Mac OS X: Last week I showed how to create VirtualBox VMs as applications. This week, I’m trying out VMware Fusion to see if it’s better or worse than VirtualBox. I’m trying to shoot for the same experience as the VirtualBox machines, so I needed to figure out how to create an App using AppleScript so I could put the VM on the Dock.

Create VM

This step is obvious, but necessary. Get everything in your VM set up how you want it, including opening it in Full Screen mode if you wish. Fusion seems to remember your last view, so killing your VM while it’s in full screen will open it next time in that mode. Plus, it saves on AppleScript that I really don’t like (setting delays before going to fullscreen).

Write Script to Create Application

If you remember the script for VirtualBox, it was very short:

do shell script "vboxmanage startvm Ubuntu"

The script for Fusion is slightly more complex, but still not too bad:

tell application "System Events"
    if UI elements enabled then
        open "~/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Ubuntu.vmwarevm"
    else
        display dialog "Can't start VM"
    end if
end tell

In order for this to work, you need to have the “Enable access for assistive devices” box in System Preferences -> Universal access checked. I’m not sure why, but you just do. The else clause here is just so you have some feedback in case your VM doesn’t want to start.

Once you’ve entered the script above (substituting the correct path to your VM), save it as an application. I save all my custom apps to /Users/mark/Applications, but the path is arbitrary.

Change App Icon (Optional)

Check out this post on how to change an application icon.

Put on Dock (Optional)

I don’t think I have to explain how to do this if you’re messing around with virtualization.