Total Newbie....HELP!!!! Root Device not found

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
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DavidMRose
Posts: 2
Joined: 30. Dec 2021, 02:49

Total Newbie....HELP!!!! Root Device not found

Post by DavidMRose »

HI all,

thanks in advance for any help provided. I am running a MacMini late 2012. 2.3GHZ i7 10.15.7. I was gifted an old WD My Book Live backupHD. I need OSX lion to run it. I downloaded the VB software and a lion ISO. I tried to start the VM but I keep getting a ROOT device not found. Here is a screenshot. What am I doing wrong?
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mpack
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Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Total Newbie....HELP!!!! Root Device not found

Post by mpack »

I assume the WD MyBook needs a USB3 connection? So you need to install the VirtualBox Extension Pack on your Mac host. That adds USB2/USB3 support to VirtualBox.

But in general, it's just a large USB drive isn't it? In which case it doesn't require any particular OS. There may be specific software bundled with the drive, but even then I'd expect it to be available for later MacOS versions, or you can find other backup software. I don't see any value in running backup software in a VM, e.g. using it to backup the host does not sound practical.
DavidMRose
Posts: 2
Joined: 30. Dec 2021, 02:49

Re: Total Newbie....HELP!!!! Root Device not found

Post by DavidMRose »

mpack wrote:I assume the WD MyBook needs a USB3 connection? So you need to install the VirtualBox Extension Pack on your Mac host. That adds USB2/USB3 support to VirtualBox.

But in general, it's just a large USB drive isn't it? In which case it doesn't require any particular OS. There may be specific software bundled with the drive, but even then I'd expect it to be available for later MacOS versions, or you can find other backup software. I don't see any value in running backup software in a VM, e.g. it using it to backup the host does not sound practical.

HI MPack

Thanks for the response. The drive is an older cloud drive, so there is no usb. I need to load Lion on a VM to use the software that came with the drive so I can install the software and take advantage. Just wondering why VM won't load the ISO file to give me an OS
scottgus1
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Total Newbie....HELP!!!! Root Device not found

Post by scottgus1 »

It seems that "Still waiting for root device" is a Mac message coming from the OS, and it happens on real computers too. Try web-searching the error.
DavidMRose wrote:to use the software that came with the drive so I can install the software and take advantage.
Keep in mind that you won't be able to use the drive's WD software with the host OS. The drive will only see the VM OS. So you would be able to get WD-software-influenced data off the drive, but you will not be able to use it to back up the host OS.

And don't forget Mpack's advice:
mpack wrote:There may be specific software bundled with the drive, but even then I'd expect it to be available for later MacOS versions
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