Downgrading Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard

I have a mid summer 2010 Mac Mini that originally came with Snow Leopard and I still have the install disks. In september, I upgrade to Mountain lion and due to the slow and unacceptable performance since then, I want to go back to Snow Leopard. I have been backing up on an external drive with TIme Machine for the past two years. I upgraded on September 12 and I have a several Time Machine Backups in August and early September when I was still operating with Snow Leopard. My question- Can I open up in Mountain Lion the Recovery disk option, use Disk Utility to erase the Mini's hard drive and then reinstall a time machine backup from before September 12? I have backed up files that have been changed in the past several months including mail and iweb. Will going to a previous back up in Time Machine before I upgraded work? If this won't work, can I use the Snow Leopard Disk and do the same thing- wipe clean the mini's hard drive and install a Time Machine Backup from before sept 12 from my external drive?
Any input, suggestions or instructions on this topic would be appreciated.
Thanks
Karl

Thanks mende1, excuse my ignorance but do I have the steps right?
1. Boot up with Snow Leopard Install Disk
2. Use utility to wipe clean the mini's hard drive
3. restore system using Time Machine Backup from before I upgraded to Mountain Lion
When and where will I find the option to restore from a Time Machine Backup?
Thanks

Similar Messages

I recently downgraded from Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard and I forgot to export my bookmarks.

Unfortunately downgrading from Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard means I need to wipe the hard drive and install everything from scratch. That takes hours, and I've already done the bulk of the work, twice actually since I forgot to back up my photos in Iphoto and had to start over from my Time Machine backup of Mountain Lion.
Anyhow, I am curious as to whether or not there is a way to retrieve my bookmarks from the Time Machine backup and get them onto my downgraded OS, or will I have to start all over again, restore my system to Mountain Lion and go through the hours it takes to get back to Snow Leopard.

You're missing the point. If you didn't make the /username/Library/ folder visible, then it's hidden on the TM backup. Getting to ii is beyond my ken. However, Pondini's TM FAQs might have info on that madness.

How to downgrade from Mountain Lion back to snow leopard with Time Machine

The final straw was the horrible mouse sideways page wiggle while trying to scroll down and read safari pages. Even after turning the feature off, tech support said it will still wiggle a little. That and the HORRIBLE grey icons everywhere was enough to send me back to my beloved iMac I loved when I bought it. I'll give up the iMessage and the few new items ML gave me. But as many others said, what I got new was far less than what was taken away.
So what tech support had me do was this. Even though the apple engineers said it would not work, apple tech support had me try it and it worked for me so good luck. Engineers said that after you install mountain Lion, it messes with ALL your time machine back ups and won't revert back to snow leopard even if you select a snow leopard date back in time. That didn't happen to me. I have a 2010 27 inch iMac
This worked for me but PROCEED AT YOU OWN RISK
Export individually any email folders or photos or data you will lose between now and the date you are reverting back to.
1. Insert Snow Leopard DVD that came with computer. The install disk not the applications. Make sure time machine external drive IS connected.
2. Restart computer and when you hear The Mac chime, hold down the C key and then it will take several minutes to boot up from the DVD.
3. Select the little blue triangle to continue in English.
4. When it gets to the screen that says "continue" stop. There might be a screen or two before this one I can't remember but either way stop at the word continue.
5. Go up to the top left and find the UTILITIES pull down menu and select disk utility.
6. In the window that opens up, Select the Apple drive which should be the very top one in the window.
7. Select erase.. it should be Mac OS extended journaled
8 select erase and maybe a password. It only takes a few seconds
9 go back up to UTILITIES in upper left and then select restore from time machine or backup or whatever it says. It's the last choice.
10. Select the external time machine drive and navigate to the date you last had Snow Leopard running and that will be the date it restores to. You will lose any data between now and then but you can export your mail, export photos, and other items separately. I only stayed on ML For a few days before hating it enough to go back so I had no loss of data except a few emails.
11. Hit RESTORE. And then it will take several hours. When you restart it, it should come right back to that day you selected as if ML was just a bad thought on someone's drawing board.   If for some reason it still comes up ML, Then they said to erase HD Again (steps 1-8) and then manually drags back USER folder or individual folders with Mail, photos etc.   if this way doesn't work, have another plan printed out so that you are not stuck by this one.
Good luck. Proceed at your own risk..

