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Unlocker Next Steps

Donk
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Donk
Donk
Posted
Posted

So I have now become semi-retired and have more time to go back to looking at the unlocker code. My plans are to start a 3.0 version which includes:

 

  • Specifically for Workstation 14 and Fusion 10
  • ESXi support 6.0-6.7 if possible
  • Remove the non-Server check for versions 10.5 (Leopard) & 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
  • Tools download needs to get 2 ISOs depending on the version of macOS running in the guest
  • A simple way to bootstrap a new macOS High Sierra VM directly from Apple software download repos
  • AMD for recent CPUs using CPUID masking techniques (will need volunteers with Ryzen systems)

 

Now this is not going to happen overnight as I am enjoying some freedom after 30+ years in the software industry and I have other projects both IT and non-IT related that will also take my attention.

 

Do you, the great InsanelyMac community, have any suggestions that I can look into for the future?

 

 

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br0adband
br0adband
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Posted

A million thanks for you for your efforts, Donk, they are and always have been appreciated. I wanted to check out Mojave the other day and grabbed the installer .app for it, didn't feel like attempting to convert it to a bootable ISO for VMware Workstation booting/installing, so I did a clean installation of High Sierra 10.13.5, then immediately went into the Mojave upgrade process and boy, does performance suck big time now. I think Apple's decision to alter the internals of how macOS handles video displays and content - and yes I'm well aware that under VMware Workstation we have no hardware video acceleration at all of any kind - will alter whether or not people decide to attempt to use Mojave in a VM.


The performance of anything related to the UI is abysmal, and I'm using a Kaby Lake CPU with the Intel HD 620 under Windows 10 Pro x64 for the moment. With High Sierra on the same machine and as a VM performance is acceptable, yes it's slow as expected but in overall use it's "workable" - but when I rebooted to Mojave I was rather shocked at how slow the video UI performance was, it's downright molasses in winter. I rebooted the VM a few times with no effect - it just sucks, and I don't think that even a fully clean installation of Mojave - at least at this point - in a VM isn't going to make any difference whatsoever.

 

Maybe as time passes Mojave in a VM (at least on a Windows host, I was going to try it on a Linux host but honestly I don't think that will matter either) will improve but I'm not gonna bet on it. For now, High Sierra 10.13.5 works great, no issues at all, so far so good.

 

Thanks again, Donk, glad to know you're 'retired' now, been that way myself for a long time, not much to do with my free time but mess with computers as I've always done so being retired really didn't change much for me at all. :D

 

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MSoK
MSoK
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Posted

Donk,

 

Great news to hear you are back to continue your excellent work with your unlocker. As always I am here to help in any way I can so please feel free to call on me for assistance. Finally enjoy your semi retirement, although I am sure you will still have a very full schedule!

 

Regards,

MSoK.

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alnilam
alnilam
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Posted (edited)

Thank you so much Donk, I look forward to try the new Unlocker 3 as soon as it's ready for beta-testing (I personally need it to run macOS 10.13 High Sierra in VM under VMware Workstation 14 Pro for Linux).

 

I will post my personal success story in macOS Unlocker 2.1 thread soon (some technical info in my signature), prior to that I'd like to do a bit more testing.

 

Re: Unlocker 3 :: Assuming the host CPU is i5 or i7 with 4 cores, would it be possible for Unlocker to create a 4-cores CPU VM for macOS?

 

I believe the work you are doing is of utmost importance for many Mac users, myself included, so I'll be happy to support it in any way I can (perhaps you can send me the info as to where I can send my humble contribution?)

Edited by alnilam
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Cybernut
Cybernut
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Posted

Sooo...after waiting for over a year, with a lot of trepidation, I decided to ACTUALLY attempt to patch my ESXi 6.5.0 Update 1 using the unlocker 2.10 patch (which was pulled after multiple reports of issues with ESXi 6.5) that several others have reported here to work with their ESXi 6.5.0 Upd 1. And sure enough, it worked just fine for me. I wish I had attempted this sooner - had been afraid I'd brick my ESXi box and would lose all other non-Mac VMs. Well, YMMV but I worried for nothing. I may even try upgrading to ESXi 6.7 as I have seen isolated reports of successful patching with the same unlocker version (I know once I upgrade I will have to run unlocker again).

So please count my request a couple posts above as already met :)

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Donk
Donk
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I have started some stability testing with ESXi 6.7 to find the best way to run the patch files. I will release a simple test script that builds a new vmtar ramdisk and need volunteers to test it on 6.5 and 6.7. Note this is not the patcher and no files will be patched so it won't run macOS. This is a test of technology to ensure ESXi runs smoothly and also vCenter does not have problems connecting to the host.

