Can't install Tiger from Leopard

Hi everybody,
I'm running Leopard on my flat panel iMac but I'd like to move down to Tiger.
The iMac recognizes the install disc but nothing happens when I double-click the installer (the iMac just boots to Leopard).
I've also tried holding down the "c" key as I restart but I get a question mark.
Finally, I tried setting startup disc to the Tiger install CD but it just boots to Leopard.
Any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
Mike

That is unfortunate, with the G4 Cube.
Did you try the Option key at startup, to get Startup Manager?
If you can't get it startup from that retail Tiger DVD, you could try to do an installation onto the that iMac G4's hard drive, using another supported PowerPC Mac to run the installation. I see you have an iMac G5 in your profile. It needs to be a PowerPC Mac, because there are separate PowerPC and Intel builds for Tiger. This method involves using FireWire Target Disk Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
If you have that other Mac and want more details, please post back.

Similar Messages

I don't have a dual-layer drive, can I install Tiger or Leopard?

Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in the topic below. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information below at your own discretion.
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard come on what appear to be larger than 4.7 GB discs. This does not mean you need a dual layer drive to install them. Some Macs capable of installing Tiger or Leopard came with a built-in CD-RW, or CD-ROM drive. For those a compatible Firewire DVD drive for booting Mac OS X can work instead of replacing the internal drive. Tiger also came in a limited edition Media Exchange Program CD installer package, which you may be able to find in the open market. The limitation for each is dependant on other hardware:
1. If your Mac shipped new with no Firewire, you may be able to install Tiger a special third party addon software known as XPostFacto.
2. If your Mac shipped new with less than 867 Mhz built-in processor (including dual processor 800 MHz or less), you may be able to install Leopard with a special third party addon software known as Leopard Assist.
3. If your Mac shipped with a processor upgrade card installed, and #2 is true, a firmware update may be available from the processor upgrade card vendor that allows Leopard's installation.
4. Tiger needs at least 256 MB of RAM.
Leopard needs at least 512 MB of RAM.
If you have a lot of dashboard widgets, you may need to increase RAM to improve performance on either operating system. The RAM needs to follow Apple's specs to ensure smooth operation. Only get RAM with a lifetime warranty.
5. Officially you need for Tiger:
"At least 3 GB of free disk space; 4 GB if you install the XCode 2 Developer Tools" from: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514
And officially for Leopard you need:
"9 GB of available disk space or more" from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3759
However, I would add to that if your hard drive doesn't have at least 15% of the drive free in addition to that, you may experience significant slowing down in the operating system function. This number has been arbitrarily discovered by many users.
6. When installing Tiger or Leopard, if your machine shipped with Panther (10.3) or earlier, be sure to get the retail Tiger or retail Leopard.
The Tiger installer is a san serif gray and white X with a spotlight on the center of the X on a black background.
The Leopard installer is a san serif black and gray X on a pink galaxy centered on a black background.
This is the 1st version of this tip. It was submitted on Dec 23, 2009 by a brody.
Do you want to provide feedback on this User Contributed Tip or contribute your own? If you have achieved Level 2 status, visit the User Tips Library Contributions forum for more information.

Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in the topic below. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information below at your own discretion.
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard come on what appear to be larger than 4.7 GB discs. This does not mean you need a dual layer drive to install them. Some Macs capable of installing Tiger or Leopard came with a built-in CD-RW, or CD-ROM drive. For those a compatible Firewire DVD drive for booting Mac OS X can work instead of replacing the internal drive. Tiger also came in a limited edition Media Exchange Program CD installer package, which you may be able to find in the open market. The limitation for each is dependant on other hardware:
1. If your Mac shipped new with no Firewire, you may be able to install Tiger a special third party addon software known as XPostFacto.
2. If your Mac shipped new with less than 867 Mhz built-in processor (including dual processor 800 MHz or less), you may be able to install Leopard with a special third party addon software known as Leopard Assist.
3. If your Mac shipped with a processor upgrade card installed, and #2 is true, a firmware update may be available from the processor upgrade card vendor that allows Leopard's installation.
4. Tiger needs at least 256 MB of RAM.
Leopard needs at least 512 MB of RAM.
If you have a lot of dashboard widgets, you may need to increase RAM to improve performance on either operating system. The RAM needs to follow Apple's specs to ensure smooth operation. Only get RAM with a lifetime warranty.
5. Officially you need for Tiger:
"At least 3 GB of free disk space; 4 GB if you install the XCode 2 Developer Tools" from: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514
And officially for Leopard you need:
"9 GB of available disk space or more" from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3759
However, I would add to that if your hard drive doesn't have at least 15% of the drive free in addition to that, you may experience significant slowing down in the operating system function. This number has been arbitrarily discovered by many users.
6. When installing Tiger or Leopard, if your machine shipped with Panther (10.3) or earlier, be sure to get the retail Tiger or retail Leopard.
The Tiger installer is a san serif gray and white X with a spotlight on the center of the X on a black background.
The Leopard installer is a san serif black and gray X on a pink galaxy centered on a black background.
This is the 1st version of this tip. It was submitted on Dec 23, 2009 by a brody.
Do you want to provide feedback on this User Contributed Tip or contribute your own? If you have achieved Level 2 status, visit the User Tips Library Contributions forum for more information.

