Boot Loop in in macOS Ventura on ESXi 8 Hardware Profile

[Bioshorp]

Hello Community, 

I've installed macOS Ventura on my ESXi 8 with HW Profile from "7U2 and macOS 12" all fine. After installing VMware Tools their told me that I should do a hw-profile upgrade from these machine to hw-profile "8 and macOS 13". I'll do it and it brings me in a boot while like these from the video.

Also I was wondering about the hw-profiles in ESXi 8 like "Windows Server 2025" and some macOS Profiles from the moon? Looks like VMware can show in the future.

We're running this on a Apple Server with Xenon, 192GB RAM, etc. The virtual machines has already the vmxnet3 network apdater.

Can anyone help me with the boot loop?

Cheers, Bio

In case of the vmware.log, I've changes some names and ip-addresses bc of privacy things.

[scorn242]

Hi. That's a classic sign of kernel panic in the macOS guest. I've been seeing that alot since Ventura came out. Talking with others in late November there is some talk of Apple not allowing their OS to run on older CPUs. Others say it's been pretty hit or miss for success running Ventura on ESXi 8.

I have a question for you. Exactly how did you get your copy of Venutra to work on ESXi 8? I have successfully been able to run macOS up to 12 however I get the boot loop for macOS 13.0.1 abd 13.1.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

[Bioshorp]

Hi, 

You can go with Ventura on ESXi8 with the hardware profile "ESXi 7 and macOS 12" before you are creating an virtual machine. After that the setup from macOS Ventura will comes up correctly. You can checkout the picture below what you have to too choosing during the vm creation. 

The virtual machine is running smooth and fine but just not with the newst hw profile. When I upgrade the hw profile to ESXi8 and macOS 13 .. the kernel panic begins and idk why. 

[scorn242]

Could you hear the forehead slap where you are? I can't belive it was that easy. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

The HW abstaction layer obviously is driving the problem but how is not in my pay grade.

It work in the latest Workstation but if i migrate it up to ESXi 8 it goes into panick. I've tried multiple attempts to get around it but none have worked so far.

Sorry about that.

[scorn242]

I thought it might be too good to be true:

[MirandaESXI · Accepted solution]

Solution:

After changing ESX HardwareProfile to 8 (virtualHW.version = "20") you must remove the Line chipset.motherboardLayout = "acpi" < bevor start.

After change to HW8 and start - it is dificult to beome working Machine

[scorn242]

Hi. Thank you for sharing.

This sounds like a contrdictory statement. The first line is a solution. The second line seems to indicate that after the change is may still not start?

Just curious.

Thanks!

[scorn242]

Using the latest ESXi 8 (patched), a 13.1 ISO and the edits to the .vmx file you mentioned the result is still the same at the end of the install routine.

THank you for sharing either way.

[mozzie]

Same for me, any solutions?

[LV6]

Update ESXi to the latest version ESXi-8.0U1a-21813344. When Install Ventura select Compatibility ESXi 7.0U2 and Guest OS Apple MAC OS 12, it should work.

[scorn242]

"Should work"? Did it for you?

[alexmedvedev]

This "It works in the latest Workstation but if I migrate it up to ESXi 8 it goes into panic. I've tried multiple attempts to get around it but none have worked so far." seems to be a problem. 

I uploaded a macOS iso file to the ESXi storage, (which seems like a waste of space and time, but oh well), and then used it as an installation source for the macOS VM, and only then it started to work.

Migrating macOS, created on the PC using Workstation is usually resolved into the macOS VM going into the panic, at least on more than three occasions, so I would think I recreated the issue reliably. 

[scorn242]

Which version of macOS was the ISO?

[LV6]

I don't quite remember the exact version of the Mac Ventura.  I did update Ventura to the latest 13.4, and the VM was able to boot up successfully.  However, The Mac VM GUI is running very sluggish on ESXi 8 (with the latest VMware tool installed).  After using it for a few days, I decide to switch back to ESXi 7U3.

I just wonder what version of ESXi unlocker you are using. There are quite a few different versions out there from different developers.  The one I use can be found here on Github: https://github.com/erickdimalanta/esxi-unlocker/.  If you are using the same unlocker, you can try to run the unlocker again.  If you just reasonly, update to ESXi 8, you definitely need to run the unlocker again.

[scorn242]

Thank you for the reply. I do find this dialgoue very helpful.

What did you pick for:

• hardware profile
• compatability version

Did you edit the .vmx file prior to power up the VM?

I am using ESXi version 8.0.U1a.21813344, Ventura version 13.1.1 and patched with VM Unlocker version 3.0.1 if interestred.

Is it important to save the ISO file to a local ESXi datastore or can one use a SMB share?

I ask all of this for 1 reason. I have read that starting with Ventura, Apple has forced the installer to look for Apple approved CPU identifiers and purportedly stops successful installs if that criteria is not met during the install routine.

Thank you again for the feedback.

[LV6]

I have just set up a test environment to see how I get MAC OS Ventura running on ESXi 8.

Below are the spec I used in my environment:

1) ESXi version ESXi-8.0U1a-21813344-standard 

2) Ventura ISO version 13.2.1

3) Unlocker 3.0.1 

4) Guest OS compatibility ESXi 7.0 U2 virtual machine

5) Guest OS family MAC OS

6) Guest OS version Mac OS 12 64 bits

7) No modification on the vmx file

😎 MAC OS VM is provision with 32GB RAM and 12 CPU cores

ESXI host cannot use SMB folder share so I upload the ISO to ESXi datastore.

I hope this help.

[LV6]

Hi scorn242,

I got the email related to your question about hardware compatibility.  If your host using Intel CPU, I think it is fine.  If you cannot boot up your Mac VM, the only thing I can think of is the unlocker did not successfully run.  Have you double check if the unlocker completed successfully?

[scorn242]

Hi,

I did run esxi-smctest.sh and it proved out that it was installed correctly. I even tried the old trick of using efi64-apfs.rom and editing the .vmx file but als no joy there either.

I think I have to squash this thread as I was sent a note by an admin of this forum that my replies are being deleted as running macOS on non-Mac h/w is a breach of the Apple EULA.

My hopes of a creative solution will most likely have to go unmet as a result.

I wanted to thank you again for the engagement.

All the best and enjoy your summer. 🙂

[mozzie]

Have you tried to upgrade to 13.3 or 13.4? I just tried and now stuck at apple logo. 13.2 is OK.

[alexmedvedev]

Same here, did not ventured further than macOS Ventura version 13.2.1.
I have a few old Macs where I managed to install macOS 13.4.(1) with OpenCore Legacy Patcher, but that's about it.

It also looks like vSphere ESXi 7.0.x will be the final release supporting Apple Mac platforms, according to VMWare themselves, so I would not hold my breath and waste more of my time trying to make it work.

Cheers, Alex.