Studio XPS 1640 VMWare OS X 10.6.3 working

[projekt 8e]

Basically I spent forever trying to get a dual boot set up for Win7 and SL and while I was able to get it to work, our hardware is anything but compatible. So for those of you SXPS 1640 users out there that have been looking for a good solution. I finally have a good set up with VMWare 7.1. I have full 1920x1080, sound, usb, bt, internet and start up and shutdown features.

 

If there is any interest let me know and I will take the time to write up what I did and provide files / links to files. FWIW, I use a fairly intensive 3d rendering program that runs best on OS X (this is why I did this) and I am still able to use the computer for other things. I also highly recommend under volting this computer to keep the temps down while the VM is running.

 

Here is a screen shot of OS X (not full screen) running my 3d rendering, a flash video and a few other smaller programs.

 

If something like this has been posted for us SXPS 1640 users then forgive me. I couldn't find it. Trust me...I looked!

[Imothep77]

Hey mate,

 

You've enlightened my day !!!

 

I am fed up with looking at ways to install SL on our machine with dual boot.

If you're saying you were able to get it to work under VMWare, with full res, sound, bt & wifi, then fine, let's rock !!!

 

I wanna do this just because I wanted to give a shot at iPhone dev, and God knows it's not that easy under Win7.

I also wanna look at how SL looks like and maybe save some money for a Mac in the future...

 

I would greatly appreciate you show us how you managed to get all of this working.

 

Thanks,

[michael142]

yeah i'd love to know how run os x in vmware

always love a project such as this when i have free time

[projekt 8e]

Please read the whole tutorial first so you understand it ahead of time. It will save you some headaches from trying to do it on the fly.

 

Sorry for the delay guys. I lost track of the thread. Here is a rundown on what I did. First and foremost though, make sure you take advantage of the snapshot feature in VMWare every time you make a change to your settings in case something doesn't work out right so you don't have to reinstall or anything.

 

I have attached the necessary files in zip format that you will need to get things started. Additionally, I did not create these files or come up with the steps. I just combined steps for a few tutorials until I found something that worked so as always, use at your own risk.

 

First off, my install was very stripped down. I didn't install printer support, X11, or anything really but the OS. If you want those features I don't see it being a problem. I also didn't need to use safe mode but I always use -v verbose mode whenever I am making changes or installing. Once you get to your final steps complete you won't need to input anything for boot up. You will also NOT need to adjust any files yourself so this is very user friendly.

 

This is the source link for the steps I am about to post. All steps + a few more will be in this write up though. I am going to try to make this as simplified as possible for people that are new to VMWare.

OS X SL on Win 7 VMWare

 

Step 1: Download and install VMware Workstation 7. (I have 7.1 and have not tried 7.0)

 

Step 2: Download (rapidshare link) pre-made modified version of Snow Leopard.vmdk and darwin_snow.iso files required to get this thing to work.

 

Step 3: Start VMware Workstation and open up “Mac OS X Server 10.6 (experimental).vmx” file which you downloaded in Step 2.

 

Step 4: Click on”Edit virtual machine settings”, select CD/DVD (IDE) option from left hand side and then and select “Use ISO image file” option. Point it to “darwin_snow.iso” which you downloaded in Step 2.

 

Step 5: Now power on the virtual machine and hit “F8” key. You should now have a screen similar to the one shown below.

 

Step 6: Now you’ll have to point your virtual machine to OS X Snow Leopard retail DVD instead of “darwin_snow.iso”. To do this, right click on CD/DVD option found in lower right most corner of your VMware window and select settings.

Insert OS X Snow Leopard retail DVD in your DVD drive and select the “Use physical drive” option.

 

Step 7: Now go back and select “c” option (Boot DVD) from the prompt which you got in Step 5 to boot from the OS X retail DVD. OS X boot screen with Apple logo should now appear. If the boot screen doesn’t appear for you, try booting it in verbose mode by pressing “F8” key after selecting “c” option, and then enter “-v” (without quotes). This will enable the system to boot OS X DVD using verbose mode.

 

Step 8: Wait for a couple of minutes for the Installation Setup screen to show up. From here on, simply follow the onscreen setup instructions to install OS X Snow Leopard. Make sure you format your virtual hard drive in “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” format using Disk Utility. Customize your installation with minimum set of printer drivers and language options for a lightweight trouble free installation experience.

 

Step 9: Once the installation is completed. System will automatically reboot. At this point, close your guest virtual machine and change your CD/DVD option again like you did in Step 2 to point it to “darwin_snow.iso”.

 

Step 10: Start the virtual machine again. Press “F8” key and select “h” option to “Boot first hard disk”. Voila! Snow Leopard should now be running live under Windows 7!

 

The things that aren't listed on this site that need to be done to get more out of it are included below. *NOTE* This is a fantastic time to create a snapshot after you have completed your first successful boot up. You can use this feature while OS X is running (It will take longer) or you can shut down and do it very quickly with the virtual OS off.

 

You need to find your VMWare Configuration file now which will be in your folder of files you downloaded from this tutorial which looks like this

 

Open it with notepad and change the smc.present from "True" to "False". This is the most important thing because it allows you to shut down safely and not lose your work that you have done. Ask me how I know. haha.

 

Once you have verified that your start up and shut down works well *Snapshot time!* then boot up into the OS and and then right click on the cd drive in the bottom right corner of the VMWare window and point the iso to the Darwin_Snow.iso and it will show up on your desktop (Make sure when you point it to the iso that you also connect the drive). Run the VMWare tools installation process and it will make some changes for you. Reboot and you will now be able to click the full screen button in the tool bar (Not the maximize window button) and it will auto adjust to your resolution.

 

If this is all working correctly now, SNAPSHOT! So everything should be working now. If you don't have sound then you can mount the sound files that were in the same directory as the VMWare Tools iso and try to install them. Definitely do a snapshot before that though.

 

Next to the cd settings in the bottom right corner you can turn on additional options. Also, in the settings before you turn on the virtual machine if you select the usb settings and open that menu you can turn on all usb devices which will make additional feature show up in the bottom right corner of the VMWare window so you can turn on things like your webcam.

 

 

I don't think I have forgotten anything. If you run into any problems, reply on here and PM me so I will check it. I would rather respond on here so everyone can benefit from our trouble shooting.

 

Still no qe/ci though but I have been looking at the graphics card files and I know someone else on here has been playing with them too. As of right now it is limited to 128mb video. WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO RESOLVE THIS!! I would think it would be easier on VMWare since it isn't actually using hardware. Without these features we are still fairly limited. But at least we have full screen resolution and a few other features working like internet and webcam.

 

 

 

 

Oh and I also was able to update to 10.6.4 without a hitch also.

[Imothep77]

Thank you so much!!!

 

Will try it, probably tomorrow, and give my feedback here.

 

Thanks again.