El Capitan as Guest

[dldave]

Running Fusion 10.1.6 under El Capitan. Created a VM of El Capitan from a Recovery Drive. How do I make the El Capitan VM able to see my Time Machine drive which is external to host, so I can restore from it?

[Technogeezer]

Assuming your Time Machine drive is a USB drive, use the Fusion GUI to connect the USB Time Machine drive to the VM instead of the host (see the Fusion documentation for how to do that). 

[dldave]

Thanks for the guidance. I was connected via firewire. Changed to usb and was able to see the TM from the VM. Now I need to know how to create the VM with a disk larger than 40GB.

[Technogeezer]

---

@dldave wrote:

. Now I need to know how to create the VM with a disk larger than 40GB.

---

Again, check the documentation. In the last step of creating the VM you have the option to customize the configuration before powering on the VM. Choosing that option will open the VM’s settings where you can increase the virtual hard disk size. Once you do that, power up the VM to start the installer. 

[dldave]

Yes, I did that. But the size of the Mactintosh HD doesn't change. I've set the virtual disk to 2 TB, but the Macintosh HD stays at 42.61 GB. Is there a max size for the virtual disk? The VM settings doesn't complain about the size. Although the Macintosh HD name is the default, that name doesn't appear in the VM settings. Only the virtual disk, which shows up under the 'removable devices' section. I've created this VM twice, changing the virtual disk size each time with the same result. Macintosh HD stays at 42.61 GB. Macintosh HD is the only destination offered.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Ok, here's the full steps:

1) Create a new VM.  Do NOT start it up [that's the trick]

2) In the VM settings, adjust the hard drive size to whatever you want.

3) Boot the VM and start the install.  STOP when it asks you if you want to migrate from another mac (if you create a user account, things will not work properly).

4) Plug the time machine USB in, when prompted connect it to the guest.  

5) Choose to migrate from your time machine drive (note that a carbon copy cloner of the machine is more reliable that time machine).  

That should work.

[dldave]

First Screen shot: Note the only options are the buttons 'Customize Settings' and 'Finish'. The VM cannot be either started or shut down from here.

2nd: Resized disk.

3rd: First startup of VM, with 'Restore from Time Machine Backup' selected.

4th: Restore from Time Machine dialog.

5th: Select a backup source dialog

6th: Select a backup dialog

7th: Destination Selected and resized virtual disk showing.

8th: Tried using Disk Utility to resize the Macintosh HD. Note that 'Enable Journaling' is greyed out.

9th: The resize tabs are missing. The freespace can't be added to the Macintosh HD.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Hit customize settings on the first screenshot - that will let you change the disk size before Mac OS ever starts.

[dldave]

That is exactly what I have been doing, several times. Always ends up with a 42.61 GB drive and 2.1 TB free space that can't be accessed.

[Technogeezer]

I'm seeing the same thing. It looks like the installer is creating a 40GB hard drive behind the scenes.

Try the following:

Before booting the VM/installer - increase the virtual disk size to > 40 GB. Now boot the installer.

When booted into the installer, go to Disk Utility. Once there, select the VMware virtual hard drive that contains your new, empty Macintosh HD. Select "Partition",. and then use that dialog to resize the existing Macintosh HD to encompass the entire virtual disk.

Then go back and try to install OS X El Capitan. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Must be an el-cap specific thing.  Really annoying, but good catch.

[dldave]

I'm confused. I don't see how to change the virtual disk size before booting the installer, whatever that is. Is the installer a separate app? I have Fusion running, but before staring to create a VM, all items in 'Virtual Machine' pull down menu are completely grey, no way to resize a disk.

I start the process with File>New, then select 'Install MacOS from the recovery partition.' Is there a different way to start? Please give me a step-by-step for this. See my screen shots in this thread to see what I have done so far.

[Technogeezer]

@dldave Hang on a little bit. I'm trying something that I think will help you out. In the mean time, create your macOS El Capitan VM as you have from the recovery partition and with the "default" 40GB drive. I may have an idea on what has to be done to get the larger disk size.

[Technogeezer]

---

@dldave wrote:

First Screen shot: Note the only options are the buttons 'Customize Settings' and 'Finish'. The VM cannot be either started or shut down from here.

2nd: Resized disk.

3rd: First startup of VM, with 'Restore from Time Machine Backup' selected.

4th: Restore from Time Machine dialog.

5th: Select a backup source dialog

6th: Select a backup dialog

7th: Destination Selected and resized virtual disk showing.

8th: Tried using Disk Utility to resize the Macintosh HD. Note that 'Enable Journaling' is greyed out.

9th: The resize tabs are missing. The freespace can't be added to the Macintosh HD.

---

Try the following:

1. At the "Finish" dialog, choose "Customize Settings", then name your VM. It may pause a few minutes to create temporary installation media from the recovery partition (I couldn't test that out, I used a downloaded "Install MacOS El Capitan.app).
2. The VM's settings will be open. Click on the virtual disk named "Hard Disk" (not "Hard Disk 2") and resize it to your desired size.
   
   Make any other settings changes necessary (for example. memory)
3. Boot the VM
4. At the "OS X Utilities" screen, do NOT choose "Restore from Time Machine". Instead, choose "Disk Utility" and click "Continue".
   It appears that the creation of a macOS virtual machine installs a 40GB partition. We must now resize that partition with Disk Utility to encompass the whole disk.
5. Once in Disk Utility, select the "VMware Virtual SATA Hard Drive Media" that contains "Macintosh HD" (should be the first on the list, and should be the size that you used in Step 2 above.
   
6. Click on the "Partition" button just beneath the "Disk Utility" window title. You should see something similar to this:
   Using the mouse, click on the resize control (the small circle at the edge of the "pie chart") and move it slightly clockwise. It should snap to the full size of the disk.
   

   Click "Apply"

7. When the disk resizing completes, click "Done" and exit Disk Utility (Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility". You will be returned to the "OS X Utilities" screen.
8. You may now select "Restore from Time Machine Backup", or "Install OS X".

[dldave]

Thanks much for these detailed steps. I am away from home for another week, so can't try it on my Mac Pro. I'll give a try as soon as I get home.

Cheers,

Dave

[Technogeezer]

One thing that I saw. The resize operation in Disk Utility may give you an error message that the drive couldn't be resized because it's not journaled. If that happens, just erase the disk containing "Macintosh HD" using the "Erase" button instead of the "Partition" button. At that point, re-format it as "GUID Partition Map", specify the file system type as "OS X Extended (Journaled)", and change it's name to "Macintosh HD" from "Untitled". The entire disk will be used. 

Then exit Disk Utility and perform your restore from Time Machine or installation. 

[dldave]

Thanks for sticking with me on this. Here are the problems I encountered using your suggestions:

1. When I get to the resize step, there is no little circle to  drag to make the disk bigger.

 2. This is what the full disk looks like.

3. This is what happens when I try to erase it.

4. I can erase only the Macintosh HD partition, but then it just ends up with the same small disk. There is no opportunity to make the size bigger.

I don't know what else to try.

Cheers,

Dave

[Technogeezer]

Just to clarify, are you running Disk utility while booted from the El Cap installer, from macOS Recovery or from the installed macOS?  You can not expand the boot disk with Disk Utility when booted from an installed macOS. 

[dldave]

I'm running from a macOS Recovery as far as I can tell. That was in the creation step, and I picked the macOS Recovery from a list.

[Technogeezer]

It looks to me like you're running Disk Utility from an installed macOS, not macOS Recovery.

Restart the VM, and immediately hold the Command-R keys down during the startup and see if the VM boots into macOS Recovery.