Install Tiger in VMware Fusion

I've got 10.6 running on a 2006 MacBook Pro. I want to run some older software that was meant for 10.4 and earlier, so I figured I'd install Tiger in VMware Fusion, but it isn't working. Any idea how I'd go about it?

What I've tried:
When creating a new VM, there's no option for Tiger. It only offers 10.5 server and 10.6 server. I tried using the 10.5 server option with a Tiger disk image, but with no luck: gives me this error:

Mac OS X is not supported with software virtualization.
To run Mac OS X you need a host on which VMware Fusion supports hardware virtualization.

Any thoughts?

Solution 1:

This article references VMware Workstation 6 as being able to run OS X with some hacks, but it's slow. But more importantly, that article runs down what I thought was the only known solution to running OS X in a VM: VirtualBox. So you aren't going to be able to do this with Fusion, but you can do it with VirtualBox.

Also: Apple does allow virtualization of OS X Server (check the date on that article - circa 2007). It honestly wouldn't stand much of a chance in the big, corporate IT world if it couldn't be legally virtualized these days.

Solution 2:

The official Tiger (10.4) OS simply does not run in a virtualized environment. To get it to run you have to hack around the incompatibilities, which has been attempted with varying levels of (claim to) success, but it seems pretty sketchy. You're probably better off either dual-booting your MBP or finding an old used computer to dedicate to Tiger apps. I have a G5 still kicking around for just that purpose.

FYI:

Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6) server are virtualizable and are fully supported by VMware Fusion. Leopard and Snow Leopard standard versions ("Client" version) do not support being virtualized. VMware Fusion 4.1 accidentally left out the code that prevents you from creating and running non-server Leopard and Snow Leopard VMs; version 4.1.1 was quickly released to restore the prevention code. I have not heard great tales of success or failure running the non-server VMs under Fusion 4.1, but you can give it a try.

All versions of Lion (10.7) support virtualization. The Lion retail license includes permission to create 2 VMs in addition to the one real machine so long as you run them on Apple hardware. Specifically, section 2B(iii) grants a license:

(iii) to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software.

_{Note that apparently Apple doesn't take this too seriously, as the official Lion licenses as posted at http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/ still require you to be running "Snow Leopard".}