Tag Archives: VMWare Fusion

[MacOS] VMWare Fusion 4.1 Allows Installation of Snow Leopard Client and Leopard Client Versions

Fusion 4.1 Allows Mac OS X Client Installations

With the release of Mac OS 10.7 Lion VMWare seem to have decided that all of Apple’s latest operating systems can be virtualized. VMWare Fusion 4.1. (released Nov 17th, 2011) thus allows the installation of all Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and 10.6. Snow Leopard versions; vulgo: the server and client editions.

Voicemail From Infinite Loop

The tiny downside is, VMWare seem to have gotten an urgent call from a fruity garage company in Infinite Loop soon after their release of VMWare Fusion 4.1. That’s why they issued VMWare Fusion 4.1.1 (released Nov 23rd, 2011) almost immediately, thus effectively reverting the capability of virtualizing the Mac OS X client versions.

Fusion 4.1.1 Update Bars Client Installations Again

That means: if you are running VMWare Fusion 4.1, you should consider not to upgrade to 4.1.1. If you have a Mac OS X client version virtualized it would not boot anymore after the update to Fusion 4.1.1. For all the others, VMWare does not distribute version 4.1 anymore, only 4.1.1. So you would have to search the net for download possibilities of VMWare Fusion 4.1. Luckily there are still legal sources for the 4.1 download. Update: the download link distributes version 3.1.1 (sic!) at the moment. You’re on your own finding the 4.1 download on the net (filename: “VMware-Fusion-4.1.0-529802-light.dmg”). Good luck.

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[MacOS] Codeweavers Crossover 8.0 Released

Crossover allows installing Microsoft Windows based software on MacOS X or on Linux. In contrast to virtualization techniques like VMWare or Parallels, Crossover hooks API calls and redirects them to their MacOS or Linux equipollent.

As of version 8.0 these new applications are supported:

  • Quicken 2009
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  • Adobe Photoshop CS2

Crossover also improved Copy and Paste functionality to and from the host operating system and improved integration with the upcoming Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

» Find Crossover’s complete change log here

[MacOS] System Freeze with 10.5.7 and VMware Fusion

Abstract

You are running the latest version of “VMware Fusion” (get trial version here) on an original Apple Mac or on a HackMac. During installation of Windows XP or Vista (32 bit) the system crashs with a kernel panic or a complete freeze.

Workaround

Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5.7 update causes some irritation to the 3D acceleration engine VMware Fusion uses. Before installing Windows disable Accelerate 3D Graphics:

Applies to

macosxhints.com report this bug applies to AMD ATI based graphic adapters only.

However in our lab a HackMac with a Gigabyte nVidia GeForce 7600 GT (using NetkasNatit.kext) also crashed again and again during an installation of a german Windows XP Professional with a complete freeze.

Console.app reports:

  • kernel[0]: vmnet: VNetUserIfFree: freeing userIf at 0x7507300.

The memory position may differ to yours.

[MacOS] VMWare Fusion to virtualize MacOS X

VMWare has announced to support virtualisation of MacOS X Server. Although technically possible also for white box PCs this feature will only be included in the VMWare Fusion 2.0. The amount of virtual machines will only be limited by size of memory. The current beta version of VMWare Fusion 2.0 does not support virtualization of MacOS X yet.