The ultimate solution:
You need an USB of at least 5 GB and the Snow Leopard Install DVD.
1. make a bootable USB with Disk Utility in it:
     a. download the Mountain Lion Installer from the App Store
     b. quit the installer after download
     c. find the installer in the Applications folder
     d. option+click in it and select "Show Pakage Contents"
     e. go to Contents>SharedSupport to find there the InstallESD.dmg file and mount it by double-clicking it
     f. with the Disk Utility, restore its contents into your USB
2. boot from the USB:
     a. restart the computer and hold-down the option key while booting
     b. select the USB and boot
3. run the Disk Utility and format in ONE partition the HD of your computer
REMEMBER: BACKUP YOUR HARD DISK BEFORE DOING ALL THESE, YOUR DISK WILL BE EREASED AND DATA BECOME UNRECOVERABLE OTHERWISE
4. insert the Snow Leopard DVD and reboot from it
5. follow the on-screen instructions to install OS X 10.6
After this, you can, if you will, upgrade to Lion or stay in Snow... Good Luck!!

IPhoto 9.1.5 won't open, downgraded from Lion back to Snow Leopard

I have tried to open iPhoto and every time I get a similar error window like I have pasted below. I have reinstalled iPhoto from iLife '11 disc. I have updated until I get the message that everything is up to date. I can't help but think that priviously installing Lion and then going back to Snow Leopard has had something to do with this. I also go to "Finder>Pictures>iPhoto Library" and there is nothing there. No arrow saying there is something inside, no list of folders titled with what roll or event they belong to.. nothing.
here is a copy of the error message, it is long, and I don't know what it means
Process:         iPhoto [730]
Path:            /Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhoto
Identifier:      com.apple.iPhoto
Version:         ??? (???)
Build Info:      iPhotoProject-6150000~1
Code Type:       X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [135]
Date/Time:       2011-07-31 13:15:16.679 -0400
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Report Version: 6
Interval Since Last Report:          14716 sec
Crashes Since Last Report:           36
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   10
Anonymous UUID:                      6E3CAB0C-061D-4097-ABC1-D1E4ED15272A
Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0
Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMedia.framework/Versions/A/CoreMedia
Referenced from: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ProKit.framework/Versions/A/ProKit
Reason: image not found
Binary Images:
0x8fe00000 - 0x8fe4163b dyld 132.1 (???) <4CDE4F04-0DD6-224E-ACE5-3C06E169A801> /usr/lib/dyld
Model: iMac9,1, BootROM IM91.008D.B08, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.06 GHz, 4 GB, SMC 1.45f0
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4850, ATI Radeon HD 4850, PCIe, 512 MB
Memory Module: global_name
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x8E), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.42.4)
Bluetooth: Version 2.4.5f3, 2 service, 12 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD1001FALS-40K1B0, 931.51 GB
Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA11N
USB Device: Built-in iSight, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8502, 0x24400000 / 4
USB Device: Ext HDD 1021, 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.), 0x1021, 0x24300000 / 3
USB Device: Keyboard Hub, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x1006, 0x24100000 / 2
USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x0304, 0x24130000 / 7
USB Device: Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver V2.0, 0x045e (Microsoft Corporation), 0x071f, 0x24110000 / 6
USB Device: Apple Keyboard, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x0220, 0x24120000 / 5
USB Device: Hub, 0x050d (Belkin Corporation), 0x0234, 0x26400000 / 2
USB Device: Deskjet 6940 series, 0x03f0 (Hewlett Packard), 0x8904, 0x26420000 / 4
USB Device: CanoScan, 0x04a9 (Canon Inc.), 0x221f, 0x26410000 / 3
USB Device: IR Receiver, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8242, 0x04500000 / 2
USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub, 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0x06100000 / 2
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8215, 0x06110000 / 3
FireWire Device: My Book, WD, Up to 800 Mb/sec
FireWire Device: d2 DVDRW FW/USB, LaCie, Up to 400 Mb/sec
FireWire Device: LaCie d2 Extreme LUN 0, LaCie Group SA, Up to 800 Mb/sec

