Is it possible to install Mac OSX in VMWare vSphere 5?Published by on August 26, 2011A couple of days ago, the PepperCrew had his monthly meeting. There was a little discussion about the new vSphere 5 release from VMWare.
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In the release notes there is mentioned that it will support OSX installations. I’m not convinced that that would work. There is a big community in the world who wants to install OSX in a sandboxed environment or even native on not Apple hardware. (Hackintosh or OSx86 etc etc).
Up until now I've been running ESXi 5.5.x on a 2011 Mac Mini, but with. Installation of ESXi 5.x on a 2011 Mac Mini Server, where I needed to add. Are from ESXi running inside of VMWare Fusion, but the Mac Mini install. Installing Mac OS as a Guest OS on a VMware VM. Select the main language and click the Next button. English is used in this installation example. To set up the installation of macOS, click Continue. Read the license agreement carefully. If everything is right and you accept the license agreement.
So, lets try some different scenario’s.Apple supports only virtualized OSX Server installations on Apple hardware. Normal OSX installations aren’t supported or possible.First Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard (10.6) in VMWare Fusion (On an iMac)This is not allowed. The installer stops with the following error:Second Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard Server (10.6) in VMWare Fusion (On an iMac)Works like a charm.
No problems at all. Third Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard (10.6) in VMWare Workstation (In Windows 7)This is a little tricky. Default there is no OSX operating system available in VMWare Workstation, and therefore it isn’t possible to read the OSX installation source. The trick is to create an OSX virtual machine in VMWare Fusion (without installing OSX, so the HDD will be empty) and copy that to your VMWare Workstation in Windows. Now you have the EFI bios etc. When booting OSX Snow Leopard 10.6 installer the virtual machine will shutdown automatically.This is not allowed.
The installer stops with the following error:Forth Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard Server (10.6) in VMWare Workstation (In Win 7)The same trick, which is used in the third step, is needed for booting the installer. But then the installation freezes.This is not allowed (OSX Server can only virtualized on Apple hardware). The installer crashes with the following error:Fifth Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard (10.6) in vSphere 5 (Non Apple Hardware)This is not allowed the virtual machine will shutdown automatically.Sixth Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard Server (10.6) in vSphere 5 (Non Apple Hardware)It isn’t working. After a couple off hours (12) the installer is still showing the beachball.To make this long story short.
No you can’t install OSX Server on non Apple hardware. Next step is to wait until someone has an old Apple xServe (intel) for me so I can continue the test.If you read the following links. VMWare is saying that it will only support OSX Server 10.6 on Apple branded hardware. And full hardware support for the Apple xServe. To bad that the xServe is end off life.
Hi all,This was originally a post asking for the definitive guide. Since I did not get a response, I continued tinkering.
I eventually was able to patch something together based on other tutorials. Below what I have done.If you run into issues or mistakes from my end, or certain steps don’t turn out to be necessary, please comment below so we can make this guide complete!Starting point.ESXi 6.7 installed and working.My hardware: Fujitsu D3417-B2 (Intel C236), Xeon E3-1245 v6, 32GB RAM, 1250 GB SSDs and 8 TB HDDs.This guide assumes that all steps are executed on a mac; most can be done on most other operating systems as well, except for Step 3.AimInstalling fully functional version of macOS Mojave on ESXi. Why would one want this? I upgraded my server and installed ESXi (a virtualisation hypervisor) to run several operating systems side by side. Since the server is now located near my desk, I wanted to use the opportunity to also use that system as a workstation for some of my photo hobby stuff, rather than using my work MBP.High-level steps.Install ESXi (not covered here).Install Unlocker.Create a bootable ISO.Create a new virtual machine.Install macOS.Install VMware ToolsRequired files.Unlocker. Latest version verified for ESXi is v.3.0.0 (; credits to; you need to be logged in to download).MacOS Mojave (See instructions below. For this, you need a macOS machine).VMware Tools for macOS (; credits to; you need to be logged in to download)Step 2: Install UnlockerNormally, macOS can only be installed on Apple hardware. The unlocker will modify ESXi to accept non-Apple hardware for macOS VMs.Using the link above, download Unlocker and upload the file to your ESXi systems.Enable SSH in ESXi.Open a terminal window.SSH into ESXi (“ssh loginname@ESXiIP”).Navigate to the folder where you uploaded the unlocker (datastores are located in “/vmfs/volumes/“.Unpack the Unlocker (“tar xzvf esxi-unlocker-xxx.tgz”).You may need to make the script executable.
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This can by done by typing “sudo chmod -x esxi-install.sh” (you will likely be asked for your password).Run the script using “./esxi-install.sh”.Reboot ESXiStep 3a: Download MacOS MojaveThis is easy if you have a MacOS machine. There are other sources, but I would not recommend using them for security reasons.Within the Mac App Store find MacOS Mojave:.Click “Get” and the update process starts.Depending on the version of macOS installed, the update process will automatically halt after download or you will need to press CMD+Q as soon as the download is finished.As a result you will find a new ‘app’ in your applications folder: “Install macOS Mojave.app”Step 3b: Create a bootable ISOFrom the file above, we need to create a bootable ISO. Bill Plein made an excellent script for this that you can use one-on-one:.Open the Textedit app and create a new file.In the app’s preferences choose ‘Plain text’ as the document format.Paste the script and save as “mk-mojave-iso.sh”.Open a Terminal window and navigate to the folder with the script.You may need to make the script executable. Questions: How to realise video passthrough ? Step 1: Goto Navigator - Manage - Hardware - PCI Device, Selet Videocard Toggle passthrough and reboot ESXIStep 2: Edit Virtual Machines settings - Add other device - PCI deviceStep 3: Power on Virtual Machines to install MacOS, In the installer, you can see that your monitor is workingStep 4: After the installation is complete, you will find that the system is stuck in the apple progress bar. Questions: How to realise video passthrough ?
Step 1: Goto Navigator - Manage - Hardware - PCI Device, Selet Videocard Toggle passthrough and reboot ESXIStep 2: Edit Virtual Machines settings - Add other device - PCI deviceStep 3: Power on Virtual Machines to install MacOS, In the installer, you can see that your monitor is workingStep 4: After the installation is complete, you will find that the system is stuck in the apple progress bar. G'day!I posted this question but I think this may be a better place for it.My VMs, no matter how I configure them, just boot loop halfway through the initial loading screen. I tried the steps/script in the blog post here on InsanelyMac, as well as the ones here in your post, (one disc is 6gb, one is close to 9gb) but they both loopIs there a way to be able to see the logs when MacOS is attempting to load so I can see where it's failing? ESXi 6.7u2Unlocker 3.0Mojave 14.6 (JUST created the ISOs).
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