topic Re: VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2 in VMware Fusion Discussions

VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2

Tony030942 — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 22:33:02 GMT

I am new to VM and am attempting to use Fusion 13 to run OSX 10.7 lion as a virtual guest.

I am considering using Virtual box as they offer clear instructions to go through the installation process. Advice on that point would be appreciated .

Call me thick if you like, but I cannot get a grip on the installation error I am making which causes Fusion 13 to tell me ‘No operating system found’. I am left with Boot Manager and no guidance

I have tried two .dmg; One: a complete operating system of Lion including all my account files and apps. Two: A .dmg of a Lion install file. Should I create a 10.7 system only, on an external drive and make a .dmg from that, free of other files and apps? Both are stored in a folder ‘Virtual Machines’ in my Home account but Fusion 13 obviously cannot use them.

Help and explanation would be gratefully received.

Re: VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2

Technogeezer — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 03:00:59 GMT

What model of Mac are you runnung Fusion 13 on?

If it’s an M1 or M2 Mac, you can’t run any version of macOS under Fusion. Parallels ($$$) and UTM (free) will enable you to run Monterey and later versions only.

If it’s an Intel Mac, and you have a .dmg file containing the installer

open the .dmg file
Double click on the installer package to install the installation app into /Applications
create a new virtual machine in Fusion
drag and drop the installer app found in the /Applications folder onto the Create a new virtual machine dialog

Re: VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2

Tony030942 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 07:48:22 GMT

Hi Technogeezer,

I am operating a model 19.2, Intel iMac 3.7 GHz Intel core i5 6 core.

I am with you up to the point of drag and drop. There is no installer file in my Applications folder. Are you referring to a Lion 10.7 installer?

I tried dragging and dropping a 10.7 Lion Installer into MVware Installation Method from an external drive. Result is a Boot Manager message telling me OSX Lion cannot be found. Same when I drag and drop a .dmg of a complete cloned system 10.7 with account files etc.

In my Home account, a folder ‘Virtual Machines’ has been created, presumably by VMware Fusion, as per screenshot. How do I use Boot Manager to point MVware Fusion to the Lion 10.7 file?

Is there a another way?

Re: VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2

Technogeezer — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:17:24 GMT

You can't drop the Lion installer dmg nor a cloned dmg onto the "create a new virtual machine" dialog. Neither of those are bootable and that's why you aren't seeing anything boot.

Apple in its infinite wisdom did not create a bootable installer for Lion. It only gave you a .dmg with an Installer package that you had to then run to install "Install Mac OS X Lion.app" into your Applications folder.

Further complicating things, if you are running a later Mac, Apple again in its infinite wisdom refused to let you install the "Install Mac OS X Lion.app" from the .dmg, saying that the application can not run on your computer.

I've found a way to get that installer App courtesy of Mr. Macintosh (https://mrmacintosh.com). One of the tools he recommends to obtain macOS installation media is an open source utility Mist (macOS Installer Super Tool - https://github.com/ninxsoft/Mist ). This is a tool that runs on Monterey and later. It provides a nice GUI interface to download macOS installers as far back as 10.7.5 - even on Macs that can't run them.

I just used it to download and extract the Lion installer app and then dragged/dropped the resulting installer app onto the Fusion Create a new virtual Machine dialog. The VM booted to the OS X Lion installer.

Re: VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2

Tony030942 — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:14:44 GMT

Dear Technogeezer,

Thank you for most valuable information and reference to suitable tools. I found downloading the fresh Lion Installer was entirely successful. VMware accepted it and I installed OSX 10.7.5. into VMware Fusion as you described.

I was entirely stymied. My latest idea was to install new Lion operating system on a dedicated partition on a 2011 iMac then make a dmg of the whole bootable entity. And migrating files will be an interesting challenge?

Obviously your method is better and cleaner. Most importantly - It Works.

So far I cannot get OSX Lion Migration Assistant to ‘see’ the external disk with my old Lion apps and settings as a preliminary to import.my account.

How do I import settings now I am in a virtual machine?

Re: VMware Fusion 13 basic activation issue on Ventura 13.5.2

Tony030942 — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 21:14:22 GMT

Dear Technogeezer,

You are a Champion indeed. Thank you for the links and following you directions did the trick. I now have Lion up and running.

Now I am asking myself how to migrate my settings and apps from the old iMac into the VMware version of Lion.

Migration Assistant in VMware Lion cannot recognise attached external drive with Lion on it. Nor can I create a network for transferring files from VMware. Perhaps I need to attach an old computer and create network from it to the 2019 iMac/VMware

Do you have any suggestions for a better procedure?