Re: I don't have a dual-layer drive, can I install Tiger or Leopard?

"This tip is ready for consideration"

Hi a brody,
Maybe it's my training that states to focus on what we can do, but I'd suggest changing the double negatives to positives. Let me know as that does leave out the "if and only if" implication of the "can't" statements which you may want to keep.
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard come on what appear to be larger than 4.7 GB discs. This does not mean you need a dual layer drive to install them. Some Macs capable of installing Tiger or Leopard came with a built-in CD-RW, or CD-ROM drive. For those a compatible Firewire DVD drive for booting Mac OS X can work instead of replacing the internal drive. Tiger also came in a limited edition Media Exchange Program CD installer package, which you may be able to find in the open market. The limitation for each is dependant on other hardware:
1. If your Mac shipped new with no Firewire, you {color:red}may be able to{color} install Tiger {color:red}with{color} a special third party addon software known as XPostFacto.
2. If your Mac shipped new with less than 867 Mhz built-in processor (including dual processor 800 MHz or less), you {color:red}may be able to{color} install Leopard {color:red}with{color} a special third party addon software known as Leopard Assist.
3. If your Mac shipped with a processor upgrade card installed, and #2 is true, a firmware update may be available from the processor upgrade card vendor that allows Leopard's installation.
4. Tiger {color:red}needs{color} at least 256 MB of RAM.
Leopard {color:red}needs{color} at least 512 MB of RAM.
If you have a lot of dashboard widgets, you may need to increase RAM to improve performance on either operating system. The RAM needs to follow Apple's specs to ensure smooth operation. Only get RAM with a lifetime warranty.
5. Officially you need for Tiger:
"At least 3 GB of free disk space; 4 GB if you install the XCode 2 Developer Tools" from: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514
And officially for Leopard you need:
"9 GB of available disk space or more" from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3759
However, I would add to that if your hard drive doesn't have at least 15% of the drive free in addition to that, you may experience significant slowing down in the operating system function. This number has been arbitrarily discovered by many users.
6. When installing Tiger or Leopard, if your machine shipped with Panther (10.3) or earlier, be sure to get the retail Tiger or retail Leopard.
The Tiger installer is a san serif gray and white X with a spotlight on the center of the X on a black background.
The Leopard installer is a san serif black and gray X on a pink galaxy centered on a black background.
An Apple user since 1981 Mac OS X (10.6)

Can't install Tiger from a Retail Disc???

I have a current mbp (15" 2.2Ghz 4GB memory, etc) and I lost my system discs. Not a big deal (or so I thought) I'll just pick up a retail copy of Tiger. For whatever reason it won't let me install form that disc. It says my system is not compatible with that version of OS X.
What do I need to do? I've tried putting it in while booted into OS X and double clicking the install now icon, I've tried holding "C" while on bootup and it still won't let me install from teh Retail Disc...any thoughts???

You need to replace your discs as the retail version will only install to a PowerPC Mac. Simply call AppleCare with your situation and they'll send you new ones at a nominal fee (around $US30). To save you some time, just be sure to have your serial number and proof of purchase handy as they'll ask you for it.

Reinstalling Tiger from Leopard on a iMac G-5

Can I reinstall Tiger from Leopard on iMac G-5 without loosing data? I would like to use OS9 again.
Thanks. Ken Thomson

keep in mid that archive and install downgrade suggested above doesn't give you the option to preserve users settings. this means that you'll have to go through account setup again. You old home directory should be buried somewhere in the previous system folder (see this [link|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107297]).

