189 replies to this topic

[splonk]

Download security update 2012-002 and take a look at the files inside to see exactly what is getting replaced. This one is known to break many a hackintosh, so I have blocked it since my server stays offline.

[rtrtrtrt]

Ok thanks Splonk. Will take a look inside and maybe try to prove thats the issue by installing the other updates excl that one as well.

I use mine online so would be good to find a way to install security changes.

[adygt]

Hi guys.
Few days ago I've decided to give OSX another shot, because I deleted it from my HDD few months ago for various reasons, and it works (almost) prefectly on my HPMS with AMD Radeon HD 6450 with QE/CI. Well I've just installed iLife'11, but I have a very annoying problem with iMovie: it crashes every time I try to export a file... Do you know what causes the problem and potentially how to fix it? Because it's really frustrating... Thanks in advance.

[tk007b]

Not sure about anyone else but my microserver seems to lose about 2 or 3 minutes in 24hrs, so I have to click on the "time & date preferences" which seems to cure it. However, it's a combersome solution. I've done a bit of digging and it appears that providing I'm in SU mode I can use this command line "ntpdate -u pool.ntp.org" to correct the time. The bit I need to understand is how to make this run on a daily basis to ensure my system time does not get too out of sync if I am away from it (or forget) for a few days.
Any help appreciated
Cheers
TK

[flakey]

wizzkid41, on 04 May 2012 - 03:47 PM, said:

Hi guys,

just thought I should let you all know iv managed to get snow leopard running under esxi using the previous hint, following that i downloaded a seperate darwin_snow.iso from iFans so i could install vmware tools, I also used donks unlocker and now have the machine running as "Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard 64 Bit", so the entire proceedure is as follows:

1. insert nawcom's boot cd
2. swap to snow leopard cd
3. press f5 until "snow leopard" is listed, select using arrow keys and press enter
3. once installer starts enter disk utility and partition the vmware disk
4. run the installer
5. reboot and swap to modified darwin_snow.iso
6. install vmware tools from iso and reboot
7. install donks unlocker
8. change virtual machine to "Snow Leopard 64 bit"
9. insert nawcoms disk for booting

Just thought i'd add that after this was done i 'upgraded' vmware tools using the esxi console =]

and your good to go, any questions please ask. =]

Okey-doke. I've got questions, so I'm asking.

I've tried to install Snow Leopard inside ESXi 5.1.0 (build 799733) on an N40L Microserver, but without success.

I've applied Donk's unlocker v1.1.0 to ESXi. I can see darwin.vgz in /bootbank, and /bootbank/boot.cfg contains an entry near the end for darwin.vgz. I can see /darwin.vgz loading at the server console during ESXi's boot sequence. If I uninstall the unlocker, then darwin.vgz disappears from /bootbank and the entry disappears from /bootbank/boot.cfg, and /darwin.vgz no longer appears during ESXi's boot sequence. As I write this post, however, the unlocker IS installed.

I downloaded Nawcom's boot CD 3.2 (filename OSX86_ModCD-032311-151021.iso) from OSX86.net, darwin_snow.iso from iFans, and also ripped an ISO (7,771,521,024 bytes) of my retail Snow Leopard DVD. All three ISO images are sitting in /vmfs/volumes/Datastore/vmimages/OSX.

Using vSphere Client 5.1.0 (build 786111) on Windows 7 I created a virtual machine with the following details:
* Configuration: Custom
* Name: OSX
* Storage: Datastore
* Virtual Machine Version: 8
* Guest Operating System: Other/Apple Mac OS X 10.6 (32-bit)
* CPUs: 1 socket, 1 core per socket, 1 core total
* Memory size: 1GB
* Network connections: 1 (the only available adapter choice is E1000)
* SCSI controller: LSI Logic Parallel
* Select a disk: Create a new virtual disk
* Create a disk: 40GB, Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, Store with the virtual machine
* Advanced Options: Virtual Device Node SCSI (0:0), Independent mode is NOT ticked

I then edited the CD/DVD drive to use the Datastore ISO file /Datastore/vmimages/OSX/OSX86_ModCD-032311-151021.iso (step 1 of your process is to use nawcom's boot CD).