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MSoK
MSoK
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Posted
On 7/9/2018 at 7:14 PM, Donk said:

I have started some stability testing with ESXi 6.7 to find the best way to run the patch files. I will release a simple test script that builds a new vmtar ramdisk and need volunteers to test it on 6.5 and 6.7. Note this is not the patcher and no files will be patched so it won't run macOS. This is a test of technology to ensure ESXi runs smoothly and also vCenter does not have problems connecting to the host.

Donk,

 

Count me in for stability testing.

 

Regards,
MSoK.

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  • 1 month later...
Donk
Donk
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So I have built a new ESXi only version of the unlocker but want to have more testing before I release it. Are there 5-10 volunteers who would be willing to give it a go? Of course there are no guarantees, it may not work and may screw the host up.

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a_fox
a_fox
Posted
Posted
On 8/20/2018 at 7:00 PM, Donk said:

So I have built a new ESXi only version of the unlocker but want to have more testing before I release it. Are there 5-10 volunteers who would be willing to give it a go? Of course there are no guarantees, it may not work and may screw the host up.

I'm testing, downloaded the unlocker for esxi from GitHub and installed yesterday, so far I have not seen any bugs. I'll keep you informed. Thanks.

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a_fox
a_fox
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Posted
On 8/23/2018 at 12:35 PM, a_fox said:

I'm testing, downloaded the unlocker for esxi from GitHub and installed yesterday, so far I have not seen any bugs. I'll keep you informed. Thanks.

It works for a week without problems. Thanks for getting this done.

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Jeff Chen
Jeff Chen
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Posted (edited)

I just downloaded the new version for esxi and installed it. The process couldn't be easier, and I booted right into installation on the first try! Now anxiously going through the installation process...

 

My ESXi version is 6.7.0 (Build 8169922) btw.

Edited by Jeff Chen
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Jeff Chen
Jeff Chen
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44 minutes ago, Jeff Chen said:

I just downloaded the new version for esxi and installed it. The process couldn't be easier, and I booted right into installation on the first try! Now anxiously going through the installation process...

 

My ESXi version is 6.7.0 (Build 8169922) btw.

 

And it's a success. System is up and running fine. Will keep testing for some time and report back.

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Donk
Donk
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Thanks for those testing the unlocker on ESXi. I will move to make it generally available in the next week. Just want to install latest patches for ESXi and check it out. For now ESXi I will remove the ESXi code from it and repackage for just Workstation & Player on Windows and Linux.

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Jeff Chen
Jeff Chen
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Posted
On 9/9/2018 at 4:22 PM, Donk said:

Thanks for those testing the unlocker on ESXi. I will move to make it generally available in the next week. Just want to install latest patches for ESXi and check it out. For now ESXi I will remove the ESXi code from it and repackage for just Workstation & Player on Windows and Linux.

Just wanna report more success.

 

I installed the 3.0.0 version on a 6.5 U2 system and it worked too. Fantastic job!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Donk
Donk
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Getting closer to release. I have now split unlocker for hosted products (Wokstation & Fusion) from ESXi version and created a new repo on GitHub. It needs a little more testing plus some notes on installation. I have also added an ESXi boot option to disable the unlocker if needed.

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youme
youme
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Posted

Hey Donk,

 

I have been using unlocker for 2 years now. With 2.9 or so I have even been able to test mojave on 6.7. Now I am of course looking forward to updating my 6.7 to the official 3.0 release as soon as it is available.

 

I bet there are many silent users around. And while I cannot contribute to anything you are doing here, I at least am able to say a big big "Thank You, Sir"; for all the effort you are spending to make this happen. I definitely appreciate it.

 

Cheers

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Rubyducky
Rubyducky
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Posted (edited)

I tried esxi-unlocker 3.0.0 from Github on ESXi 6.7 and I must be overlooking something obvious that's causing it not to work. I ran esxi-build.sh and then esxi-install.sh and restarted, but previously working macOS guests and the ISO installer are stuck in a reboot loop (which I assume is what happens on a non-patched system). 

 

I know the instructions are a WIP on the Github page, but are there any additional steps other than running those two scripts? unlocker.tgz does show up in /bootbank/boot.cfg modules and in bootOption -m

Edited by Rubyducky
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Rubyducky
Rubyducky
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Posted (edited)

I seem to have found the issue. The check for boot options at the very bottom of unlocker.py to appears to cause the script to not run regardless of what boot options are set (at least, I never added a "nounlocker" boot option). The version of the script that used to be in the older unlocker repo does not contain a check, and when I installed that version, I'm up and running again.

Edited by Rubyducky
typo
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