OSX Snow Leopard installation failed: "still waiting for root device"

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
Post Reply
raskolnikow
Posts: 2
Joined: 18. Jan 2021, 21:14

OSX Snow Leopard installation failed: "still waiting for root device"

Post by raskolnikow »

Hi there!
I got stuck in trying to install OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard in Virtualbox 6.1.16 on a MacBookPro 17" 2009 with AlCapitan installed.
First I tried to install from an external DVD drive with the original Install DVD. But Virtualbox couldn't find that drive, got an empty shell during EFI boot.
Then I did an ISO image of that install DVD with Disk Utility and pointed Virtualbox to that. Starting the VM, it gets stuck while booting with a "still waiting for root device" loop.
Bildschirmfoto 2021-01-18 um 15.31.35.png
Bildschirmfoto 2021-01-18 um 15.31.35.png (90.84 KiB) Viewed 6049 times
My settings:
Bildschirmfoto 2021-01-18 um 16.01.53.jpg
Bildschirmfoto 2021-01-18 um 16.01.53.jpg (83.38 KiB) Viewed 6048 times
Searched the forum and tried to google a solution but in vain.
MacOSX_10-6_SLeopard-2021-01-18-15-31-54.log.zip
(28.27 KiB) Downloaded 33 times
Any hint what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks!!!
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: OSX Snow Leopard installation failed: "still waiting for root device"

Post by scottgus1 »

As a rough guess, try enabling USB3 in the VM's USB settings.
paulmc
Posts: 72
Joined: 28. Aug 2019, 18:43
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows
Location: Earth (Guyana / USA / South Africa)
Contact:

Re: OSX Snow Leopard installation failed: "still waiting for root device"

Post by paulmc »

@raskolnikow, actually there are quite a few existing threads discussing various aspects of 10.6 Snow Leopard (SL) guests, including this "still waiting for root device" issue & other related ones, in this forum and over in the companion 'VirtualBox on Mac OS X Hosts' one. {E.g., in that companion forum there are the recent threads 'Retail Snow Leopard Disc (Image) on VB 6.1 on Big Sur 11.1', and 'Installation fail for SnowLeopard on 10.15.5' (the latter includes links to various older related threads).}

It's also worth exploring the USB(3) configuration change that moderator @scottgus1 mentioned, although this is usually more applicable to 10.12 Sierra & later OS guest VMs.

More often though, there are two common sources of problems that could arise when setting up SL (& older OS) guest VMs, where the first is a general concern for all OS versions that pre-date a given Mac model, and the second tends to be more frequent with OS versions older than 10.7 Lion {i.e. those still using traditional OS Install discs rather than standalone OS Install apps}:
  1. 'Too new' host Mac, where the newer CPU is unknown to the older OS/installer — the host's CPU is passed through as-is to the guest, under all Mac VM template versions except the two generic 'Mac OS X (32-/64-bit)' ones I believe — which typically leads to strange issues such as a startup hang after an "End RandomSeed" message, or even severe errors such as kernel panics, etc.
  2. An OS Install disc, or disc image, that's not recognised as bootable, which typically leads to messages such as "no bootable medium found", or "still waiting for root device", etc.
Since your MacBook Pro 17" 2009 does natively support SL, that's one possible source of headaches gone. That brings us to your OS Install disc & its derived disc image.

For a disc image, the "still waiting for root device" message almost always indicates that the disc image was made from just a disc's visibly mounted volume, rather than the whole disc. For instance, in Disk Utility {after ensuring that 'View > Show All Devices' is ticked}, you could try selecting your optical reader/writer device in the sidebar, e.g., 'HL-DT-ST DVD-RW …' (or similar), and then choosing 'File' > 'New Image' > 'Image from "HL-DT-ST DVD-RW …"' (or similar).

You also mentioned that first you'd "tried to install from an external DVD drive with the original Install DVD[; b]ut Virtualbox couldn't find that drive, got an empty shell during EFI boot." Actually, in VBox 6.1.x that might not actually mean the DVD wouldn't work. ;-) There have been a few recent reports of unexpected drops into the EFI shell even with bootable discs or disc images; I've experienced it too {e.g., see the first thread linked above}.

When such an unexpected drop into the EFI shell occurs, whether with a bootable disc or disc image, the usual workaround is to type 'exit' at the shell prompt to bring up the EFI 'manager' menu interface, and then navigate via one of the following alternative "paths":
  • Boot Manager => 'UEFI VBOX CD-ROM'.
  • Boot Maintenance Manager => Boot From File => 'HFS+ Volume, [PCIRoot(…)/…/…/CDROM(…)]' (or similar) => '<System>' => '<Library>' => '<CoreServices>' => 'boot.efi'.
The first alternative might still not work, but the second one should always succeed {assuming the disc or disc image is indeed bootable}. Also, if in the future you ever happen to see more than one 'HFS+ Volume, …/CDROM(…)'-type entry {I've noticed that on rare occasions a virtual hard disk can get mis-classified as an optical drive}, then your SL (or older OS) Install disc/device will be the one whose top-level items list includes an 'Install Mac OS X.app' or similar {along with the '<System>' directory, etc.}.
raskolnikow
Posts: 2
Joined: 18. Jan 2021, 21:14

Re: OSX Snow Leopard installation failed: "still waiting for root device"

Post by raskolnikow »

Thank you very much, @scottgus1 and @paulmc!!!
Enabling USB3 didn't change anything.
But the comprehensive instructions by @paulmc solved my problem!!
I used again the external drive with the original Snow Leopard install DVD and followed your descriptions. Just pressing the escape key didn't get me to the Boot Manager. But typing "exit" worked finally! I had to choose the second option by selecting the Boot Maintenance Manager and going down the file path until the boot.efi file.
I'm sure, your comprehensive and step by step description will help also others here in the forum! Thanks a lot!
Post Reply