How to Run OpenSolaris in VMware Fusion for Mac

If you are new to OpenSolaris and want to try it out using VMware Fusion, this guide will demonstrate the installation steps in detail allowing you to use OpenSolaris.

Before You Begin

To complete this procedure, you need:

A copy of OpenSolaris 2009.6 on a disc or as an ISO image
VMware Fusion 2 or higher
1.5GB of ram is strongly suggested, with 1GB being the bare minimal
3.6GB of free hard disk space is the bare minimal necessary for this guide
A broadband internet connection is recommended

Steps

1. Find the VMware Fusion icon in Applications and open the program by double clicking the icon.

2. You are presented with an inventory of other guests that may exist. In our case, it detects the presence of an actual Boot Camp partition, which does not affect our ability to use Fusion for other operating systems, such as OpenSolaris. Click on the new button located on the lower left of the inventory to start the guest wizard.

3. Since OpenSolaris is not yet officially supported by VMware, it does not detect the disc correctly. Do not fret, you may click the "Continue Without Disc" button to skip to the next step.

4. Here you can let it use the built-in DVD-ROM drive or have it use an ISO image (Disk Image). If you've already burned the ISO image or acquired a copy from Sun, you can leave it on the top option, which in our case shows the vendor and model of the MacBook Pro's drive.

5. If you opt to use a downloaded ISO in place of a burned CD, simply click the round radio button where it will come up with a standard file selection dialog. Locate your ISO image and click chose to use it. Now click continue to go on to the next step.

6. Select Sun Solaris on the OS drop-down menu and Solaris 10 as the version at this screen and press Continue.

7. It is advised you customize immediately after creation by clicking on "Customize Settings" and unselect the "Always use this machine when VMware Fusion starts" checkbox.

8. Once you've clicked "Customize Settings" save as "OpenSolaris" or something memorable. This file, is actually located in Documents/Virtual Machines as OpenSolaris.vmwarevm if you need to reference it later. (The extension signifies this is a Mac bundle, or rather a regular folder as far as other operating systems are concerned, but is hidden by default because it associates the icon and other resource files for visual purposes.)

9. This is where you can configure your guest; it looks nearly identical to System Preferences.

10. Under Network, you can choose to have the guest use NAT (Default), Host-Only (Not advised), or Bridged (Recommended for Network Server and LAN setups) mode. You can get back to the main preferences by clicking the "Show All" button on the toolbar.

11. Under Processors & RAM, you will need to change the memory allocation from 580MB to 768MB so the OpenSolaris installation will work correctly. If you'd like to allocate another CPU to the guest, you are free to do so, bearing in mind the performance implications, especially on multitasking outside of the guest when it is running.

12. Under Hard Disks, give the guest at least 8GB and preferably 16GB of space, making sure to check the "Split into 2 files" box if you intend to share using a FAT(32) formatted external disk or via an SMB/CIFS share.

13. USB is not enabled by default, but is available if you need it. Navigate to USB and click "Add USB Controller" to do this.

14. Now you have USB support, but depending on your needs you may want to uncheck the "Automatically Connect USB 2.0 devices" box so Mac OS X does not fight with OpenSolaris for control over your USB devices. You may now simply close the preferences window.

15. Now that we're done configuring the guest, you may start it with the green arrow button next to its name.

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How to Run OpenSolaris in VMware Fusion for Mac