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OS X (10.4-10.6) guests on OS X 10.7 host using VB (4.1.12)

Posted: 13. Sep 2011, 14:10
by BrendanSimon
I want to run OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 (and maybe 10.7) guests on Lion (10.7) host using VB (4.1.12) for testing apps on different versions of OS X.
I think the 10.7 EULA allows 10.7 guest on 10.7 host. I'm not sure about other version of OS X guests on 10.7, but it should be OK (in spirit) given that 10.7 guests are ok.

Anyway, I'm getting errors (see attachment) trying to boot my 10.6 image (.cdr created from original DVD).

Any ideas how to solve or work around this ??

Thanks, Brendan.

Re: OS X (10.4-10.6) guests on OS X 10.7 host using VB (4.1.

Posted: 13. Sep 2011, 15:56
by rpmurray
VirtualBox passes through the CPU information of your Mac to the VM. If the CPU in your Mac is newer than what was available when that version of OS X came out then you won't be able to install that version of OS X because the OS X installer will give you an "Unsupported CPU" message.

For example, if you have a 2008 Mac then you should be able to install 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7 in a VM. But if your Mac is a newer 2011 model that came out after Lion (10.7) then all you'll be able to install in a VM is Lion. You'll never be able to install 10.4 in VB because all the retail discs for it were for PowerPC processors and VirtualBox can only install an OS written for Intel. There were some Intel Macs that came with 10.4 but they had a custom version of OS X that shipped with the computer and were tied to the specific CPU in the Mac.

Re: OS X (10.4-10.6) guests on OS X 10.7 host using VB (4.1.

Posted: 13. Sep 2011, 20:46
by Sasquatch
10.4 is not supported as Guest OS. 10.5 and 10.6 are, but only the server releases. 10.7, codename Lion, does not work in VB, even though the EULA permits it. Speaking of EULA, you're trying to run the desktop version, else you wouldn't say you got errors with your install disc (btw, I can't see your tiff image, create jpg or png instead). With that said, read this: Important notice regarding Mac OS X as Guest.
Since you don't specify that it's about Server, I will lock this thread.