334 replies to this topic

[vasi]

Thanks Donk! Hope you can get the Linux unlocker out soon

[Tastes Like]

Question:  I patched my VMware Workstation v7.1.4 running on Win 7 x64 with Albert's VMware 7 unlocker and was running Lion perfectly.

Now I've updated VMware Workstation to the newly released v8.  At first Lion wouldn't boot, so I re-patched VMware (8) with the VMware 7 unlocker.  Now Lion runs but there's a bit of lag during startup and graphics are a bit laggy as well.

Is it recommended for someone in my position to use the new VMware 8 unlocker (does it offer improvements over the VMware 7 unlocker)?

And if so, should I reinstall VMware 8 before patching with the newer unlocker to reset the binaries back to their vanilla state?

[Zenith432]

I made an Unlocker for VMware Fusion 4.x, Workstation 8.x, Player 4.x and ESxi 5.x.

Sources are inside.

[Instructions for Fusion]
Program should be run as root, so open a Terminal and

sudo ./Unlocker.OSX

It patches 3 files

/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx
/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx-debug
/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx-stats

I haven't tested the resulting files because I don't have Fusion installed.  I just verified it patches as intended.  The Unlocker does not create backups, so if you want to be safe, make backups of these 3 files first.  If they don't work, you can also reinstall Fusion, and they'll be replaced with the originals.

Edit [9/25/2011]: Fixed the paths and uploaded a correct version.
Edit [9/26/2011]: Uploaded beefed up version.  Run "./Unlocker.OSX -h" for usage message.  Supports "-u" option to remove the modifications.  Also lets you specify target folder.
Edit [9/26/2011 #2]: Uploaded a Linux version.  Binaries named Unlocker.Linux64/32.
Edit [9/27/2011]: Uploaded a fuller patch, including vmwarebase + a Windows version [Unlocker.exe].
Edit [10/2/2011]: Uploaded a fix to pathname search in registry on 32-bit Windows.
Edit [10/3/2011]: Uploaded an ESXi 5 build - Unlocker.ESXi.  The ESXi unlocker can't be run directly, as the target files are locked.
Edit [10/4/2011]: Added Donk's scripts to install on ESXi 5.

[Donk]

Zenith432, on Sep 25 2011, 07:37 PM, said:

I made an Unlocker for VMware Fusion 4.x.

Sources are inside.

Program should be run as root, so open a Terminal and

sudo ./Unlocker

It patches 3 files

/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx-debug
/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx-stats

I haven't tested the resulting files because I don't have Fusion installed.  I just verified it patches as planned.  The Unlocker does not create backups, so if you want to be safe, make backups of these 3 files first.  If they don't work, you can also reinstall Fusion, and they'll be replaced with the originals.

Aww was about to a patch BTW the files have moved in Fusion 4.0.1 to a folder inside the Fusion.app. I don't have access to my Macbook at the moment but will send new path on when I have it back tomorrow.
Will follow up on PM and send bytes for vmwarebase patching.

[np_wski]

Thank you very much, Zenith432. I've just tested your patch with Fusion-4.0.1. It's working fine. Pic:

 Shot_2011_09_26____1.08.37.png   253.87K   174 downloads

[Donk]

Zenith432, on Sep 25 2011, 07:37 PM, said:

I made an Unlocker for VMware Fusion 4.x.

Sources are inside.

Program should be run as root, so open a Terminal and

sudo ./Unlocker

It patches 3 files

/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx
/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx-debug
/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vmx-stats

I haven't tested the resulting files because I don't have Fusion installed.  I just verified it patches as intended.  The Unlocker does not create backups, so if you want to be safe, make backups of these 3 files first.  If they don't work, you can also reinstall Fusion, and they'll be replaced with the originals.

Edit: Fixed the paths and uploaded a correct version.

Thanks for that. I have asked Zenith432 to help out on the other platforms, and I am very happy to build scripts to install via backups etc., if that is something everyone would find useful.

[patrez]

Thank you Donk

This works like a miracle!!

[MSoK]

Tastes Like, on Sep 25 2011, 05:05 PM, said:

Question:  I patched my VMware Workstation v7.1.4 running on Win 7 x64 with Albert's VMware 7 unlocker and was running Lion perfectly.

