ESXi 5 Mac OS X Unlocker

[lieb39]

I updated to 5.1.0 799733 via the CLI, reapplied the patch and my existing Lion VM booted right up with no issue.

 

Glad to hear - I'll update and attempt to install ML, see if we get some success.

[dmatth01]

5.1 works with the unlocker 1.1.0. Not sure if it's 5.1 or the i7-3770 but it rocks. OSX VMs now boot as fast as my Windows VMs and the tools install without any tricks.

 

Installing the first OSX VM was a little tricky because IDE ISO images don't work. I used the host USB drive method with the 10.7.4 ESD to get my first OSX VM set up. From there I created two 5GB VMDKs and restored the 10.7.4 ESD to one and the 10.8.0 ESD to the other from within the OSX VM. Now I can map the vmdks to a new vm to install either OS X version in minutes. Would be nice to get mounted ISO over IDE working though.

 

My 5.1 installer is patched with the additional Intel Ethernet drivers and it's working perfectly with the onboard Ethernet on the M92 and M91 as well. Even works with a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter on the Mac Mini Server.

[slogmeister]

"mkdir bin" creates a directory named bin. The script removed the bin directory, and recreates it.

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

Do we have any confirmation that the unlocker works with 5.1?

 

No, seriously the program "mkdir" is *in* the bin directory which is entirely recursively removed! I ran this script and it blew away the entire /bin directory and then proceeded to fail. Then, I read it and realized it couldn't possibly work. So, if everyone is saying that it works, then I am doing something wrong. Is there *another* bin folder that I should be removing recursively besides /bin?

 

#!/bin/sh

set -e

 

echo VMware ESXi 5.0 Unlocker 1.1.0

echo ==============================

echo Copyright: Dave Parsons 2011-12

 

# Ensure we only use unmodified commands

export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin

 

# Make sure working files are removed

rm -f darwin.tgz

rm -rf ./bin <-------------------kiss all your standard command line programs goodbye!

 

# Patch the vmx files and place into bin folder

echo Patching files...

rm -rf ./bin <------------------- do it again for some unknown reason

mkdir bin <------------------- Fails. Guess where mkdir was? /bin!!!

 

But.... "./bin" is not the same as "/bin". So, is there another "bin" directory that I should be removing?

 

- Slog

[Donk]

Seriously you think I would do that in the script. Please re-read the text file and run it from the datastore!!!

[sledgehammer89]

https://blogs.vmware...ntain-lion.html

http://partnerweb.vm...acOSX_10_8.html

 

Looks like ESXi 5.1 is made for Mountain Lion. Will try it after my holiday.

[Zebibyte]

https://blogs.vmware...ntain-lion.html

http://partnerweb.vm...acOSX_10_8.html

 

Looks like ESXi 5.1 is made for Mountain Lion. Will try it after my holiday.

 

Just did a fresh install of ESXi 5.1 on a Dell 2950, mounted 10.8.0 InstallESD.iso I had converted using the steps below. ISO attached as "Emulate IDE" No unlocker required so far, and the install seems to be working. I had to format the destination disk inside the disk utility (per the VMware instructions above)

 

Update: Ah well, just have the spinning apple logo after the install completed, will have to try again with the unlocker maybe

 

"The ISO image must be created from the Lion ‘InstallESD.dmg’ (you can open package contents and browse to the "ESD.dmg located in /Contents/Shared Support/InstallESD.dmg.) Using terminal on Mac OS: hdiutil convert InstallESD.dmg -format UDTO -o InstallESD.iso. This will result in a .cdr file (.iso.cdr). You simply remove the ".cdr" and keep the ".iso" I then copied the .iso to a "local" storage on my ESXi box, and pointed the installer to the iso..."

[mattpayerle]

I'd rather not do a full reinstall of the OS up to 5.1. I am flipping through the white pages of the 5.1 upgrade guide but does anyone have a quick way to update via CLI? I figured it was like one of the patches, but when I went to find it, it was not listed. is there a link I can download and patch? or do I need to boot the ISO and go that route?

