OSX.7 on ESXi - Anyone else having problems?

[kruddy]

Just to cover a few of the basic points which seem to come up:

a. running OSX on any non-Mac hardware is a violation of the EULA

b. Mac Minis are incompatible with ESXi, it will install however you will be left with no network connection

c. Mac Pros (Mid 2010 in my case) do work with ESXi, however they are not listed on VMware's HCL

I was able to take my copy of OSX.7 (Lion) from the App store and burn it to a DVD via these instructions: http://lifehacker.com/5823096/how-to-burn-your-own-lion-install-dvd-or-flash-drive

OSX installs and runs just fine, until you apply updates. Then it just sits on the gray Apple screen at bootup.

Has anyone else been able to successfully install OSX on an ESXi box and had it run fine?

I was pretty excited when VMware first released the ability of legitimately virtualizing OSX, but between all of the restrictions with Apple and then the no-longer-in-production Xserve being the only compatible ESXi host, it has been pretty much a let down.

[scerazy · Accepted solution]

Sure, before reboot, replace /System/Library/Extensions/AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext with the one from 10.7.1

insanelymac is your source for Mac related issues

Seb

[wdroush1]

kruddy wrote:

Just to cover a few of the basic points which seem to come up:

a. running OSX on any non-Mac hardware is a violation of the EULA

b. Mac Minis are incompatible with ESXi, it will install however you will be left with no network connection

c. Mac Pros (Mid 2010 in my case) do work with ESXi, however they are not listed on VMware's HCL

I was able to take my copy of OSX.7 (Lion) from the App store and burn it to a DVD via these instructions: http://lifehacker.com/5823096/how-to-burn-your-own-lion-install-dvd-or-flash-drive

OSX installs and runs just fine, until you apply updates. Then it just sits on the gray Apple screen at bootup.

Has anyone else been able to successfully install OSX on an ESXi box and had it run fine?

I was pretty excited when VMware first released the ability of legitimately virtualizing OSX, but between all of the restrictions with Apple and then the no-longer-in-production Xserve being the only compatible ESXi host, it has been pretty much a let down.

I really wish Apple would rethink their EULA for server end hardware. 😐

[kruddy]

Agreed.

Between that and their new found support of OSX Server on Mac Minis, it really only show that they're not ready for the Enterprise environment.

[kruddy]

I found it the other day: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=270140

It's rather unfortunate that that is the answer.

[scerazy]

And what part of the solution is "unfortunate"?

Seb

[wdroush1]

scerazy wrote:

And what part of the solution is "unfortunate"?

Seb

It looks like they dropped driver support for our virtualized device in the update.

I'm wondering if using another virtualized storage adapter would fix it, but that's a big guess which will likely end with "no" in terms of how much hardware OSX supports.

[kruddy]

Yep, what wdroush1 said.

Also to answer that question, changing the storage adapter did not fix it.

I could see a whole new VDI solution based around Mac desktops, I know we'd be interested in 100+ desktops but Apple changing drivers whenever and however they want isn't condusive to... well, any environment.

[wdroush1]

kruddy wrote:

Yep, what wdroush1 said.

Also to answer that question, changing the storage adapter did not fix it.

I could see a whole new VDI solution based around Mac desktops, I know we'd be interested in 100+ desktops but Apple changing drivers whenever and however they want isn't condusive to... well, any environment.

We'd appreciate OSX for testing in our dev network, so I can run VMs with varying versions of OSX instead of what looks like buying some junk desktop hardware and sticking it somewhere in our server room.

[dockeradz]

Can you give me a run down of how you got 10.7 to boot in ESXi 5?  I've tried many methods and all end up at the grey screen with an apple.

[jhtodd]

I got to the "Apple" boot screen (gray, just an apple  on it) but wasn't able to get past that until I specified "Apple - 10.7 Lion" in the "Edit Settings -> Options -> Guest Operating System (Version)" pull-down.  Then it boots and I'm able to get to the main screen and work around with the O/S, but I'm not able to get networking going - it doesn't see any ethernet interfaces.  So I'm stuck.

(Note: I built the image on VMWare Fusion on a Mac, and converted it.)

JT

[jhtodd]

OK, solved my own problem.  I added an additional ethernet card in the ESXi control panel for the virtual image, and MacOS seemed to attach itself to that second ethernet.   I don't know why it didn't like the first image that came with it, but... problem solved.

JT

[dockeradz]

Did you build the VM on Fusion 3 or 4?  I tried moving from 3 and couldn't get past the grey apple screen, even with the settings you suggested.  I'm assuming you used convert 5 stand alone to load the fusion VM into ESX.

The only method I could get to work was booting to a USB key with a 10.7.0 build of the InstallESD image restored to it as described above.  It has to be a build earlier than 10.7.2 due to the LSI driver change.  Installing from the USB key and upgrading from 10.6 with the USB key both worked. 

[jhtodd]

I built on Fusion 4 for the Mac, and yes, I did use the conversion tool to move over.

Interestingly, when I let Lion do it's updates to the latest version of the software, it then fails on reboot - grey screen of doom.  Have you updated to the most recent software patches?

JT