Installing Packet Tracer 7.1 on Mac

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1 Installing Packet Tracer 7.1 on Mac Packet Tracer is a tool for simulation of wired and wireless networks. The current version includes the ability to simulate a number of connected devices to use in Internet of Things applications. Supported desktop operating systems: Windows (7, 8.1, 10), Linux (Ubuntu 14.04). For instructions to install on Windows or Linux see the document called "Installing Packet Tracer 7.1 on Windows and Linux". There is currently no version of Packet Tracer designed for installation on a Mac operating system. If your computer is a Mac, you can install a virtual Linux machine so that an Ubuntu operating system can run within your Mac's operating system. Packet Tracer can be installed on this guest Ubuntu machine and used as normal. Ubuntu is open-source and is, therefore, free to redistribute and use. Oracle VirtualBox is also open-source software and can be installed on a Mac OS host to allow an Ubuntu virtual machine to be run as an application within a window. Note: The Windows version of Packet Tracer can alternatively be installed in a Windows virtual machine or Windows partition on the Mac, but this would require purchase of a Windows licence for the virtual machine. Install VirtualBox on the Mac 1. Use a browser to navigate to 2. Underneath the heading VirtualBox binaries, you will see VirtualBox platform packages. Click the option for OS X hosts and download the file. 3. Once it has downloaded, click to run the file and you should see an image with instructions. 4. Double click the icon labelled VirtualBox.pkg and wait for the program to finish installing. The next step is to download and install the virtual machine on VirtualBox. An Ubuntu machine has been prepared which already has Packet Tracer pre-installed. The quickest and easiest option is to download and import this machine to VirtualBox. For instructions, continue to the next section below. Alternatively, if you are an advanced user you may instead prefer to download a new image of Ubuntu yourself, then download and install Packet Tracer within this virtual machine. If so, ignore the remaining instructions in this document and instead follow instructions on the document "Creating an Ubuntu Virtual Machine". Download and Install the Ubuntu Virtual Machine

2 1. Click this link to download the virtual machine file called PTmachine.ova from Curtin University's cloud storage facility "Cloudstor", and save it to your computer. Note: This file is approximately 1.9GB so make sure there will be no problems in downloading a file of this size from the Internet. Depending on your connection speed, this may also take a while to download so be sure to allow enough time. 2. Open the VirtualBox application on your Mac. 3. From the menu bar, select "File -> Import Appliance " 4. In the window that opens, click the yellow icon to navigate to the location that the file you downloaded was saved, select the PTmachine.ova file, then click "Continue". 5. The next window will show you the settings being used by the imported virtual machine. If there are limitations in the hardware of your host computer (the Mac), you may need to reduce some of these virtual machine settings to suit your host machine. Leave settings as they are if possible but tick the option to Reinitialize the MAC address of all network cards, as per the picture below. 6. Click Import. You may have to wait a few minutes until it has finished the process. 7. Once the importing is done you will see PTmachine listed on the left-hand column of the VirtualBox program. Click to select it then click the green Start arrow. 8. A new window will open and you will see the Ubuntu machine booting up inside it. Once it has booted to its desktop you should see an icon for opening Packet Tracer. Double click it to start Packet Tracer.

3 9. Once Packet Tracer opens you will need to enter your Cisco Networking Academy (Netacad) login details and you are ready to use Packet Tracer. If you don't already have a Netacad login, see the steps below. To obtain a Netacad login if you don't have one already: You can either open the Firefox browser within the virtual machine by clicking the orange Firefox icon or switch to a browser on your Mac. Go to Click Enroll to Download Packet Tracer. You will see a summary for a course called Introduction to Packet Tracer. On the right-hand side of the screen you can enter your details under Enroll Now.

4 On the next screen, enter the rest of your details and an account password before clicking Create Account. You should receive an to confirm your enrolment. Once done, you may switch back to the Packet Tracer window within your virtual machine and use your Netacad login details to log in. You can now use Packet Tracer within the virtual machine on your Mac To use an Internet browser within the virtual machine, click the orange Firefox icon at the left of screen. Your host computer's Internet connection should be shared with the virtual machine allowing you to log in to EdX and download any Packet Tracer files needed. Something to remember when using this Linux version of Packet Tracer: Wherever Packet Tracer activity instructions ask you to hold the ALT button and click the mouse (to directly activate a device), you should instead hold the SHIFT and OPTION (OPTION = ALT) buttons and click the mouse. Shutting down and closing the virtual machine: To close the window that the virtual machine is running in it is best to shut it down properly first. In Ubuntu, click the gear symbol next to the clock in the top-right corner of the screen to open a menu, then choose "Shut Down " and click "Shut Down" again from the options that pop up. You may now close the VirtualBox program.

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