ESXi 5 – Run Lion as virtual machine

by | Jul 16, 2012 | ESXi, Lion, Mac, Mac OS X, Virtualisation | 1 comment

Issue: By default, Apple Lion virtual machines can only be run on ESXi which is installed on Apple hardware.

Resolutiuon: Install the ESI Unlocker on ESXi installation.

Method:

  1. With a working ESXi 5 Installation, you will need to download Donk’s Unlocker and move onto datastore on ESXI.
  2. Make a note of where you moved these files by checking Configuration > Storage (Under Hardware) > Select your datastore – the location will be show under Datastore Details – This will be handy when running commands.
  3. Next you will need to enable shell access from the console. I carried out the first option (via the console).
  4. Via console, access the shell – at the main direct console screen, press Alt-F1 to open a virtual console window to the host, enter username and password,
  5. Navigate to location where you moved the unlock files to,
  6.  Run commands as suggested by oegie:
    ###################################
    cp * /tmp
    cd /tmp
    chmod +x ./install.sh
    ./install.sh
    ###################################
  7. Reboot the ESXi system and install Lion!,
UPDATE:
If you get an permission error when attempting to run ./install.sh, then carry out the additional steps (From Tickett’s Blog) – I am not sure which of the two below it was, but one of them worked!
chmod 777 esxi/*
chmod 4555 esxi/*
Links:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=267296&
http://tickett.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/patched-install-sh-for-mac-os-x-unlocker-1-0-2-esxi/ 

 

1 Comment

  1. oliver
    oliver on December 21, 2012 at 9:40 am

    Hi,

    The file is no longer available on the link in the forum thread – any idea where I might be able to get it from?

    Thanks,