157 replies to this topic

[MSoK]

d00m, on Nov 15 2011, 02:45 PM, said:

Thank you !
I just create new VM via directly connected to ESXi 5 and all the same - when I power on VM I've got error "A general system error occured: The virtual machine could not start"

Did you add the CPUID mask as detailed in your other topic post, try adding the CPUID, otherwise attach your vmx config file and latest vmware.log file as attachments so we can see what is going on, link to relevant topic below:

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

[d00m]

fixed
it was a host issue.
my bad. sorry

[MSoK]

d00m, on Nov 16 2011, 08:57 AM, said:

fixed
it was a host issue.
my bad. sorry

d00m,
Glad you have sorted your issue, I see you withdrew the original post with the VMX config file, and was asking about the location of vmware.log file if my memory serves me correctly.

For information in ESXi 5 the log file is stored in the datastore along with your .vmx config file and your .vmdk guestOS file(s). To locate it select your ESXi host IP Address in vSphere Client, and under the Configuration Tab, select Storage and hightloight the relevant datastore, right click and Browse Datastore..., select the relevant directory, i.e. OS X Snow and highlight the log file and click on the download a file to copy it to your local PC. Rename both your vmx file and log file to .txt before uploading in to your post, se we can download for easiest analysis.

[d00m]

Mac Son of Knife, on Nov 16 2011, 05:37 PM, said:

d00m,
Glad you have sorted your issue, I see you withdrew the original post with the VMX config file, and was asking about the location of vmware.log file if my memory serves me correctly.

For information in ESXi 5 the log file is stored in the datastore along with your .vmx config file and your .vmdk guestOS file(s). To locate it select your ESXi host IP Address in vSphere Client, and under the Configuration Tab, select Storage and hightloight the relevant datastore, right click and Browse Datastore..., select the relevant directory, i.e. OS X Snow and highlight the log file and click on the download a file to copy it to your local PC. Rename both your vmx file and log file to .txt before uploading in to your post, se we can download for easiest analysis.

thanks but it was issue related to error: "A general system error occured: The virtual machine could not start"
So my VM couldn't start so no log file was created.
Anyway - reboot the host fixed my issue.
Now I have created VM with OS X 10.6 and updated it to 10.6.8
Thank you.

[MSoK]

d00m, on Nov 16 2011, 07:36 PM, said:

thanks but it was issue related to error: "A general system error occured: The virtual machine could not start"
So my VM couldn't start so no log file was created.
Anyway - reboot the host fixed my issue.
Now I have created VM with OS X 10.6 and updated it to 10.6.8
Thank you.

d00m,
Thanks for the update, the "for information" was not aimed at you, more of a general pointer to help others.

However we in the IT game get stick for the "Please re-boot your system" comment to users, but it is very often a valid solution, or if not gives us a new starting point to troubleshoot a problem, LoL!
MSoK.

[anondalsoth]

Hi Guys

I have a HP Micro Server running ESXi from a USB stick and have 4 disks installed on the machine. I want to run Mac OSX 10.6 from a VM on one of these disks but am really struggling here with the information as it is a bit spread out for me and seems to jump about. I am not sure if you guys actually have a step by step guide or not?

I have used Veeam to SCP into the EXSi server and could see the 4 hard drives. I have copied the following files to the 4th hard disk:

install.sh
uninstall.sh
Unlocker.ESXi

I am not incredibly experienced with ESXi but have managed to access the console using alt f1 (after first turning on the option in the f2 settings area to allow this) and then get a bit stuck as I am not sure of the command to run the script files to patch things and to be honest am not sure if I am supposed to be running this from one of the actual disks i intend to use to host the VM or actually on the USB which is running ESXi.

I did not want ESXi on one of the 4 hard disks so I ran the installer using a memory stick i had copied ESXi onto using unetbootin. I then installed it to the usb so all 4 disks were free to use. The USB with ESXi is permanently in the machine. Not sure if you want me to copy the scripts to the usb which is not something i was able to see when i used SCP to connect and transfer them across.

Any help would be much appreciated guys!! I am learning but admit I am a newbie with this and need a little guidance!

If I get the machine patched I was assuming I could then use the VSphere client to create a OSX VM and then boot it either from USB or a DVD to install the Mac OS.

Cheers

[gondolas]

Hi,
This is my first attempt to install macosx 10.6 into a esxi5 i have run the unlock_all-1.01 on my server and rebooted.
After that i can create a virtual machine for MAcOSX 10.6 and boot. However the machine hangs on the grey screen first schowing the apple logo and afterward a circle with a / .

I have no clue what to do next, this thread does not have an answer for my problem i think.
As stated i have included the log file and the config file of my virtual machine.

I need a Lion server to do some tests.

