Fusion 11.5 hosting MacOS 11.5 Server Won't Load CD

[Suhler]

For various reasons I have the following configuration

Host OS: MacOS 11.13.6

VMware: Fusion 11.5.0 (trial)

Guest OS: MacOS 11.5 Leopard Server

When I plug in an Apple USB Superdrive, Fusion asks whether it should attach to the host or VM; I say VM.

I attempt to insert a CD, but its presence is not detected and the CD isn't pulled in.

Suggestions on getting the CD to load in the guest OS?

Thanks.

[wila]

Hi,

Please check that the virtual USB controller is set as USB 2 and not USB 3.1.

--
Wil

[Suhler]

Hi, Wil.

The system profiler shows the SuperDrive on USB High-Speed Bus, which is USB 2.0, correct? And the Fusion Virtual Machine's USB & Bluetooth Settings panel agrees with that; it shows USB Compatibility with USB 2.0 selected and not changeable. So, that doesn’t seem to be the problem.

Other suggestions?

Is there a log that might show what happens when I try to insert the CD?

Thanks,

Paul

[wila]

Hi,

Suhler said:
"And the Fusion Virtual Machine's USB & Bluetooth Settings panel agrees with that; it shows USB Compatibility with USB 2.0 selected and not changeable"

You can only change these settings when the VM is shut down. But if it says "USB 2.0" there then you should be fine.
OS X 10.5 doesn't support USB 3.x, just wanted to make sure that it wasn't selected.

Do you have other VMs?
If so does the USB passthrough work down there?

Asking as there's a number of people reporting issues with USB passthrough not working. If that's the case then it is not your VM misbehaving, but a VMware Fusion configuration issue.

--
Wil

[Suhler]

Hi again, Wil.

Nope, no other VMs running, so I can't cross-check.

For what it's worth, the feeling when I attempt to insert the CD is identical to when I attempt to insert when the SuperDrive is powered down (not plugged into USB).

Perhaps someone else will know.

Thanks,

Paul

[wila]

Hi Paul,

I don't give up that easily. 🙂

When you installed Fusion did you get a kernel extension confirmation prompt from High Sierra?

Can you check:

Open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy find and click the "Allow" button. After that, re-open Fusion 11 and give it a try.

Btw, you list that you are using VMware Fusion 11.5.0 trial.
Is there any reason you didn't install the latest Fusion 11.5.7?
Fusion 11.5.7 download

--
Wil

[Suhler]

Hi, Wil.

Not sure what you mean about the "Allow" button. Security & Privacy / General has "Allow apps downloaded from ..." and two radio buttons. I believe I had to take some action to allow Fusion when I installed it, but I may be missing the point of your question.

Why not 11.5.7? Now I can't find it in my notes, but I think it was that Fusion 11.5 was the latest that would run MacOS 10.5 Leopard Server as a guest. I didn't try Fusion 11.5.7.

Paul

[dempson]

I don't have that particular drive to test with my Leopard Server VM, but having worked with it before, it doesn't surprise me if it won't work on a macOS VM.

The kernel driver for the Apple USB SuperDrive has a Mac model check, based on the model identifier: it only allows the drive to be used if your Mac is a model known to have no built-in optical drive. The model list grew in later macOS versions as more models were added to that category, but in Leopard and slightly later versions, it is limited to the MacBook Air and certain Mac Minis which had Server configurations with no optical drive.

The VM's model identifier doesn't match the list of supported models, so your Leopard guest is ignoring the drive, even if it appears as a USB peripheral in the guest.

This can be fixed by patching the kernel extension in the guest to change the list of supported models.

My solution many years ago was to avoid Apple's USB SuperDrive and buy a third party drive instead.

[Suhler]

Thanks, Dempson. That sounds like it matches the symptoms.

Where is the kernel extension and how do I patch it? If it takes anything more than an ASCII editor then I'm probably out of luck.

Regards,

Paul

[dempson]

I found an old Mac OS X Hints article which explained the problem in detail.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20111107064435227

The patch requires a hex editor (not ASCII) as you would need to modify a string inside a binary file, but Hex Fiend linked from the article still exists, is the one I used for hex editing, and is is similar enough to applications like TextEdit that it isn't hard to use.

