Apple macOS 11 guest operating system option not available during VM creation

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
No selection for macOS 11 Big Sur is available in vSphere during the process of creating or editing a virtual machine. This affects VMs with a virtual hardware version below 19.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

• In virtual machines with hardware version 18 or later, choose guest OS selection "Apple macOS 11 (64-bit)" or if not available, choose selection "Apple macOS 10.16 (64-bit)".
• In virtual machines with hardware version less than 18, choose the most recent version of macOS provided by your product, such as "Apple macOS 10.15 (64-bit)".

Notes:

• The VMware Compatibility Guide is the authority on supported configurations of third-party hardware and software, including Guest Operating Systems, certified with vSphere releases. In the VMware Compatibility Guide, you will find that support for macOS 11 was introduced with vSphere/ESXi 6.7 Update 3.
• The best practice for configuration of a virtual machine is to use the Guest OS selection that best matches the operating system running in the virtual machine. However, an exact match may not be available for a specific operating system. Typically, this is a result of cases where a new operating system was released after a particular vSphere release already became generally available. In such cases, the result of successful certification testing for new operating system releases is published in the VMware Compatibility Guide along links to KB articles with any special guidance, including the use of an alternate guest operating selections where an exact match is not available.