Again thanks

Attached Files

•  Archief.zip   15.69K   6 downloads

[deejjjaaaa]

gondolas, on Nov 21 2011, 04:53 AM, said:

This is my first attempt to install macosx 10.6

may be cpuid.1.eax = "0000:0000:0000:0001:0000:0110:1010:0101" will help you ?

[MSoK]

gondolas, on Nov 21 2011, 09:53 AM, said:

Hi,
This is my first attempt to install macosx 10.6 into a esxi5 i have run the unlock_all-1.01 on my server and rebooted.
After that i can create a virtual machine for MAcOSX 10.6 and boot. However the machine hangs on the grey screen first schowing the apple logo and afterward a circle with a / .

I have no clue what to do next, this thread does not have an answer for my problem i think.
As stated i have included the log file and the config file of my virtual machine.

I need a Lion server to do some tests.

Again thanks

As suggested adding the CPUID may help, for a lot more help have a look at the following topic, it is for W7 but will give you lots of relevant information.

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

anondalsoth, on Nov 19 2011, 06:41 PM, said:

Hi Guys

I have a HP Micro Server running ESXi from a USB stick and have 4 disks installed on the machine. I want to run Mac OSX 10.6 from a VM on one of these disks but am really struggling here with the information as it is a bit spread out for me and seems to jump about. I am not sure if you guys actually have a step by step guide or not?

I have used Veeam to SCP into the EXSi server and could see the 4 hard drives. I have copied the following files to the 4th hard disk:

install.sh
uninstall.sh
Unlocker.ESXi

I am not incredibly experienced with ESXi but have managed to access the console using alt f1 (after first turning on the option in the f2 settings area to allow this) and then get a bit stuck as I am not sure of the command to run the script files to patch things and to be honest am not sure if I am supposed to be running this from one of the actual disks i intend to use to host the VM or actually on the USB which is running ESXi.

I did not want ESXi on one of the 4 hard disks so I ran the installer using a memory stick i had copied ESXi onto using unetbootin. I then installed it to the usb so all 4 disks were free to use. The USB with ESXi is permanently in the machine. Not sure if you want me to copy the scripts to the usb which is not something i was able to see when i used SCP to connect and transfer them across.

Any help would be much appreciated guys!! I am learning but admit I am a newbie with this and need a little guidance!

If I get the machine patched I was assuming I could then use the VSphere client to create a OSX VM and then boot it either from USB or a DVD to install the Mac OS.

Cheers

Normally to install ESXi on a USB key, boot the Server with the ESXi media, and install to the attached USB stick, make sure the USB is the first or second boot device after CD/DVD. Once ESXi is up and running from USB, allocate some or all of your local HD storage as VMFS storage. This is where you upload the unlocker and run it from a console login (ALT F1), then navigate to the directory you put the files and run the install script by typing ./install.sh at the command prompt.

I run this configuration all the time, with one local HD for VMFS and a second HD with Windows Server 2008 R2, which boots by default if i remove my USB stick.

Unfortunately in your case you have an HP Micro Server which has an AMD processor, so while the unlocker may give you the option to create an OS X guest, it will not boot without a modified kernel.

Cheers MSoK.

[Mike Burlingame]

I seem to be having an issue I have looked in a few threads and have not seen anyone else having this issue so ether I  am missing something or something is wonky with my ESXi setup

Anyway I got the unlock to work on my Dell PowerEdge with Dual 5650's I got Lion to boot into install via USB stick and using the boot -v npci=0x2000 however 2 things A) the unit is very very slow to boot into OSX most importantly when it does boot I can not see the virtual hard drive in Disk Utility to format and do the install - I see the USB key show up in the drive list but not the 40GB virtual disk

thanks for any advise on resolving this issue and if anyone has any insight on the performance issue that would be awesome as well

Thanks

[datar]

ESXi 5 GA, DELL PowerEdge 2950 with Xeon E5410, using Donk's unlocker v101. It works very smooth with Snow Leo 10.6.0 but for Lion the installation stucks at grey apple and not any message at all, any one has any hint?

[anondalsoth]

Thanks for the help MSOK, I did eventually get the files installed before you replied but was on a course so could not reply. I realised after rereading this thread that my ADM processor was going to be a problem so I used NAWCOMs boot CD and set my machine up as a BSD machine in order to boot OSX. This actually works and I can use the system but the mouse is ultra sensitive and it also inverted the axis so that moving up went down etc... I saw a post mentioning USB overdrive can configure it up the opposite way again and I am yet to try this.

The reason I am replying back is to ask if there is something I can do to speed up performance? I have allocated 6GB ram and both CPU to the guest OS and it runs like a terminal dog. It took maybe 2 hours + at least to install and takes 10 minutes to boot up. Any helpful tips? I know you guys don't really recommend using custom kernels but with the AMD CPU I had no choice but to boot with the NAWCOM.

