157 replies to this topic

[Uranus]

Alright, so I figured out why I was getting stuck at the Grey apple logo, or with the white screen with the spinning beachball.
I was using a VM I created a few days ago and it still had "smc.present = false". I changed that to true and now the installer starts up! It is installing lion right now. I hope it goes well.

[iceman3301]

Mac Son of Knife, on Sep 10 2011, 05:04 AM, said:

Iceman,

We need some more information, i.e. Processor type, version of OS X 10.6, the normal problem is the latest retail version of OS X is 10.6.3 and if you have a Core i processor or Xeon 5600 series they are not supported without the CPUID mask being set, but this is a guess without additional information. Have a look at the following topic, link below, which is the equivalent of this "How to" but for Workstation 4 and Player 3 instead of ESXi 5, but still should find some useful information:

http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1622074

Cheers, MSoK.

Thanks MSoK!  Here are my specs-
   Processors:  2 x Intel Xeon E5410 Harpertown 2.33GHz (based on Penryn)
   Chipset:  Intel 5100
   Motherboard:  ASUS DSAN-DX
   Array Controller:  LSI MeagaRAID SAS 8708 EM2
   Snow Leopard Version:  10.6.0 (Retail DVD)

[kashMoney]

I've read and i'm confused!

So first you create the virtual machine as 10.6, then under settings options you change it to 10.7,
Root in, run Donk's Unlocker, then boot from usb to install ?

Question, can i install via ISO if i first change to scsi cd rom drive? and then mount the lion iso?

also do you have to change smc.present = true, and the cpu id to sandybridge?

TIA!

[sofakng]

I've installed the ESXi 5.0 unlocker but after I boot my retail Snow Leopard DVD (10.6.3), I see the Apple logo, and then a blinking cursor, and then it reboots over and over.

I've added the cpuid and smc.present = true lines to the VMX file but I'm still not having any luck.

The ESXi host is running an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Processor.  (I didn't think the host CPU mattered though since the guest operating system is virtualized...)

[Donk]

sofakng, on Sep 11 2011, 03:30 PM, said:

I've installed the ESXi 5.0 unlocker but after I boot my retail Snow Leopard DVD (10.6.3), I see the Apple logo, and then a blinking cursor, and then it reboots over and over.

I've added the cpuid and smc.present = true lines to the VMX file but I'm still not having any luck.

The ESXi host is running an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Processor.  (I didn't think the host CPU mattered though since the guest operating system is virtualized...)

See your other post.

[Added my other post as now usng this thread]

Virtualized systems pass the real CPU characteristics through to the guest. Emulation would allow any CPU to be specified. That's the reason virtualization is so quick compared to emulation.

You can mask certain features and it may be possible to do that for ESXi booting Mac OS X. MSoK can point you in the right direction for a CPUID mask that may help.

[sofakng]

Donk, on Sep 11 2011, 10:50 AM, said:

See your other post.

Thanks!  I'll continue my questions about installing Snow Leopard here since it seems more appropriate.  (please let me know if I'm incorrect)

Anyways... My ESXi host is running an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T.

After installing the unlocker, I tried booting my retail Snow Leopard (10.6.3) DVD but it didn't work.  It sounds like that is because the ESXi host is an AMD system.

My next attempt was using this guide here which has you restore the retail Snow Leopard DVD to a USB stick and then install "ModUSB".

I've tried that but when I attempt to boot it inside ESXi, it says "EFI USB... unsuccessful."  (ie. it can't successfully boot from my USB stick)  The USB stick definitely works because I've booted my main PC using it and it booted into the ModUSB bootloader.

TLDR;  How do I get my AMD ESXi 5 host working with Snow Leopard?

[SeqR]

With special help from MSoK, was able to finally get Lion running on ESXi 5.0.  Amazing. Thanks to all.

Server is Dell PowerEdge T710 with X5650 Xeon.

Installed from "restored"  USB stick that was added as a USB Device in the VM. USB plugged into the T710.

VMWare Tools installed by mounting the .iso as described earlier on.

Few remaining issues.

1. Still struggling with using USB and CD/DVD drive

2. New VMWare Converter 5.0 succeeded (took a long time)  on cloning the working VM  but the new one failed to boot immediately on power on.

3. Originally built the VM with a 40GB drive. Once working I expanded it to 100GB (in VSphere edit settings).  Disk Utilities shows the original 40GB partition and shows the additional 60GB.  Cannot however extend the original partition to use it nor can I create a new partition from it.  (This may be my inexperience with OSX)


Will keep working it.

