Host hardware requirement for installing Snow Leopard 10A314?

[lukhnos]

Hi,

I'm an ADC member and I'm very excited about VMware Fusion 2.0.3 that supports Snow Leopard. I hope I'm not breaching any NDA starting this topic, but:

After I upgraded Fusion to 2.0.3 and started installing the latest Snow Leopard server developer seed (10A314):

1. OS X installer did get started but beach-balled if I ran the VM using the "OS X 10.6 (Experimental)" setting

2. OS X installer didn't even start, only the OS loader activity indicator animated if I ran the VM using the "OS X 10.6 64-bit (Experimental)" setting

I'm running this on a late 2007 MacBook (2 GHz C2D, 4 GB of RAM), host is OS X 10.5.6. I have been using VMware along with OS X 10.5 Server for a long time wihtout any problem. So I'm wondering if there's any host hardware requirement in order to run Snow Leopard within VMware (such as a Penryn CPU ?)

Thank you!

d.

[staze]

So, I can actually get 10.6 A314 to install, but it doesn't see any network devices, so the setup assistant fails when configuring the OS.

Looking at the kexts available on the install disk, the Intel Network adapter kext seems to be absent, so there's no driver for the virtual interface. =/

So, not sure... guessing Apple made some fairly big changes to the driver architecture in this latest build. I'd recommend running the previous build.

[lukhnos]

Hi Staze,

Mind if you share with us the hardware equipment you are using? Thanks.

[staze]

Mac Pro, dual dualcore xeons (first gen Mac Pro). 6gig of ram.

=/

[lukhnos]

I have made some progress. Apparently I have to throw 2 GBs of RAM at it (which I didn't) for the installer to be brought up. Also if I only gave it one CPU it would be too slow. Throwing 2 GBs of RAM, 2 CPUs, and the Installer was loaded instantly, problem solved.

Kudos to the VMware Fusion team that made all this possible.

[staze]

let us know if you can actually get it to work after installing. Mine, the installer ran fine. The problem was the setup assistant. It doesn't see a NIC, so it fails catastrophically.

[davidliu]

We recommend using the 10a286 seed for now. There are two issues with the newer 10a314 seed:

1) it may take a long time to install, or stall, with the default 1 vCPU setting when you create a VM. Switching to 2 vCPU in the VM Settings will get you past this, however ...

2) no networking, resulting in failed initial system setup. This leaves the guest unusable.

There is no known workaround for the networking issue at the moment.

-David

[lukhnos]

Oh ok, apparently I'm only halfway in it, not yet reaching the Setup Assistant.

Thanks a bunch still—hopefully you'll be able to find a workaround as this will be a boon for the developer community.

[staze]

David,

Thanks very much for this! It means it's not my problem, but I known issue.

Please let us know if we can do anything to help test a fix.

[lukhnos]

Oh by the way, is the NIC problem happening to all Mac host hardware configs, or is it limited to Mac Pros?

[davidliu]

On all Mac host machines, I believe.

-David

[lukhnos]

Hi David,

Just found 2.0.4 is out. Any update on the issues of installing the snowy cat?

Thanks!

[davidliu]

2.0.4 is strictly a security update. We are still working on the Snow Leopard bugs.

-David

[lukhnos]

Hi David,

Any update on the latest seed (10A335)? Eager to know. Thanks!

[staze]

10A335 works!

I get a network adapter when installing, and the server setup runs successfully.

So, obviously Apple did something with the previous rev, and "fixed" it with this one...

Odd.

[davidliu]

We have been working with Apple on these issues and I am glad to see the fixes made into 10A335.

-David

[FredericJacobs]

Can anyone help me with build 10a380 ?

Kernel crashes :s

[martyvmw]

I tried to install Snow Leopard Server 10.6 (10A380) on (in?) VMWare Fusion 2.0.5 (173382) and it failed after about 18 minutes. The install log is attached.

[Mikero]

Aug 26 17:32:41 dhcp202 OSInstaller[184]: reading from /System/Installation/Packages/EPSON_DriverCommon088.pkg: Input/output error

Aug 26 17:32:41 dhcp202 OSInstaller[184]: error processing data: Input/output error

I/O errors could be a problem with the physical disk, or possibly the source media.

Something else could be happening inbetween, possible (is a Time Machine backup happening while this is installing?)

Which hardware are you trying to install this on?

[admin]

In addition to what Mikero said, why are you trying to run 10a380 now that Snow Leopard is GA?