With VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2, Mac OS X Leopard Server is now a supported operating system in a VMware Fusion virtual machine. Here are a bunch of tips to get the best experience.

• In order to get the best disk performance, we recommend that you install Mac OS X Server onto a virtual SCSI disk instead of the beta 2 default of a virtual IDE disk.
• In order to get the best mouse and display experience, we recommend that you install VMware Tools for Mac OS X Server.
• In order to get the best mouse and keyboard experience, we recommend that you create a keyboard and mouse profile optimized for Mac OS X Server virtual machines.
• We also recommend that you prevent the Mac OS X Server from putting the (virtual) computer to sleep.

NOTE: By default, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 2 has debugging enabled to help us track down bugs. Debugging greatly slows down performance. You have the option of disabling debugging by going to Preferences in the VMware Fusion menu and disabling "Enable debugging checks". Disabling debugging checks will give you a more accurate idea of Mac OS X Server VM performance.

See instructions below for getting up and running with Mac OS X Server in a VMware Fusion virtual machine:

Install Mac OS X Server onto a virtual SCSI disk

1) Click new in the Virtual Machine Library to create a new virtual machine
2) Insert your "Mac OS X Server Install Disc" DVD or click Continue to select a DVD disc image (a .cdr master or .iso format).

NOTE: If your image is in .dmg format instead, you can copy and convert it to .iso format by opening Terminal and entering the following command line at the prompt: hdiutil convert YourImage.dmg -format UDTO -o YourImage.iso. Alternatively, you can open your DMG with Disk Utility and save it as a DVD/CD master for use with VMware Fusion.

3) On the operating system screen, Apple Mac OS X in Operating System and select "Mac OS X Server 10.5 (experimental)" or "Mac OS X Server 10.5 64-bit (experimental)" as the version and click Continue
4) On the Finish screen, click on the Customize Settings button
5) Name the virtual machine and click Save
6) In the Virtual Machine Settings window, click on Hard Disks
7) Select the existing IDE hard disk and click on the - (Minus) button to delete it
8) Click Remove in the confirmation dialog
9) Click the + (Plus) button to add a new hard disk
10) Click on Bus Type and change the type from IDE to SCSI
11) Change the size from 20 GB to 30 GB
12) Click the Split into 2 GB files option
13) Click on Apply to create the new SCSI virtual disk
14) Close the Settings window
15) Select the Mac OS X Server virtual machine in the Virtual Machine Library and click the Play button: this will start the virtual machine and Mac OS X Server will start installing.


16) Mac OS X Server will not find a volume to install to by default. Go to the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility

17) Select the SCSI hard disk, go to the Erase tab, optionally change the Name of the volume, and click on Erase... to format the volume.



18) Quit Disk Utility to go back to the installer.

19) Select the formatted virtual SCSI disk and continue the Mac OS X Server installation and follow the prompts

Install VMware Tools

1) After Mac OS X Server has finished installing, eject any CD from within the virtual machine (typically by dragging and dropping their desktop icon to the Trash icon in the Dock).
2) Select Install VMware Tools from the Virtual Machine menu.
3) Open VMware Tool CD in Finder, run Install VMware Tools, and follow the instructions to install VMware Tools.

Create a keyboard and mouse profile optimized for Mac OS X Server virtual machines

VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2 adds keyboard profile feature to make it easier for Windows users to remap Windows keyboard equivalents to Mac keyboard equivalents for ease of use with our new default keyboard profile. Unfortunately, the default keyboard profile is optimized for Windows and not Mac OS X Server guests. Create a new Mac OS X Server profile for the optimal experience in beta 2.

1) Select VMware Fusion > Preferences...
2) Select the Keyboard & Mouse tab.
3) In Keyboard & Mouse Profile, select Edit Profiles...
4) Click the + (Plus) button to add a new profile, and name it "Mac OS X Server guest" for example.
5) In "Assign profiles to your virtual machines.", select your virtual machine in the list, then assign your newly added "Mac OS X Server guest" profile to it.
6) Click Done.
7) In Keyboard & Mouse Profile, select your new "Mac OS X Server guest" profile.
8) In each of the 4 tabs (Key Mappings, Mouse Shortcuts, Mac OS Shortcuts, and Fusion Shortcuts), uncheck absolutely all the boxes you can find.
9) Close the Keyboard & Mouse window

Using Shared Folders from Virtual Machine to Access Data Stored on Mac Host

1) Once VMware Tools are installed, you will be able to access data stored on your Mac host in your Mac OS X Server virtual machine
2) To access shared folders, go to the Finder and select Go To Folder from the Go menu
3) Enter '/volumes/shared folders/' at the prompt and click Go
4) You will now be able to browse any Shared Folders you enable in the Setting window
5) To make this easier to access, you can make a link on the desktop
6) Opening Terminal and enter the following command line at the prompt: cd ~/Desktop; ln -s '/Volumes/Shared Folders'
7) You will now have a shortcut to VMware Shared Folders on your Mac OS X Server VM desktop

Keep Computer Sleep Disabled

By default, Mac OS X Server is configured to never put the computer to sleep when it is inactive. Make sure you do not change that setting (it does not make sense to change it for a virtual machine anyway), because a defect in Fusion 2.0 beta 2 will prevent the computer from ever waking back up!

Enjoy Your Mac OS X Server Virtual Machines

You are now ready to enjoy your Mac OS X Server virtual machine with VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2:

• You can resize the virtual machine's window at any time, or select View > Enter Full Screen and the display resolution of Mac OS X Server inside the virtual machine will automatically adapt.
• You can copy & paste text with Command-C and Command-V in and out of the virtual machine.
• You can use your Shared Folders inside the virtual machine by going to /Volumes/Shared Folders (see above).

We hope you find this document useful. For more helpful tips and tricks about VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 2, don't forget to visit the VMware Fusion 2 Beta forums.

Known Issues

VMware Tools always out-of-date?

Just install the Mac OS VMware Tools once and ignore the subsequent notifications that your VMware Tools package is out-of-date. This issue has been fixed internally, so it will not be present in the final release.

No sound?

At the moment, Mac OS X Server virtual machines are not capable of playing/recording sound. Stay tuned.