62 replies to this topic

[MSoK]

I have created this topic as a consolidated view for installing OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" under VMware Workstation 7 and VMware Player 3, it is based on the topics of Donk, Zenith432 and Albert.

[UPDATED: 07/SEP/2011]
I have been asked if I can do a similar topic for OS X 10.7 "Lion" which I will once Workstation 8 / 2011 and Player 4 / 2011 are released, i.e. not in Beta.
I have created a similar topic for OS X 10.6 "Snow" and OS X 10.7 "Lion" for VMware ESXi 5 now it has been released, see link at the bottom of this topic.
[UPDATED: 07/SEP/2011](Thanks to xarmy9 and especially Donk for his new ESXi 5 Unlocker)

So following the simple steps below and you should in most cases be able to have a guaranteed OS X "Snow Leopard" guestOS installation:

[UPDATED: 01/APR/2011]
Firstly ensure you have an Intel Processor that support VT-x and that it is enabled in BIOS. Then install the latest version VMware Workstation currently 7.1.4 or VMware Player currently 3.1.4, a restart will be required to complete the installation. Please note version upgrades uninstall the previous version as part of the upgrade processs.
[UPDATED: 01/APR/2011](Thanks to Donk)

[UPDATED: 01/APR/2011]
Ensure Workstation or Player is shutdown before running the "Unlocker" script, normally the "Unlocker" script will run fine, especially if you use Donk's undated script. However it has been noted that if the "hqtray.exe" process is running the installation will fail with a vmwarebase.dll error, so you will need to start Task Manager, select the Processes Tab, and End Process "hqtray.exe *32" before installing Albert's "Unlocker" ideally using Donk's updated "windows.cmd" script. This should ensures a smooth install and provides support for VMware Player as well as Workstation.

Please note VMware Player does not have the files "vmware-vmx-debug.exe" and "vmware-vmx-stats.exe", so in the install script they will show as Missing files, this is OK and does not stop the "Unlocker" script from completing.

If you get other errors, then it is worth manually stopping all VMware related services as well as killing the "hqtray.exe *32" process.

If you have upgraded from a previous version, you will have in effect done a new installation, so you will need to re-run Albert's "Unlocker".
[UPDATED: 01/APR/2011](Thanks to sofakng and Infected24)

[UPDATED: 03/APR/2011]
Even manually stopping all the VMware related services and killing the "hqtray.exe *32" process sometimes will still give install errors with Albert's "Unlocker", in these rare circumstances it may be worth starting your Windows in Safe Mode via F8 during boot, then running the "Unlocker".
[UPDATED: 03/APR/2011](Thanks to sammurphy)

[UPDATED: 29/JAN/2011]
Some confusion exists as to the role of the darwin.iso file, firstly NEVER boot directly from the darwin.iso and for Albert's "Unlocker" method the darwin.iso is NOT required at all. Although not discussed here as Albert's "Unlocker" method is the preferred solution for VMware Workstation and Player, as recommended by Donk, Donk's darwin.iso (currently at version 310) is required for his method, and is the only option for getting OS X to run as a guest in a VMware vSphere Hypervisor 4.1 and 4.1u1 (ESXi) environment.

The darwin.iso, either Donk's 310 (which also contains some of Zenith432's drivers) or the latest Fusion Version 3.1.3, can be mounted in OS X and used to install the VMware Tools for OS X (Darwin), in fact this is the only method to install the VMware Tools.

Fusion is the equivalent of Workstation for Windows and Linux but on a Mac running OS X, and has built in support for OS X Server as a guest. Albert's "Unlocker" enables this same functionality for Workstation and Player as they all share a common code base. Albert's "Unlocker" also removes the need to use OS X Server media for Workstation, Player and Fusion.
[UPDATED: 29/JAN/2011](Thanks to TheGreatDeceiver)

Buy a retail DVD of OS X Snow Leopard, 10.6.3 is what is currently shipping, only £26, €28, $29 from Apple.

