VMware's New Virtualization of Snow Leopard and Leopard Allowed in Error

Over the weekend, we noted that the new VMware Fusion 4.1 release added the ability for users to virtualize Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard client versions. Previous virtualization options had been limited to the client version of OS X Lion and server versions of Lion, Snow Leopard, and Leopard.

VMware now reports in a blog post, however, that the change was an error in a new license verification implementation and that the company is developing an update to properly disallow virtualization of Snow Leopard and Leopard client versions.

VMware Fusion 4.1 was released late last week and includes many great improvements. One change was the introduction of a new license verification step for users to verify they are in compliance with the OS licensing terms.

When the license verification step was added in VMware Fusion 4.1 the server edition check was omitted. We are preparing an update.

VMware has offered no timeframe for the release of the patched version of Fusion 4.1, and it is unclear whether Apple itself has been involved in pushing VMware to fix its error. Apple's official statement on the initial discovery, provided to Macworld, reiterated that client versions of Snow Leopard and Leopard are not included on the list of operating system versions for which virtualization is allowed, but did not directly address VMware's error in license verification in Fusion 4.1.