If I try to boot from OSX86_ModCD-032311-151021.iso all I see is "unsuccessful." in the EFI console. Similarly, if I try to boot from darwin_snow.iso I again see "unsuccessful." in the EFI console. Lastly, if I try to boot from the Snow Leopard ISO I see the Apple logo briefly before the VM crashes and reboots and the cycle repeats until I power off the VM or unmount the ISO. If I try to press F5 nothing changes; the VM constantly reboots as long as the Snow Leopard ISO is mounted.

I went back to the first post in this thread for inspiration. I wanted to avoid using USB sticks or real hard disks as my Microserver is under my desk, and it's a bit awkward to scramble down there (I'm not as young and limber as I once was).

The following steps were carried out on a separate computer (Intel Core 2 Duo) running Windows 7 and VMware Workstation 9.0.1 (build 894247), which has a working Mountain Lion 10.8.2 VM.
* I created a second virtual SCSI hard disk of 8GB and attached it before starting the VM.
* I used Disk Utility to restore from the Snow Leopard DVD to the newly-created 8GB partition.
* I downloaded Nawcom's ModUSB app from OSX86.net, as blog.nawcom.com appears to be down for the time being. I ran the ModUSB application and pointed it at the 8GB MAC OS X Install volume.
* I shut down the VM and detached the 8GB virtual disk.

Then, from Windows, I copied the 8GB .vmdk file (OSX10_6.vmdk) via SCP to /vmfs/volumes/Datastore/OSX on ESXi, and verified the copy using MD5 checksums in Windows and ESXi.

I signed into the ESXi console and used the command vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/Datastore/OSX/OSX10_6.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/Datastore/OSX/OSX10_6_Install.vmdk to convert the Workstation VMDK for use with ESXi.

After the conversion was complete, I returned to the vSphere client and attached the new OSX10_6_Install.vmdk file to the OSX VM, on virtual node SCSI (0:1).

I started the virtual machine and held down the Alt key to get into the EFI. I chose Boot Manager and picked the new option "EFI Virtual disk (1.0)" which now appeared at the bottom of the list. Just like with the Snow Leopard ISO image, I briefly saw the Apple log before the VM reset itself and attempted to boot again.

And now I'm out of ideas. I can't boot from Nawcom's boot CD, I can't boot from darwin_snow.iso, I can't boot from the Snow Leopard ISO, and I can't boot from a (virtual) hard disk created from the Snow Leopard DVD.

So where did I go wrong? What do I need to do to get the Snow Leopard installer to load inside an ESXi VM on an AMD Turion II N40L-based system?

[flakey]

I've made a bit of progress. I change the machine type from an EFI-only one (Apple Mac OS X) to a BIOS one (FreeBSD). Now I can boot the VM from Nawcom's boot CD and see the Snow Leopard DVD after changing mounted media and pressing F5.

[alexjj]

Has much development happened on the N36/N40 servers?

I'm interested in running my N40L with SL and Zevo zfs but this needs 64 bit kernel...

[oli-j]

flakey, on 27 November 2012 - 11:03 PM, said:

I've made a bit of progress. I change the machine type from an EFI-only one (Apple Mac OS X) to a BIOS one (FreeBSD). Now I can boot the VM from Nawcom's boot CD and see the Snow Leopard DVD after changing mounted media and pressing F5.

Did it install ok after this? I have a N36L running ESXi and it would be very useful to be able to set up SL on it.

[oli-j]

Are there a list of kexts anywhere for this? I'm trying to install mountain lion on ESXi on this machine.

I've been following the AMD mountain lion dev thread and I have unlocked ESXi so I'm hoping that it won't be too much trouble to get it running!

[oli-j]

Ok, I went with the FreeBSD vm option and booted and installed SL 10.60 with Nawcom's ModCD. I then ran ##### as per the guide and installed the newer chameleon (828?). Seems to be running ok, but when I'm not using VNC or the vSphere client to manage it the CPU runs at 100% usage, which is annoying as it slows down other VM's.