macOS Catalina VMs do not run in VMware Fusion 11.1.0

[rtrouton]

I'm trying to run the WWDC beta of macOS Catalina in VMware Fusion and there is a CPU panic when the VM boots and the guest OS can't ID the right hardware.

How can I fix this problem? Please see below for a screenshot of the error (highlighted in yellow):

[briankendall]

Thanks to bogdamn's latest instructions, I've managed to get both Catalina beta 6 and beta 7 working in Fusion without too much trouble. In case it's helpful for someone else, I'll outline what I did in this post.

1. Download the latest Catalina beta installer and then create a Catalina installer disk image using the following steps. These are based on the instructions posted by bogdam on page 2:

Open a terminal window and execute the following:

mkdir ~/Desktop/Catalina

cd ~/Desktop/Catalina

hdiutil create catalina.dmg -size 7g -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J

hdiutil attach catalina.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/install_build

hdiutil detach /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Catalina\ Beta

(Change the path to "Install macOS Catalina Beta.app" as appropriate in case you don't have it in your Applications folder.)

2. Create a new virtual machine using catalina.dmg as its install media.

3. Select "Windows 10 x64" as the operating system

4. Do not press "Finish" but instead "Customize Settings"

5. Save your VM and configure it as needed. I usually increase the amount of memory. I've noticed some people report you need to change the keyboard profile to "Windows 10 Profile" otherwise your keyboard won't work. That doesn't seem to do anything for me. But I have found a way to get the keyboard working using a different method:

6. Right click the .vmwarevm file you created and pick "Show Package Contents".

7. Open the .vmx file inside of the package in a text editor like TextEdit.

8. Add the following to the end of it and then save the file:

usb.generic.allowHID = TRUE

(This will allow you to connect your keyboard directly to the VM like any other USB device.)

9. Start the VM. Sometimes I get an error on boot, in which case I shut it down and try again. Usually after the second or third try it boots.

10. You should now be in the Recovery environment. Go through the steps to install macOS to Macintosh HD. It should start installing, reboot, and should then continue installing.

11. After it finishes installing you will be back in the Recovery Environment again. This time use the menu bar to open Terminal. You may find that you cannot type anything into it. If so, pick the menu Virtual Machine > USB & Bluetooth > Connect [your keyboard here]

NB: This will prevent your keyboard from working on your mac, so be careful! You'll need use of the mouse to get it back again. Alternatively you can use an extra USB keyboard to ensure you still have at least one working keyboard on your mac.

You should now be able to type into the terminal window...

12. Execute the following commands that bogdam posted just a few days ago:

rm -r /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/PrelinkedKernels

mkdir /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/PrelinkedKernels

kextcache -c /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/PrelinkedKernels/prelinkedkernel -K /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Kernels/kernel -l -- /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Extensions /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Extensions/IOACPIFamily.kext

13. Shut down the VM

14. Edit its settings again and under general change the virtual machine type to "macOS 10.14"

15. Boot it up. You should now be in Catalina beta 7!

[gatetester]

When I began to install strange issue appears. No disk available. There's no problem when I install as usual without creating dmg.

I solved this by changing SCSI to SATA and formatting it in DiskUtility, but there another problem after executing last kextcache command:

After changing in general options to MacOS 10.14 system loading hangs:

[bogdam]

@gatetester

If you created the virtual machine as Windows 10 x64, probably VMware didn't format the disk. Either create a new machine as MacOS 10.14, start it once and then switch to Windows 10; or use Disk Utility in the existing virtual machine to format the disk for MacOS.

[gatetester]

@bogdam

Yes, I format the disk and macOS installed successfully, but new problem is with kextcache as I described above

[gatetester]

@bogdam

Thanks. Selecting macOS 10.14 before creating VM helps.

[abnielsen]

For some reason I can't get the solution in #60 to work with Beta 7. After installation reboots I can boot in recovery mode, but Macintosh HD only contains "macOS Install Data"

All steps followed diligently.

[abnielsen]

Never mind! It seems the install crashed rather than completing - I assume it's because RAM was set to only 2Gb.

[l1am]

Step (9) fails for me. I get "No operating system was found" error repeatedly. Any ideas?

[briankendall]

Has anyone managed to get Catalina beta 8 working?

As usual I can't successfully upgrade my beta 7 guest systems using Apple's software update tool, and if I try the steps I posted above for installing it fresh, it fails when I try to boot the VM using the installation media I created.

[wila]

Hi,

Thanks Briankendall (and bogdam and everybody else here). These are the best steps (post# 60) and they do work for beta8 as well.

A few additional notes though.

Step 3. It is required to create the VM as macOS 10.14. Not just for auto-creating the disk, but also because it adds a few lines to the vmx that are required for a macOS VM. If you start out as a Windows 10 VM you'll get all the way to what user gatetester also reported... (the full progress bar and nothing more)

IOW, create the VM as a macOS VM, boot it so that the disk is auto-created a "Macintosh HD" install disk and then shut it down and change it to Windows 10 x64.

Another note is that once you are at the step where you boot again into the recovery screen that your disk should have both a "Macintosh HD" and a "Macintosh HD - Data" partition.

Do not change the boot order of the VM to the CD/DVD as you'll end up booting into that again and again without the install finishing.

Finally, the errors "Warning: OSKExtIsInExcludelist could not find com.apple.driver.KextExcludeList" are apparently expected and lots of them, let it run all the way through.

--

Wil

[lundman]

I followed the "I have had success creating a new Catalina VM with method 1 from How to get Catalina Beta 6 running on VMware Fusion 11.1.1" for Beta 8.

Since I grabbed the Install-update the manual way, I had to create a .DMG of it before Installer would be happy to install. Then used Fusion to remove previous Beta3 boot disk, and left just Beta8 disk to boot.

[wila]

VMware Fusion 11.5 has been released and officially supports macOS 10.15.

release notes:

VMware Fusion 11.5.0 Release Notes

blog post:

VMware Fusion 11.5 Available Now! - VMware Fusion Blog - VMware Blogs

download:

https://www.vmware.com/go/getfusion

--

Wil

[Gideon007]

can't install Catalina in Fusion 11.5 ;(
It complains that it can't create the install medium...

[wila]

Gideon007,

Ugh!

Can you open a new topic for this?

Probably will get better exposure that way and hopefully have somebody from VMware to follow up with you on that.

Haven't had the time to test myself yet (just got Catalina beta8 installed on Fusion 11.1.1 using the method described higher up)

--

Wil

[gatetester]

Successfully installs 10.15 beta 10 with latest Fusion 11.5.0 (14634996)

[BobTheDog]

Hi Guys,

How do you actually get a catalina (or any other version of OSX) full installer nowadays?

I'm an apple developer and you used to be able to download versions there, this doesn't seem possible now.

If I try from my mac via appstore's I just get a 20mb App.

Also I cannot see any of the old OS X versions available for download in the app store anymore.

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Andy

[jerrydaniel]

See this thread where they say that the problem has be solved.

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/611933

1. Open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy.

2. Select Screen Recording in the list.

3. Click the lock and input password to make change.

4. Make sure the checkbox for "VMware Fusion" item is checked. If not, check it.

5. Restart Fusion.