How To Install Mac OS X Mountain Lion Virtual Machine (VMware) inside Windows 7 or Windows 8

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Apple released its latest Mac OS X, Mountain Lion, at the end of July, 2012. That means, “Hackintosh” community has a new kid in town to play around. If you are new to the topic of Hackintosh, then be SURE to check out some of our awesome guide on What is hackintosh? How to build a hackintosh from hardware selection to software installation.

This guide will help you go through step-by-step installation of the latest Mac OS X Mountain Lion.

Requirements:

  • You must have an Intel CPU, if you have an AMD CPU then this will NOT working for you.
  • Check make sure your Intel CPU has virtualization technology and is enabled from your BIOS, find out how click here?
  • At least 4GB of RAM (you can still run with less RAM but you will suffer performance issues)
  • At least 20 GB of Hard Disk space
  • VMware Workstation 8 / Workstation 9, (WMware Player might work as well, for optimal performance Workstation works better)
  • IMPORTANT: Download OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Retail VMware Image (from your favorite place)
  • Optional: VMware Tools for VMware OS X

How To Install Mac OS X Mountain Lion in VMware Workstation on Windows Machine

Step 1

Extract the OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Retail VMware Image.7z file. Once you’ve done that, you will see three folders created at the location you have extracted the file.

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OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion folder contains the Mountain Lion vmdk and vmx file for your VMware.

VMware Unlocker – Hardware Virtualization Bypasser folder is for people who have legacy machines that doesn’t support Intel Virtualization, then this tweak can help you by pass the restriction with VMware. Use this ONLY when you have failed to install and the warning message is on your unsupported Virtualization CPU.

VMware Unlocker – Mac OS X Guest you need this to unlock Mac OS X Operating System in VMware Workstation. It should includes support for VMware Workstation 7 and 8. If you have Workstation 9 then it would also work, just run the unlocker for WMware Workstation 8 and you should be good to go.

Step 2, Run VMware Workstation Unlocker

Navigate into the VMware Unlocker – Mac OS X Guest  folder > VMware 8.x Series > VMware Workstation Unlocker – Windows

Run install.cmd. Alternatively you can also try to use this VMware Unlocker if it has failed on you.

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After you have successfully unlocked Mac OS X Operating System. Your VMware Workstation will now recognize Mac as a new OS. Start VMware Workstation, I’m using the newly released Workstation 9 here as an example. Go to File > Open

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Navigate to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. You should be able to see OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.vmx

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Open it.

Step 3, Configure Virtual Machine settings for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

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If you are running VMware Workstation 9. You will see an option to upgrade this virtual machine. You can do that to make this Virtual Machine more compatible with your latest Workstation. Alternatively, you can discard the message. But you want to go to edit virtual machine settings, go to Options tab. Change the version to Mac OS X 10.8 64-bit.

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Step 4, Start up the Virtual Machine

It will ask you if this virtual machine is moved or copied. Just click I copied it.

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Now let the fun part begin. VMware Workstation will now boot your VMDK image, this process might take anywhere between 1 minutes to few minutes. Depends on the system you are trying to install. If you ever run into issues, be sure to check out this guide on how to troubleshoot hackintosh.

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Step 5, Complete Welcome screen and initial setup

Now it should be very straight forward, just keep following the setup wizard and complete the installation.

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Step 6 Optional Install VMware Tools

Once the installation is complete, inside your new Mac. Mount the darwin.iso image. Install the VMware Tools to optimize your system.

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I personally have trouble to get the VMware tools to properly installed under VMware Workstation 9. You might have more luck to try to install on other versions of VMware workstation. That’s it, if you are at this step, congratulations you just got yourself a new Mac running inside a Windows Machine !

If you don’t feel like to be an early adopter, we have an excellent guide on how to install Mac OS X Lion as a virtual machine in your Windows machine, be sure to check that out as well.

78 COMMENTS

  1. is there a way to force it to display the full width of the screen? I’ve tried setting in the VM display settings and in Mountain Lion too and nothing seems to work

  2. I’m having some issues with this.

    Firstly, in Step 3, when you have to change the version to Mac OS X 10.8 64-bit, I do not have that option; instead, I only have Mac OS X 10.7 64-bit.

    Secondly, I do not have hardware virtualization, so I tried to use the VMware Unlocker – Hardware Virtualization Bypasser. I am using VMware Workstation 9, and when I select the vmware-vmx.exe file I get the following error message in the bypasser:

    “0 out of 11 patterns replaced at least once.
    The patch will not work.”

    Any ideas on how to fix these problems?

  3. I tried to patch my vmware with “VMware Unlocker – Hardware Virtualization Bypasser” and my McAfee antivirus flagged as contaminated with a variant of Artemis virus. (Artemis!B6DF12B2434).
    It seems that the “VMware Unlocker – Mac OS X Guest” tool is also infected. I even tried the one you offer in step 2 with the same result.
    Is there a virus free version?

  4. I tried to install the 10.8 retail vmdk under VMWare workstation versions 8.0.1.528992 & 9.0.0.812388 to no effect. Tried the same thing using VMware Player 5.0.0 build 812388 and VMware player 4. I unlocked both VMware Workstation installations as suggested, changed the OS to Mac OSX 10.8 64-bit in the configuration, although shortly after the grey boot screen with the apple appears I receive the message in all VMware Workstation installations:

    A fault has occurred causing a virtual CPU to enter the shutdown state. If this fault had occurred outside of a virtual machine, it would have caused the physical machine to restart. The shutdown state can be reached by incorrectly configuring the virtual machine, a bug in the guest operating system, or a problem in VMware Workstation.

    My mainboard is an Asus P5W DH Deluxe where hyperthreading cannot be switched off from BIOS (it is greyed out as a selection). The CPU is an Intel Core2Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GB with 4GB of RAM under Win7 64 bit.

