Running 10.7 Lion as guest

Parallels 6 Desktop for Mac on Lion

Here is one more person who want to be beta tester.

I tried to run the Parallels 6 Desktop for Mac on Lion but it doesn't work so far.

I want to get Parallels any versions even beta can use on Lion. ;)
 
Last edited:
I'm also interested to get Lion running as guest. If there's any chance - also as beta tester - please count me in.
 
I am afraid it is impossible because Apple forbids to virtualize non-server operating systems. You may install Mac OS X Server virtual machines only.
 
Install Lion Server

> Apple forbids to virtualize non-server operating systems

Then I should be able to legally install Lion Server??

Mike
 
Actually, with Lion, it's not that cut and dried...

http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/

Simply a better server.
Lion Server is now part of Mac OS X Lion. It’s easy to set up your Mac as a server and take advantage of the many services Lion Server has to offer. Here are just a few of the new features that make server deployment faster, easier, and more powerful than ever.
 
It can't be done right now

I've spent a few hours attempting it and I don't think it's possible with Parallels 6.0.12090 and Developers' Release 4 of Lion Server.

Lion requires a 64-bit CPU. I.e., a Core 2 Duo, an i3, an i5, or an i7. When I start Snow Leopard Server as a guest OS, About This Mac says that the processor type is unknown. I suspect that this prevents Lion Server from running.

My methodology:
1. Boot into Snow Leopard Server.
2. Attach an external HDD partitioned with GPT with an empty HFS+ partition on it.
3. Download Lion and its server components from the App store using the codes from the Mac Developer Program.
4. Run the OS installer, choosing the partition from step 2 as the target.
5. It'll do some stuff, make you reboot, install, make you set up, etc. until it's ready to log in to Lion Server.
6. Log in and set the boot partition to the internal HDD, then reboot to get back into Snow Leopard Server.
7. Use Disk Utility to create a .dmg copy of the partition from step 2. I called it lion.dmg. (This step and much of the following is necessary because Parallels doesn't support OS X Server as a guest OS nearly as well as it supports Windows.)
8. Use "asr --nostream --source lion.dmg" to prep the file for restoring. Wait for this to finish.
9. Place lion.dmg in a folder accessible via network file sharing.
10. Use Finder to copy an existing Snow Leopard Server guest VM to create a Lion Server guest VM.
11. Start Parallels and add this new VM, renaming it.
12. Open this new VM without starting it.
13. Add a new HDD, creating a 64 GB expanding disk. (I don't think the details are important but it should be a new disk.)
14. Start the virtual machine. It should come up into Snow Leopard Server without issue.
15. In the guest OS, use Finder to gain access to lion.dmg. This will likely require network sharing.
16. Use Disk Utility.app to restore lion.dmg to the new disk.
17. Shut down the guest OS.
18. Remove HDD 2 from the configuration, keeping the files.
19. Tell HDD 1 to use the image from step 13, the image that used to be HDD 2. At this point, we *should* have a fully functional VM with Lion Server installed.
20. Start the VM and watch as it continually reboots with the following message:

The virtual machine Quux was restarted.

The virtual machine processor was reset by the operating system.

I've tried a variation, such as keeping both HDDs attached and telling the VM to boot off the Lion Server one but I get the same result.
 
hopefully.

hopefully we will be able to continue running it in lion. most app developers keep their app running in the latest OS but parallels has shown they like to not give previous users a deal on the upgrade. I think I own two copies of PD5 because it was cheaper to buy PD5 again than to upgrade to PD6 straight up. We'll See...
 
No answer

Parallels has been particularly quiet about this. I am an Apple Developer and was trying to test upgrading my Mac OS X Server 10.6.8 VM to 10.7 Server but it doesn't work at all. I opened a trouble ticket and haven't heard anything in response.

I'm not part of the Parallels beta team, so I have no idea if they are working on a new release that supports 10.7 server VMs. However, no one seems to be saying anything.
 
Lion has been released to the public.

So Lion is out, but I cannot get Parallels to virtualize a copy of it yet. Since the EULA seems to have changed and Apple now allows running Lion as a guest, when can we expect Paralells to support this? Having a sandbox Lion environment is one of the main reasons that I upgraded to Lion AND one of the main reasons that I use/purchased Paralells.

Thanks,
J
 
I too am a developer looking to run Lion as a guest OS on a Snow Leopard host. If VMWare Fusion supports this first, I will be switching over to Fusion. I hope Parallels can address this *very* soon!
 
Help!!!

Parallels will not work with lion!!!
It don't show the window!!!

I need it. IT IS SO IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!
Must leave Parallels if it won't be fixed in the next days!!!
 
I to am very interested in running a virtualized copy of Lion to mess around with and test new apps. It would be handy to have a sandboxed copy of Lion running within Lion to hack and not potentially destroy my everyday host install of Lion. It's cool the things you can learn when there's no fear of destroying something.

Has anyone heard back from Parallels at all on this yet? It looks like other VMs are working on support.

With over 10,000 views on this topic, I'm guessing this feature will be very popular if implemented. I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to implement since 10.5 and 10.6 server is already supported. Isn't it just a matter of allowing both the Lion client and server install image ('InstallESD.dmg' hidden inside the App Store downloaded 'Install Mac OS X.app') to boot without complaint?
 
Last edited:
I've tried upgrading my existing 10.6 Server VM. It downloaded the relevant files from the App store, said it was ready to reboot to do the install, but when it did, it came back to the standard SL boot. Has anyone progressed beyond that?

Cheers,

Joel
 
If you have been following their Twitter feed I got a response when I asked about running Lion as guest OS. with Desktop for Mac 6

@sportyitguy Our engineers are working to bring that to life. We'll certainly keep you in the loop once we have more info!

Excellent news.
 
Back
Top