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

MacRumors · Nov 20, 2011, 10:18 AM

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.

Quote:

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.

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:

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]

jav6454 · Nov 20, 2011, 10:22 AM

Let's see if I can put a virtual machine within another virtual machine now.

Icy1007 · Nov 20, 2011, 10:23 AM

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 · Nov 20, 2011, 10:26 AM

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 · Nov 20, 2011, 10:27 AM

Works great.

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

Lancetx · Nov 20, 2011, 10:31 AM

This is great. I just hope that Apple doesn't force them to pull this feature at some point.

coder12 · Nov 20, 2011, 10:40 AM

Haha kids! Rosetta support is mine once again!

szolr · Nov 20, 2011, 10:44 AM

Nice.

So now I can have Lion, Snow Leopard and 7 Ultimate on the same computer. I hope it comes to Parallels too soon.

newagemac · Nov 20, 2011, 10:45 AM

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.

ParisParamus · Nov 20, 2011, 10:46 AM

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.

MrChoudhury · 10:50 AM

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

adcx64 · Nov 20, 2011, 10:53 AM

PPC forever! Glad to see that PPC apps can be run in Lion now.

ParisParamus · Nov 20, 2011, 10:58 AM

Forgive me for possibly being lazy, but what does this software cost?

arn · 11:02 AM

Wirelessly posted (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)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ParisParamus

Forgive me for possibly being lazy, but what does this software cost?

$49.99 for VMware fusion at the moment

lewis82 · Nov 20, 2011, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jav6454

Let's see if I can put a virtual machine within another virtual machine now.

You probably could, but the performance would be awful

arn · Nov 20, 2011, 11:03 AM

Wirelessly posted (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)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ParisParamus

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.

Yep.

TheZA · Nov 20, 2011, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ParisParamus

Forgive me for possibly being lazy, but what does this software cost?

Around $50. VirtualBox is free, and I am successfully running Snow Leopard virtual under Lion with VirtualBox.

commander.data · Nov 20, 2011, 11:06 AM

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.

theosib · Nov 20, 2011, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaw04005

Works great.

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

You probably need to install Gutenprint.

ArtOfWarfare · Nov 20, 2011, 11:20 AM

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.

Koodauw · Nov 20, 2011, 11:21 AM

This is big news. It will let more people upgrade to lion as well.

KPOM · Nov 20, 2011, 11:24 AM

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.

rumplestiltskin · Nov 20, 2011, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheZA

Around $50. VirtualBox is free, and I am successfully running Snow Leopard virtual under Lion with VirtualBox.

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

davidramsay · 03:37 PM

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 ;-)

mijail · Nov 20, 2011, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coder12

Haha kids! Rosetta support is mine once again!

Hm.....
Interesting how it seems to be better to run PPC-emulated-via-Rosetta apps inside a VM than directly run the the PPC app in a PearPC.

Nov 20, 2011, 10:22 AM	#2
jav6454 macrumors G5 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: 1 Geostationary Tower Plaza	Let's see if I can put a virtual machine within another virtual machine now. __________________ Al MacBook 2.4GHz Late '08 \| Macross Click Me
	15

Nov 20, 2011, 10:23 AM	#3
Icy1007 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Las Vegas, NV	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. __________________ 15" 2011 MacBook Pro, 2.2 GHz i7 Quad, 8GB DDR3, 1GB Radeon HD 6750M, 750GB HDD; 32GB iPhone 5
	3

Nov 20, 2011, 10:40 AM	#7
coder12 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Fargo, ND: The greatest city on Earth.	Haha kids! Rosetta support is mine once again! __________________ Want a bigger phone screen? Hold it closer to your face.
	10

Nov 20, 2011, 10:44 AM	#8
szolr macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: London, UK	Nice. So now I can have Lion, Snow Leopard and 7 Ultimate on the same computer. I hope it comes to Parallels too soon. __________________ 13" Macbook Pro, 2.3 GHz i5, 4GB RAM \| 24" iMac, 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM \| iPhone 3GS \| TV2
	0

Nov 20, 2011, 10:46 AM	#10
ParisParamus macrumors member Join Date: Aug 2007	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.
	0

Nov 20, 2011, 10:26 AM	#4
dokujaryu macrumors 6502 Join Date: May 2011 Location: 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.
	0

Nov 20, 2011, 10:27 AM	#5
jaw04005 macrumors 601 Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: AR	Works great. Now I can finally use my two Canon printers that only work with 10.6.
	1

Nov 20, 2011, 10:31 AM	#6
Lancetx macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Texas	This is great. I just hope that Apple doesn't force them to pull this feature at some point.
	1

Nov 20, 2011, 10:45 AM	#9
newagemac macrumors 68000 Join Date: Mar 2010	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.
	4

Nov 20, 2011, 10:48 AM	#11
MrChoudhury macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2011	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 Last edited by MrChoudhury; Nov 20, 2011 at 10:50 AM. Reason: I had a typo
	-8

Nov 20, 2011, 10:53 AM	#12
adcx64 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Cudi Zone	PPC forever! Glad to see that PPC apps can be run in Lion now. __________________ iPhone 5, iOS 7, Verizon LTE MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks PlayStation 3 320GB
	-4

Nov 20, 2011, 10:58 AM	#13
ParisParamus macrumors member Join Date: Aug 2007	Forgive me for possibly being lazy, but what does this software cost?
	-7

Nov 20, 2011, 11:06 AM	#18
commander.data macrumors 6502a Join Date: Nov 2006	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.
	0

Nov 20, 2011, 11:20 AM	#20
ArtOfWarfare macrumors 68040 Join Date: Nov 2007	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. __________________ Battery Status - On the Mac App Store The only app that'll estimate when your wireless devices will need their batteries changed. Like it on Facebook!
	3

Nov 20, 2011, 11:21 AM	#21
Koodauw macrumors 68040 Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Madison	This is big news. It will let more people upgrade to lion as well.
	-4

Nov 20, 2011, 11:24 AM	#22
KPOM macrumors 604 Join Date: Oct 2010	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.
	3

Nov 20, 2011, 11:29 AM	#24
davidramsay macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: 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 ;-) Last edited by davidramsay; Nov 20, 2011 at 03:37 PM. Reason: Update as resolved issue
	1

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