How do I install Snow Leopard over 10.5.8

I have just recently acquired a MacBookPro from a friend of mine who's father has passed away. I am able to access the computer without a password but the admin is still set to his father and he doesn't know the password. I have the Snow Leopard OS and want to do a clean install like it came from the factory with no personalization. This is the first time I have owned a MacBookPro so I am unsure how to do a clean install of Snow Leopard over the exiting OS 10.5.8 and if I have to delete that OS first. How do I do that?

Insert a retail DVD, restart with the C key held down, use the Disk Utility to erase the internal drive, and install Snow Leopard.
While the retail DVD can be used to create a fully functional OS, it can’t perform a true factory restore; it won’t install any of the iLife applications.
(111513)

Similar Messages

  • I accidentally downloaded lion. I did a timemachine back-up and tried to reload snow leopard. It will not accept. How do I re-install snow leopard over lion?

    I accidently installed lion on my mac book pro. I did a time machine back-up. When i try to re-install snow leopard, it won't take. Any suggestions on how to install snow leopard over lion?

    Accidentally, eh? How, might I ask?
    Downgrade Lion to Snow Leopard
    1.  Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button.  When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
    This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.
    If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.  If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

  • How to install Snow leopard over mavericks?

    I bought an old computer in the fall, and tried to install MAvericks on it.  It allowed me to do it, but now an error message always comes up saying that there is a compatibility issue.  I read that I could buy and install Snow Leopard and then move on to mavericks once that was installed.  I have purchased that, but now I am not able to install Snow leopard.  I get an error message that says I cannot install snow leopard over mavricks.
    My question is:  how do i get rid of mavericks so that I can install snow leopard (and then eventually move on to mavericks).
    Thanks

    First, you installed Mavericks (10.9.x) so YOU DON'T NEED TO BUY OR INSTALL Snow Leopard (10.6.x)
    That its for people whith older systems (10.5.x as example) in order to download and install Mavericks.
    As you could download and install Mavericks your system was already 10.6, 10.7 or 10.8.
    Second, you have installed an application that its not compatible with Mavericks, so you need to rip that only app.
    That app its Quay Menu in the web, you can download the new compatible version, or manually uninstall it in order to stop that errors:
    If you're upgrading to Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), you must update Quay to version 1.1.5 first!
    If you've upgraded without uninstalling, you'll see a repeated error popup. To stop this, first paste this line into the Terminal:
    launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/net.brockerhoff.QuayMenu.plist
    and then trash the file "/Library/Application Support/Quay.quay".

  • How do I install snow leopard on a 2.1 ghz macbook with 10.5.8 Leopard installed?  I have a 10.6.2 unstall disk.  It says it can't install snow leopard on this computer.

    How do I install Snow Leopard on my Macbook 2.1 ghz, with 10.5.8 Leopard installed?
    I have the install disk for Snow Leopard 10.6.2, but when using it for installation, it
    states that "Snow Leopard cannot be installed on this computer"!
    I understand some features of iOS5 cannot be used unless my iMac and Macbook have
    10.7 Lion installed.  Correct?

    It sounds like your Snow Leopard install disk is the disk that came with another model of Mac (grey lable with no pictures). If so, that's not legal and won't work. You need a retail (white label with the picture of a snow leopard) copy of the installer for each system that didn't come with Snow Leopard.
    Regards.

  • How can I install Snow Leopard on my 15" MacBook Pro without using its DVD drive?

    How can I install Snow Leopard on my 15" MacBook Pro without using its DVD drive?

    I'm assuming your dvd drive is broken? if you have a thumb drive large enough (8GB or better), you can use another computer to make a bootable image from the install dvd to the thumb drive. then you can install from the the thumb drive.
    Ihttp://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
    that's a step by step walkthrough.

  • How can i install snow leopard on my mac G5 using a command line and booting from an external usb rom, since my disk i have is not a bootable media

    How can i install snow leopard on my mac G5 using a command line and booting from an external usb rom, since my disk i have is not a bootable media

    Hi.
    You simply can't. Snow Leopard is compiled in Intel binary only.
    Good Luck.