    I have the dumps as saved by VMware workstation.

    Any help as the VMware image cannot work?

  5. For god’s sake please tell me how do I fix the error: “Mac OS X is not supported with binary translation. To run Mac OS X you need a host on which VMware Workstation supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V.”(I checked my CPU, it says Intel Virtualization Technology is supported)
    And when I try to run the bypasser, it always says that, “0 out of 11 patterns replaced atleast once. This patch may not work”

  6. Does it require Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
    to work? Which of these processors will it work on :Intel® Core™ i7-3612QM or Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 3610QM

  7. After booting up for the first time It gets stuck with a white screen and the little rainbow spinny thing. How do I fix this? I tried waiting but nothing ever happens.

  8. DID IT WORKED ON WORKSTATION BUILD VERSION : 9.0.0 build-812388
    BECAUSE I CAN’T SEE UR UNLOCKER WAS ABLE TO UNLOCK IT.
    1. IN THE STEP WHERE U HAVE MENTIONED “edit virtual machine settings, go to Options tab. Change the version to Mac OS X 10.8 64-bit.”
    2. FOR ME IT’S SHOWING “Mac OS X 10.7 64-bit” AND ALSO UNDER THE GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM NOWHERE IT’S SHOWING MAC OS AS U HAVE SHOWING HERE. ATTACHING THE SCEENSHOT
    ANY HELP APPRECIATED

  9. Has anybody tried using Keynote and more generally iWork 09? Program itselfs installs correctly, keynote opens up but when i select a template i see jsut a blank page and in no way i can add multimedia contents such as images of graphics….

    I performed all the suggested update coming from App Store but still nothig. I guess i need help 🙂

  10. I get a error message when I boot the Mac OS 10.8 – “the CPU has been disabled by the guest operating system. Power off or reset the virtual machine.” what can I do to solve this issue, thank you!

  11. Please tell me how do I fix the error: “Mac OS X is not
    supported with binary translation. To run Mac OS X you need a host on
    which VMware Workstation supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V.”(I checked my
    CPU, it says Intel Virtualization Technology is supported)
    And when I try to run the bypasser, it always says that, “0 out of 11 patterns replaced atleast once. This patch may not work”

    Also I tried the Processor Check for 64-Bit Compatibility and it says my PC is compatible.
    Please help me with this issue >_<

  12. Just a note on VMware Tools: Once I updated my 10.8.0 base image to 10.8.2 (using the App Store), I was able to mount and install the darwin.iso (VMware Tools) without error! With the base release it had failed to install.

  13. VMWare tools issue where it crashes registering components seems to be related to disk permissions. Head over to disk utility > first aid and repair disk permissions, this should fix the problem.

  14. Mac OS X is not supported with binary translation. To run Mac OS X you need a host on which VMware Workstation supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V.

    tutorial for amd pcs please

  15. about the first requirement, if you have an AMD CPU then this will NOT working for you.
    are you sure about this? Oh, no. or is there has other solution for AMD CPU? Thanks a lot.

  16. Mac OS X is not supported with binary translation. To run Mac OS X you need a host on which VMware Workstation supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V.

      • I have been trying to get the custom VGA VMware Workstation driver that enables graphic acceleration to install but it will not apply itself. I am thinking it may just be too old which sucks. I wanted to start programming in Xcode without buying a Macbook I don’t have the cash; I am a very poor college student. Had my parents buy me an XPS i7, 16GB RAM system for my graphics and C++/Java work :/. Pretty sure the moment I hit interface work I am going to be in trouble due to the fact Apple uses OpenGL for all of their stuff. Do you know of any way to get this: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/188962-vmware-svga-ii-display-driver-for-os-x-v125/ or something like it to install correctly? If not, thanks for the work you have put into this. It runs almost flawlessly. Incredible job.

  17. Mac OS X is not supported with binary translation. To run Mac OS X you need a host on which VMware Player supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V.

    what to do?

  18. Hi Jonathan,

    I’m getting following message. I’ve double checked the step you mentioned.

    Mac OS X is not supported with binary translation. To run Mac OS X you need a host on which VMware Workstation supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V.

    My laptop model is Acer Aspire 5738 having Intel core 2 duo T6400 processor. Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks.

  19. Cannot get the option of 10.8 64-bit from the Unlocker, only 10.7. Do I just need a newer version of it? I tried several, including one from your link.

  20. Everything worked fine, but I am stuck in step 6. How can I mount Darwin.iso? When I try to Install VMware tools I got this message “Could not find component on update server. Contact VMware Support or your system administrator.” Please help me.

  21. hey i tried installing mac os in vmware using this method ,VM boots currectly with apple logo on starting but stucks on revolving ball with umbrella like colors on it as in images shown below pls hlp.

  22. i installed the mac os x using this method in vmware workstation 10 it boots properly but stops there after as shown in below images booting stops at blank screen with a ball with umbrella like colors on it.pls hlp

  23. Is it anyone try to update on OS X Mavericks fomr VMWare, will it work? I just installed on Toshiba S75-7222, Windows 8.1, just I needed to uninstall Hyper-V and install VMWare 9.0.2, installation is goes well, Mac OS X 10.8.5 is up and running, now from app store I have ability to install latest version Mavericks, will it work?

  24. Hi… Thanks for your post. I followed the instructions and it seems to work fine until the “welcome” screen of Mac OS. My mouse does not move, it gets stuck in a corner… I tried with the trackpad and with a usb mouse and it does not work. I tried to install tolos too but it says: “Could not find component on update server”. Do you know what should i do?

  25. I am stucked on Step 4, Start up the Virtual Machine I am able to see the Apple logo but it stucks there and nothing else is shown. Could you please suggest me what should I do ?

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