 

 

 

"The ISO image must be created from the Lion ‘InstallESD.dmg’ (you can open package contents and browse to the "ESD.dmg located in /Contents/Shared Support/InstallESD.dmg.) Using terminal on Mac OS: hdiutil convert InstallESD.dmg -format UDTO -o InstallESD.iso. This will result in a .cdr file (.iso.cdr). You simply remove the ".cdr" and keep the ".iso" I then copied the .iso to a "local" storage on my ESXi box, and pointed the installer to the iso..."

 

^^^ were you saying this method worked? I haven't tried that method and wanted to see if that was the answer before I wasted some time on it

[shlomiassaf]

Hi

 

I have ESXI 5, update 1.

~ # vmware -v

VMware ESXi 5.0.0 build-623860

 

I am trying to install OSX 10.7.4 or 10.7.3

 

I have a DMG file, I used 7-Zip to extract the InstallESD.dmg from the main DMG file.

InstallESD.dmg was located in \InstallMacOSX.pkg\InstallESD.dmg

 

Once extracted i used dmg2img to create an ISO.

 

I patched ESXi with the unlocker 1.1.0

Created a vm using template: AppleMac OS X 10.7 (64-Bit)

Started the VM using CD/DVD drive poiting to Datastore ISO file with "conntect at power on" checked.

 

In version 10.7.4, 10.7.3 i get the same result. the boot hangs right away.

Using boot -v I get this output:

 

Shell> boot -v

efiboot loaded from device: Acpi(PNP0A03,0)/Pci(7|1)/Ata(Secondary,Master)/HD(Parrt3,MBRType=20,SigType=00)

boot file path: \/boot.efi

.Loading karnel cache file '\kernelcache'...

............................

root device uuid is '3950B26D-266B-3EA1-867D-58BFEEE4CC92'

 

This also happends when using boot -v npci=0x2000

It hangs there in either 10.7.3 or 10.7.4

I will appriciate any help

 

Thanks

[shlomiassaf]

found the solution.

For future reference:

 

http://blog.campodoro.org/?p=316

[shlomiassaf]

Guys I another problem now.

 

I run the installation and i get a white screen with a mouse pointer in the shape of a circle that has blue, red, yellow and green quarters with a moving parts like a fan....

 

its stuck with that... not moving forward for an hour now...

 

any thoughts?

[Zebibyte]

I'd rather not do a full reinstall of the OS up to 5.1. I am flipping through the white pages of the 5.1 upgrade guide but does anyone have a quick way to update via CLI? I figured it was like one of the patches, but when I went to find it, it was not listed. is there a link I can download and patch? or do I need to boot the ISO and go that route?

 

 

 

 

^^^ were you saying this method worked? I haven't tried that method and wanted to see if that was the answer before I wasted some time on it

 

Yes this method of ISO creation worked for installation, and through the reboots that the installer does. However in my situation (ESXI 5.1 no unlocker yet), I cannot complete a boot up into 10.8.0. I do think the ISO is viable though, just need to sort out the other issues.

 

RE: ESXI 5.1, it's a single install/upgrade ISO. So get that on a disc or unetbootin USB drive, and boot from it will either fresh install for you, or perform the upgrade on an existing 5.0 install.

[mattpayerle]

Ahhh! Ok, yeah, I'll get that on a bootable USB and do the update - hopefully I won't have too many issues with that. Good to know about that method of ISO creation. I'll try that out on another box and see if it boots.

[mattpayerle]

Got updated to 5.1 - Booted to my Mountain Lion drive and just got a spinning wheel. Uninstalled patch, rebooted, reinstalled patch and it booted within a few seconds! Awesome! Haven't tried the ISO creation yet, but will keep that in the back of my bag of tricks to try a little later - who am I kidding, I don't have much else to do, so it will probably be tested in the next few days.

 

 

BTW - did anyone do the Upgrade virtual hardware? My ESXi box has two machines - Ubuntu and ML. Was curious if anyone tried this and saw any changes.