Thanks

[Mike Burlingame]

datar, on 25 November 2011 - 09:25 AM, said:

ESXi 5 GA, DELL PowerEdge 2950 with Xeon E5410, using Donk's unlocker v101. It works very smooth with Snow Leo 10.6.0 but for Lion the installation stucks at grey apple and not any message at all, any one has any hint?

assuming you are using a Lion OSX USB Stick what I had to do was the following (ensure that under General options you have version set to "Apple Mac OS X 10.7 (64-bit)"
1) Right click on your VM and edit Settings --> Options --> Boot Options --> Check mark Force EFI Setup "The next time the Virtual machine boots, force entry into the EFI setup screen."
2) Power on Virtual Lion --> Click on Console --> Boot Manager --> EFI Internal Shell
3) (My Lion USB Stick shows up as fs0) at the Shell> type fs0: press enter
4) change directory by typing cd /usr/standalone/i386 and press enter
5) you should now see the prompt fs0:usrstandalonei386> type boot -v npci=0x2000 and press enter

That should get you into Lion after 5-10 min's depending on processor speed and VM build after that you can attempt to install Lion on the VM however this is where I am having my issue that my VM Hard Drive does not show up in Disk Utility

Hope that helps

[alexiskai]

Am I correct that there are still only three approved methods for installing Lion on ESXi?

1. Install on Workstation and use Converter
2. Install 10.6 and then update via software within the VM
3. Connect InstallESD USB stick to ESXi host and pass through to VM

More particularly, am I right that there is no way to install from the ISO onto a blank VM due to ESXi's inability to mount an ISO through a SCSI device? No workaround?

[MSoK]

alexiskai, on 03 December 2011 - 04:31 AM, said:

Am I correct that there are still only three approved methods for installing Lion on ESXi? 1. Install on Workstation and use Converter 2. Install 10.6 and then update via software within the VM 3. Connect InstallESD USB stick to ESXi host and pass through to VM More particularly, am I right that there is no way to install from the ISO onto a blank VM due to ESXi's inability to mount an ISO through a SCSI device? No workaround?

As far as I am aware your statement is correct, but one additional method is available, you can create a bootable Lion vm disk from an existing SL with Lion downloaded from the App Store. Also your USB stick can be in the client machine you are running vSphere Client, but be warned Windows does not understand the format, and offers to format your Lion USB stick, so say no, and mount to your guestOS.

anondalsoth, on 26 November 2011 - 02:51 PM, said:

Thanks for the help MSOK, I did eventually get the files installed before you replied but was on a course so could not reply. I realised after rereading this thread that my ADM processor was going to be a problem so I used NAWCOMs boot CD and set my machine up as a BSD machine in order to boot OSX. This actually works and I can use the system but the mouse is ultra sensitive and it also inverted the axis so that moving up went down etc... I saw a post mentioning USB overdrive can configure it up the opposite way again and I am yet to try this. The reason I am replying back is to ask if there is something I can do to speed up performance? I have allocated 6GB ram and both CPU to the guest OS and it runs like a terminal dog. It took maybe 2 hours + at least to install and takes 10 minutes to boot up. Any helpful tips? I know you guys don't really recommend using custom kernels but with the AMD CPU I had no choice but to boot with the NAWCOM. Thanks

Sounds like either you do not have AMD-v enabled, or your current kernel does not take advantage of it, as all your issues we have seen when hardware virtualisation is not enabled.

[alexiskai]

Mac Son of Knife, on 04 December 2011 - 11:58 AM, said:

one additional method is available, you can create a bootable Lion vm disk from an existing SL with Lion downloaded from the App Store.

This is actually what I did, except that I used a 10.5 VM. Here's the steps:

• You'll need the Lion Installer application. It's preferable to use one that's already on the LAN on which you intend to create the 10.7 VM.
  
• Now you'll need a Mac that's already a VM. Ideally this will be an ESX VM, but you can do this under Workstation and Fusion as well. Shut down your Mac VM before proceeding.
  
• On your existing Mac VM host, open the settings for this VM and add a new 5GB hard drive. You may have to make it an IDE node in order for Disk Utility to see it. However, if you're able to use a SCSI node, this will save a step later. Also, do NOT save the new disk inside the VM. Put it somewhere else, i.e. another folder or on another drive or datastore. You only want to attach it to this VM temporarily.
  
• Start up the Mac VM. You should be prompted about the new unformatted drive. Partition the new blank drive as GUID.
  
• Get access to the Lion Installer app in the Finder, either by copying it to your working VM, connecting an external drive, connecting over AFP to the server where it lives, etc.
  
• On the Mac VM, download the "mkboot" script referenced in this forum post.
  
