Cannot boot OSX Server 10.6 installer on OSX VB Host

[fseesink]

Setup:
Host: iMac 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo/4GB RAM running Mac OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion"
VirtualBox version: 4.2.2 with Extension Pack installed
Guest (attempted): Mac OS X Server 10.6 "Snow Leopard"

Error: "Fatal: no bootable medium found! System Halted"

Short version: no matter what I do, I can't seem to "boot" from any disk images (e.g., .DMG/.CDR of Mac OS X Server install DVD).

First note that I've Googled repeatedly, I've searched the forums, and I understand the licensing issues with the CLIENT versions of OSX (which is why I'm guessing VB has issues with 10.7 "Lion" and 10.8 "Mountain Lion" as GUESTS, as you have to first install the client version, and only after can you download/install the Server.app to get effectively the server version). I am NOT trying to run a Hackintosh type setup where the host is a Windows machine trying to run OSX as a guest OS (which is all I could find while Googling).

This is an Apple iMac (so approved Apple hardware) running OSX 10.8 as the host OS. I have the latest VirtualBox installed (4.2.2 as I write this). And all I was hoping to do was fire up a guest OS of Mac OS X Server 10.6 (also approved for virtualization). But I keep getting the error above when I attempt to configure the VB settings to use a disk image of the 10.6 installer (I keep those in a repository as it's much faster than using physical media). I've tried a .DMG and a .CDR version, but in both cases same error.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious. When I first started down this process, I kept running into the issue of VB booting into the EFI. Confused the heck out of me. I thought by specifying that the VM was a Mac OS X system, VB would set the appropriate default settings. My mistake. I eventually found instructions online (granted, for the Hackintosh community, but seemed applicable to my situation) that indicated you have to UNCHECK the EFI checkbox. This seemed to be correct, as now I get the VB boot splash screen.

But now I keep getting the error above when it's time boot from storage (e.g., CD or VDI). What's odd is that if I change the disk image "mounted" in the CD drive to something like an Ubuntu .ISO, that will boot just fine.

So is it that when using Mac OS X as your host OS, VirtualBox doesn't work with ANY version of Mac OS X as a guest OS?

I know that VMware Fusion works just fine, as they have made it trivial to do this. I've done this in the past, running OSX as a guest on an OSX host. I was just hoping to use VB instead. There are some features of VB, such as the ability to run headless, I was hoping to make use of, so I could do some experiments without risking screwing up a host OS running on bare metal.

For the heck of it, I tried using other images like the InstallESD.dmg that's in the 10.7 Lion and 10.8 ML installers (yes, I know, not supported etc.), but solely to see if my 10.6 disk image was bad. But they react with the same error.

And just to see whether it was something with my particular iMac setup, I installed VB 4.2.2 on a 2008 Xserve running Mac OS X Server 10.6.8 and ran into the exact same issue. (This, by the way, is the server I was trying to build a VM version of so that I could run experiments without messing with a production box.) I simply can't seem to boot any Mac installer media. Linux .ISOs, sure. But no Mac media.

If anyone needs any more info to help me with this, or has any insight into what I'm missing, or if this is just a known limitation so I'll have to stick to VMware Fusion for my testing, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance for any help on this. It's really got me scratching my head.

[Y E T I]

4.2.2 just came out and may have issues that no one has turned in yet. If I were doing this I would use 4.2.1 which has been confirmed to work properly on a Mac.

[fseesink]

4.2.2 just came out and may have issues that no one has turned in yet. If I were doing this I would use 4.2.1 which has been confirmed to work properly on a Mac.

Hmm. Well, I had hoped for more feedback.

Seems a bit odd, don't you think? I mean, 4.2.2 comes out, there's no more issue of a special build like there was with 4.2.1 for Mac vs. 4.2.0 for others. So one would think they've rolled in their changes. I've never been keen on backpedaling code if I can at all avoid it, as I don't know how well the package installer is built.

But I guess the bigger question is this: is it that rare to run OS X as a guest when you have OS X as a host? I mean, this part of the forum is specifically "VirtualBox on Mac OS X Hosts". Surely I can't be the only one running Mac on Mac. Are others having no issues whatsoever doing this? Things "just worked"? I'm just trying to get a frame of reference to see if I'm off my mark here with this issue.

[knightwhosaysni]

Curious if you were using an OEM DVD (i.e., one that comes with a newly bought mac) as opposed to a retail bought copy of mac os.

I'm having the same problem as you. I'm running 10.6.8 on my MacBook Pro and all I want to do is set up a duplicate 10.6 guest os for the purposes of testing an installer. All I have is an OEM DVD. And yet I can boot from it just fine without virtualization by restarting the laptop and holding down the C key.

[ChipMcK]

Try the 4.1.2x releases of VBox

[jayerick]

Tried using 4.1.24, running 10.7.5 on the host, struggling with the same problem as aforementioned using iso, cdr, host drive with Snow Leopard install dvd--
Fatal! No bootable medium found

[ChipMcK]

The apple supplied install disks, I believe, are EFI - you did Enable EFI

[Erc]

EFI enabled is a must.

From what i have read OS X can only be run as a guest when it is installed as a Server. I am trying to run a Snow Leopard VM on my Lion iMac to avoid paying $500+ to upgrade my protools. At the moment VB will give me an error with something like 'InstallMultipleProtocallInterfaces returned 80000002'. then it proceeds to a DOS/terminal screen. It seems to be loading fine but after a second it will stand still. In 32 bit it never moves from there. in 64 bit it will finally say 'Unknown4 of GetVar called'.

i am using VB 4+ which does not seem to have the OS X server option. Can anyone help or maybe point me to a version of VB with the Server option that will run on OS X Lion

I am using a retail copy of Snow Leopard if that matters at all.

[Erc]

So i figured out that VB 4.1.2 has the server option but it still stops just as i stated before.

the last line displayed is 'Loading System\Library\Cashes\com.apple.kext.caches\Startup\Extentions.mkext...............................................................................'

[noteirak]

why do you use such an old version? Why not use the latest 4.2.x build to see if you have a better experience?

[Erc]

The first one i tried was 4.2. I am going back to it now since i had almost identical results 4.1. i also got further when i tried installing leopard instead of snow leopard.

[rpmurray]

Maybe you should post what settings you used in VB when creating the guest. For example, giving the guest more than one CPU will cause problems. I have 10.6 running as a guest in VB 4.0.16 when the host is running 10.6. Haven't downgraded to 10.7 or 10.8 to see if it will run on the latest Mac iOSes.