[threeonparfive]

Just upgraded from ESXi 5.0 U1 to 5.1 via CLI (by way of PuTTY) using this method:

http://www.vladan.fr...de-to-esxi-5-1/

 

I didn't even re-apply patch. My Mountain Lion VM just booted right up. As a matter of fact, I'm now able to boot it with 2 cores without a warning from ESX. I'm a little affraid to upgrade virtual hardware and tools at this point though.

[mattpayerle]

Just upgraded from ESXi 5.0 U1 to 5.1 via CLI (by way of PuTTY) using this method:

http://www.vladan.fr...de-to-esxi-5-1/

 

I didn't even re-apply patch. My Mountain Lion VM just booted right up. As a matter of fact, I'm now able to boot it with 2 cores without a warning from ESX. I'm a little affraid to upgrade virtual hardware and tools at this point though.

 

I actually just upgraded the virtual hardware on my ubuntu machine and it failed to boot - fortunately I read quickly first to take a snapshot of the machine just prior to doing it. So I went back (had to reboot after the roll back) and it worked without issue. I did however find out that updating the vmware tools first on the VM should prevent issues. Testing now on my Ubuntu box and will follow up on my ML machine and here.

[Donk]

Just upgraded from ESXi 5.0 U1 to 5.1 via CLI (by way of PuTTY) using this method:

http://www.vladan.fr...de-to-esxi-5-1/

 

I didn't even re-apply patch. My Mountain Lion VM just booted right up. As a matter of fact, I'm now able to boot it with 2 cores without a warning from ESX. I'm a little affraid to upgrade virtual hardware and tools at this point though.

 

Please re-apply the patch as you are now running a 5.0U1/5.1 hybrid which could cause problems in the future.

[mattpayerle]

Any help here? I have tried this method to create the ISO from DMG and it is failing during boot "Waiting for root device". I thought there was another method of doing it that was listed here but I can't seem to find it now - if so, I likely did it. But any assistance would be nice - not a huge requirement because everything is built, just trying to learn more.

 

hdiutil convert InstallESD.dmg -format UDTO -o InstallESD.iso

[savestheday]

Please re-apply the patch as you are now running a 5.0U1/5.1 hybrid which could cause problems in the future.

 

What would be the proper way to upgrade without it being a hybrid? I ask because reading here:

 

http://www.vladan.fr...de-to-esxi-5-1/

 

It says that pressing Shift + R at the loader screen would bring you back to 5.0. I usually upgrade via SSH so if there's a better way that would make it more unlocker friendly I'd like to know. Thanks Donk!

[threeonparfive]

What would be the proper way to upgrade without it being a hybrid? I ask because reading here:

 

http://www.vladan.fr...de-to-esxi-5-1/

 

It says that pressing Shift + R at the loader screen would bring you back to 5.0. I usually upgrade via SSH so if there's a better way that would make it more unlocker friendly I'd like to know. Thanks Donk!

He's just saying to re-run the unlocker patch after the ESXi upgrade to avoid being in a "hybrid" state.

[zSprawl]

I followed the directions here:

 

http://www.vladan.fr...de-to-esxi-5-1/

 

to update from ESXi 5 to 5.1 and the vCenter App to 5.1 as well. (Reboot)

 

I reran the install script for the 1.1.0 unlocker. It hung with "/usr/bin" as the last thing on the screen. After 30 minutes or so, I ctrl-c'ed out and ran the uninstall.sh script, then the install script immediately after. It took about 5 minutes to complete. (Reboot)

 

Then I updated the hardware to version 9 and the OS X 10.7.4 VM booted without a hitch. In fact, it boots a lot faster than before.

 

I updated the tools and rebooted the VM. I then updated the OS to 10.7.5 and Safari to 6.0.1. I then installed xCode 4.5 that I downloaded from Apple's site.

 

Back in business. Thanks!!