With Albert's "Unlocker" installed correctly you should have the option to Select Apple Mac OS X as a Guest operating system.

Click on the "New Virtual Machine" icon under the Home tab, or File > New > "Virtual Machine... Ctrl+N"

This will bring up the "New Virtual Machine Wizard" window "Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard"

Select "Typical (recommended)"
Next > Install from: (if you have the DVD in your drive)
Select Installer disc: (if you have the DVD in your drive) or
Select Installer disc image file (iso): (if you have created an ISO image, recommend using ImgBurn, a DMG will NOT work in the latest versions of Workstation or Player)
or finally you can select
"I will install the operating system later.
The virtual machine will be created with a blank hard disk." (if you do not have the other two options immediately to hand or just want to progress quickly)

Next > Guest operating system
Select "Apple Mac OS X"
Version "Mac OS X Server 10.6 64-bit"

Next > Virtual machine name: (give the virtual machine a relevant name, i.e. OS X Snow Leopard)
Location: (select a relevant location, I install mine to a partition other than my system partition (C:\), as your guestOS(s) VMDK file's can get very large)

Next > maximum disk size (GB): 40.0 to 256.0 (since this will be thin provisioned be generous)
Select "Store virtual disk as a single file" (my MSoK's preference) but enhanced performance may be gained by selecting "Split virtual disk into multiple files" (Donk's recommendation).

Next > here you have the option to "Customize Hardware..." but this should not be necessary, the only thing I do is switch Network Adapter from NAT to Bridged, as I prefer my OS X to have an IP address on the same network as my Host. Click "OK" once you have made any hardware changes followed by "Finish". Only now will the virtual hard drive (VMDK), configuration file (VMX) and other related files be created.

Unless you have a Core i3, i5 or i7 processor and your retail OS X DVD is 10.6.3 you can now "Power on the virtual machine" and install OS X. If you have the above configuration you need to add the following CPUID Mask in to your VMX configuration file before powering on your virtual machine (cpu code restrictions, specifically within the 10.6.3 release)

cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101" this can be removed once your OS X is updated to 10.6.4 or later.

[UPDATED: 03/JUL/2011]
At this point you should have a guestOS ready to install OS X, many of you will be familiar with the installation process for OS X, but for those who are not it differs from Windows in that you need to prepare the VMware virtual disk before the OS X installation can proceed. A partial guide can be downloaded, see the links at the end of this topic. However you can follow the steps below to create a virtual disk visible to the OS X installation process. During the boot sequence you may see hit F8 NOW, if you want to set special boot options, or press F8 to enter start-up options, this is not required normally, but it is worth being aware of as occasionally you may be asked to add a parameter during the boot sequence by one of the forum Geeks, Sages or Legends. The boot process should then move on to "Loading Darwin/x86", and finally the grey background with the Apple logo and the timer, you can be sat at this screen for several minutes, so be patient, if in doubt apply the cup of coffee rule!

Eventually you should move on to the language selection screen, select your language and press the right arrow button.
The Install Mac OS X screen should appear; this is the point we need to prepare the virtual disk for use with OS X, so DO NOT click on the Continue button. Instead select Utilities then Disk Utility…

Once in Disk Utility, highlight the VMware virtual disk, then select Partition and change the "Volume Scheme" to "1 Partition" and the "Volume Information Name" from "Untitled 1" to a name of your choice, I generally call it OS X, unimaginative but simple and true! Make sure the "Format" is set to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Please note if you are installing from ISO you will only see the VMware Virtual S Media in the left window. Also check under the Options… button that GUID Partition Table is selected.

Next click the Apply button and at the prompt click on the Partition button. This will create the OS X partition on the VMware virtual disk ready for the OS X software installation. Exit Disk Utility via the red button, top left, this will return you to the Mac OS X Installer screen, which you can now click on the Continue button, a software license agreement screen will pop up to which you must agree to continue.

