How to Downgrade to Snow Leopard from Retail disk

Hi there
We have a new iMac at work bought through Apple's refurb site. It is running the latest version of Lion with all firmware updates, etc. It is replacing a G5 running Tiger.
The problem is this – it is supposed to be running Adobe CS5, but also CS4 (and Office would be handly also)
We have other macs here, some running Leopard, some Snow Leopard, but the Adobe apps are not happy at all in Lion, and InDesign CS4 crashes all the time and won't even print without jumping through a million hoops (obviously the Office 2004 app won't run at all).
Due to the level of issues we are having with Lion (and the reliability of the all the software under Snow Leopard) I am looking to downgrade to Snow Leopard.
I have a full retail version of Snow Leopard (10.6.3), but the Lion system won't boot from the disk, it just gets to the grey screen, and beeps three times. I presume this means that there isn't the required drivers on the disk to run the hardware, or there's a firmware update that doesn't allow installation.
Am i totally stuck with this OS? I was looking to install Snow Leopard on a partiton, but when i run the install disk from the Lion desktop, it reports that I can't run it because 'I have Install Mac OS X 23.1.1.'
I would really like to just have Snow Leopard on my iMac, or failing that, Lion on a small partition, and Snow Leopard and all the programs on the larger partition that I would boot from.
Any ideas how I can get this done? Adobe CS suite is just rubbish on Lion macs, and runs worse than on my old Tiger mac.
Thanks in advance,
M.

Mac_fool wrote:
oh right - so clone Mac B onto Mac A HD in taget disk mode using SuperDuper (or Carbon Copy Cloner), then i'll be able to boot Mac A in SL.
I understand that Mac A wouldn't boot, I was going to make Mac A's SL partition the start-up partition for Mac B, and then try and install OS updates to 10.6.8 from Mac B. Once updates are installed - change Mac B's startup disk back, and then surely Mac A would be able to boot all on it's own...
I'm not sure if this would work in Target Disk Mode, but if you succeed in cloning Mac B to Mac A, you may be able to apply the Combo 10.6.8 update to Mac A while booting from Mac B. The key is that the Combo updater may be able to customize the Snow Leopard installation for the hardware it's actually being applied to. Unless I missed it, we don't really know which iMac you have since it's a refurb. According to Mactracker, only the Late 2011 21.5" comes only with Lion and might not accept Snow Leopard at all. At the same time, it has the same Model Identifier as the Mid 2011, which came with 10.6.6 or 10.6.7 so it might work.
If at that point Mac A does boot in Snow Leopard, I'd advise running the 10.6.8 Combo updater again while booting from Mac A just to be safe.

Similar Messages

Can't find iPhoto photos after downgrading to Snow Leopard from Lion

I had my photos on my External Hard Drive being used as a backup for TIme Machine.
After downgrading to Snow Leopard from Lion (my computer was running rediculusly slow likely due to being so close to the minimum requirements), I can not access any of my Time Machine dates prior to the date I downgraded. I have reinstalled Lion to try to access the files that way, but am having issues finding my old photos.
Any help would be appreciated as I've got about 15000 photos of my kids on there.

There are issues with iphoto which changes versions..
I would strongly recommend you do an archive of the TC before you do any more playing.
I presume the TC is the only place you have these photos stored??? So your entire library is hard disk erase from total annilahation.. not good!!
Load a real utility into Lion.. archive is not present on the new version.. why apple why??
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
You can then do a full restore to an external drive.. or something fancy..
Pondini is the saviour here.
http://pondini.org/TM/15.html
There is a specific section on iphoto and its pain.
I strongly suggest you read the entire section from Q14-18 so you actually understand what TM does.

How can I remove Snow leopard from my Mac, it crash all important programs

Please tell me how I can remove Snow Leopard from my machine & revert back to Leopard 10.5.8
Since I loaded Snow leopard, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark & Mail all quit over & over again. I never had ANY of these issues before loading snow leopard. I rely daily on the programs I listed. I am not saying once in a while, but constantly; opening the programs, exporting, placing graphics, emailing, you name it, it quits the program I am in. I keep sending apple the crash reports, but I am afraid I have reached my end. (Apple must have a folder fu;l of crashes with my email address in it by now.)
To maintain my sanity PLEASE tell me there is a way to do this without risking loosing any of my data.
I do have time machine hooked up.
Please be a life saver (sanity saver) and tell me how to get Snow Leopard off my machine!!!!!