[Cobretti]

for anyone else in the same position I was - I just recently came across the thread and as I had already updated to ESX 5.1 and never ran Mac OS vm on it I jumped straight into the install without the patch since 5.1 was supposed to officially support it. I spent 2 days trying to get install going but would just get to the beach ball. I finally decided to use Donk's script and the install came up without issue at first start after reboot. So does not mean because 5.1 officially supports it that it will actually install (at least in my case it did not). I was using my Lion ESD install file. So run the patch if you stuck at that point instead of wasting time trying to get it going without the patch. Thanks Donk!

[MSoK]

Just for clarification, VMware ESXi 5.1 Supports OS X including Mountain Lion, but ONLY on Apple hardware, in fact officially MacPro5,1 (Intel Xeon 56x Series) and Xserve3,1 (Intel Xeon 55xx Series), the MacPro was added with the release of 5.1.

 

So if you install ESXi 5.1 on any other hardware you will need the "Unlocker" currently v1.1.0, it removes the Apple hardware check amongst other things.

 

Hope this helps, MSoK.

[Lisecons]

While reading trough some post I got the impression that installing Mountain Lion on ESX 5.1 would not be as straight forward as installing it on a regular mac. I originally came here to find out to install Mountain Lion on my Dell Poweredge 2900 server I keep at home for hobby and research purposes.

After reading some posts I decided to update my esxi 5.0 box to 5.1 and afterwards install unlocker 1.10 (you’re the man DONK!). This all went without a hitch. I subsequently and eagerly attached my Mountain Lion DMG image and started installing. Since I was warned that using an image would not work I was waiting for something to go wrong. It did not. The install went perfectly and, after a few reboots, I am confident enough to say is working without problems.

So just to let you all know installing and using Mountain Lion on a ESXi 5.1 box works. And as some have commented already it even works faster (suspend/restore) than before.

Thank you all for the valuable information you are all sharing on this forum. Keep it going.

[ekological]

Here's an interesting situation I'm running into:

 

Asus P8B WS

Intel E3-1245 V2 Ivy bridge CPU

ESXi 5.1

 

- USB install drive created by restoring the base image, deleting the package link, copying the package files over, etc

- -v npci=0x2000 to boot

- The install under 5.1 seems to go a lot smoother (no insanely long waits) than under 5.0 or 5.0 update 1

- Once everything is installed and the system is running, I can reboot, shutdown, power up...no problem. I even updated the com.apple.Boot.plist to always do ncpi=0x2000 and installed VMWare tools or running a system update...not a problem

- If I touch anything....even create a backup of the virtual disk (vmkfstools -i <original vmdk>.vmdk -d thin <backup vmdk>.vmdk or change the size of the video RAM, the VM boots up fine, but I lose mouse and keyboard input to the console. It doesn't appear to be similar to the past where there was a wait of 10 - 15 minutes before the system becomes responsive as I see the cursor blinking (not sure if that happened before during the long wait periods). The keyboard and mouse do not function ever and I waited over a half an hour. VMWare tools appears to be running too (see it under the summary tab of the hypervisor client) and I'm able to click the power off button and it appears to shut down the VM gracefully.

 

Anyone else see this?

 

TIA,

Chester

[alexiskai]

My install experience for 10.8: (this is on ESXi 5.1 on Dell R710 with unlocker 1.10 applied)

 

- First hurdle was how to create the VM as hardware version 9, since the vSphere desktop client doesn't support it. Had to go through vCenter Server's web client to create the empty VM.

 

- Once that was done, switched back to connecting directly to the host with the vSphere desktop client.

 

- Tried to boot from:

remotely attached 10.8 USB - nope

10.8 ISO mounted through virtual optical drive - nope

10.8 DMG mounted through virtual optical drive - nope

10.7.1 installer VMDK left over from previous adventures in ESX - yep

 

- Left the 10.8 ISO attached via the optical drive; installed 10.7.1 to empty VMDK; rebooted

 

- Installed 10.8.0 over 10.7.1; rebooted

 

- Installed VMware Tools (darwin.iso) that I pulled from Fusion 5; rebooted

 

- Installed 10.8.2 via Software Update; rebooted

 

Seems to be working fine now. Next hurdle, install Server and then migrate a bunch of stuff from the 10.7 VM that has a corrupted GUI.