This has affected a number of people who reverted from 10.7 to 10.6. Iphoto is missing some background framework that it needs.
"Library not loaded: .../Versions/A/CoreMedia
...Reason: image not found"
A reinstall may help:
To re-install iPhoto
1. Put the iPhoto.app in the trash (Drag it from your Applications Folder to the trash)
2a: On 10.5: Go to HD/Library/Receipts and remove any pkg file there with iPhoto in the name.
2b: On 10.6: Those receipts may be found as follows: In the Finder use the Go menu and select Go To Folder. In the resulting window type
/var/db/receipts/
2c: on 10.7 they're at
/private/var/db/receipts
A Finder Window will open at that location and you can remove the iPhoto pkg files.
3. Re-install.
If you purchased an iLife Disk, then iPhoto is on it.
If iPhoto was installed on your Mac when you go it then it’s on the System Restore disks that came with your Mac. Insert the first one and opt to ‘Install Bundled Applications Only.
If you purchased it on the App Store you can find it in your Purchases List.
However, if that doesn't help - and in the case of Core Media I wold have my doubts - you'll need to reinstall the OS.
I also go to "Finder>Pictures>iPhoto Library" and there is nothing there. No arrow saying there is something inside, no list of folders titled with what roll or event they belong to.. nothing.
This is normal. Since iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is a Package File. This is simply a folder that +looks+ like a file in the Finder. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.

Switch from Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard

I have a 2 year old MacBook and about a month ago installed Mountain Lion. After countless hours of struggling with the new mail program and a few other OS issues, I have buyer's remorse and want to go back. Is this possible? I would be happy just to have the older Mail program. Otherwise, I'm going to Thunderbird, which I really don't want to do.
PH
Morro Bay, CA

If I back up my computer on an external hard drive, will everything be intact: my files, mail, apps, music?
When you said to install it on a blank partition, what does that mean? Do I need to do something after that?

How do I uninstall mountain lion and reinstall snow leopard

If I had known that I would not be able to use my excel files I would not have purchased OSX Mountain Lion. Is there a way to uninstall mountain lion and reinstall snow leopard?
Thank you,

To get more to the point the answer is the only way to go back to SnowLeopard is if you have a complete backup of your system from before the upgrade.
If you do you would boot off your original SL DVD wipe the disk and install SL and then restore from your SL backups.
Short of that here is no way to go back. But as the others have offered there are other less drastic means to deal with the problem.
regards

HT3910 How do I erase Mountain Lion and reinstall Snow Leopard?

Can anyone help me erase Mountain Lion and reinstall Snow Leopard. When I had installed Mountain Lion,I discovered that my music notation program, Overture was not working with Mountain Lion. Please help me, years of work is for now lost.

Back up your data files.
Use the Snow Leopard installer disc to completely erase your hard drive and everything on it.
Re-install the SL operating system, then all your applications, then your data files.
If you happened to make a bootable backup clone of your hard drive before installing Mountail Lion then you can just clone the backup back to your drive.

Why am I getting a white screen after downloading to OSX Mountain lion from OSX Snow Leopard. What caused this?

I just upgraded to OSX Mountain Lion from OSX Snow Leopard, thinking this was the thing to do. I have NEVER had any problems with Snow Leopard, but
after just a few days after downloading OSX Mountain Lion when I turned the computer on, the screen was white. Stayed white. I had to go onto another
computer to find out what to do. What caused this and will this happen again?

Did you see a circle made of light grey hash marks in the center/bottom of the screen? My iMac is 5 years old and for every update until 10.8.2 I would get the same white screen and the first few times I paniced and thought the machine was broken! Just let it play out until the desktop comes back up and it should not do it again until you do a system update.

How do you erase mountain lion to install snow leopard?

Hi, My mother now has a new to her late 09 mini that originally shipped with snow leopard. When she bought it it came with mountain lion preinstalled from a private seller. We were thinking that to be on the safe side that it might be better to erase and install what's on it just to be sure it is secure. I tried to erase and install snow leopard from a disk but it says that the installer is not compatible with this version of osx(mountain lion). Question: How do I erase mountain lion and install snow leopard?
I've read here that there is possibly a built in recovery disk that I can use to erase and reinstall mountain lion. Q: Is there a built in recovery disk available in my situation? and if so should I use it or be even safer by installing snow leopard instead?
Thank you,

I think I found the answer (from sl install disk use disk utility to erase then install sl). Thanks for looking.

I reformatted from lion back to snow leopard how do i get my music back i have it on my iphone and when i sync up i still do not have my music on my mac how do i transfer it back to my mac

i reformatted my mac pro from lion back to snow leopard how do i get my music back. i have it on my iphone and when i sync up i still do not have my music on my mac how do i transfer it back to my mac.

