It updates the internal list of supported guest operating systems within the VMware GUI, making the "Apple Mac OS X" option visible during virtual machine creation. Technical Prerequisites
Before diving into the unlocker, it is essential to understand the restriction. Apple’s macOS End User License Agreement (EULA) strictly limits installation to actual Apple hardware. To enforce this—and due to architectural differences—VMware deliberately disables macOS booting on non-Apple hardware.
This article provides a comprehensive guide to the VMware Unlocker, covering its functionality, installation, usage, potential risks, and troubleshooting.
Before applying the patch, close VMware Workstation Pro entirely. Also, stop all VMware-related services and processes via Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)→Services→Stop VMware services.
VMware natively contains code to run macOS because it develops VMware Fusion for Mac hardware. Workstation 17 Pro shares a similar core engine but hides the macOS profile on Windows and Linux. The Unlocker tool performs three core tasks: Patches vmware-vmx binaries to allow macOS boot images.
Full root (Linux) or Administrator (Windows) access to modify files within the VMware installation directory. Step-by-Step Installation Guide
MacOS on VMware 17 Pro via unlocker is not bare-metal, but you can achieve 75-85% native speed with these tweaks:
Run the VMware Unlocker tool and follow the prompts to patch the VMware Workstation executable.
If you see this option, the unlocker works.
Data sourced from project CHANGELOG files .
Disable all VMware services on your host machine.
VMware Unlocker Workstation 17 Pro: Run macOS on Windows (2026 Updated Guide)