Next you should get the Install Mac OS X "Select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X", with the OS X disk just created in Disk Utility showing as an option, well in truth the only option. Click on the disk and it will become highlighted and show a green down pointing arrow, which means the disk is selected and available to be used for the software install. So go ahead and click on the Install button. The installation will now progress and will take at least 30 minutes depending on your Laptop / PC specification and whether you are installing from DVD or an image.
[UPDATED: 03/JUL/2011](Thanks to Mikelli)

[UPDATED: 10/AUG/2011]
A common problem once you have installed OS X 10.6 is that your guest freezes after being left idle for sometime this is OS X going in to sleep mode. To prevent your OS X guest from going in to sleep mode go to the Energy Saver settings under System Preferences, where you need to set "Computer sleep" and "Display sleep" to Never. I also untick the "Put the hard drive(s) to sleep when possible" and "Allow power button to put the computer to sleep". Finally I set "Start screen saver" to Never. Alternatively you can use a free third party utility like Caffeine which, as the names suggests, keeps your OS X guest from going in to sleep mode.
[UPDATED: 10/AUG/2011](Thanks to ewokian)

[UPDATED: 01/JUN/2011]
To provide an enhanced experience of OS X as a guestOS under VMware Workstation or Player it is recommended to install the latest VMware Tools, they are included in the latest fusion darwin.iso (currently 3.1.3), and the ISO needs to be mounted in place of the CD/DVD drive in "Virtual Machine Settings" this will allow shared folders to be enabled, it will also provide enhanced keyboard, mouse & USB support as well as screen auto sizing.

Also Zenith432's Audio and 2D Graphics drivers are reconmmended, however installing the 2D Graphics drivers will disable auto sizing without also installing Z432's GuestD patch.
[UPDATED: 01/JUN/2011](Thanks to g54pcys and Zenith432)

[UPDATED: 13/SEP/2011]
Although not directly related to this topic, Donk's "darwin.iso" method is still very popular, and is the preferred method for OS X as a guestOS under ESXi 4.1 or 4.1(U1). The latest version (310) required a modification to the setup.sh script for use with VMware Fusion 3.1.2 or later (currently 3.1.3). I have therefore applied the modification (supplied by Donk), which now correctly restores the original "darwin.iso" during an uninstall of Donk's "darwin.iso", and provided a link to download the complete package including the modified script file. This method has now been completely superceeded by Donk's new "ESXi 5 Unlocker" and Albert's "Unlocker" for Workstation 7, Player 3 and Fusion 3.
[UPDATED: 13/SEP/2011](Thanks to Nihilator and especially Donk)

Links to all the relevant and related topics in the InsanelyMac forum:

[UPDATED: 07/SEP/2011]
Donk's ESXi 5 Mac OS X Unlocker:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1745191

MSoK's How to Install Retail OS X 10.6 "Snow" and OS X 10.7 "Lion" under VMware ESXi 5:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1745457
[UPDATED: 07/SEP/2011]

Donk's Workstation 8 and Fusion 4 Mac OS X Unlocker:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1750629

Albert's Workstation 7, Player 3 and Fusion 3 Mac OS X Unlocker:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1485873

Donk's Updated Installation Script for Albert's Unlocker:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1529856

[UPDATED: 03/JUL/2011]
CPUID Mask Information for use with OS X 10.6.3 (ONLY) and Core i3, i5, i7 (including Sandy Bridge) and Xeon 5600 Series Processors:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1551966
[UPDATED: 03/JUL/2011]

[UPDATED: 04/JUL/2011]
Links to darwin.iso from Fusion 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 (latest version 3.1.3) to install VMware Tools:
http://www.rapidshar...8/darwin313.iso
http://www.rapidshar...3/darwin312.iso
[UPDATED: 04/JUL/2011](Thanks to Zenith432)

Link to a post with a partial guide from MSoK to get started with the actual OS X install:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1565645

Latest 2D / 3D Graphics Drivers from Zenith432:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1560361 (2D)

http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1617931 (3D currently in "Development")

