Running Lion on VMWare or Parallels

[Mr. Retrofire]

got audio working with this http://sourceforge.net/projects/vms...CI_1.0.2_for_SnowLeopard.mpkg.tar.gz/download

laggy and a little crackly though... lets just say don't listen to music with it

http://sanbarrow.com/vmx/vmx-sound.html

;-)

 

[Transporteur]

Edited: changed instructions, refer to link below.

===========================
UPDATE: Posted more detailed instructions at http://www.obviouslogic.com:8080/solutions/lion-vmware

Dead link!

 

[Hellhammer]

Dead link!

Works fine for me.

 

[mjtomlin]

Dead link!

Not sure why you weren't able to connect? I haven't rebooted my server in a few days...

 

[HawaiiMacAddict]

Edited: changed instructions, refer to link below.

===========================
UPDATE: Posted more detailed instructions at http://www.obviouslogic.com:8080/solutions/lion-vmware

Aloha mjtomlin,

Thanks ever so much for the link. I now have Lion installed and running on my late 2008 Core2Duo MacBook Pro! I didn't get a very good Geekbench score, but oh well ... it's not as if it's running natively.

EDIT: I will add that I have had some strange reactions to changing the resolution and/or changing the size of the VM window. I'm just keeping it at the same size for now

 

[DoFoT9]

Not sure why you weren't able to connect? I haven't rebooted my server in a few days...

youre not using parallels, thats why

 

[macfan246]

Hopefully someone can help... I've been through the entire process twice now and ended with the same result. The VM tries to boot Lion from the HDD (I get the apple logo), but the spinner keeps spinning and it never boots. (This is following the first boot where an error is displayed saying the OS was not the Sever version. I touch ServerVersion.plist and complete step 12).

I'm using VMWare Fusion (trial version but I don't think that should matter). I notice that the VM HDD activity icon flashes blue a few times but then just stays black.

The only two points of the instructions that I wasn't 100% sure about was:

1)When 'restoring' the Base System image to the 'MyInstaller' image in step #4 I select the two partitions as the source/destination. Should I be choosing the BaseSystem.dmg as the source and the MyInstaller.cdr as opposed to the using the partitions?

2)The other area where I wasn't completely certain that I was doing the right thing was when I edited com.apple.Boot.plist in step #5. I added the new key/string pair directly above the existing 'Kernel Flags' key/string pair but within the same <dict> </dict> tags. Should I be adding a new <dict> pair?

e.g. I had:


<dict>
<key>Kernel Cache</key>
<string>\kernelcache</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>
</dict>

Should it be the following?:

<dict>
<key>Kernel Cache</key>
<string>\kernelcache</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string></string>
</dict>



Thanks for any assistance! Looking forward to testing Lion but don't want to install it on a physical machine just yet. FWIW I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro.

 

[mjtomlin]

Hopefully someone can help... I've been through the entire process twice now and ended with the same result. The VM tries to boot Lion from the HDD (I get the apple logo), but the spinner keeps spinning and it never boots. (This is following the first boot where an error is displayed saying the OS was not the Sever version. I touch ServerVersion.plist and complete step 12).

Could be several things. First, you might want to turn on verbose mode to see where the boot process stops. You need to boot back up from the "CD" image again like in step #11. Open the terminal and edit the com.apple.Boot.plist file (/Volumes/OS X Lion HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration) and add the following as the string value under "Kernel Flags" key;

-v

Reboot the system and take a screen shot when it "hangs".

1)When 'restoring' the Base System image to the 'MyInstaller' image in step #4 I select the two partitions as the source/destination. Should I be choosing the BaseSystem.dmg as the source and the MyInstaller.cdr as opposed to the using the partitions?

You want the mounted volumes, not the drive images... see first attachment.

2)The other area where I wasn't completely certain that I was doing the right thing was when I edited com.apple.Boot.plist in step #5. I added the new key/string pair directly above the existing 'Kernel Flags' key/string pair but within the same <dict> </dict> tags. Should I be adding a new <dict> pair?

The plist file should always only contain one dictionary, Refer to the second attachment to see how mine is.

 

[Transporteur]

Not sure why you weren't able to connect? I haven't rebooted my server in a few days...

Strange. Neither Safari, nor Chrome can't connect to your site.

I always get "Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.obviouslogic.com:8080", respectively "Safari can’t open the page “http://www.obviouslogic.com:8080/solutions/lion-vmware” because Safari can’t connect to the server “www.obviouslogic.com”."

Edit: Problem solved, Little Snitch blocked the site.
Thanks for the detailed how to!

 

[macfan246]

Thanks for taking the time to help, mjtomlin, I really appreciate it!

Hmm, based on your answers to the 'key/string' and 'restore' questions I had, I'm not sure where I went wrong.

I enabled verbose mode and have attached it to this message, hopefully it sheds some light (and I haven't just made a dumb mistake...).

 

[Transporteur]

Got a slight problem here, I can't even get it to boot once.

