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VMWare Fusion Now Allows Virtualization of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard [Updated]

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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With the release of OS X Lion, Apple updated their licensing agreement to allow the virtualization of Mac OS X under programs such as VMWare Fusion and Parallels. This functionality allows you to deploy different sandboxed installations of OS X on a single machine. The change, however, appeared to only apply to OS X Lion and not to previous non-server versions of Mac OS X such as Leopard and Snow Leopard.

So, when the Lion optimized version of VMWare Fusion was released, it allowed users to run additional virtualized copies of OS X Lion, but continued to prohibit running older versions of Mac OS X under Lion.

Those rules seem to have changed a bit in the latest version of VMWare 4.1 which was released on Friday. As first noted by Macworld, VMWare's Fusion no longer strictly prohibits the virtualization of client editions of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.
But one big change with this update isn't documented anywhere: The software has been modified so that it will run the non-server versions of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) and Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5). Previously, VMware Fusion supported virtual Macs running Lion, Lion Server, Snow Leopard Server, and Leopard Server.
Click to expand...
The change in support, however, is a bit subtle. Instead of prohibiting the use of non-server Snow Leopard and Leopard, VMWare prompts the user to verify that they are licensed to run such copies:

vmlicense.jpg



Macworld's Jason Snell confirmed that simply agreeing allowed him to to install and run non-server Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard under Lion. Now, whether end users actually have such a license is less certain. When questioned by Macworld, Apple simply reiterated that virtualization is allowed for Mac OS X Lion, Snow Leopard Server and Leopard Server.

The main advantage for end users of such a configuration is the ability to run older PowerPC-based applications on demand. Apple removed Rosetta PowerPC emulation support in Mac OS X Lion, stranding some users who depend on legacy PowerPC applications. By running Snow Leopard in a virtual machine under OS X Lion, those users could continue to run their PowerPC applications on occasion while otherwise using OS X Lion.

Update: VMware has noted that the Snow Leopard and Leopard client virtualization was made possible by an omission of a server edition check from the new Fusion 4.1 software. WMware will be releasing an update to address the issue.

Article Link: VMWare Fusion Now Allows Virtualization of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard [Updated]
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/20/vmware-fusion-now-allows-virtualization-of-mac-os-x-leopard-and-snow-leopard/
Icy1007

Icy1007

macrumors 65816
Feb 26, 2011
1,075
74
Cleveland, OH
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Now, I'd like to see this in Parallels 7.
 
dokujaryu

dokujaryu

macrumors 6502
May 3, 2011
359
12
Irvine, California
Smart move if they want Mac OS X Server to be taken seriously in the future. I would say at least half of the servers I work with are virtualized. Also, when writing server side software, we almost always get a VM image that we use rather than fussing with setting up a local machine.

This is a very smart move IMO.
 
jaw04005

jaw04005

macrumors 601
Aug 19, 2003
4,513
402
AR
Works great.

Now I can finally use my two Canon printers that only work with 10.6.
 
L

Lancetx

macrumors 68000
Aug 11, 2003
1,991
619
This is great. I just hope that Apple doesn't force them to pull this feature at some point.
 
S

szolr

macrumors 6502
Jul 27, 2011
376
0
London, UK
Nice. :D So now I can have Lion, Snow Leopard and 7 Ultimate on the same computer. I hope it comes to Parallels too soon.
 
N

newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
So does this mean I can finally upgrade to Lion and just run my Adobe Creative Suite apps in Snow Leopard virtualized?

Incompatibility with Adobe apps is the only thing keeping me from upgrading to Lion right now.
 
P

ParisParamus

macrumors member
Aug 22, 2007
44
0
Will this software allow me to

Greetings everyone. I just noticed this post in my Google Reader--serendipitous!

Will this software allow me to run a program that only runs on Leopard (not Snow Leopard!) with Lion? I have program vital to my livelihood that is now ten years old, but has no substitute.
 
M

MrChoudhury

macrumors newbie
Nov 20, 2011
2
0
Why not allow previous version to be run on other inferior OS?

Maybe people running other inferior OS's can get a glimpse at the future; thus increase Apple's hardware sales? Just saying :p
 
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arn

arn

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ParisParamus said:
Forgive me for possibly being lazy, but what does this software cost?
Click to expand...

$49.99 for VMware fusion at the moment
 
arn

arn

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ParisParamus said:
Greetings everyone. I just noticed this post in my Google Reader--serendipitous!

Will this software allow me to run a program that only runs on Leopard (not Snow Leopard!) with Lion? I have program vital to my livelihood that is now ten years old, but has no substitute.
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
C

commander.data

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2006
1,057
183
I wonder how good performance really is when running Rosetta translation on top of a VM? Although I suppose unless you are planning on running a PPC game or heavy non-Universal Photoshop use performance isn't that critical.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,554
6,053
Now if only more people would use such licensing check methods...

Attempt to play an old iTunes song that still has FairPlay, for example, and rather than have to figure out which iTunes account it was downloaded with, just click the "Yep, I'm authorized to listen to this." button.

Oooh! This could be used instead of passwords, too!

Slide to Unlock your iPhone and instead of a keypad, it simply says "Please verify you're allowed to use this iPhone."

And for getting into and starting cars!

"Please verify you're allowed to drive me."

Ahhh, the possibilities are endless. I would like such a world, I think.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,023
7,867
Let's see if Apple turns a blind eye to this or asks VMWare to remove it. If they do the former, it could help spur adoption of Lion since people who need Quicken 2007 or another PowerPC application could still go ahead and purchase Lion or a new Mac.
 
R

rumplestiltskin

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2006
284
103
TheZA said:
Around $50. VirtualBox is free, and I am successfully running Snow Leopard virtual under Lion with VirtualBox.
Click to expand...

So now I can buy a MacBook Air, run SL under VirtualBox, and ignore Lion's abyssmal user interface and auto-save? Kewl!
 
D

davidramsay

macrumors newbie
Nov 9, 2008
27
8
Cirencester, UK
Maybe its me but ...

I can install snow leopard, but NOT leopard, it fails part way through.

Also you have to use 32 bit version and not 64 bit (late 2009 MBP with 8GB). :(

UPDATE: by setting the number of cores to 2 and the memory to 2GB I was able to install 10.5 - Leopard ;-)
 
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