Reinstalling Tiger from Leopard

Can I reinstall Tiger from Leopard without loosing any data? I would like to be able to use OS 9 again.
Thanks, Ken Thomson

If you have an Intel Mac, OS 9 (Classic) won't work in Tiger, either.

Can I install Tiger on Mac OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard?

I am using Mac mini and my OS version MAC OS X 10.6.2 Snow leopard and it was as default with my Mac mini,
Can I install Tiger 10.4 on my current Mac mini in different location as dual boot?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
No Mac can install an older Mac operating system than shipped with it.
The only minor exception is Macs which shipped with Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, but those ones only could run the Mac OS 9 that came with it and newer one, and Mac OS X that came with it and newer one up to the limitations of the hardware.
Also no Mac can install an operating system disc from a different Mac that is different either in model or vintage.
If you are missing compatibility with your new Mac Mini for a specific application, please check
C!Net Download
http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/
http://www.macintouch.com/specialreports/snowleopard/slcompat.html
for alternative titles, or feel free to ask if someone here knows of one.
Message was edited by: a brody

Can I install Tiger as a boot disk on external drive

I upgraded to Leopard 2 months ago and everything works well except a program called Avid Express Pro. Avid suggests I go back to Tiger, but I like many of the features in Leopard. I'm using a Macbook pro with an intel processor. Is it possible to install Tiger on an external drive and boot from that drive when I want to use Avid, then restart on the internal drive for normal operation? I've tried installing Tiger on an external drive I have, but the installer won't let me select the external. Any help would be appreciated.

Your Intel MacBookPro can install Tiger or Leopard to any external drive that has been formatted with a GUID partition. It can be USB or Firewire. I'm using a miniStack v3 500gb FW800 drive for my MBP. When it arrived from OWC it was APM and Leopard or Tiger would refuse to Install to it. Disk Utility fixed this by repartioning the drive and choosing the GUID option and HFS+.
The GUID partition scheme is probably the problem. Most external drives come formated for DOS (Fat32) or the APM (Apple Partition Map). The Intel macs require GUID for Installing and Updating, but work fine with the APM drives for files.
You Intel Mac can boot from an APM drive, but not install to it. You can use SuperDuper to clone a bootable copy of your OS from your internal GUID drive to an external APM drive and the machine will boot from it, it just can't be updated.
Use Disk Utility to check the Partition Map Scheme on your external drives before you try to use one to install to.

Help reverting to Tiger from Leopard - No boot from CD

Hi there,
I am trying to revert to Tiger from Leopard on an Intel iMac that used to run Tiger. My plan is to wipe the drive and start fresh. Unfortunately, the computer will no longer start up from the Tiger installer DVD or an extrenal drive running Tiger. I am running 10.5.2. Has there been a ROM upgrade or something that prevents now Tiger from running? Any ideas?

Can I please ask a question.
I have leopard (10.5.2) installed on an intel Imac. I have just bought a Formac mini disk (160G USB) because I would like to install Tiger on it. When I bought the Imac it originally came with Tiger (Version 10.4.2) and the disk from what I am reading on these forums would indicate that it is a install disk rather than a retail version. The disk is grey and again I am assuming it is an intel install disk (don't know how to check).
Anyhow, in order to install Tiger onto the USB mini disk, I believe I need to boot up the from Tiger install disk and after the start chime begins hold down the 'C' button from some time until the Tiger install menu appears. My problem is that the Tiger install menu does not appear (tried this on several occasions) and it continues to boot up to Leopard.
Can someone please tell me if I am doing something wrong, or even what I am trying to do is able to be done. I think I have covered and put down all of the problems here ?
Appreciate any advice

Need help reverting to Tiger from Leopard

Last last year I purchased a new iMac that came with Tiger (version 10.4.10) installed. I set it up and everything worked great, including the wireless. Unfortunately, it also came with a Leopard install disk in the box, and, not realizing that Leopard is Apple's equivalent of Vista, I "upgraded" the machine to Leopard. My wireless has not worked well since, and, after waiting for several Leopard updates to "solve" the problem without apparent success, I think I just want to revert back to Tiger.
I was thinking the best thing to do is an Erase and Install using the 10.4.10 install disks that came with the computer. However, I believe that when I "upgraded" to Leopard, Mail 3 modified the mail format used by Mail 2, and similarly with Address Book. So my primary question is how to get my mail and address information back to Tiger. Does anyone know if I archive off my mailboxes from Leopard's Mail 3 in mbox format, will I then be able to successfully import them back into Tiger's Mail 2? Similarly, can I export Leopard Address Book information into vcards and then read them back into Tiger's Address Book? Or are there better ways of doing this?
Thanks in advance!