Now I've updated VMware Workstation to the newly released v8.  At first Lion wouldn't boot, so I re-patched VMware (8) with the VMware 7 unlocker.  Now Lion runs but there's a bit of lag during startup and graphics are a bit laggy as well.

Is it recommended for someone in my position to use the new VMware 8 unlocker (does it offer improvements over the VMware 7 unlocker)?

And if so, should I reinstall VMware 8 before patching with the newer unlocker to reset the binaries back to their vanilla state?

I am surprised that Albert's V7 Unlocker works with Workstation 8.

The best method is uninstall Workstation 7, install Workstation 8, apply Donk's Workstation 8 Unlocker, this should give you the ability to install and run OS X guestOS's including Lion. Install the latest VMware Tools via darwin.iso current version 4.0.1.

Some performance issues have been raised on the graphics front but no solution available as far as I am aware.

[UPDATE: 26/SEP/2011]
Albert's Workstation 7 Unlocker, does patch some of the executables in Workstation 8 but not vmwarebase

A workaround appears to be available to resolve the graphics performance issues, albeit it needs to be done everytime the guestOS is re-booted, link below:

http://www.insanelym...p...t&p=1752504
[UPDATE: 26/SEP/2011] (Thanks to Donk and Zenith432 for the update)

[krisvdb]

Tried the patch.
Created new virtual machine in vmware fusion 4.0.1
Host OS = lion
Guest = Snow Leopard

Selected snow leopard server as OS, because Snow Leopard is not in the list.

Resulted in a 'fault message':

A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter a shutdown state.  

Can anyone tell us if we need to do something specific when creating the new virtual machine?

Thanks!

[Zenith432]

krisvdb, on Sep 26 2011, 04:51 PM, said:

Resulted in a 'fault message':
A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter a shutdown state.

You should post vmx file + vmware.log for such a problem.  Also, after the KP if you get a stack trace, a screen capture of the stack-trace would be nice.

Mac Son of Knife, on Sep 26 2011, 03:35 PM, said:

Some performance issues have been raised on the graphics front but no solution available as far as I am aware.

There was a solution posted (see the [solved] thread.)  It's a bug on the host side that also happens on Windows guests sometimes.

[Donk]

Mac Son of Knife, on Sep 26 2011, 02:35 PM, said:

I am surprised that Albert's V7 Unlocker works with Workstation 8.

The best method is uninstall Workstation 7, install Workstation 8, apply Donk's Workstation 8 Unlocker, this should give you the ability to install and run OS X guestOS's including Lion. Install the latest VMware Tools via darwin.iso current version 4.0.1.

Some performance issues have been raised on the graphics front but no solution available as far as I am aware.

Yes it does patch some of the executables but not vmwarebase.

[trentfox]

patrez, on Sep 26 2011, 08:18 AM, said:

Thank you Donk
This works like a miracle!!

Thanks to both Zenith432 and Donk!  Zenith's patch works fine on my system.   In my case, I'm running Lion on the host machine and using a guest Snow Leopard vm made on the previous version of VMware Fusion.  The difference between my result and that of krisvdb may be that he tried to create a new vm.  Perhaps the issue is not the unlocker, but the disk or iso he used to create it?

[kup]

Donk, is there any way to unlock (more than 8 total per VM) the maximum number of virtual processors in Workstation 8?

[Zenith432]

Please note that my latest unlocker upload (see post) contains a Linux version.  There are binaries in there compiled for both 64-bit and 32-bit Linux.  You can rebuild with the Makefile.  It creates a binary called Unlocker.Linux.

This should patch Workstation 8 for Linux.  I haven't tested it.

Files patched are

/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx-debug
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx-stats

The patch can be reversed by running with the "-u" option.

[Donk]

kup, on Sep 26 2011, 06:42 PM, said:

Donk, is there any way to unlock (more than 8 total per VM) the maximum number of virtual processors in Workstation 8?

Never looked. As far as I know it is actually encoded in the various license files.

Zenith432, on Sep 26 2011, 07:08 PM, said:

Please note that my latest unlocker upload (see post #43) contains a Linux version.  There's a binary in there compiled for 64-bit Linux.  If you have 32-bit linux, you can rebuild with the Makefile.  It creates a binary called Unlocker.Linux.