Latest Audio Drivers from Zenith432:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1594841

Donk's VMware Mac OS X Guest Package for ESX(i), Workstation, Player, Server and Fusion:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1186508

[UPDATED: 13/SEP/2011]
Donk's now superceeded darwin installation package including darwin.iso (310):
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1523890

Donk's now superceeded darwin installation package including darwin.iso (310) and updated setup.sh for Fusion uninstall:
http://www.rapidshar...nkDarwin310.zip
[UPDATED: 13/SEP/2011](Thanks to Nihilator and Donk)

[UPDATED: 02/JUL/2011]
Not strictly on topic, but a link to Zenith432's topic "SnowKitty running on VMware Workstation", which offers support for processors without VT-x support using a modified kernel:
http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1288448
[UPDATED: 02/JUL/2011](Thanks to Zenith432 and InsanelyMacMember)

Link to ImgBurn Website:
http://www.imgburn.com/

I hope this update helps with installing retail OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard under VMware Workstation or Player on an Intel VT-x enabled PC or Notebook.

Special thanks to Albert, Donk and Zenith432 without who's continued time and commitment none of this would be possible.

Regards MSoK.
(I will try to keep this post updated, with all relevant contributions gratefully received and credited)

[TheGreatDeceiver]

Links to the relevant topics in the InsanelyMac forum:

Regards MSoK.
(I will try to keep this post updated, with any relevant contributions gratefully received)

hey MSoK, great idea. maybe for some the different darwin.isos are confusing. e.g what is different between darwin.iso from Fusion 3.1.2 and donk's. might be helpful to add a short explanation/description for each.

thank you!
tgd

[MSoK]

hey MSoK, great idea. maybe for some the different darwin.isos are confusing. e.g what is different between darwin.iso from Fusion 3.1.2 and donk's. might be helpful to add a short explanation/description for each.

thank you!
tgd

TGD,

Thanks for the suggestion, original post updated 29th January 2011, Cheers MSoK.

[Donk]

hey MSoK, great idea. maybe for some the different darwin.isos are confusing. e.g what is different between darwin.iso from Fusion 3.1.2 and donk's. might be helpful to add a short explanation/description for each.

thank you!
tgd

As the darwin.iso is only now needed for ESXi, I was thinking of doing the following:

1. Release one darwin.iso with no tools that would not need replacing unless VMware made a change to ESXi which needed a change.
2. Write a shell script, or something, that downloads the real darwin.iso with tools from the VMware web site (used by the light installation of Fusion and Workstation to get tools and updates to the tools) within the Mac OS X guest.

That way no more confusion on what to download, plus as I am going to have little time for the foreseeable future to do any more work on this. Your thoughts would be welcomed.

[MSoK]

As the darwin.iso is only now needed for ESXi, I was thinking of doing the following:

1. Release one darwin.iso with no tools that would not need replacing unless VMware made a change to ESXi which needed a change.
2. Write a shell script, or something, that downloads the real darwin.iso with tools from the VMware web site (used by the light installation of Fusion and Workstation to get tools and updates to the tools) within the Mac OS X guest.

That way no more confusion on what to download, plus as I am going to have little time for the foreseeable future to do any more work on this. Your thoughts would be welcomed.

Donk,
Sounds like a great idea on both points, taking the tools out of the ESXi darwin.iso, which if I remember correctly the VMware Tools have little or no value on an OS X Guest under ESXi, and a script to download the latest darwin.iso for VMware Tools installation under Workstation and Player would be ideal. As you say the above solutions should remove all the confusion regarding the use of darwin.iso. Cheers MSoK.

[sofakng]

Thanks for the great post!

I'm a tiny bit confused though regarding VMware Player.

I've downloaded Albert/Donks (updated) script and ran it but it had errors:

C:\VMware\DonkUnlocker>windows.cmd
VMware Mac OS X Patcher 1.0.0
=============================
Core=VMware Player
InstallPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\
VMXPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\x64
UIPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\vmwarebase.dll

The VMware Authorization Service service was stopped successfully.


