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VMware is the global leader in virtualization software, providing desktop and server virtualization products for virtual infrastructure solutions. If you are using a Linux-based pc or Mac OS X and want to manage a vSphere-environment then you might ask yourself the question if there is a native OS-version of the vSphere.
For the past 6 years, the Apple Mac Mini has been one of the most popular hardware platforms for Virtualizing MacOS running on VMware vSphere enabling our customers to develop and build iOS and MacOS applications. With that said, VMware has historically only supported two Apple hardware platforms: Xserve (now EOL’d) and the Mac Pro (6,1) which is officially listed on VMware’s Hardware Compatibility list and this has been officially supported by VMware since 2012 when we first introduced support for MacOS Virtualization with the vSphere 5.0 release.
As many of you know, I have been a huge advocate of this platform for a number of years now and I have been working with various Engineers over the years to ensure that we have the exact same user experience when working with ESXi on the Mac Mini as you do with the Mac Pro. I still recall in the early days where it took several “hacks” to get ESXi to successfully boot and install.
Today, ESXi installs on the Mac Mini just like any other x86 platform. It runs amazing well for our customers, especially for a consumer device, who have deployed them in their data centers ranging from a couple hundred to several thousands for some of our larger Enterprise customers, one such example is MacStadium, the largest Apple Infrastructure-as-a-service provider which many of the Fortune 100/500 companies are leveraging to provide them with a platform to build and develop for the Apple eco-system.
However, one request that we frequently hear from our customers is when can VMware officially support the Mac Mini and have it listed on the HCL? Today, I am happy to announce that the Apple Mac Mini 6,2 (Late 2012) and the Apple Mac Mini 7,1 (Late 2014) is now officially supported by VMware and has been listed on the VMware HCL for latest release of ESXi 6.7 Update 2! One important thing to note is that the Apple Mac Mini is not an Enterprise-class hardware platform and as such, the hardware may be less reliable than what you are normally used to. To ensure customers have the best possible support experience, VMware has published KB71142 which customers should review prior to calling VMware Support.
I hope this welcome news clearly demonstrates VMware’s continued commitment and support to all of our existing and future customers who have a need to virtualize Apple MacOS and vSphere is definitely the platform to run this and any other workload on!
Note: I know many of you have been anxiously waiting for ESXi to be fully functional on the latest Apple Mac Mini (2018), unfortunately I do not have any news to share with you on that front. Without help from Apple, we are still challenged with Apple’s new T2 chip, which prevents us from accessing the underlying NVMe device, the SMC to enable MacOS Guest to boot along with other I/O devices such as the Thunderbolt 3 ports which also prevents access to external storage.
UPDATE 18/10/16: Changed to support 10.12
For one reason or another you need macOS on ESXi tells you that it isn't possible unless your host is a Mac itself. That isn't particularly true...
The ESXi Unlocker
Thanks to Donk over at InsanelyMac, a patch has been created to install macOS on ESXi (5.5 only) but also supports Workstation (8, 9, 10), Player (4, 5, 6) and Fusion (4, 5, 6). Have a look at it here or try out version 2 which supports Workstation 11, Player 7 Fusion 7 and ESXi 6.
Disclaimer: The following process potentially violates Apple’s End User License Agreement for macOS. Please check the Agreement before following these steps.
Setup
Here is my current setup and what I have:
- Whitebox ESXi host
- macOS Sierra 10.12 (but any will work) - NOTE: lags heaps but can be slightly tolerable with the beamoff application.
Install the Unlocker Patch
For this, I used the Windows vSphere client instead of the web client
1. Connect directly to your ESXi host instead of vCenter
2. Unzip the unlock-all-v130.zip file
3. Open a datastore (Configuration > Hardware > Storage) by right-clicking it and selecting 'Browse Datastore...'
4. Copy the 'esxi' folder to the datastore by selecting 'Upload Folder' making note of the warning of replacing any existing folders you may have with the same name
Vsphere Client For Mac Os
5. Enable and connect to SSH on the host (Configuration > Software > Security Profile > Services > Properties > SSH > Options > Start > OK)
6. Change directory over to your VMFS datastore
7. I recommend changing the name of the unlocker's folder to something else such as osx_unlocker
![Vmware vsphere client linux Vmware vsphere client linux](/uploads/1/1/8/7/118794761/785097654.png)
8. Go into the unlocker folder afterwards
9. Make the install and uninstall file executable
Vmware For Mac Os Catalina
10. Run the install script file
11. Reboot your ESXi host
Create the ISO image
If you have 10.9 or greater, you will need a Mac to create the ISO.
If you have a Mac or using 10.9 and greater
For macOS or OS X 10.6 to 10.12, you can use this Mac only script to create the ISO if the InstallESD.img or Install.app is in the Applications folder: https://gist.github.com/calvinbui/3cc1594d85583077a88d6d60eac01aa8
Windows/Linux
Only supports 10.8 and below.
- Download OS X installation however you wish. Apple provide it free on their Mac App Store such as this: Yosemite Installation
- Browse the 'Install OS X.app' and extract the InstallESD.dmg file under /Contents/SharedSupport/
- Follow one of the options below depending on your operating system:
Windows - Convert the DMG file to an ISO using dmg2img. I used version 1.65.
Linux (Ubuntu) - Convert the DMG to ISO also using dmg2img (sudoapt-get install dmg2img)
Create the Virtual Machine and Install
Make sure to select Apple Mac OS X as your Guest Operating System.
Power on the VM and mount the ISO image to install.
If you get the error 'darwin11_64guest is not supported', try starting the VM directly from the host instead of vCenter.