This should patch Workstation 8 for Linux.  I haven't tested it.

Files patched are

/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx-debug
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx-stats

The patch can be reversed by running with the "-u" option.

Fantastic thanks for the quick work here. I am snowed under with work and so can't test just at the moment but will asap.

[gokumba]

Zenith432, on Sep 26 2011, 06:08 PM, said:

Please note that my latest unlocker upload (see post #43) contains a Linux version.  There's a binary in there compiled for 64-bit Linux.  If you have 32-bit linux, you can rebuild with the Makefile.  It creates a binary called Unlocker.Linux.

This should patch Workstation 8 for Linux.  I haven't tested it.

It works in so far as I was able to boot my existing Snow Leopard image in Workstation 8 on Linux. It does *not* allow for creating new Mac OS VMs using the GUI, though. Getting that to work would make your unlocker perfect.

Thanks for your work!

[Zenith432]

gokumba, on Sep 26 2011, 11:04 PM, said:

It works in so far as I was able to boot my existing Snow Leopard image in Workstation 8 on Linux. It does *not* allow for creating new Mac OS VMs using the GUI, though. Getting that to work would make your unlocker perfect.

You can create a new VM of any guest OS type, and then before starting it for the 1st time, manually edit the VMX file and set "guestOS = X" where X is one of darwin,darwin-64,darwin10,darwin10-64,darwin11,darwin11-64.
The ability to view the darwin options in the UI needs a patch to vmwarebase.{dll,so,dylib} - a work in progress.  The darwin options work if set in the VMX file.

[Donk]

Zenith432, on Sep 27 2011, 07:21 AM, said:

You can create a new VM of any guest OS type, and then before starting it for the 1st time, manually edit the VMX file and set "guestOS = X" where X is one of darwin,darwin-64,darwin10,darwin10-64,darwin11,darwin11-64.
The ability to view the darwin options in the UI needs a patch to vmwarebase.{dll,so,dylib} - a work in progress.  The darwin options work if set in the VMX file.

FYI - I have given Zenith432 my patches for this dll/so but they are not ideal. Zenith432 is looking at patching the internal data table rather than then code which I currently do, which means it will be more robust for future versions.

[Zenith432]

I uploaded a completed version, link is in post.

• Contains a Windows build Unlocker.exe.
  
• Patches vmwarebase on Windows, Linux, OSX.  So a complete patch - darwin guestoses should show up in UI.

I ended up using Donk's patches for vmwarebase verbatim.  As Donk mentioned, this patch may not carry over to future revisions released by VMware, as it relies on certain code sequences in the executables.

Donk provided the paths for the various systems.  ESXi is not supported.

The Windows version is fully tested.  You may need to manually kill processes locking vmwarebase.dll.
The Fusion version is partially tested - I checked it patches as expected on a test copy of vmwarebase, not an installed copy of Fusion.
The Linux version wasn't tested at all - so good luck with that

[Donk]

Zenith432, on Sep 27 2011, 05:22 PM, said:

I uploaded a completed version, link is in post #43.

• Contains a Windows build Unlocker.exe.
  
• Patches vmwarebase on Windows, Linux, OSX.  So a complete patch - darwin guestoses should show up in UI.

I ended up using Donk's patches for vmwarebase verbatim.  As Donk mentioned, this patch may not carry over to future revisions released by VMware, as it relies on certain code sequences in the executables.

Donk provided the paths for the various systems.  ESXi is not supported.

The Windows version is fully tested.  You may need to manually kill processes locking vmwarebase.dll.
The Fusion version is partially tested - I checked it patches as expected on a test copy of vmwarebase, not an installed copy of Fusion.
The Linux version wasn't tested at all - so good luck with that

The Linux build is for 64-bit (Unlocker.Linux64.)  For 32-bit linux, build your own with the Makefile there.  You need GCC C++ installed.

I'd like to thank Zenith432 for doing this so quickly. Whilst you can run these directly there is some benefit to having some script to disable VMware services before applying the patches. I will knock these out as soon as possible.

One questions - shall we start a new thread for this new way to patch?