You would need to use System Profiler (About This Mac > More Info) in your guest to find your Model Identifier. Mine (VMWare Fusion 11.5.7) says "VMware7,1" but that might vary depending on details like the VMware Fusion application version, VM hardware version, etc.

[wila]

Fusion 11.5.7 should run Leopard Server as well.

At least it is still in the drop down list.

The "Allow" button might only show up during install. If you haven't had to click it.. then that might be an indication of what's wrong.

See also: https://planetvm.net/blog/?p=3240 for a more elaborate explanation.

--
Wil

[Suhler]

Well, I've learned that the newest Fusion that will install under MacOS 10.13.6 is Fusion 11.5.3; all later installers show a circle-with-slash over the icon.

The Apple SuperDrive is still dead.

For what it's worth, I only saw the question about the extension the very first time I installed Fusion, perhaps Fusion Player 12, the first attempt. Deleting the Fusion application and the Virtual Machines folder, emptying trash, and restarting still does not show the extension question when I next install.

I see two paths forward: (i) reinstall the host MacOS 1.13.6 from scratch, then Fusion and then the guest OS; or (ii) Get HexEdit or somesuch and try the fix that Dempson found.

Thanks, all.

[wila]

Hi,

If you allowed the kernel extension that one time, it probably is sufficient for the subsequent installs too.

The ways forward that you suggest are addressing different issues.
First you'll need to make sure that USB passthrough works.

If you can connect any USB device to your guest OS, then that question has been answered.

Eg. if you have a usb stick or something like that and you can pass it to the guest OS then that part is fine.

If you can't get any USB device to work in the guest OS then you don't need to go and tweak any driver, because the driver will never see the superdrive in the first place.

--
Wil

[Suhler]

Hi, Wil.

Well, passthrough has been working. I just mounted and opened a thumb drive.

So this is now triaged down to trying the hack (http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20111107064435227) to enable the SuperDrive.

Thanks,

Paul

[Suhler]

But! MaxOS 10.5 Leopard server does not contain AppleUSBODD.kext.

Try something else tomorrow.

[dempson]

---

@Suhler wrote:

But! MaxOS 10.5 Leopard server does not contain AppleUSBODD.kext.

---

My Leopard Server VM does (10.5.8 with all security updates). Read the hints article again: you missed the first three steps in the bulleted list.

AppleUSBODD.kext is a plugin inside AppleStorageDrivers.kext

Looking inside mine with Hex Fiend I see the section which lists the supported Mac model identifiers just after offset 02338 (hex). From that offset are the strings "Supported Mac Models", "The MacBook Air SuperDrive is not supported on this Mac.", "APPLM821,1", "MacBookAir1,1", "MacBookAir2,1", "Macmini3,1" and "MacMini3,1".

The last four are the supported model identifiers. (The last one is peculiar - every Intel Mac Mini I've looked at has a model identifier starting with "Macmini", not "MacMini", and I have two of the 3,1 generation, which is Early 2009 or Late 2009.)

[ColoradoMarmot]

It's been a *long* time, but as I recall, Apple did not allow virtualization of OS versions prior to Snow Leopard, so there's no way to legally get it to work.

10.6.8 Snow Leopard Server is the earliest version that's legal to virtualize (and works) AFAIK.

[dempson]

10.5.x Leopard Server was also allowed to be virtualised, and was officially supported by older versions of VMware Fusion. It kept working in later versions of VMware Fusion with legacy tools - mine is running in VMware Fusion 11.5.7, and I would have created that VM somewhere in Fusion 1.x to 6.x era.

It was hard to get Leopard Server, because Apple only ever sold it at the original rather high price, whereas Snow Leopard Server eventually had a price drop to match the non-server edition, and continued to be available at that price for several years after Snow Leopard was superseded (via a phone call to Apple Sales) until Apple eventually decided to discontinue it.

I managed to get a cheap copy of Leopard Server second hand from a client who was retiring their PowerMac G5 Server.

10.4.x Tiger Server was available for Intel but was never allowed to be virtualised.

[mcoppey]

Hello, I am experiencing the same problem in the same constellation. But I can't edit the file AppleUSBODD on the guest side, since it is a read-only file. And I don't find the Kext Utility version that should work in Leopard 10.5.8... It should be Kext Utility V 2.5.5 or 2.5.6. Or are there other solutions to inform the "guest" that he is on a MacBookPro...