Run Mac OS X Lion 10.7 in a Virtual Machine on Top of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Geek · November 16, 2011

<p>If you don’t want to deal with <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/12/how-to-install-dual-boot-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-and-10-6-snow-leopard/">dual booting between Lion and Snow Leopard</a>, another option is to run Mac OS X Lion in a virtual machine atop an older 10.6 Snow Leopard installation. This is not supposed to work with 10.6 without a <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/07/install-run-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-in-a-virtual-machine-with-vmware/">quirky configuration</a>, but it does, and it’s easy to do. </p>

<p>For the record, this also works in OS X Lion if you want to run a VM of Lion atop Lion for testing purposes or whatever, that is also perfectly acceptable <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/02/mac-os-x-lion-supports-running-additional-os-x-instances-within-a-virtual-machine/">in the EULA</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Requirements:</strong></p>

<ul>

<li>VMWare (<a href="https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=vmware-fusion4&lp=1">free 30 day trial</a>)</li>

<li>Mac OS X Lion installer app (<a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/02/re-download-mac-os-x-lion-from-app-store/">re-download it from the Mac App Store</a>)</li>

</ul>

<p>VirtualBox and Parallels may work also if you’re installing Lion on top of an existing OS X Lion base, but it doesn’t seem to work with Lion on 10.6. </p>

<h2 style="font-size:1.2em;">Installing OS X Lion in a Virtual Machine Over Snow Leopard</h2>

<p>Proceed to install VMWare as usual, and make sure you have the OS X Lion installer .app somewhere that’s easy to access. Everything else is just as straight forward:</p>

<ul>

<li>Launch VMWare and use the Virtual Machine assistant to create a new VM, configure it how you want</li>

<li>At the “Installation Media” section, drag and drop the OS X Lion Install.app into the window, so that “Use operating system disc or image” is checked and the ‘Install Mac OS X Lion.app’ is the media</li>

<li>Click on “Continue” and configure the VM, then boot it so the OS X Lion installer is loaded</li

<li>When Mac OS X Utilities is loaded, select “Reinstall Mac OS X” and click “Continue”, clicking through the familiar Lion installer</li>

</ul>

<p>Don’t expect the virtual machine to perform at nearly the same level as a native installation, but it works if you’re in a pinch for quick testing. If you have a real need to run both Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 for app compatibility, you’d be best served <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/12/how-to-install-dual-boot-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-and-10-6-snow-leopard/">using the dual boot method we mentioned before</a> for performance reasons.</p>

<p>Enjoying the whole virtualization thing? We’ve covered a few more OS’s that you can run atop Mac OS X (or Windows and Linux for that matter), and they’re all free:</p>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/14/install-run-windows-8-in-vmware-mac-os-x/">Run Windows 8 Preview in VMWare</a></li>

<li><a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/15/how-to-install-run-windows-8-in-virtualbox/">Install Windows 8 with VirtualBox</a></li>

<li><a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/04/internet-explorer-for-mac-ie7-ie8-ie-9-free/">Get Internet Explorer for Mac VM’s with Windows 7</a></li>

<li><a href="http://osxdaily.com/2010/12/14/run-android-using-a-virtual-machine-on-a-mac-or-windows-pc/">Run Android OS in VirtualBox</a></li>

</ul>

</div>