datastores (the OS one).

 

Now in the process of copying over my OSx VM image, and will test to see if it works fine.

 

At the end of the day, it seems with all your help I was able to get this patch installed.  Thank you all

[Donk]

Can you try this updated installer script for ESXi please? It should fix the problem by compressing the vtar. Saves about 60MB of space in the bootbank partition. Copy the text below to installer.sh, overwrite the one in the unlooker ESXi folder and then upload and run as usual.

 

#!/bin/sh
set -e


echo VMware ESXi 5.x Unlocker 1.2.1
echo ===============================
echo Copyright: Dave Parsons 2011-13


# Ensure we only use unmodified commands
export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin


# Copy Unlocker to tmp
script_dir=$(dirname $0)
cp $script_dir/Unlocker.ESXi /tmp


# Make sure working files are removed
cd /tmp
rm -f darwin.tgz
rm -f darwin.vtar
rm -f darwin.vgz
rm -rf ./bin


# Patch the vmx files and place into bin folder
echo Patching files...
mkdir bin
cp /bin/vmx bin/
cp /bin/vmx-debug bin/
cp /bin/vmx-stats bin/
./Unlocker.ESXi bin/


# Ensure correct permissions are set
echo Setting permissions...
chmod 4555 bin/*


# Create the tar file for ESXi kernel
echo Creating darwin.tgz...
tar -czvf darwin.tgz bin/
vmtar -c darwin.tgz -v -o darwin.vtar
rm -f darwin.tgz
gzip darwin.vtar
mv -i darwin.vtar.gz darwin.vgz


# Add entry to the boot configuration file
echo Adding darwin.tgz to boot.cfg...
BootModuleConfig.sh --add=darwin.vgz --verbose


# Clean up
rm -f Unlocker.ESXi
rm -f darwin.tgz
rm -f darwin.vtar
rm -f darwin.vgz
rm -rf ./bin
cd -


echo Please now reboot the host system!

Thanks for the help on this.

[hippoth]

Hi,

 

one question: why do we need to patch the ESXi host with the unlocker if the host supports Mac OS X native? The compatibility says Mac OS 10.8 desktop and server is supported -->

 

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=software&testConfig=16&productid=34335&releaseid=201&supRel=243,201,171,&deviceCategory=software&operatingSystems=188&productNames=115&testConfigurations=16&page=1&display_interval=10&sortColumn=Partner&sortOrder=Asc&testConfig=16

 

So why to patch the ESXi (5.1/5.1U1/5.5) with the unlocker?

 

I don´t have a install medium here, so I can´t test and that´s why I ask you.

[MSoK]

hippoth,

 

ESXi supports OS X only on Apple hardware, thanks to the restrictions of the Apple EULA, so if ESXi is installed on non Apple hardware VMware do a hardware check for an Apple SMC and if it is not present disables support for OS X. The unlocker on ESXi removes the SMC check allowing OS X to be run as a virtual guest on non Apple hardware.

[hippoth]

Thank you for the explanation. Good to know!

[Amethyst]

I have some problem with esxi unlocker running on Dell poweredge T420. esxi 5.5 dell image.

 

1) The console keep blank when i standby some of vm for a while, must be restart vm to resolve it.

2) Some connection to Windows client problem (-503).

 

I have tried many solution, remove vcenter, install fresh esxi. etc. I surely it came from the patch because

my another esxi hosts (5.5 runs on Dell PE T310). doesn't found any problems like patched host.

 

Although it hasn't problem about stability of running vm. it rock solid, just only management problems. 

 

Can you guys help me? 

[Amethyst]

I've found some interested behavior.

 

If you doesn't setting start-up vm the problem will gone.

 

Wish this can help you.

[Donk]

I've found some interested behavior.

 

If you doesn't setting start-up vm the problem will gone.

 

Wish this can help you.

 

 

It could be the bootbank partition running out of space. Please can you uninstall the locker and try the steps here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/267296-esxi-5-mac-os-x-unlocker/?p=1953036

[zm_os]

 

Can you try this updated installer script for ESXi please? It should fix the problem by compressing the vtar. Saves about 60MB of space in the bootbank partition. Copy the text below to installer.sh, overwrite the one in the unlooker ESXi folder and then upload and run as usual.

 

#!/bin/sh
set -e


echo VMware ESXi 5.x Unlocker 1.2.1
echo ===============================
echo Copyright: Dave Parsons 2011-13

Thanks for the help on this.

 

 

I've just tried your modified script in a test environment and it appears to be working as planned.

 

Cheers,

zm_os

[scacki]

I've just tried your modified script in a test environment and it appears to be working as planned.

 

Cheers,

zm_os

 

I was observing this thread and waiting especially for fix on ESXi HP custom image running from USB key. Now I patched ESXi 5.5 with latest Unlocker 1.2.1 and it patched successfully. But now I don't see additional radio boxes in vShpere Client (connected directly to ESXi host). I supposed that there will be new Apple radio box like on patched VMware Workstation.

Did I misunderstood or I'm missing something?

 

Regards. 

[zm_os]

I was observing this thread and waiting especially for fix on ESXi HP custom image running from USB key. Now I patched ESXi 5.5 with latest Unlocker 1.2.1 and it patched successfully. But now I don't see additional radio boxes in vShpere Client (connected directly to ESXi host). I supposed that there will be new Apple radio box like on patched VMware Workstation.

Did I misunderstood or I'm missing something?

 

Regards. 

The vSphere client under windows only shows the feature set up to version 5.0, for the new options (V5.1 and V5.5) such as OS X 10.8 and 10.9 you'll need the web client (and a vCenter server as far as I know). 

 

If I'm not mistaken version 5.0 already supported OS X 10.6 and 10.7, though. At least these two options should be visible if you create a new custom virtual machine with type "Other".