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Installing Snow Leopard (and Rosetta) into Parallels on modern Intel Macs
- Thread starter MichaelLAX
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Are you saying that you successfully installed Snow Leopard into Parallels 7 but then cannot install software into your virtualized environment; or that you cannot get Snow Leopard installed into Parallels 7 in Mountain Lion?
Current workaround for Mountain Lion:
UPDATE your copy of Parallels 7 to the latest version: 7.0.15106 (Build 786747; August 3, 2012).
Can you complete ALL of the STEP ONE steps in Snow Leopard or Lion and then copy over your Superdrive.cdr (or similarly named CD/DVD file) back over to Mountain Lion and complete the remaining steps??
Let me know if this solves the problem...
I was able to successfully install Mac OS X Snow Leopard (converting it to a server as your guide explained). Now my problem is that I can't install any of my software via installation CDs. When I insert a CD/DVD disk it shows up on my main operating system desktop, but doesn't show in my virtual machine desktop. I am trying to install Sibelius 4 music notation software - and will also want to "move" all of my music files to my virtual machine as Mountain Lion will not read any of them. I am running the current version of Parallels 7 (7.0.15106)
My Snow Leopard Virtual Machine runs fine and I haven't experienced any problems or crashes...but it is pretty much useless if I can't run any of my Rosetta run programs - the only reason for needing the SL VM. Thanks so much.
My Snow Leopard Virtual Machine runs fine and I haven't experienced any problems or crashes...but it is pretty much useless if I can't run any of my Rosetta run programs - the only reason for needing the SL VM. Thanks so much.
I'm new to this too!
I bought a copy of unlimited client OSX SERVER 10.6.3 from Apple for $19, so I was able to just install in Parallels on my 2012 MBP. Only problem is I can't connnect to WIFI on virtual machine and I can't open programs in virtual window from their files on non virtual machine.
I was unable to update Snow leopard server since it won't connect to internet. I can run all my old programs (THANK YOU!!!) Rosetta runs fine and allows me to run Appleworks, Filemaker Pro, Photoshop etc!
When I insert CD, DVD or usb drive Parallels asks if I want it to take control!
I was able to figure out the Wifi connection and am able to go online on my virtual Mac OS X...I just can't for the life of me figure out how to load my software onto the VM!
Found my solution
I had to create an image of the installation disk via Disk Utility for me to install it on my VM. Ah....finally!
I had to create an image of the installation disk via Disk Utility for me to install it on my VM. Ah....finally!
For the future, try this:
Launch Parallels, but do NOT click Start.
Go to the Virtual Machines menu and select CONFIGURE...
Select HARDWARE and CD/DVD 1. Make sure it is set to CONNECT TO Default CD/DVD and CONNECTED is checked:
Attachments
Great news about Parallels 8 - that alone should be a reason to update!
Be sure to make a backup of your Mac OS X Snow Leopard.pvm file!
Once again, sorrie on the late update. Decided to wait for Parallels Desktop 8 and maybe start from scratch when a workaround is available.
BTW, upgrade from VMware Fusion 4 to 5. Did backup the VM first. Fusion 5 did block the non server Mac OS. But I have a niffy script from in the internet that works with Fusion 4 and ran it. It fixes the Fusion 5 VM! Fusion is much easier.
The script is called MultiMac Helper 4.app and the download link is somewhere in the article here > http://blog.michael.kuron-germany.de/tag/leopard/
Juz did it again with Fusion 5.0.1 update and it worked!
Download the trial of Parallels Desktop 8. But havent installed yet. Anyone brave enuff?
Thanks and yes I have tried parallels 8- works well- and as above there is hared clipboard between real OS and VM!
Curious. Did you update your Mac OS VM PD7 to PD8 and it still work without any changes in the VM? If there are changes, what are the steps? Thanks.
All I did was upgrade parallels. The VM started normally after that and I then chose update parallels tools from the virtual machine menu. (That step is needed to get the shared clipboard functionality). But as MichaelLAX reiterates above, make sure you have a copy of the VM first. At one point I did get the "wrong version" issue and needed to fix use the plist file from the back up. I don't think this was to do with the upgrade process though, but later once I was using it and let it go to sleep.
Doh! Please ignore this - I didn't notice your debug instructions mentioned that there was a problem with step 1 in mountain lion.
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So I'm trying to do this with mountain lion and the new parallels 8. I hit a snag in step 1 - when I tried the touch command I got:
touch: /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices/ServerVersion.plist: Read-only file system
I even got the same message when I did the touch command with sudo. Any ideas?
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So I'm trying to do this with mountain lion and the new parallels 8. I hit a snag in step 1 - when I tried the touch command I got:
touch: /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices/ServerVersion.plist: Read-only file system
I even got the same message when I did the touch command with sudo. Any ideas?