I currently try to do step 10, but can't get any further than this:

 

[mjtomlin]

Got a slight problem here, I can't even get it to boot once.

I currently try to do step 10, but can't get any further than this:

Are you sure you copied the kernelcache file to the root directory of your installer image?

Also make sure you updated the Boot file correctly in com.apple.Boot.plist ... and be sure to use a forward slash \ not a backwards slash / when specifying the location; \kernelcache

Check all spelling and typos as well.

 

[mjtomlin]

Thanks for taking the time to help, mjtomlin, I really appreciate it!

Hmm, based on your answers to the 'key/string' and 'restore' questions I had, I'm not sure where I went wrong.

I enabled verbose mode and have attached it to this message, hopefully it sheds some light (and I haven't just made a dumb mistake...).

And you're sure you're not using a hard drive image that is split into 2GB files?

 

[macfan246]

And you're sure you're not using a hard drive image that is split into 2GB files?

Yeah, followed that step and disabled the 2GB splits. :/

 

[MacGeek50]

Got it!

I got it all to work 100% with sound! just had to stare at the instructions for a few minutes at a time. Thanks so much for the share!

 

[Transporteur]

Are you sure you copied the kernelcache file to the root directory of your installer image?

Also make sure you updated the Boot file correctly in com.apple.Boot.plist ... and be sure to use a forward slash \ not a backwards slash / when specifying the location; \kernelcache

Check all spelling and typos as well.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I started from scratch and now the machine boots.

However, I get a kernel panic about 1 second after the OS X language selector shows up.

Hard drive and CD settings are 100% correct, so I'm not exactly sure where the problem might be.

 

[DoFoT9]

I got it all to work 100% with sound! just had to stare at the instructions for a few minutes at a time. Thanks so much for the share!

i love how you put the "got it" in the title - makes you sound so excited!

congrats.

also congrats to you Transporteur. happy VMing!

 

[macfan246]

Don't know what I was doing wrong the last few times, but just went through the process again and Lion is now booting!

Thanks for putting this guide together, it is really appreciated.

 

[Transporteur]

also congrats to you Transporteur. happy VMing!

I'm not quite there yet. Still get a KP after the machine boots up the first time (first step of the installation process, which is the language select).

 

[macfan246]

I'm interested in trying the server components (VPN, etc.). Apparently they have to be selected when installing which I didn't try the last time.

I just tried performing another install with them selected, however I received the error attached. Is this something to do with the custom installer we created? My understanding is that server components were included in the beta.

 

[DoFoT9]

I'm not quite there yet. Still get a KP after the machine boots up the first time (first step of the installation process, which is the language select).

oh, well that really does suck.

mind sharing your computer specs? maybe that might indicate something.

 

[Transporteur]

oh, well that really does suck.

mind sharing your computer specs? maybe that might indicate something.

2009 octad with loads of RAM and SSD to store the VM file.

I tried the VM with standard settings (1 core, 1GB RAM), as well as my own settings (4 cores, 4GB RAM) and tried it on a mechanical drive as well.

The image file is fine, I guess, since the VM boots without problems.
What Fusion version are you guys running? I'm on 3.0.0.

Another option would be to Bootcamp Lion, unfortunately BootCamp doesn't work on external eSATA drives and neither Parallels, nor VMWare recognise partitions that haven't be created via BC. Pity.

 

[MacGeek50]

2009 octad with loads of RAM and SSD to store the VM file.

I tried the VM with standard settings (1 core, 1GB RAM), as well as my own settings (4 cores, 4GB RAM) and tried it on a mechanical drive as well.

The image file is fine, I guess, since the VM boots without problems.
What Fusion version are you guys running? I'm on 3.0.0.

Another option would be to Bootcamp Lion, unfortunately BootCamp doesn't work on external eSATA drives and neither Parallels, nor VMWare recognise partitions that haven't be created via BC. Pity.

Not too sure how much my advice will help you out, but look at the instructions again thoroughly. I had to re-try everything more than once and it took about 4 different attempts. Really read through each instructions and pay close attention to Step 5. Good Luck!

 

[gr8phan]

First, thanks for all of the detail here - much appreciated!

I recently completed my first pass through the instructions, and when I boot, I don't get past the initial Apple splash screen. I have not yet enabled -v.

Just wondering if anybody got stuck at a similar point. I'm using Fusion 3.1, and left the defaults for the VM, on a Late 2008 MB with 4GB.

UPDATE: Reviewed my settings after some sleep, and realize I'm stuck at the same point as a couple of others. Verified that the NVRAM file is in place, and plist is correct (matches the sample), but still stuck at the same point (screenshot attached). Any thoughts from those stuck at the same point?

Thanks again for the detail and any help!

 

[macfan246]

I'm interested in trying the server components (VPN, etc.). Apparently they have to be selected when installing which I didn't try the last time.

I just tried performing another install with them selected, however I received the error attached. Is this something to do with the custom installer we created? My understanding is that server components were included in the beta.

Any thoughts?