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SergeyPisarev
Contributor
Contributor

Can't create VM from recovery partition

Hello !

I have made clean reinstall of MacOS on my host.

Now Vmware can't create new MacOS VM from recovery partition. Hangs at creating VM step.

This window was up all night, so waiting more probably won't solve the problem.

 

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), Big Sur 11.1

VMware Fusion Player Version 12.1.0 (17195230)

 

Is that a known problem ?

How should I troubleshoot ?

10 Replies
Azreah
Contributor
Contributor

Having the same issue.

 

Any idea ? 

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

Known issue, download the installer from the app store and use it.

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Blixter
Contributor
Contributor

Is there any way to be more specific than download installer and use it. I've done this but VMware still can't find the recovery partition.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

 Just drag/drop the installer.app into the new virtual machine wizard, and it'll take it from there.

ereward
Contributor
Contributor

Tried from install media  hangs on Install OS, tried from recovery hangs on preparing, all in all it's pretty unreliable trying to install a MAC OS on VMWare Fusion.

MarcV2
Contributor
Contributor

Is anyone doing anything about this? Post is 2 years old, we're on v13 and there have been a dozen point releases since then. How is this still coming up?

Tried making a new guest from the recovery partition. Hangs on the progress screen and quits.

Tried dragging the macOS Ventura install app into the new guest installation window. Get "Unable to create the medium"

Tried making a bootable ISO from the app and installing from that. Hangs on installation and the VM restarts.

How is this stall a problem after these years?

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

Yes, this is annoying. I blame both VMware and Apple - sorry but Apple doesn't get off scot-free here either.  Apple does have a habit of making undocumented changes so it's not surprising that things break.

One way around this is to build a bootable DMG or ISO from the macOS full installer that you get from the Mac App Store. 

A script I've found which does a nice job of this can be found here: https://github.com/rtrouton/create_macos_vm_install_dmg

It uses the files in the macOS installer to create a DMG file as well as a bootable ISO that can be used to create the VM.

 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
MarcV2
Contributor
Contributor

I still lay this at VMWare's feet. How many point releases have come out during this issue? If it was due to Apple VMWare would issue a notice that it's a known problem but they can't do anything until Apple does etc. VMWare layed off a lot of staff behind Fusion. Even now with the latest Player Version 13.0.1 which supposedly fixes issues with Ventura guests:

- New guest from the recovery partition - still hangs on the progress screen and quits.

- Dragging the macOS Ventura install app into the new guest installation window - still get "Unable to create the installation medium"

- Made a bootable ISO from the app (from https://osxdaily.com/2020/07/20/how-convert-macos-installer-iso/) and tried installing from that - still hangs on installation and the VM restarts.

Reluctant to run unknown scripts, esp when I already have an installer ISO. Fusion is just buggy, weak.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

They either need to fix the recovery partition option, or disable it for sure.

Apple has made a ton of changes to the boot structure in the past few OS versions, which has broken a lot of my favorite tools (like carbon copy cloner).

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llovette
Contributor
Contributor

The GitHub script mentioned earlier just worked for me. It greatly simplifies the process! I had bookmarked this thread in 2021 and am stunned it is still an issue...

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