How to downgrade to SL from Lion?

Question

I have a 21.5 inch iMac that I want to re-install so I can sell it in a clean state. Unfortunately, I lost my original install discs so I called Apple Care (who don't care AT ALL) and they told me that they no longer are able to ship out replacement discs and my only option is to purchase a SL disc on the online store. I ordered a SL install DVD and once it arrived found that my iMac won't boot from this disc.
So, I called Apple tech support again and was now told that I can't do what they had suggested I do as described above because apparetnly OS X Lion makes changes to the iMac.
I am left *really* frustrated with Apple's arrogance and unwillingness to help. The agent's only response was to point me to the legal agreement for OS X  Lion and he also stated "it's in there somewhere" but couldn't be more specific.
Has anyone been successful in obtaining replacement discs? if so, how?

Answer 1

92656iPhone wrote:
I have a 21.5 inch iMac that I want to re-install so I can sell it in a clean state. Unfortunately, I lost my original install discs so I called Apple Care (who don't care AT ALL) and they told me that they no longer are able to ship out replacement discs and my only option is to purchase a SL disc on the online store. I ordered a SL install DVD and once it arrived found that my iMac won't boot from this disc.
Ok I get three 21.5" iMac's
1: Late 2009 - Came with 10.6.1 - 10.6.2  this computer will hold c or option key boot off the 10.6.3 retail disk and erase and install 10.6
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
2: Mid 2010 - Came with 10.6.3 - 10.6.4 this computer will NOT boot off the 10.6.3 retail disk (despite what some Apple employees say, no hardware drivers for your machine)
3: Mid 2011 - Came with 10.6.6 - 10.6.7 this computer will NOT boot off the 10.6.3 retail disk
So, I called Apple tech support again and was now told that I can't do what they had suggested I do as described above because apparently OS X Lion makes changes to the iMac.
Only to the hard drive which can be entirely erased and 10.6.x placed back on as the machine came with it.
The firmware or anything else is not changed to deny booting off the 10.6 disk, provided it's the right one.
The agent's only response was to point me to the legal agreement for OS X  Lion and he also stated "it's in there somewhere" but couldn't be more specific.
The legal agreement with Mac App Store software (which 10.7 is upgraded from 10.6.8 with) is your supposed to erase it when changing ownership.
Tell them you either need a notarized waiver or the 10.6.x machine specific disks or expect them to hear from your attorney.
Make sure you get their names or employee ID information, that usally gets their attention and a bump up to a smarter animal.
You can't open the iMac and replace the drive neither, like one can in a MacPro or MacBook Pro, so you need the correct disks.
You can choose to erase and install Lion, but it will be using your AppleID.  Lion isn't copy protected, but the MAS software is so you can't restore that.
To boot off the 10.7+ Recovery HD partition, hold command r (or option) and reboot. Use Disk Utility to erase the OS X or second partition with the Security Option Zero to remove bad sectors. The "Zero" option is one step below the maximum 7x setting.
Use the installer with a good reliable fast Internet connection to reinstall Lion.
About the Recovery HD 10.7+   How to secure delete data from the machine
This wipe and install method is usually used as a last resort when Disk Utility is unable to see or repair the drive. Or if ownership of the machine is being passed to another.
When OS X is reinstalled using this method, upon reboot the Welcome to Mac video shows and will repeat unless a new account is created.
The problem with leaving 10.7 on the machine is if the next owner is a criminal online and the cops go to Apple for information, your AppleID is the last OS X version downloaded to the machine.