How to install Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) in a virtual machine?

[brian_erdelyi]

It appears there will be no DVD version of Mac OS X Lion (10.7).  The software will only be available from Mac App Store.  OS X Server will also be an add-on download.

How will this affect our ability to install Mac OS X Lion in a virtual machine?  There's no DVD so how can we install in a virtual machine?  Even if a DVD existed, will we be able to install 10.7 to later install the server upgrade?  Is the license changing to allow us to install non-server version?

[Mikero]

Apple has not yet announced how this can be handled, so unfortunately you won't get an answer until Apple publicly releases something that we can virtualize.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Similar questions on how you'd install it on a bare-metal machine/drive.  I strongly suspect you'll be able to burn an install DVD yourself.

[itmacos]

Just tried by installing it from a CD and installing it from a partition on the mac drive none worked I keept getting a .vmk error that this file could not be found :S

[dbernier]

You have to download the Lion upgrade from the MAC App store on a MAC that has Snow Leopard installed.  After the download but BEFORE you run the app, you can extract the bootable .dmg then burn it to a DVD.

I have done this and it works.  You can also create a bootble USB drive.

I have not tried the install into a VM though.

[WoodyZ]

Although this is not yet applicable to a VMware Fusion Virtual Machine nonetheless I though others would find it interesting and useful for both the Mac itself and a VMware Fusion Virtual Machine when that time comes.  Have a look at: How to Burn Your Own OS X Lion Install DVD or USB Drive

[martyvmw]

I'm running 3.1.3 on 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and want to install Lion (10.7) as a guest.  Lion is too unstable to use as a host, but I would like to run it as a guest to do some testing.

I followed the suggestions on this site: http://www.r2x2.com/users/lsb/weblog/b41f7/Howto_install_OSX_107_Lion_in_vmware.html

I seem to be stuck, as I can only get it to an EFI boot fail screen (see attached).

Any hints or help?

Thanks,

Marty