The VMware USB Arbitration Service service was stopped successfully.

Mac OS X guest unlocker for VMware, version 7

Directory C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\x64:
File vmware-vmx.exe:
Unlocking Mac OS X guest on non-Mac host ...
Unlocking Mac OS X Client guest (method 0) ...
File vmware-vmx-debug.exe: Missing file.
File vmware-vmx-stats.exe: Missing file.

File C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\vmwarebase.dll:
Error opening file.
The VMware Authorization Service service is starting.
The VMware Authorization Service service was started successfully.

The VMware USB Arbitration Service service is starting.
The VMware USB Arbitration Service service was started successfully.

You'll notice I had a couple of errors (missing files and error opening file). Is this normal?

Should I be using this script for VMware Player or do I need Workstation?

Also, when I go to create a new virtual machine it doesn't give me the option for Mac OS X.

Thanks for any help!

[sofakng]

Found the problem. For some reason some "hqtray.exe" (from the VMware directory) was still running. When I stopped it then it successfully patched vmwarebase.dll and the OS X option appeared.

Thanks!

[MSoK]

Found the problem. For some reason some "hqtray.exe" (from the VMware directory) was still running. When I stopped it then it successfully patched vmwarebase.dll and the OS X option appeared.

Thanks!

sofakng,
Thanks for the update, guide modifed to include your observations and recommendations.
Cheers MSoK.

[Infected24]

Running windows.cmd gives me this message:

File vmware-vmx-debug.exe: Missing file.


File vmware-vmx-stats.exe: Missing file.

Is this normal? Should i be worried about it?




I stopped "hqtray.exe" before running the bat, and MAC OSX appears in the VMWARE menu, so i think its safe to say the patch works.

[MSoK]

Running windows.cmd gives me this message:

File vmware-vmx-debug.exe: Missing file.
File vmware-vmx-stats.exe: Missing file.

Is this normal? Should i be worried about it?
I stopped "hqtray.exe" before running the bat, and MAC OSX appears in the VMWARE menu, so i think its safe to say the patch works.

Infected24,
In short if you are getting the option to choose Mac OS X as a guestOS then the "Unlocker" patch appears to have worked, the files are present in my Workstation installation, [UPDATE: 01/04/2011] they are not present in Player, so you will get the error, but it can be ignored as it is the vmware-vmx.exe and the vmwarebase.dll that are patched [UPDATE: 01/04/2011]. As you will see from the names they are ancillary files so not essential for standard operation, and as stated above not included in Player, however if they are missing from your installation you have to wonder if something else is missing, so may be worth a re-install at some point. Do not forget to re-run the "Unlocker" if you do re-install and I recommend Donk's updated script rather than Albert's original, especially for Player.

Attached Files

•  vmxfiles.jpg   42.91KB   140 downloads

[NSCXP2005]

Hi MSoK,

Have you had chance to try out Albert's Unlocker on VMWare Linux?

Please can you let me know as I still am getting a Segmentation Error

Thanks.

All the best

NSCXP2005

[g54pcys]

For completeness to the guide, it's my understanding that if using Albert's unlocker and VMTools, that Zenith432's 2D video driver is not required and offers no benefit, and therefore isn't required. Is this correct?

[MSoK]

For completeness to the guide, it's my understanding that if using Albert's unlocker and VMTools, that Zenith432's 2D video driver is not required and offers no benefit, and therefore isn't required. Is this correct?

In a word no, Zenith432's video drivers offer a siginificant benefit in all circumstances, not just Workstation and Player but also ESXi (although not covered in this topic), however you need to also install his guestd patch to support auto sizing. Links in the first post on this topic.

[sammurphy]

After struggling with kernel panics on VirtualBox the past few weeks I was stoked to discover this thread!

