I've read that the EULA now allows to install Mac OS X in a virtual machine, and I'd be interested in doing it. However, since I forgot to back up the Mountain Lion installation program before using it, I'd like to be able to do it from the recovery partition. Apparently, Parallels can do that, so it's probably not impossible from VMware Fusion.
This is what I've tried with VMware Fusion:
- Mount the Recovery HD partition, then find the
BaseSystem.dmgfile on it and assign it as an OS installation disk: the system boots, but it says "This copy of the Install OS X Mountain Lion application is damaged, and can't be used to install OS X" when I try to install it. - Dump the whole Recovery HD partition to a disk image and try to boot from it: does not boot, the Apple logo gets replaced by a Ø symbol.
Considering these two failed attempts, I'm not too sure how I should proceed from here.
How can I install Mountain Lion in a VMware Fusion virtual machine from the recovery partition?
Best Answer
You cannot install OS X Mountain Lion through the Recovery HD to VMWare Fusion. It doesn’t have the necessary files. An OS X Installer Image is required, which you can obtain from within the Install OS X Mountain Lion.app. It’s called Install ESD.dmg, and it worked for me, so it will most likely work for you.