[Solved] Snow Leopard guest, Sierra host on new (late 2016) MBP

[shermanator]

First question is should this be possible? That is to run a Snow Leopard (10.6.x) guest in VB on a late 2016 Macintosh running Sierra.

If it should be possible, then please help me get past the dreaded "Still waiting for root device" error.

Attached is a zipped log file and recipe.

Details:
VirtualBox 5.1.14
Host MacOS 10.12.3
Hardware MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
Processor 2.9GHz Intel Core I7

I have tried two different install disk images, both made with Disk Utility on a machine running Snow leopard natively. One is a .cdr ripped from a retail boxed 10.6.3 DVD, and the other is a .dmg ripped from a 10.6.7 installer DVD that came with my early 2011 MBP. In both cases the symptom was the same. On trying to boot the installer, it just hangs with "Still waiting for root device". If I can make this work I was planning on buying Snow Leopard Server just to not run afoul of the EULA, but I want to know that it will work before I spend the money.

In setting up the VM, I mostly selected the defaults. I increased the HD size to 100GB. For the version, I tried both the 32 bit and the 64 bit Snow leopard selections. I have tried unchecking the Floppy and making sure the Optical is first. I have tried changing the optical drive to different SATA ports.

I saw some stuff in the forum about setting a serial number to a known valid one for the guest OS and other trickery to make the VM look like a machine that would run the guest OS natively, but I don't see how to do that with the GUI. I do have a 2011 machine that came with Snow Leopard that I could copy such things from.

So what does "Still waiting for root device" really mean, and how can I debug this?

Appreciate your help.

[socratis]

So what does "Still waiting for root device" really mean, and how can I debug this?

I believe it might mean that the CDRs and the DMGs you made are not correct, but I could be wrong. If you still have the physical media, try to enable pass-through mode in your virtual CD. VM Settings » Storage » select the CD icon on the left side » on the right side CD icon, click and select "Passthrough". Then boot the VM and see if it works.

Your VM settings are just fine.

[shermanator]

I do have the physical media for both of the versions that I mentioned, but my host machine does not have an optical drive and I do not see any passthrough option is the storage GUI screen. I have a snow leopard machine with an optical drive so I can make new disk images, but I do not know what I would do differently.

[socratis]

It's been many years since I've done that and in trying to replicate it, I've run in some snags. My MacBookPro's DVD suddenly refuses to accept any disks, so now I'm trying to use my Win7's DVD as a shared one, but that doesn't work either. Thing is I haven't forgotten about your problem and the proper settings in Disk Utility, it's simply that when I give advice I want to have it freshly tested first...

If the RAM chips in my head are still intact, I believe that you have to select "CD/DVD master" in Disk Utility. Otherwise I'm going to look for a command line one that is usually much better compared to the GUI. Try that and let me know...

[shermanator]

If the RAM chips in my head are still intact, I believe that you have to select "CD/DVD master" in Disk Utility... Try that and let me know...

Yes, that is how I made the .cdr (as opposed to .dmg) of the retail box 10.6.3 installer that I have been trying. As I understand it, a .cdr is equivalent to an .iso. Without selecting CD/DVD master, Disk utility creates a .dmg, which it seems that VirtualBox could also use. I did also try changing the extension from .cdr to .iso, but that also made no difference.

[socratis]

As I understand it, a .cdr is equivalent to an .iso.

That would be correct.

Without selecting CD/DVD master, Disk utility creates a .dmg, which it seems that VirtualBox could also use.

I'm not sure if it's a sector-by-sector, including the boot sectors.

I did also try changing the extension from .cdr to .iso, but that also made no difference.

Potato, potahto. Tomato, tomahto. Or else, if you put lipstick on a pig, you still have a pig. With lipstick

OK, if you're sure that this is a bootable one, it's time for the big guns... You might have missed the following thread during your search, because it has an almost identical title as yours: Snow Leopard guest on Sierra host Kernel Error. Just make sure that you read the whole thing first, before you start trying things. If you do, start at my last post.

[shermanator]

Making Progress! I made a new image of the 10.6.3 retail box DVD, but this time in disk utility instead of selecting the "Mac OS X Install DVD" I selected the drive that it was in. In my case "MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-898. I also selected "CD/DVD master". This created a image called "MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-898.cdr". I copied that to the new machine and added under drives in the VM settings. That worked and got me passes the evil "Still waiting for root device" error.

I panicked slightly when I got to the point in the installer of selecting a hard disk to install on, because there was noting there. Then I remembered reading somewhere in the forums that sometimes you need to run Disk Utility from the installer and erase (reformat) the virtual disk. I did that and now the installer seems to be running.

I will keep you posted. Thank you very much for your help.

[socratis]

OK, at least some of my RAM chips went bad. Now it dawned on me (aka replace chips). You don't create an ISO from the partition (which is what you were doing), you create an ISO from the device to get all the partitions, even the hidden ones!

If you got to the Disk Utility, you're good to go!

[shermanator]

To conclude this thread, I am up and running with a Mac OS 10.6.8 guest running in VB 5.1.14 on a late 2016 MBP host running Mac OS 10.12.3. My main issue was how I created the disk image of the 10.6.3 install disk with disk utility. The way that worked was to select the DVD drive as opposed to the instal disk volume in disk utility. I then chose the "CD/DVD Master" option under format and created the disk image. I transferred the resulting .cdr file to the host machine and added that disk into the VM and installed from there.

I am still having some usability issues including the known double mouse pointer bug, but those will be topics for other threads if needed.

Thanks Socratis for all of your help.

[socratis]

You're welcome. Glad you got it going. Thanks for reminding me about the whole disk instead of the visible partition.

[ziggy90127]

Thank you, this got me going! My RAM chips needed a refresh!