Thanks for all the hard work, guys. I've now got a rock solid VMWare retail Snow Leopard install.

I did have one problem with the Donk's patcher - killing hqtray and no matter how I stopped the other VMWare services I kept getting permission failures. Not even fooling around with file permissions worked.

FWIW, I run Windows 7 Pro (64-bit).

I solved the problem by booting Win7 in safe mode with command window. Then the patcher worked great (although it did complain about some services not being started).

[MSoK]

After struggling with kernel panics on VirtualBox the past few weeks I was stoked to discover this thread!

Thanks for all the hard work, guys. I've now got a rock solid VMWare retail Snow Leopard install.

I did have one problem with the Donk's patcher - killing hqtray and no matter how I stopped the other VMWare services I kept getting permission failures. Not even fooling around with file permissions worked.

FWIW, I run Windows 7 Pro (64-bit).

I solved the problem by booting Win7 in safe mode with command window. Then the patcher worked great (although it did complain about some services not being started).

Did you follow the latest updated 01/ARP/2011 install, or did they still not work requiring the safe mode install?

[sammurphy]

Did you follow the latest updated 01/ARP/2011 install, or did they still not work requiring the safe mode install?

I still had to try the safe mode approach after following your latest instructions. For some reason the dll was marked as busy and unwriteable even after killing hqtray and the other VMWare services.

[MSoK]

I still had to try the safe mode approach after following your latest instructions. For some reason the dll was marked as busy and unwriteable even after killing hqtray and the other VMWare services.

Sam,

Thanks for the update, I will include your finding in the gude.

Cheers
MSoK.

[MSoK]

Thanks to Nihilator and Donk for an update to Donk's "darwin.iso" method, see the following link for details:

http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1673676

[jerryyyyy]

Thanks to Nihilator and Donk for an update to Donk's "darwin.iso" method, see the following link for details:

http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1673676

Hi,

Have been MIA in the forum for a while but wanted to check in and see what was up... looks like a lot. i have been using the install with the darwin200.iso, but looks like you have upgraded and now you can use the VMware tools.

I guess question is, can I upgrade but still use the old VMWare machine? Has a lot of customization on it... I actually managed to create and submit an iPhone app....

EDIT: I also read over the notes. If I run the .cmd scripts, looks like the vmware registry is modified, etc.. I wonder if my other Virtual machines will run after this modification. Is it reversible?

Thanks for all the help to the group here.

[MSoK]

Hi,

Have been MIA in the forum for a while but wanted to check in and see what was up... looks like a lot. i have been using the install with the darwin200.iso, but looks like you have upgraded and now you can use the VMware tools.

I guess question is, can I upgrade but still use the old VMWare machine? Has a lot of customization on it... I actually managed to create and submit an iPhone app....

EDIT: I also read over the notes. If I run the .cmd scripts, looks like the vmware registry is modified, etc.. I wonder if my other Virtual machines will run after this modification. Is it reversible?

Thanks for all the help to the group here.

jerryyyy,

I have no reason to think your other VM's will not run with the "Unlocker" patch applied. The "Unlocker" just enables features which have been disabled due to Apple's EULA, so whatever works in Fusion should work fine in the "Unlocked" versions of Workstation and Player. A link for a standard darwin.iso from Fusion (312), without Donk's modifications is available to apply just the VMware Tools, or is included in Donk's modified "darwin.iso" but is at Fusion (310), his version also includes Zenith432's Audio and Graphics drivers, although not the most recent, again links above.

In terms of un-install, no you would have to uninstall Workstation or Player, and then re-install Workstation or Player, the patch will no longer be applied, so OS X will not work but everything else should be fine. This just like when you do a version upgrade, i.e. 7.x.x to 7.1.4, the upgrade does a complete uninstall followed by a fresh install, requiring the "Unlocker" to be re-applied.

None of these processes should impact on your existing VMDK's, other than requesting an update to installed VMware Tools, excluding OS X which have to be applied manually.