  • How can i install snow leopard together with lion, on a Lion based MacBook Pro ultimo 2011

    Hi
    How can I install Snow Leopard on a Lion Based MacBook Pro ultimo 2001. I will both have installed Snow Leopard and Lion on my computer, but how can i do that?
    I have purchaded Snow Leopard, but I can installed it
    Pls can anyone help me
    Best regards and merry christmas
    Robert

    Apple figures that having supported PowerPC code for the last 6 years is enough so they dropped it.
    Why should they have to support some that old forever? It doesn't make good business sense to support some that so few will use.
    If you must play those games, my suggestion is to get an older Mac that will support PowerPC. It is going to be a difficult task to get Snow Leopard to run on a new Mac.
    Allan

  • Can I install Snow Leopard over Lion to install old software after hard drive crashed?

    My hard drive crashed and I lost everything.  I have a new hard drive, but when the repair shop installed my operating system, they installed Lion and I no longer have my prior updates.  My computer had been updated a few times.  I have a lot of software that only can be installed up to 10.7 such as Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, Office Mac 2011, etc.  I was wondering if I installed Snow Leopard over Lion, would I lose Lion?  Should I install Snow Leopard and then Lion again?  I don't want to damage my like new computer and I don't want to have to go out and buy all new software.  Is there a solution?  Thanks in advance!

    Sounds complicated!  If I repartition the drive and install Snow Leopard onto the blank volume, will Lion still be there?  Or, will the computer basically have two operating systems that I have to go back and forth from.  Is this something a novice like myself can do?

  • Trying to re-install Snow Leopard over Lion and Macbook Pro is beeping like a memory failure

    I installed Lion on my work 15" MacBook Pro i7 to give it a go, and it's not working with the system we use for Active Directory login, so I need to roll back to Snow Leopard.
    I don't have a Time Machine backup, but I have pulled all the data I need from the machine, and have wiped the hard disk ready to reinstall Snow Leopard.
    I have a retail copy of Snow Leopard that I've recently used successfully for fresh installs on other machines, but now once I insert the DVD into this machine that's had Lion on it, it's not responding and just making alarming BEEP BEEP BEEP noises.
    I googled that and it might be bad RAM (possible, but unlikely? the machine has been running very well up until now)
    I've wiped the PRAM, but the instructions for wiping the SMC are a bit cryptic for these machines ...
    Does anyone have any clues as to what might be causing this? A firmware issue of some sort?
    Maybe the hidden EFI partition on the drive won't let you install Snow Leopard over a disk that's had Lion?

    Might be some useful info here:
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1175934
    " I used target disk mode to install Snow Leopard on its partition. I used a friends Macbook Pro, but I put my machine into target disk mode and ran the installer from his user account and optical drive. From a couple things I read online, it seems that Apple recommends putting the other machine in target disk mode and doing it the other way around. I guess some critical files might not have been installed? I also used a retail copy of Snow Leopard instead of my grey recovery disk, so that might be it too. "
    "Your machine is newer than the retail copy of Snow Leopard. Use the restore disks it came with.
    The installation will need to be done from your machine. You may need to do a net install, so look at "Remote Install Mac OS X" in Utilities."
    I'm currently installing from the macbook firewired to the other machine as recommended so hopefully that might help

  • Installing snow leopard over lion

    I just bought a MBP two days ago with Lion preinstalled and i want to install snow leopard.
    i have the retail dvd of SL but after it starts booting from DVD it appears the "You need to restart your computer. Hold Down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button"
    http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7792/pict0017lo8.jpg
    the dvd works ok in another older MBP 2008.
    how can i install SL?

    Two things,
    First Mac's can't c or option boot off install disks that the OS isnt' designed for it or doesn't have the hardware drivers required on the disk.
    Second the grey disks are machine model specific, meaning you can only use them with another exact model machiine.
    Thrid Apple restricts booting off of earlier OS X install disks in the firmware, but if the OS gets on the drive and it works for the hardware, it will run. But not well on all machines, but yours is likely going to be fine.
    So you want to get 10.6 on a factory 10.7 Mac, it's possible if Apple hasn't done any changes lately, your likely going to need another Mac that can boot off the 10.6.3 disks and apply the 10.6.8 combo update together so the drivers are together, then imaged to a wiped hard drive or partition using Firewire Target Disk Mode and another Mac.
    "The Proceedure" is here and there are links to discussions and updates all over the web.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3264421?start=0&tstart=0
    You also may need to read my post about restoring Lion before you erase the disk, you need to copy the Lion Recovery Partiton first with the Lion Disk Assistant. Cloning will also help a LOT.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