[a3897431@nepwk.com]

hi all,

already posted in donk's thread, and waiting for response. however i#ve a feeling that its not up to the esxi unlocker

I am using a HP ML310 G3 with IVT enabled // Dual-core Intel® Pentium® D 940 (3.2 GHz/800 - 2 x 2MB L2)

QuickSpecs: http://h18004.www1.h...v/12364_div.pdf


i used vm-image created on vmworkstation 7.1.x from retail, and   converted it with vmconverter to esxi5. i have used the "unlock script" .. however after i start the VM a few seconds later it stuck on the grey apple logo screen

[Donk]

a3897431@nepwk.com, on Sep 14 2011, 07:40 AM, said:

hi all,

already posted in donk's thread, and waiting for response. however i#ve a feeling that its not up to the esxi unlocker

I am using a HP ML310 G3 with IVT enabled // Dual-core Intel® Pentium® D 940 (3.2 GHz/800 - 2 x 2MB L2)

QuickSpecs: http://h18004.www1.h...v/12364_div.pdf


i used vm-image created on vmworkstation 7.1.x from retail, and   converted it with vmconverter to esxi5. i have used the "unlock script" .. however after i start the VM a few seconds later it stuck on the grey apple logo screen

I am afraid it is probably as the processor is too old for Mac OS X to recognize. The earliest Macs are built around Core 2 processors. At this stage I am not sure there is much I can do to help.

[a3897431@nepwk.com]

ive read in different threads that you can patch esxi to ignore / mask the processor ... will this work? any experienes with that?

[Donk]

a3897431@nepwk.com, on Sep 14 2011, 11:23 AM, said:

ive read in different threads that you can patch esxi to ignore / mask the processor ... will this work? any experienes with that?

Never seen that. Do you have any links?

[MSoK]

a3897431@nepwk.com, on Sep 14 2011, 11:23 AM, said:

ive read in different threads that you can patch esxi to ignore / mask the processor ... will this work? any experienes with that?

As Donk states, we have not seen any details of patches that can be applied to ESXi itself so I assume you are referring to using the CPUID mask, have a look at my "How To" link below:

http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1622074

However, this is a mask, i.e. hides higher functionality from the guestOS, so if the processor does not have the required functionality the guestOS is expecting, it is not going to run with or without the mask, but give it a try it cannot harm anything.

[sofakng]

Yeah, it sounds like the CPUID Mask won't help but what about those specialized/custom boot loaders?

For example, I restored the Snow Leopard DVD to a USB stick and then applied some patches.  It boots fine in my main pc but ESXi doesn't even see it as a bootable drive.

Is this normal?  I've tried booting it using both BIOS and EFI but both of them just ignore the USB drive and won't boot from it.  (but I know it's bootable because it works in my main pc)

[SeqR]

The new version of VMWare Converter Standalone Client does clone an OSX Lion  VM.  It takes quite a long time.

After cloning, needed to do the following.

1. Edit Setting > Options    Guest Operating System came up as  "Other (32-bit)"  Changed to "Apple Mac OSX 10.7 (64-Bit)"

2.  .VMX needed to be edited adding network adapter     ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

[Donk]

dflohr, on Sep 14 2011, 12:25 PM, said:

The new version of VMWare Converter Standalone Client does clone an OSX Lion  VM.  It takes quite a long time.

After cloning, needed to do the following.

1. Edit Setting > Options    Guest Operating System came up as  "Other (32-bit)"  Changed to "Apple Mac OSX 10.7 (64-Bit)"

2.  .VMX needed to be edited adding network adapter     ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

Thanks for checking this out. I haven't had time yet. I am probably going to start documenting this on my web site. Seems simpler than updating PDFs and posts here all the time. Will use the forums for discussions though.

[Donk]

sofakng, on Sep 14 2011, 12:18 PM, said:

Yeah, it sounds like the CPUID Mask won't help but what about those specialized/custom boot loaders?

For example, I restored the Snow Leopard DVD to a USB stick and then applied some patches.  It boots fine in my main pc but ESXi doesn't even see it as a bootable drive.

Is this normal?  I've tried booting it using both BIOS and EFI but both of them just ignore the USB drive and won't boot from it.  (but I know it's bootable because it works in my main pc)

I've kept away from this supporting hacked version of Mac OS X as more often than not they cause a bunch of problems in VMware. Remember VMware work on virtualizing Mac OS X on Apple hardware. However my suggestion is that you take a vanilla copy of Mac OS X and add a custom kernel into it that has additional processor support. Look for Legacy Lion or Snow Leopard kernels.

[xwaystyle]

Hope new Unlocker for new VM8 will available soon..

[MSoK]

xwaystyle, on Sep 15 2011, 04:10 PM, said:

Hope new Unlocker for new VM8 will available soon..

Please be patient, the man will deliver, and it will be worth the wait, take my word for it, OK!

[Turanli]

Hi guys.

Would ESXI 5 allow me to have Win 7 and Mac OS X 10.7 running simultaneously?
And would it be possible to have Win 7 output on a discrete GPU and Mac out the Intel HD 3000?

[kup]

Donk's Unlocker for Workstation 8 is working perfectly. Lion booted up with no problems at all.



And Snowy boots and runs fine too.