Getting Solaris 10 working in Parallels
I’ve just been sent the latest version of Solaris 6/06 release) and wanted to get it working in a Parallels virtual machine.
Not everything is plain sailing, but with a combination of past experience and a few quick configuration changes you can get it working fine.
Basic installation
The key to getting the basic installation working fine is to ensure you choose and set the correct options when configuring the disk device. The Solaris Installer will see the virtual disk, but for some reason wont automatically perform the fdisk partition for you. Once you get to the option that shows the disk drives and default partition, make sure you go through the FDISK configuration and create a single partition. This will give Solaris the block device it needs to then create it’s own partition map.
Networking
Once booted up, you’ll need to get the networking driver that comes with the Parallels boot disk installed. Attach the vmtools.iso disk (on Mac OS X this is located in /Library/Parallels/Tools); it should automount in Solaris. Navigate through to the network/Solaris directory and run the network.sh script to install the driver and configure the IP address, netmask and gateway. You’ll need to reboot.
Once rebooted, copy /etc/nsswitch.dns to /etc/nsswitch.conf to enable DNS searches for hosts, and then edit /etc/resolv.conf with your domain name (optional) and nameserver information. For example, mine reads:
domain mcslp.pri
nameserver 192.168.0.22
nameserver 192.168.0.24
X11 configuration
The default X11 configuration will often work fine for the display and keyboard, but the mouse fails to be configured. You need to configure the mouse to use the /dev/kdmouse device and operate as a PS/2, not USB, mouse.
You can do this by hand by editing the /etc/X11/.xorg.conf file, or you can create your own, or you can download this file and copy it into /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
If you want to go through the process yourself, first run kdmconfig and set it to use X.org.
Then run /usr/X11/bin/xorgconfig – you’ll need to go through each step (which involves setting up the mouse, keyboard and display). Select the PS/2 mouse option and give the driver name. Choose an appropriate keyboard layout (I’m using the 102-key international layout and haven’t had any issues yet.
For the display driver, configure a multisync monitor (using huge manual horizontal and vertical refresh values) or using the largest of the options provided, and select VESA as the display adaptor type, setting an appropriate amount of video RAM etc. to get the display depth and size you want.
All set!
That should be everything – you can see a sample of Solaris 10 running in Parallels below.
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[...] I have a few tips on getting Solaris 10 running in a virtual machine within Parallels on an Intel-based Mac OS X box, available through Getting Solaris 10 working in Parallels. [...]
Working with Solaris 10 in Parallels Desktop …
Martin MC Brown recently posted an excellent article on his blog site describing his process of getting Solaris 10 to work in a Parallels virtual machine.
If you are interested in doing the same, this is definitely a good read to get you going. T…
[...] MCslp Coalface blog had a post on Getting Solaris 10 working in Parallels. I tried it and it worked! [...]
HELP: I have an Intel Mac Mini with Wireless keyboard and mouse. I get to the Solaris 1st install screen(asking for language preference, eg English) but I can’t get any mouse movement to focus the keyboard entry to select what language I would like to use.
I have tried CNTRL+ALT to switch mouse, etc with no luck.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Hi Steve,
Sorry for the delay.
The key is not to do a graphical installation, because you’ll run into the mouse problem that will also affect you once the software is installed.
When booting off the CD, select option 4 for the initial boot mode (Solaris Interactive Text (Console session)), which will enable you to install through a console interface, rather than the normal GUI.
An alternative way to force text installation is to initially configure only 256MB of RAM – 400MB is needed for a graphical install.
Hope this helps!
[...] Posted by Graham Perrin on April 21st, 2007 MCslp Coalface » Getting Solaris 10 working in Parallels [...]
Thanks a lot
Installing network drivers from the tools helped a lot