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Installing Snow Leopard (and Rosetta) into Parallels on modern Intel Macs

How far can I upgrade without breaking Snow Leopard VM?

I'm running OS X 10.8.4 on a 2011 Mac mini. I bought Parallels 8 about a year ago and created a Snow Leopard Os X 10.6.3 virtual machine using your instructions at the beginning of this thread.

I use it to run some old business stuff that's still based in Appleworks 6 and haven't had time to port it into a more current form so I still need to maintain the old Rosetta environment.

Now Mavericks is out, I'm getting notices to upgrade Parallels to 8.xxxx which solves some problems with this and that. Parallels 9 is out. But I've gotten rid of the old eMac that I've now emulated with the Snow Leopard VM.

I don't want to break the Snow Leopard VM. Should I stick where I'm at and not upgrade to Mavericks, not upgrade to Parallels 8.xxxx, and not buy and upgrade to Parallels 9?

Thanks much.
 
Get an evaluation copy of Parallels 9, and run a copy of your VM in it to see what works for you.
 
AisEv said:
Sometimes, it's good to walk away and come back another day to try again. Finally, managed to install SL VM on my MBP. W(h)at went wrong previously? Absolutely no idea. Probably memory issue.
Click to expand...

Here is what his response was...
 
MichaelLAX said:
Are you using an official White Snow Leopard Install DVD or something else?
Click to expand...

i have the official white snow leopard disc. however, that gave me the error message about "leopard server."

as i understand it, snow leopard requires leopard to be already installed. when i reviewed the contents of snow leopard, the install app has a circle-slash on it, meaning it is not usable.

so i use the leopard install disc, which works, but does not get past the grey screen with apple. a circle-slash appears like the image that someone posted in page 2 of this thread.
 
This has worked great- thanks again Michael! Quick question. I notice that unlike with my Windows VM, the Snow Leopard VM does not allow dragging files between the host Mac desktop and the Snow Leopard desktop. Is that normal?

I work around that with File Sharing, so no big deal, but wondered if there was a better way.

Thanks!
 
Hey gang-

Currently very happily running Snow Leopard Server in Parallels 8 and Mavericks. Considering upgrading to Parallels 9 and wanted to ask if anybody has observed any problems with Parallels 9 and virtualized Snow Leopard?

Thanks!
 
Hi all,

I carefully followed instructions (including modified STEP ONE for Mountain Lion), but I get an error at point 7 of STEP TWO:

Unable to start virtual machine.
Mac OS virtual machines can only work on computers that have Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5.1 or later) or Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4.11 or later) installed. Google Translate from french
Click to expand...

I'm running Paralells 7 (Build 7.0.15107) on Mountain Lion.
My Snow Leopard DVD is an "Upgrade DVD"…
Do you think that this is the cause?

Thank you for your help.
 
Does Parallels take as much work to get sound working for Snow Leopard Server as VMWare does? sooms VMWare forgot real graphics drivers and forgot sound drivers all together :/. I really wish we had a better way to access Rosetta.

I'd pay 2x-3x VMWare/Parallels price for a great Rosetta (And classic Mac OS) solution.
 
So it looks like the latest round of OS X security updates released by Apple did not include any updates for Snow Leopard. Can we assume it is no longer supported?
 
This not a general thread on Snow Leopard, so you should seek an answer to your question elsewhere (and post the answer, here, too!).

I would suggest that Security Updates to Snow Leopard are mostly irrelevant to those who utilize this thread, anyway.

The point of this thread is to bring continuing life to PowerPC apps that need Rosetta in a Lion, Mt. Lion and Mavericks world. Most of these PowerPC apps have no need to access the internet and hence no need for continuing security updates.

For web access and other activities that may likely expose your Mac to those features that would require continued security updates, use the Lion, Mt. Lion or Mavericks portion of your Mac for those activities.

----------
arkmannj said:
Does Parallels take as much work to get sound working for Snow Leopard Server as VMWare does? sooms VMWare forgot real graphics drivers and forgot sound drivers all together :/. I really wish we had a better way to access Rosetta.

I'd pay 2x-3x VMWare/Parallels price for a great Rosetta (And classic Mac OS) solution.
Click to expand...

There should be no problem with sound with Snow Leopard Server in Parallels.
 
aau said:
So it looks like the latest round of OS X security updates released by Apple did not include any updates for Snow Leopard. Can we assume it is no longer supported?
Click to expand...

If you are referring to the SSL bug that was recently discovered (and patched) in Mavericks, it doesn't exist in Snow Leopard. You can test and see this for yourself by going to https://gotofail.com from Safari running in your Snow Leopard VM.

You can also use that site to make sure that your iOS and Mavericks machines have (or have not) been patched.

Kupe
 
Again, I question the use of Safari in Snow Leopard virtualized in Parallels, when one can simply use Safari in Mavericks concurrently...
 
Error when preparing Snow Leopard image

I manage to complete all steps to prepare the image apart from when I get to the terminal line. I copy and paste

touch '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices/ServerVersion.plist'

But the message I get is: Read-only file system. How do I change it to a read/write file system?
 
Are you using an original Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server or Snow Leopard client DVD?

If client, can you get a Server DVD?
 
MichaelLAX said:
There should be no problem with sound with Snow Leopard Server in Parallels.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I've typically been a die-hard VMWare guy, and had some bad early experiences with Parallels, but this omission in Fusion has me rethinking what virtualization solutions I utilize.
 
Just ordered the Mac OS X Version 10.6 Snow Leopard Server software from Apple for $19.99. It is about $25 with tax and shipping.

I couldn't find it on the Apple website so I called them. They took my order and said it is currently out of stock but should ship around the end of the month (March 2014).

This same software is being sold on amazon.com for $59.99. That's quite a markup -- $20 software being sold for $60.
 
That may be old inventory being sold by Amazon.

Apple originally sold Snow Leopard Server for $499+ before they reduced the price by 95% to the same $19.95 as Snow Leopard.

When the day arrives that Apple stops selling it, you can be sure that Amazon's price will skyrocket!
 
warnergt said:
Just ordered the Mac OS X Version 10.6 Snow Leopard Server software from Apple for $19.99. It is about $25 with tax and shipping.

I couldn't find it on the Apple website so I called them. They took my order and said it is currently out of stock but should ship around the end of the month (March 2014).

This same software is being sold on amazon.com for $59.99. That's quite a markup -- $20 software being sold for $60.
Click to expand...

when I ordered mine they said it was out if stock and would take up to 4 weeks to ship. it was delivered in just a few days though. hopefully you have the same fortune.
 
Best to buy a copy while it is still available and put it up on the shelf for when it is needed!

I have purchased multiple copies for myself, friends and others in Europe and Australia who had no access to purchasing it for themselves.
 
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