  • How do I install Snow Leopard while keeping files, applications, and settings

    I need to update my system, I realized that I need Snow Leopard (quiet late) before Maverick. My question is, how can I install it keeping files and all the data. I found this on Internet, does it work?
    Install Snow Leopard while keeping files, applications, and settings
    If you follow these steps, the installer will replace your operating system if one is already present, but will preserve your account information and personal files.  You may have to reinstall some applications, however.
    Insert the install disc (or the first install disc if you have more than one) into your disc drive. Restart your computer while holding down the c key. This causes your computer to start up from the install disc rather than your hard drive. When you see the gray Apple insignia, release c . 
    The Mac OS X installer should open automatically. Follow the on-screen prompts to read and accept the license agreement and begin the installation. When prompted to choose a destination disk, select your preferred location and click Install. 
    When the Mac OS X installation finishes with the disc, restart your computer. After the installation completes, a configuration program may begin automatically if you are installing for the first time. You will need to supply basic setup information for your computer. 
    Update your system software to ensure that you have the most recent operating system components.  From the Apple menu, select Software Update... , and then follow the instructions on the screen. Often, you will have to restart your computer, and you may have to run Software Update multiple times before it can completely update your system.

    That's why you need to back it up. You won't need to restore the backup immediately afterwards unless something goes wrong during the upgrade, but you'll need it later; the drive will eventually fail.
    (105428)

  • How do I install Snow Leopard using another computer?

    My 2009 MacBook meets all the criteria for the Snow Leopard upgrade, but my dvd drive is broken. Every time insert the dvd it is spit out (it is the same for audio cd's as well). I have tried repairing the drive and installing snow leopard using an external dvd drive (with no luck). I need a simple guide for using another computer to do the upgrade. My boyfriend has a newer MacBook Pro and I believe is operating on Lion. I want to use his computer to upgrade mine, is it possible eventhough we are on different operating systems?

    How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

  • How Best To Install Snow Leopard For A Non-Techy?

    What is the best route to go down to install Snow Leopard please? I received my copy on Saturday but I'm apprehensive at installing it!
    When I installed Leopard I ended up with a lot of problems, some of which are still not resolved, such as the non-recognition of log-in passwords etc. I still have to provide a password when switching back and forth between users and in order to close down I have to log out all users individually!
    As a keen Mac-user (but by no means a technical expert) I would like my Snow Leopard experience to be as painless as possible, so how best to install it please and at the same time eliminate my old Leopard problems outlined above?
    Message was edited by: Julian Brown

    Julian Brown wrote:
    As a keen Mac-user (but by no means a technical expert) I would like my Snow Leopard experience to be as painless as possible, so how best to install it please and at the same time eliminate my old Leopard problems outlined above?
    For the most painless upgrade possible, I suggest you just follow the instructions under the heading "Upgrading Mac OS X" in the Snow Leopard Installation Instructions document.
    As a precaution, you may want to run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" step first. You can also run the "Repair Permissions" step if you want but I doubt that is necessary.
    Your 'old problems' aren't problems, AFAIK. You must always provide a password to change accounts & all accounts must be logged out to shut down or restart the computer. These steps insure the privacy of each user's account & make sure each user has a chance to save any open documents before the computer shuts down. IOW, they are desirable features, not problems!

  • Installing Snow Leopard over Mavericks

    I messed up my Mavericks installation by using CleanMyMac, and cannot user software update, download from the App Store, use Preview or a number of different apps. System Restore does not work for some reason, maybe CMM messed that up too.
    I am going to reinstall Snow Leopard, then redownload Mavericks. And never use CleanMyMac again!!!
    I cannot erase my hard drive, the button is grayed out. Can I just reinstall Snow Leopard over Mavericks - I don't care about backing up any data.
    Thanks

    If you have the Snow Leopard install disks you can proceed as described above. It makes no difference that the Mac came with Leopard (you just can't install a system older than the one the Mac came with). However you will need to erase the disk: you can't install an older system over a newer one.

  • How to re install snow leopard after bad lion installation

    I installed Lion but it's a nightmare I want to re install snow leopard. How can I do this? I have time machine !
    Thanks

    Robert Farthing wrote:
    Switch off your computer, hold down the option key (usually the key between the ctrl and the cmd keys).
    Keeping a finger on the option key, press the start button.
    Keep holding the option key as the computer re-boots.
    Eventually you will be presented with some options on the screen, one of them will be to restore from Time Machine.
    No, you missed a step.  You'll see the Recovery HD as one of the options.  From that, you can reinstall Lion or restore a Lion Time Machine backup.
    But do not use that procedure to restore a Snow Leopard backup;  instead, use the procedure in #14 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

Maybe you are looking for