First, Welcome to the Discussions,
Second, there is no way to successfully degrade an OS to a previous version. You would have to install anew a previous OS, thereby erasing all your data. Then you would take that version up as far as you want to go.
Of course if you've been using Time Machine you can recover to the prior system and retain your files using that.
Best of all would be to have a firewire external drive and use an app like this to make a clone on. No worries then if one wants to go back before any major changes very precisely.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Good luck.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
Message was edited by: Samsara

I want to downgrade to Snow Leopard from Lion

Hi
Can someone please tell me how I can downgrade from OSX Lion to Snow Leopard on my brand new 27" iMac.
I spoke to Apple over a week ago on the phone and explained that I wanted to downgrade to Snow Leopard and the chap I spoke to sold me the Snow Leopard upgrade disk and not the full installion DVD, I already own the Snow Leopard upgrade disk so now I have two copies and I can't use them to downgrade.
All I get when I insert the DVD is a message saying "you can't use this version of the application Install Mac Os X with this version of Mac OS X"...
Could someone please tell me exactly what Snow Leopard disks/ DVD I need to purchase (and where) for me to install Snow Leopard on my iMac. I have seen lots of different "versions" on eBay & Amazon with vastly differing prices but how do I know which disks I need to buy as I don't want to end up purchasing a third "Upgrade only" versionof Snow Leopard.
Thank you for any help you can give me with this...

I've already tried all of those methods using the 10.6.3 disks I bought, they simply don't work as I posted earlier.
All that happens is the machine constantly bleeps 3 times in a row and the DVD drive stops spinning. I know booting from a DVD install disk is a slow process but no matter how long I leave it nothing happens except for the 3 bleeping sounds.
Having scoured the net and spoken to Apple themselves all information tells me these 10.6.3 disks are actually for someone upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard.
I have no idea why Apple sold me this version as before I ordered it I explained fully to the sales person what I was wanting to do and they had all the details of this mid 2011 iMac I have bought. So unless the sales person didn't have a clue what they were talking about then I should be able to "downgrade" to Snow Leopard on this iMac as even the specs for this model clearly state on everymac.com that it originaly shipped with OS 10.6.6 (Snow Leapard)
http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/?compare=all-intel-macs&hi ghlight=0&prod1=iMacIntel041
So there must be somewhere I can purchase these 10.6.6 install disks to "downgrade". Trouble is on Ebay or Amazon where you can buy Snow Leopard most of them are 10.6.3 or "retail" versions with no actual version numbers to let me know I'm buying the correct disk.
Who would have thought setting up your computer could be a mission impossible task and why Apple don't help is simply a disgrace to be honest.

How do you reinsatll snow leopard from an external optical drive

Both my hard drive and superdrive crapped out. How do i reinstall from an external USB optical drive? I am having a complete brain **** at the moment!

If your replacing your internal hard drive, why not also get the Superdrive replaced?
The OS X install disk supposedly won't boot from a external optical drive, only the internal one.
To OS X onto your new internal drive, your going to need another Mac with optical drive to take 10.6 off the disk and place it onto a bootable USB. Any Mac should do, as the 10.6 installer isn't going to be booted .
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
Other methods, requires another compatible Mac.
If you have machine specific 10.6 disks and you have another exact model of Mac, you can use a SATA to USB adapter (or enclosure) to use boot the second Mac with the disk and install 10.6 on the "extenral" drive, then place it back inside the other Mac.
If you have the 10.6.3 white retail so called "upgrade disk" for 10.5 (it also has the full 10.6 on it) and you have another Intel Mac that it's OS X version originally came with anything 10.6.2 or earlier, then it will boot that disk to install on the "external" drive, then it can be placed back into the other Mac.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Another internal drive access method is to use Firewire Target Disk Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Also one can use a external drive to install the compatible OS X version onto, then option key boot the Mac with the new drive off the external, install Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the extenral to the newly formatted internal drive.
Most commonly used backup methods

How do I deauthorize Snow Leopard from running on my computer?

Hi, I recently just purchased Snow Leopard 10.6.3 from Amazon.com for a ridiculous amount -- $130. It just finished installing on my computer and after doing a few software updates I now am currently downloading Mountain Lion. Does anyone know how I can deauthorize Snow Leopard so I can give it to other family members in my household who also want to make the jump from Leopard (10.5.8) to Mountain Lion?
Also, I heard there were some problems from people making this jump, does anyone know what to watch for and how I could prevent it? Any help would make me extremely grateful.
Thanks!

Thanks! Are you absoultely positive that it will work on another computer?
And do you know where I could get the box shrink wrapped? I tried the UPS Store and Staples to no avail. I want to return it so I can get the $29 version from Apple and save $110. But I accidentally took the top half of the shrink wrap off Please let me know!
Thanks Again !

Can't downgrade to Snow Leopard from Lion will not recognise imac dvd

iMac 27-inch, Mid 2010
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)
Can someone please tell me how I can downgrade from OS X Lion to Snow Leopard on my iMac
When i insert the DVD it just spins for about 10 seconds then ejects the dvd..
any help would be great thanks

Lion has installed a recovery partition on your Hard Drive and you must completely erase and reformat the Hard Drive before you can go back to Snow Leopard.
Check out some of downgrade threads just to the right in "More Like This"

How do I install snow leopard from the email/pdf Apple sent me if I dont have the Mac App store?