I have looked through and posted to the Leopard "Getting Online and Networking" forum for months now looking for a solution. I really don't want to go through the "it's the router's fault" discussion anymore with the posters who want to blame everybody but Apple for something that obviously showed up in Leopard. This includes those who somehow believe that only Apple implements the standards correctly and the rest of the world doesn't, so the rest of the world is at fault.
I am just hoping someone who has some knowledge about reverting can answer my original questions in this post about getting e-mail and address book information back into Tiger from Leopard.

In how many different computers can I install my snow leopard?

In how many different computers can I install my snow leopard?
The one that came when I bought my Macbook Pro.

Kappy, I believe that he's asking about Snow Leopard, not Lion. Your answer would be correct in reference to Lion purchased from the Mac App Store, but not Lion shipped as original OS on a new Mac.
derojas, assuming you have a standard OEM, it-came-with-the-computer Snow Leopard installer, you are licensed to use it only on that one computer. You are not licensed to install it on any others. Many OEM discs can install only on the specific hardware model with which they shipped, anyway.
If you have a standard retail installer, it's technically possible to install it on any Mac capable of running Snow Leopard. However, again, the license grants you the freedom to install it on only one Mac at a time (i.e. you'd have to delete it from one Mac before you could install it on another).
There are family packs and other multi-licensing arrangements that permit the owner to install Snow Leopard on more than one Mac. You need to check the license to find out how many and what other restrictions might apply.

Can you install Tiger onto a drive with data?

Hello,
I would like to ask if you can install Tiger onto a hard drive that already has data files on it. I have a 250 GIG hard drive and it already has 10 GIGs of data on it. Can I install Tiger on this drive or might it corrupt my files?
Its a long story but here is a quick summary of why I am attempting to do this:
I have a 350 MHz Blue and white G3 (rev 1) with two hard drives: the original 12 GIG ATA drive and a 250 GIG SATA drive (internal) connected with a 1S2 Seritek SATA controller.
My 250 GIG drive has two partitions but only one is available to Tiger. You see, by accident I originally formatted my 250 GIG drive with an extremely small partion (32 Megs). I meant to type "30 GIGs" and by accident I typed "30 Megs". Oops That was supposed to be my OSX 10.4 volume. Its too late now - its too small. So I only have two choices for a place for TIger: my 12 GIG drive or the other partition of my 250 GIG drive. I am reluctant to choose my 12 GIG drive because it already has an older OS on it (OS 8.6).
I was concerned about installing TIger on the data partition of the 250 GIG drive because that is where all my valuable data files are - 10 Gigs of data. I don't want to risk scrambling this data in any way.
Is it safe to install Tiger onto this partition with my data files? Or is the possibility it might do something to my data.
Its only a temporary install so that I could burn my 10 GIGs of data files to DVD for backup and then I will start all over again and erase the entire hard drive and reinstall from scratch onto the 250 GIG drive once my data files are safely backed up. (I will not partition the 250 GIG drive i nthe final install - it will be one big partition.)
One other question:
When you format a disk in Tiger are there options to "low level format" or "zero all data" or will just a straight "erase" do the job sufficiently? I bought my 250 GIG Hitachi SATA drive new and so I am not sure if it worth the time to re-erase it with "zero all data" (if that is an option in the Tiger Disk Utility). What is the best formatting option to prepare this drive in the most beneficial for Tiger?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks scb and Jeff,
Jeff, you have me thinking now. I think I will be safe and try another idea. I have a 4 GIG internal SCSI drive I could use to backup my data in 4 GIG sections at a time via my Adaptec 2430 SCSI card. I could then move this hard drive over to my other G3 onto its 40 GIG hard drive. This would be done three times to take off all my data and essentially provide a backup before I install Tiger. Good idea. You are right. It is better to play it safe.
By the way 8.6 can handle HFS+. And yes, I should eventually buy an external drive solution - probably an enclosure. I saw one called "coolmax" [1]. It could hold a SATA drive and it had USB, firewire and also an external SATA port.
And also Jef thanks for the info about formatting drives. I am glad to hear it is not important to zero all data if you don't have to. I am not concerned about havig anything to hide and so yes, I will just click "format" - that should be fine. Zero all data takes such a long time and I would rather avoid using it if I don't need this feature. Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the new safer direction.
[1] Coolmax (CD-311-SATA Combo)
Coolmax Aluminum USB 2.0 External Case/Enclosure for 3.5" SATA/IDE Hard Drives, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, Serial ATA triple interface input CD-311-SATA Combo
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$69.95
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$53.99 at directron

Can I install Tiger in a Dual 500 MHz PowerPC G4?

