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VMware Fusion cannot find Recovery Partition to create VM on 2018..

S

Starlights

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 22, 2011
133
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So I installed VMware Fusion on my 2018 15" MBP and one of the options for creating a VM for MacOS is to create it from the recovery partition, however when I tried that VMware Fusion reported that it could not find a recovery partition to install from. Can anyone point me in the right direction?


BTW, before I get asked why am I creating an OSX VM on a MBP - its for security and privacy.
 
Yes, I can point you to the VMWare support forums. https://communities.vmware.com/thread/573025
short answer: It's a known issue with VMWare. VMWare Fusion cannot identify a recovery partition on macOS 10.13. As a result install macOS from the recovery partition does not work.
You CAN make the VM from a macOS Sierra installer app, which will give you the same result.
 
Thanks!

What is an installer app?

I have a downloaded version of Sierra (Not High Sierra) - perhaps I can use that and then upgrade from within the VM? Since I am installing on a MBP may I assume upgrading VM from Sierra to HS won't be an issue as a software update?
 
Starlights said:
What is an installer app?
Click to expand...
It's what you get from the App Store when you download the OS. It's probably easiest to download HS rather than trying to do an upgrade (assuming it works; DeltaMac's post above specifically mentions Sierra so there might be an incompatibility that I'm not aware of).
 
Nermal said:
It's what you get from the App Store when you download the OS. It's probably easiest to download HS rather than trying to do an upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying! (Duh!) - So the downloaded version that I have saved away on my thumb drive "is" an installer app for Sierra!
 
Yes. The name of the file on your thumb drive will be "Install macOS Sierra".
If it has the word "update", or upd, as in "macOSUpdCombo10.3.6", then you would only have an updater.
As Nermal recommended, if you need the "Install macOS" app, it will be much simpler to download the current High Sierrra version.
The full Sierra install is more than 5GB, for example. (High Sierra is more than 5.2GB!) If yours is less than half that (meaning it is just an updater), then you still need the full install to make your VM.

I suspect that the problem that VMWare Fusion has is that the boot drive (when it is an SSD) is a different format (APFS), and one result is that the recovery partition is relatively hidden (not mountable in the Finder), where a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) partition that Apple had been using for years, had a recovery system partition that you could easily mount --- so, apparently that has become an issue for software that might be able to use the recovery system for other uses (such as the VM).
But, it's also easy enough to find a work around, such as using the installer app as the source for creating the VM, which is is what VMWare is using now.
 
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Thanks again! You explained it very well. I used the downloaded version of Sierra to create another VM on a windows DT some months ago so I know its the full version. Hopefully I will be able to upgrade to to HS from within the VM as this will be on Apple Hardware anyway.

I will post my results once I install the VM.
 
No need to hope about an upgrade to HS from within the VM.
Just download the full installer for HS, and use THAT to create the VM when you make it now!
 
I was able to install HS in Fusion 10 Pro using the installer without a hitch however I am running into issues with the VM HS not displaying correctly on my 2018 15". I have tried all display options from within the Fusion settings however the display is in a 3:4 ratio and not retina - not crisp at all. Any further suggestions? (Dedicated video memory to VM-HS is about 1GB and 12GB Ram for VM).

Thanks in advance.

Edit: For some strange reason the Display pref inside of the VM is showing for a 17.8" display at low resolution.
 
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I recommend that you post your query on the VMWare Fusion support forums.
Perhaps they are already aware of the video issue that you have, and there might be a fix for that (maybe an update to Fusion.)
Did you upgrade the HS VM installation with the update for 2018 MBPros? The HS full installer would NOT include that yet, AFAIK.
 
DeltaMac said:
Did you upgrade the HS VM installation with the update for 2018 MBPros? The HS full installer would NOT include that yet, AFAIK.
Click to expand...

No. I have not installed the update yet. Furthermore, the 2018 MBP wouldn't allow for downloading the HS as it said that the version installed was newer than the installer so I used my older MBA to download the installer.

Thanks so much for your help - I will check at the VMW forums.
 
You should be able to download the update on the older MBA - but, does the update show in the App Store when you have the VM open?
The VM synthesizes the hardware, even though in this case, you are running on the supported hardware. If the MBPro 2018 update won't install (which it might not), then it's probably because the VM is simulating hardware that the update does not support (and may also explain why your VM video is presented with the wrong resolution). There might be an answer (again) at the VMWare support forums. I suspect that the answer may be that you have to wait until VMWare updates Fusion to support the new MBPros.
 
I will give it a day before I get back to figuring this out again. On the VM-HS I did not sign into Apple, however I think I may have to in order to download the update as you point out (if that even works). For now I will give it a rest for a day and will get back to it after installing my other Linux VMs.
 
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