• Open Terminal and cd to the directory where you put the mkboot script. Now run:
  sudo ./mkboot.sh [path to the Lion installer app] [path to the blank drive]
  e.g. sudo ./mkboot.sh /Volumes/MacSoftware/Install\ Lion.app /Volumes/Untitled
  
• This will image the blank drive as a Lion install disk. When it finishes, it will auto-unmount the drive.
  
• Shut down the VM. On your VM host, remove the new drive from this VM, but do not delete it.
  
• If this is an ESX VM, skip to the next step. Otherwise, you'll need to use VMware Converter to convert this VMDK to an ESX type disk. I don't know how this works, but there are probably instructions on this forum somewhere.
  
• If you have not already enabled SSH on your ESXi host, do so now.
  
• Using vSphere or SFTP or whatever your preference is, copy the folder containing the VMDK to your ESXi 5 datastore. The VMDK consists of two files, one tiny one called [name].vmdk and one very large one called [name]-flat.vmdk. These files need to stay together.
  
• Now, if you are happy with the name that VMware gave your new VMDK and if in step 3 you created it as a SCSI node, you're done. If either of those is not true, read on.
  
• Open the ESXi console or an SSH connection to the host, so that you're looking at a CLI prompt on the ESXi host.
  
• Navigate to the datastore directory where you deposited the Lion installer VMDK.
  
• To rename the container folder, if you have one, simply run mv oldname newname. For example, you could rename it "MacOS10_7_Installer".
  
• To rename the VMDK itself, cd into the container folder and run:
  vmkfstools -E OldName.vmdk NewName.vmdk
  (This will automatically rename both associated files.)
  
• If you created your VMDK as an IDE node, you need to change it to a SCSI node:
  
  • Open the smaller of the two .vmdk files in vi.
    
  • Find the line:
    ddb.adapterType = "ide"
    
  • Change it to:
    ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
    
  • Save and exit vi.
• Now your VMDK is ready to serve as an installer for your new 10.7 VM.

---------------------------
Edit: I should add that the reason to use the mkboot script rather than doing it all in Disk Utility is that the script creates an install partition rather than simply creating an installer boot disk. The difference between the two is that if you use an installer boot disk created via Disk Utility, when you boot off the 10.7 installer it will first copy the installation files to your blank 10.7 VMDK, then restart, then run the actual installer. Now you have 4GB of useless install files on your drive. Whereas if you use mkboot, it partitions and configures the installer disk so that the files are already present on your 5GB VMDK and the installer simply runs. This saves time and disk space.

[alexiskai]

Also I'll repost the solution to the 10.7.2 crash problem in case anyone has trouble finding it.

Problem: Running the 10.7.2 update causes your Mac VM to fail to boot
Cause: The extension AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext does not work properly with Workstation or ESXi
Workaround as follows:

• Open Terminal before you start the OS update.
  
• Download the 10.7.1 version of the faulty extension and unzip it.
  
• Do not run the 10.7.2 update from Software Update directly. Either download it from Apple's download page or locate it in /Library/Updates/041-1590 and run it from there. This will allow you to continue to interact with the UI after the update completes.
  
• When you run the 10.7.2 update, do not click Restart when the update completes. Let it sit there for the moment.
  
• When the update is done moving files around, run the following commands in Terminal:
  

  	cd /System/Library/Extensions
  	sudo rm -R AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext
  	sudo mv [your download path]/AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext
  	sudo chown -R 0:0 AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext
  	cd ..
  	sudo touch -c Extensions
  	sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
  	sudo kextcache -system-caches
  	
  

• Now complete the OS update via the installer's Restart prompt.
  
• Your VM should reboot successfully.

[deejjjaaaa]

alexiskai, on 05 December 2011 - 03:47 AM, said:

Problem: Running the 10.7.2 update causes your Mac VM to fail to boot
Cause: The extension AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext does not work properly with Workstation or ESXi

actually it does work properly w/ the most recent workstation... I installed OS X 10.7 on vmware workstation 8.0.1 build-528992 + most recent patch and then run an upgrade to 10.7.2 w/o any issues.

[traveler124]

Folks,

I am running into the same issue Mike Burlingame reported, but I didn't see a resolution of his issue.

I am installing OS X 10.7 from a USB drive. Did all the unlocker, -v npci=0x2000 magic...
The machine boots up and starts installing Lion.
I reach the "Mac OS X Utilities" in the Lion install where I can pick a 'Restore', 'Reinstall', 'Help' or 'disk utility'.
The next step would be to copy the operating system to the target disk.

The only issue: I cannot see the 40gb vmdk that I defined in my esxi 5 virtual machine and that I want to use as main drive.
The only disk I can see is the USB drive I am installing from. But the actual target vmdk, which is attached as LSI Logic
SCSI drive, is nowhere to be found.

I must be missing something really silly. Can anybody help?

Thanks

Pete

[Donk]

You have to partition it first. When boot Lion installer run the Disk Utility and setup the drive as HFS+. Then you can install to it