Wow, you didn't make a backup of your files first?
You shoudl have come here first for help before doing that.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201
All I can say is make sure you have the same account name on the computer like before, even if you have to create a new user under System Preferences>accounts, then log into your itunes account with that and try to reverse sync from the iPhone like you would normally.
Apple doesn't expect one to go backwards, so they are not all that friendly, you may have to ask around on MacRumors for third party software that can reverse sync from iOS devices.
Good luck

Is mountain lion compatible with snow leopard?

is mountain lion compatible with snow leopard? can you use the same version of iTunes

VMware and Toaster can be upgraded to versions that will run on Mountain Lion.
I was not able to find anything on PalmPilot for Mountain Lion. Of course seeing as how it is at least 15 years old that doesn't surprise me.
As I see you want to run two operating systems which means rebooting to use them just for PalmPilot. IMHO that is a lot of effort on your part for a very small gain.
Allan

Why can't brand new MacBookPro9,1 (OEM Mountain-Lion) boot from Snow Leopard on external drive, or internal partition?

Why can't brand new MacBookPro9,1 (OEM Mountain-Lion) boot from Snow Leopard on external drive, or internal partition?
Is this because of hardware changes? Or firmware changes? Or is it just and Apple Inc. administrative fiat?

@Steve Holton: Sorry Steve, but you're wrong about that one . I'm using 10.8 (purchased and downloaded) on the internal HD of this MBP8,3 (2.2 GHz, 17"), and I am also able to boot into 10.7.4 and 10.6.8 from external FW800 partitions.
However, I DO have problems with my MBP9,1. It came with 10.7.4 installed and ran fine. Then I purchased and installed 10.8. It ran fine but could no longer boot from 10.7.4 on an external partition. I then reinstalled 10.7.4 on the internal HD and discovered that it is still unable to boot (even 10.7.4) from an external FW800 partition.
One of Apple's Senior Support Advisors has done some remote troubleshooting but the case is still open and unresolved. An earlier Apple Support case suggested that when, I installed the downloaded copy of 10.8, there had been a "firmware update" (behind the scenes) that is now causing the problems with booting from my external partition(s). This apparently is "a bug": it is not what is supposed to happen.
So - I believe - "the problem" really has nothing to do with hardware capability. It is strictly about Apple's strategy for "managing its future customer base". If you don't like it - use something else - I am seriously considering Ubuntu as an alternative.
If there's a hidden caveat in all this it's probably "Read Appple's Licence Agreement VERY Carefully".

Downgrade Lion back to Snow Leopard

I have a 3 month old macBook Pro - which came with Snow leopard (I have the original Snow Leopard install disc)
I have installed Lion but want to revert back to Snow Leopard
but Snow Laeoprd install app won't work under Lion using the DVD
as yet there is nothing on this laptop that I need - so I won't need a backup - I just want to get rid of lion & have a fresh start
When I try to boot from the Snow Leopard install disc (by holding C or option key) - I get a grey panic screen which says "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button until it turns off, then press the power button again"
I have done this several times - but when holding "c" I get the same message
any ideas ?

that thread assumes you can boot from the SL install DVD - there is no way my MacBook pro will do that
as I stated
When I try to boot from the Snow Leopard install disc (by holding C or option key) - I get a grey panic screen which says "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button until it turns off, then press the power button again"
there seems to be no way I can get into the disc to allow me to delete Lion and replace it with Snow Leopard

How do i go from lion back to snow leopard

I have a HP Officejet 8500 printer/scanner/fax and since I've upgraded to Lion OS X 10.7.5 I can no longer scan from my computer like I did previously. I don't know if it was a previous version of Lion or Snow Leopard. If I can downgrade from 10.7.5 to see if that will scan, that is my first choice. If not, I'd like to go back to Snow Leopard. I am using USB instead of wireless.

Akeen1 wrote:
HP Officejet 8500 printer/scanner/fax
Those models usually have custom drivers you need to install as it also includes software and the upgrade wiped it out.
Check the HP website and search for drivers for your model/OSX version and install it.
If you want to downgrade (upgrade ) to Snow Leopard anyway, this is how to go about it.
How to revert your Mac to Snow Leopard
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
For Snow Leopard Speed Freaks

TS4088 Was this issue fixed with Mountain Lion? in Snow Leopard 10.6.8 is fixed, Lion not fixed... and Mountain Lion ?

I rolled back to Snow Leopard to fix this issue, I wondered if Apple fix this in Mountain Lion?...anyone there with a Mid 2010 MBP 15" with the display issue upgraded to Mountain Lion and the issue was fixed?.... Please let me know.
Regards,

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Downgrading Mountain Lion back to Snow Leopard

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