Last edited:
No - in fact not much has worked at all. I have another MacBook Pro running 10.7.4 and I generated the SuperDrive.cdr file there and completed step 1. I had previously tried copying that to my mountain lion laptop and continuing the process there but still got the read-only file system bug. So I gave up on mountain lion and continued with the rest on the lion MacBook Pro. I was able to complete part 7 of step 2, but when I clicked on Continue at the end of step 7 it started to do something, but after 20 seconds or less I was yet again presented with the Invalid Mac OS version is installed.
I started over and did it all again, certain I followed the instructions correctly and got to the same place. Totally frustrated...
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Does anybody out there have the virtual machine all made up for download? I've paid for everything, so I'm not stealing...
I would be so very appreciative!
I started over and did it all again, certain I followed the instructions correctly and got to the same place. Totally frustrated...
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Does anybody out there have the virtual machine all made up for download? I've paid for everything, so I'm not stealing...
I would be so very appreciative!
Mick:Mick-Mac said:I'm all up and running. Thanks very much for your instructions. From my perspective, I would definitely change your last item in step 1 to create the ServerVersion.plist file with the modified contents as indicated below.
Another item - why did the instructions say that I needed to set the time in the menubar to show seconds?
Great news that you got it working!
Could you be more specific here as to what instructions you suggest that I modify and the specific modifications?
Adding the Seconds to the DATE/CLOCK in the Virtualized Environment is a way for me to determine if it is frozen or not. Just a suggestion...
PS: What programs do you use in Rosetta?
I'm all set now running Snow Leopard using Parallels 8 and Mountain Lion. It is not possible to do step 1 in ML itself, I needed to do it in Lion. For some odd reason, creating the initial disk image in ML yielded a read-only file system that couldn't be edited, but it could if it was created in Lion. In addition (for me anyway) the last item of step 1 needed to be changed from:
touch '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices/ServerVersion.plist'
to
cd '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices'
cp SystemVersion.plist ServerVersion.plist
chmod 666 ServerVersion.plist
now edit ServerVersion.plist in your favorite text editor and change "Mac OS X" to "Mac OS X Server"
chmod 444 ServerVersion.plist
I actually completed the entire process in Lion using Parallels 7 and when I was done I copied the VM to Mountain Lion which was running Parallels 8 and it all worked. Remember to reinstall Parallels Tools in the VM when you're de.
touch '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices/ServerVersion.plist'
to
cd '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/CoreServices'
cp SystemVersion.plist ServerVersion.plist
chmod 666 ServerVersion.plist
now edit ServerVersion.plist in your favorite text editor and change "Mac OS X" to "Mac OS X Server"
chmod 444 ServerVersion.plist
I actually completed the entire process in Lion using Parallels 7 and when I was done I copied the VM to Mountain Lion which was running Parallels 8 and it all worked. Remember to reinstall Parallels Tools in the VM when you're de.
The only program I really need in Rosetta is (the abandoned) Canvas - I have a lot of technical drawings I made for documents over the past 20 years that I still need access to. Now that I can open them up again I'm looking for a way to migrate them to something else, but nothing comparable comes to mind. It was a great program that dealt with manipulating bitmaps and vector graphics very well. This time I want to be able to save into a format that will survive the ages a little better.
An issue that I do presently have a solution for is that I also have many other technical documents done in very early Microsoft Word. They contain many pasted diagrams that no longer remotely show properly or even at all in later versions, and they also contain complex formulae created in the built-in formula editor that no longer display because that aspect of the program was jettisoned eons ago. Anybody know how to get a hold of really early versions of Microsoft Word?
An issue that I do presently have a solution for is that I also have many other technical documents done in very early Microsoft Word. They contain many pasted diagrams that no longer remotely show properly or even at all in later versions, and they also contain complex formulae created in the built-in formula editor that no longer display because that aspect of the program was jettisoned eons ago. Anybody know how to get a hold of really early versions of Microsoft Word?
One More Thing
Snow Leopard is a finished product with no more updates ever and virtually every piece of software I used in it has migrated to later OS versions - so I only really need it for one or two programs and that's all. So I went about my merry way gutting lots of applications I won't ever be using in SL. Out went Mail, iCal, iSync, Chess etc etc. I really thought I could get the Parallels disk image down to a very small number of GB, but after everything I did it's still taking up 11.5GB and that's just monstrous! Anybody have any good thoughts on what else can go?
Snow Leopard is a finished product with no more updates ever and virtually every piece of software I used in it has migrated to later OS versions - so I only really need it for one or two programs and that's all. So I went about my merry way gutting lots of applications I won't ever be using in SL. Out went Mail, iCal, iSync, Chess etc etc. I really thought I could get the Parallels disk image down to a very small number of GB, but after everything I did it's still taking up 11.5GB and that's just monstrous! Anybody have any good thoughts on what else can go?
For Canvas, try Graphics Converter.
Are you talking about Microsoft Word earlier than Office X, so that it must run in Classic? If so Rosetta will not run them. You will need to explore SheepShaver.
Do you have a specific version of Word you are looking for?
Are you talking about Microsoft Word earlier than Office X, so that it must run in Classic? If so Rosetta will not run them. You will need to explore SheepShaver.
Do you have a specific version of Word you are looking for?