Install macOS High Sierra on VMware

user

7 years ago

more complicated than I thought, VMware Workstation patch and difficult to create ISO image.

1. macOS High Sierra 10.13 Beta 3

If you don’t have mac, you need to spend some time to find the source. check out https://betas.cmacapps.com/ to find a suitable one.

Unzip the dmg file by 7zip, InstallESD.img & BaseSystem.dmg located in “macOS High Sierra Beta\Install macOS High Sierra Beta.app\Contents\SharedSupport”

In PowerShell, compare their SHA-1 checksum to https://github.com/notpeter/apple-installer-checksums

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA1 InstallESD.dmg
Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA1 BaseSystem.dmg

1 2	Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA1 InstallESD.dmg Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA1 BaseSystem.dmg

2. convert DMG to ISO

unfortunately dmg2iso does not work, boot up failure. I only find people repack it on Mac OS. At the same time, I don’t like using third party vmdk image. So the work around is using 3rd party image to repack dmg to iso for vmware installation.

2.1 High Sierra vmdk image

follow the instructions and download vmdk from Google drive only. https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-high-sierra-vmware-windows/

next, download the tools to unlock vmware from https://github.com/DrDonk/unlocker. It provides python script to patch, yet unfortunately it does not work well in python3, after converted by 2to3.py, still have modules missing, print sytax and str on buffer API …etc

so just open command prompt with Admin right, then run win-install.cmd & win-update-tools.cmd , it will patch VMWare workstation for appleSMCTable about smc.version = 0 and smc.version = 1

After vmdk file downloaded, follow the installation instruction from the link above.

2.2 Bootable ISO image

After installation completed, upload InstallESD.img & BaseSystem.dmg to macOS vm. I had upload the whole SharedSupport folder.

Run the following script to create ISO file

#!/bin/bash
## Create bootable ISO from HighSierra 10.13db3 (17A306f)

# Generate a BaseSystem.dmg with High Sierra Beta Installer Packages
hdiutil attach ~/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/highsierra
hdiutil create -o /tmp/HighSierraBase.cdr -size 7316m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
hdiutil attach /tmp/HighSierraBase.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
asr restore -source ~/SharedSupport/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/install_build -noprompt -noverify -erase
cp -R /Volumes/highsierra/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation
hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/
hdiutil detach /Volumes/highsierra/
mv /tmp/HighSierraBase.cdr.dmg /tmp/BaseSystem.dmg

# Restore the High Sierra Beta Installer's BaseSystem.dmg into file system and place custom BaseSystem.dmg into the root
hdiutil create -o /tmp/HighSierra.cdr -size 8965m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
hdiutil attach /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
asr restore -source ~/SharedSupport/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/install_build -noprompt -noverify -erase
cp /tmp/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System
rm /tmp/BaseSystem.dmg

hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/
hdiutil convert /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o /tmp/HighSierra.iso
mv /tmp/HighSierra.iso.cdr ~/HighSierraPublicBeta3.iso
rm /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg

#!/bin/bash

## Create bootable ISO from HighSierra 10.13db3 (17A306f)

# Generate a BaseSystem.dmg with High Sierra Beta Installer Packages

hdiutil attach ~/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/highsierra

hdiutil create -o /tmp/HighSierraBase.cdr -size 7316m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J

hdiutil attach /tmp/HighSierraBase.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

asr restore -source ~/SharedSupport/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/install_build -noprompt -noverify -erase

cp -R /Volumes/highsierra/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation

hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/

hdiutil detach /Volumes/highsierra/

mv /tmp/HighSierraBase.cdr.dmg /tmp/BaseSystem.dmg

# Restore the High Sierra Beta Installer's BaseSystem.dmg into file system and place custom BaseSystem.dmg into the root

hdiutil create -o /tmp/HighSierra.cdr -size 8965m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J

hdiutil attach /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

asr restore -source ~/SharedSupport/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/install_build -noprompt -noverify -erase

cp /tmp/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System

rm /tmp/BaseSystem.dmg

hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/

hdiutil convert /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o /tmp/HighSierra.iso

mv /tmp/HighSierra.iso.cdr ~/HighSierraPublicBeta3.iso

rm /tmp/HighSierra.cdr.dmg

3. Configure another new VM

Just ordinary VM creation. After finish config, don’t start vm yet. edit the vmx file,
add smc.version = "0" to the file. Then now start the VM.

select the ISO file created in step 2.2 as CD/DVD in virtual machine setting.

Once boot up, open Disk Utility, Erase the hard disk, format as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)“. Although High Sierra has new APFS, I am unsure how well it goes with vmware at this stage.

Finally, quit Disk Utility, and select “Reinstall macOS”, and follow the installation prompt.

After installation completed, dismount the CD-rom, and mount the darwin.iso which get from win-update-tools.cmd, to install VM-tools.

4. reference

https://github.com/notpeter/apple-installer-checksums#mac-osx-installers-sha1-checksums
https://github.com/DrDonk/unlocker
https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-high-sierra-vmware-windows/
https://gist.github.com/agentsim/00cc38c693e7d0e1b36a2080870d955b
http://www.wikigain.com/download-macos-high-sierra-free/

https://github.com/notpeter/apple-installer-checksums#mac-osx-installers-sha1-checksums

https://github.com/DrDonk/unlocker

https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-high-sierra-vmware-windows/

https://gist.github.com/agentsim/00cc38c693e7d0e1b36a2080870d955b

http://www.wikigain.com/download-macos-high-sierra-free/