Convert Mac to VM

[jrasmussen]

One of our developers is leaving the company but will be staying on as a part time contractor to assist with development.

We are going to repurpose his laptop but would like to preserve his environment for him by converting it to a VM on our mac server.

I have looked around online and have only found instuctions on how to do this with a pc. So my current best bet seems like I should just take a disk image and apply that to a virtual disk.

However it would be great if there is a simpler way to do this by putting the macbook into target disk mode and beaing able to create a vm directly from the drive that way. I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

[WoodyZ]

VMware Does not support P2V for Mac OS X.

Not all versions of Mac OS X are legally virtualizable!

If you want to P2V then image the physical disk to a virtual disk, either directly or using a .dmg image.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Here's how to do this and not violate the EULA.

1) Clone the laptop to an external USB disk (I like carbon copy cloner, others use super duper)

2) Create a new OSX VM (with appropriate licensed versions of the OS)

3) During the installation process, when prompted to migrate your information, plug in the USB drive and choose 'from another drive'

That will migrate all the information off the clone into the new VM.

[WoodyZ]

Here's how to do this and not violate the EULA.

If you're implying that in of and by itself doing a direct P2V image or restoring a disk image violates the (Mac) OS X SLA, it doesn't as long as the version being imaged/restored is legally virtualizable within the constraints of its SLA!

[ColoradoMarmot]

Point taken! 🙂

[mseeberg]

Sorry to jump in late on this but I upgraded to Fusion 5 because I eagerly thought I could go P2V with my mac os 10.8 and run on my other mac os 10.8. Reason I want to do this is because I have a big-screen imac for personal and want to use it to virtually work in my business mac environment (that lives on my laptop). used to do that when I had pc laptop. In your step #2, I can use VMWare to create the virtual mac environment. But do I need to buy a free-standing version of 10.8? Is there a way to use the machine-based OS installations? Also, after your step #3, will that cloned image now boot in the virtualized environment?

Help, because this has become very frustrating for me.

[WoodyZ]

While one technically can virtualize OS X Mountain Lion nonetheless by its SLA it may not be created from the preinstalled copy, no matter how one can get it into a Virtual Machine!  You need to purchase a separate copy from the App Store in order to virtualize it.

[mseeberg]

Thanks. So VMWare does not have a "Migrate Mac" feature like they do "Migrate PC" (which I used very successfully before. Is that simply a licensing issue then (Apple prevents it) or is there some technical barrier to a "Migrate Mac" feature in VMWare?

[mseeberg]

One other question in case you are generous - if I follow the instructions above, then it sounds like I would have effectively migrated my business Mac environment to my home imac (27"). I will get the big screen effects, but will that VM also be able to use the built-in camera and mic in the imac?

[ColoradoMarmot]

It should, however it won't have 3d acceleration, so some things (like Flash, Java and iWork) will not function properly.

[mseeberg]

thanks for the quick response. That's too bad as a central part of my work environment is using a collaboration tool that uses Java extensively. Oh well, I think I need to look into KVM switch solution although I will lose my bluetooth trackpad which I love.

[WoodyZ]

mseeberg wrote: Thanks. So VMWare does not have a "Migrate Mac" feature like they do "Migrate PC" (which I used very successfully before. Is that simply a licensing issue then (Apple prevents it) or is there some technical barrier to a "Migrate Mac" feature in VMWare?

If you reread what I've already said in my replies in this thread I believe that answers your question however more importantly as I said, "While one technically can virtualize OS X Mountain Lion nonetheless by its SLA it may not be created from the preinstalled copy, no matter how one can get it into a Virtual Machine!  You need to purchase a separate copy from the App Store in order to virtualize it."!

[ColoradoMarmot]

None of the virtualization solutions do 3d acceleration on OSX guests either.

And make sure you note Woody's reply - you'll still need to purchase a retail copy of OSX to legally virtualize it.

[mseeberg]

yes, thanks for all of the feedback. I have decided to go the route of KVM hardware that should get me 95% of the way there.

[joelbenisch]

If your laptop can be on the same local network as the big screen iMac, just screen share into the laptop.  It will show. up as a window of any size supposed by the laptop and you are all set.  No expense for KVM necessary.

[ColoradoMarmot]

No need to respond to a 10 year old thread.  Create a new one with your issue.