Possible to create a VM of really old mac os?

[sinister69]

Evening all 

Does anyone know if it possible to create a VM of a really old mac os like Tiger for example?

I can host it on anything from High Sierra onwards right up to Monterey but I just wondered if it was technically possible (I have original os discs).

I have inherited an ancient database that runs on a very old mac at my office that has died and the latest os the software will run on is 10.5!!

So unless I can create a VM it's going to be scouring ebay for an ancient mac!!

Can it be done?

Thanks 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Snow leopard Server 10.6.8 is the earliest version that you can virtualize these days AFAIK.  Note that it has to be the server edition on anything before 10.7.

And of course, it won't run on a M1 machine.  It also won't have 3d support, so a lot of things don't work right (iwork in particular).

I would *really* look at upgrading that software 🙂

[gringley]

Tiger never ran in Fusion.  VMware Fusion enforces the Mac OS licensing restrictions and will not allow 10.5 desktop or 10.6 desktop to run under Fusion.  My vague recollection was that the Rosetta licensing was the problem.  At the "end" Apple reduced Mac OS X Server 10.6.8 to $20 and if you can find one of those that will run under Fusion without any trickery.  I am thinking though if 10.5 is the last version your software will run on, it may not run on Intel to start with even if you could otherwise load 10.5 Intel in Fusion?

[dempson]

It is possible to run Mac OS X Leopard Server (10.5) in VMware Fusion: I still have a working VM with that version, which I set up in about 2013.

The key problem is finding a copy of Leopard Server, and at a reasonable price. Unlike Snow Leopard Server, which as @gringley noted Apple was selling for US$20 for many years, Leopard Server was never discounted and it was much harder to find after it was superseded by Snow Leopard Server. Its original price was US$499. If any aftermarket copies are still in the hundreds of dollars, an old Mac would be cheaper.

I managed to get my copy of Leopard Server when a client decommissioned their PowerMac G5 which was acting a server - I paid them a moderate price for the server software and we sold the computer after reinstalling a non-server edition of Mac OS X.

As with Snow Leopard Server, Leopard Server came with a card that had a printed licence key, which must be entered at installation time. If you do buy an aftermarket copy, make sure the licence key is included.

If the software is PowerPC-only then there is the question of whether it is compatible with Rosetta and Intel Macs. If it does work in Rosetta, I'm curious why it would work in Tiger and Leopard but not Snow Leopard: off the top of my head, the only obvious omissions in Snow Leopard were that it dropped support for all PowerPC Mac models, and the removal of the last parts of the AppleTalk stack.

[sinister69]

Thanks all

Pretty much confirms my thoughts, thanks everyone. 

I have a Snow Leopard VM running that I keep for luddites still using Quark Xpress but the ancient software won't run on it. 

I hate inherited systems and back of **bleep** packet methods. 

Thanks anyway. 

[dempson]

What is the database software in question?

For example, I used FileMaker Pro back as far as version 3 and kept notes on OS compatibility: I see that versions 9 and 10 officially supported up to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard but not 10.6 Snow Leopard (that was officially supported in version 11, which also raised the minimum to Mac OS X 10.5.7). FileMaker databases are easily converted to later versions: versions 7-11 had the same file format, with a conversion step required to go to version 12 or later.

[sinister69]

Thanks but that's a no go, I've checked. 

I have found an old G5 and will export the database info to bring it up to date and allow me to bin that inherited old app. 

Cheers