Can I install Tiger in a Dual 500 MHz PowerPC G4, or is it better to stick with 10.3.9? I'm having some problems so I was going to wipe he hard drive and re-build everything from scratch o I was wondering if migrating to OS X 10.4.9 is worthwhile or even compatible with this PCU. Thanks.

Yes you can run 10.4 on your dual 500, I have a dual 450 (I overclocked it to 550...) and it runs pretty fast. You need a minimum 192 MB of RAM to install it and a minimum 128 MB of RAM to run it. I would suggest having at least 512 MB of RAM when running 10.4.
What problems are you experiencing? If it's just lagging and seeming slow it may just be worthwhile to clean some temp files and clean up your disk. IMHO, 10.4 is a much better system than 10.3, and runs much smoother. I can guarantee you that your system will run much smoother if you wipe the disk clean and put a fresh install of 10.4 on there, and also get a decent amount of RAM in there. After I upgraded my RAM to 1.5 GB, I noticed a substantial difference in speed, and got a lot less spinning color wheels. But one thing that you need to always keep in mind is to KEEP YOUR DISK CLEAN!!! Clean the temp files often and limit your internet downloading. If you keep your computer on all of the time, restart it every once in a while. There's a lot of little things you can do to increase speed in OS 10.4. Use spotlight and recent applications. Fill up your dock. Don't clutter the desktop, etc. There's plenty of articles on the net to help increase speed without adding anything else to your system, just navigating through the OS differently.

Lost original macbook disc. Can I Install a retail Leopard disc on a MB.

I have a macbook a friend gave me but he did not have the install disc for it. He took out the hard drive when he gave me the MB, so I am trying to reinstall the OS. I put in the leopard install disc and it boots to install great but stops one step before with a mouse diagram like its not connected. As soon as I connect an external mouse and keyboard all is fine. I am wondering if this is because I dont have the Macbook install disc? Can I Install a retail Leopard disc on a MB. Thank you so much for any help you all can give me.
Thanks again,
J

yes it is a retail version. Came in the black holographic box with the big X. There is no hard drive in the computer. I am trying to test the machine by booting up from the install disc. I know it sounds crazy but i have not received my new drive yet. LOL now if I can convince someone with a macbook to remove the hard drive and try booting up with a retail version to get the same result. . Any takers?

I CAN-NOT install anything from a .pkg

i CAN-NOT install anything from a .pkg
i need help
someone
when i try to install i get this at the end
"there were errors installing the software"
"please try installing again"
also in disk utility
i get this
"invalid file or directory ID found"
"the volume HD needs to be repaired"
"Error: the underlying task reported failure onn exit"
and when i try to repair it from the MAC OSX disk i cant
i get
"Error: the underlying task reported failure onn exit"
also i cant install the BSD as it is a .pkg
HELP
Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Hi, shoaib.
You wrote: "also in disk utility i get this
"invalid file or directory ID found"
"the volume HD needs to be repaired"
"Error: the underlying task reported failure onn exit""The disk directory of your hard drive is corrupted. This is the source of your problems.
If you cannot afford either of the third-party utilities:
• Alsoft Disk Warrior 3.x (DW3)
• Micromat TechTool Pro version 4.1.x (TTP4).
then you will need to follow the instructions in "Disk Utility reports 'Underlying task reported failure' when repairing a volume."
Specifically, given that your attempt to repair the disk using Disk Utility from your Tiger DVD failed, there are no other solutions available for this problem other than:
• Attempting repair with the third-party disk utilities cited above.
• Backing up whatever data can be saved, then reinstalling Mac OS X with an Erase and Install.
See the article I cited above for details. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
To avoid having to reinstall in situations like this, as funds permit you should consider investing in:
• Implementing a comprehensive backup and recovery solution. For advice on the backup and recovery solution I employ, see my "Backup and Recovery" FAQ.
• Alsoft DiskWarrior and TechTool Pro.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Can't install Tiger from Leopard

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