First, you need a copy of VMware Fusion 3.1.3 (not tested with version 4) and second, a retail copy of OS X 10.5 Leopard or OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The gist of what follows is that the old operating system can be run in a Virtual Machine which can be run in it’s own dedicated Space or Window. The old programs can be loaded and run as usual.

Here’s how I created a virtual Mac OS X 10.6 or 10.5 “client” machine using VMware Fusion 3.1.3 and my copy of the RETAIL Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Leopard install disk. BTW: I don’t believe these instructions will work for the Grey Restore DVD versions. (These instructions were assembled from posts all over the web & a lot of trial and error).

1. Quit VMware Fusion 3 if running.

2. Apply the darwin patch as follows using Terminal.app (each line below is a separate terminal command):

sudo bash
cd “/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/isoimages”
mkdir original
mv darwin.iso tools-key.pub *.sig original
perl -n -p -e ‘s/ServerVersion.plist/SystemVersion.plist/g’ < original/darwin.iso > darwin.iso
openssl genrsa -out tools-priv.pem 2048
openssl rsa -in tools-priv.pem -pubout -out tools-key.pub
openssl dgst -sha1 -sign tools-priv.pem < darwin.iso > darwin.iso.sig
for A in *.iso ; do openssl dgst -sha1 -sign tools-priv.pem < $A > $A.sig ; done

3. Create a mock Mac OS X Server install disk from a RETAIL Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (or 10.5 Leopard) install disk as follows:

- Insert a RETAIL Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (or 10.5 Leopard) install disk into your optical drive.
- Launch Disk Utility, select the device for your optical drive (note that this is NOT the Mac OS X RETAIL install disk, but rather the device that has mounted it; the device should be named something like “HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N”).
- From Disk Utility’s File menu, choose “New > Disk Image from device” from the File menu, set the image format to “DVD/CD master” and create the disk image.
- Mount the new disk image and turn it into a mock Mac OS X Server install disk with the following command in Terminal:

touch “/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices/ServerVersion.plist”

***UNMOUNT DISK IMAGE***

4. Create a new virtual machine in VMware Fusion 3. I chose Mac OS X Server 10.6 64-bit as the type, but I believe any type will work. Select the disk image from step 3 as the OS disk image.

5. Allow VMware Fusion to create your virtual machine and install Mac OS X Server 10.6 or 10.5 (this is really just your RETAIL version of Mac OS X). After installation completes, the new virtual machine will boot and give you a “guest operating system is not Mac OS X Server” error. Let it shut down and proceed to the next step.

6. Choose (Control-Click/Right-Click) “Show Package Contents” on the virtual machine .vmx file for the machine created in step 4 usually located in your Documents folder, then edit the vmx config file and change the firmware = “efi” line to firmware = “bios” (commenting the line out with “#” will NOT work).

7. Launch VMware Fusion once again and start your virtual machine. You’ll now be prompted by Mac OS X to create your administrator’s account.

Have fun with your new Mac OS X virtual machine!

This has been tested extensively on an OS X 10.7.1 2008 MacBook Pro using VMware Fusion 3.1.3, a 10.5.6 retail DVD and also a 10.6.3 retail DVD. I have also had limited success with 10.4 Tiger Server (no audio, and 1024×768 resolution only).

Good Luck!

-Paul

I will be adding new content to this page asap! It will include Mac & PC tips & tricks, how to’s and other technical geekiness. Besure to tune in!

-Paul

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