virtualbox.org

I bought a new retina display Mac Book in September 2014. I've already downloaded the latest version of Virtual Box on it (a couple of weeks ago), and created a VM:

Step 1: I declared a 32-bit Mac OS X virtual machine, and named it "Mac_Leopard"
Step 2: I stuck with the recommended memory size (2048 MB)
Step 3: I chose "Create a virtual hard drive now", and selected VDI for hard drive file type. Please note that I've also tried selecting VMDK and VHD in my previous attempts to get my Mac OS X Leopard VM working, and I ran into the same dead-end result that you will see in the screen shot at the bottom of this post.
Step 4: selected dynamically allocated memory and 20 GB of virtual hard drive size

But I haven't been able to successfully install Mac OS X Leopard or Mac OS X Snow Leopard on it using their installation DVDs that I payed for, and it's very frustrating. I know newer versions of Windows have backwards compatibility for things from older versions of Windows, (and I know for sure that both Mac OS X installation DVDs are for versions of Mac older than the version that came installed with my new Mac Book). But I'm starting to get the feeling that Mac doesn't have that same backwards compatibility luxury.

With an external DVD drive plugged into my Mac Book, and the Mac OS X Leopard installation DVD in it, I tried starting my VM: But it has always just stopped here: WHY?! What am I missing?

There are a number of issues getting OSX guests installed.
See: Status of OSX on OSX.
You will have to look through the entire thread.
Just so you know, assuming you get one working there will be no audio, no full screen, no hardware acceleration, etc.
Hardly worth the effort but if you still want to read though the thread.

loukingjr wrote: Just so you know, assuming you get one working there will be no audio, no full screen, no hardware acceleration, etc.

We'll see about that. Does anybody know what to do from here:

Yes, you will see.

You aren't supposed to cross-post by starting a new post about the same issue in "Status of OSX on OSX" btw.

loukingjr wrote: You aren't supposed to cross-post by starting a new post about the same issue in "Status of OSX on OSX" btw.

Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to provide a link in my post on this thread to a post in the "Status of OSX" thread, but you have to be a member for 24 hours or more to be allowed to use URLs in posts on VirtualBox forums.

Now what about my screen shot? What are am I supposed to do in the shell to get my Mac OS X guest to install?

This is the EFI shell. That means that you a) don't have a bootable medium or b) you chose not to boot from that medium.

Friendly advice. Old OSX installations are not plug and play. Read the OSX on OSX thread and you'll know pretty soon that it a) sometimes it might work or b) most of the times it doesn't work. There are some workarounds, but no guarantees, no "now what", no "please help me fix it". You are on your own. IF you are successful, THEN you post on the OSX on OSX thread because you might help others. The "Doesn't work for me" is the majority of users' experiences and frankly it does not help future users looking for help.

Thank you for your attention.

The fact is, I have an Operating Systems text book from 2011. The text book gives a hands on tour comparing various operating systems from Mac, Windows, and Linux. Amongst those operating systems are Mac Leopard and Snow Leopard.

That's my motivation for getting the stupid Leopard and Snow Leopard VM's to work. But before I bother to continue struggling with that, can I please get one or more expert opinions on whether or not it's worth the trouble? Is my MacBook Pro (Mac OS X version 10.9.4) host truly different enough from Leopard (Mac OS X version 10.5.4) and Snow Leopard (Mac OS X version 10.6.3) that I truly need VMs of them to adequately go through a text book from 3.5 years ago?