I need to update my Mac to snow leopard. I purchased it online, and they sent me an email with the redemption code. The instructions say I have to redeem it from the Mac App Store, but since you have to have Snow Leopard or higher to get the Mac App Store, I don't know how to redeem my purchase....please help.

You have half of the equation. Buy Snow Leopard and when the DVD arrives you use it to upgrade your Leopard system or erase the drive and install a clean copy of Snow Leopard. If you decide to do the former then be sure you use Disk Utility to repair the hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your 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. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If you choose the latter do the following:
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. 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.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Sign into the App Store with your Apple ID and password. Click on the Featured icon in the toolbar. On the right below Quick Links you will see the Redeem link. Click on it to redeem Mountain Lion.

How to downgrade to Snow leopard

I upgraded to Lion and little to early for my tastes now. I would like to downgarde to Snow Leopard, so I can run Pro Tools. I know I can do this via Snow Leopard Install disk, then Time Machine. My CD drive is out of commision, so I have the image on a thumb drive. When I try to boot from the thumb drive, the apple logo appears, but then thats it, nothing else happens. I tred to see if it would al least boot of the thumb drive on my macbook pro, and it works fine, so I know i out it on the drive correctly. ANyway to downgrade back to Snow Leopard? Can I do that via the Lion image? Thanks

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. I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.

How do I install Snow Leopard from grey screen?

I have an iMac that went to a grey screen. I could not veryify or repair HD - had to erase (repaird and verified HD after erase). Tried to reinstall Snow Leopard. However, in order to get to the install screen, I have to reboot several times. When the CD does show the install screen, it starts the installation, but soon quits, (after 4 hours, it still said 31 minutes and the blue bar had stopped-no sound coming from the iMac). I tried all of the on-line trouble shooting procedures before having to erase the HD. Luckily everything is backed up on the Time Machine HD. All peripherial equipment is disconnected - even the Crucial memory module is removed, leaving a 1 GB Apple memory module in. I have tried several times to reinstall S/L, the iMac seems to start OK and then just goes to sleep after a short time. Any answers?

I have an iMac that went to a grey screen. I could not veryify or repair HD - had to erase (repaird and verified HD after erase). Tried to reinstall Snow Leopard. However, in order to get to the install screen, I have to reboot several times. When the CD does show the install screen, it starts the installation, but soon quits, (after 4 hours, it still said 31 minutes and the blue bar had stopped-no sound coming from the iMac). I tried all of the on-line trouble shooting procedures before having to erase the HD. Luckily everything is backed up on the Time Machine HD. All peripherial equipment is disconnected - even the Crucial memory module is removed, leaving a 1 GB Apple memory module in. I have tried several times to reinstall S/L, the iMac seems to start OK and then just goes to sleep after a short time. Any answers?

Hi,i want to know how to upgrade to snow leopard from leopard/

hi,
miy macbook is runing on Leopard and want to upgrade to snow leopard, i recived the OS X dVD.
how to install it and do i need to back my data ?
thanks

Upgrading to Snow Leopard
You must purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mountain Lion if your computer meets the requirements.
     Snow Leopard General Requirements
       1. Mac computer with an Intel processor
       2. 1GB of memory
       3. 5GB of available disk space
       4. DVD drive for installation
       5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
           fees may apply.
       6. Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and
           terms apply.

How to revert to Snow Leopard from time machine on Yosemite Device.

Hello everybody,
Essentially I need to revert back to OS Snow leopard on my new macbook that has Yosemite installed (bought secondhand) as a few of my DJ programs (Rekordbox) are not co-operating with the new OS. I have the back up on a hard drive made with Time Machine, is there any way I can do this?
My old Macbook pro is still working, its just the backlight has gone out, so I have to use a torch on the back to see what I'm doing. Everything still functions correctly on my old device, and I can use the carbon clone copy if need be. Really just need my old laptop's os/files on this new device with Yosemite on it.
Thanks in advance.

Do a backup, preferably 2 seperate ones.
Revert to a Previous OS X
Revert to Snow Leopard
If you do revert, I'd use Setup Assistant to restore your data. This process takes a while, so do it when you won't need the computer for several hours, based on my experience.

HT1338 how to cancel my snow leopard from the PC

I

Call a local PC or Mac tech and have them assist you.
We can only assist those who can help themselves.
Good Luck

Help Downgrade to Snow Leopard due to Constant Freezing from YouTube and Update Failures?

I love the new OSX Lion, however due to youtube being my most visited site, the widespread issue between new iMacs with Lion and Flash Player is bad enough that I would like to return to Snow Leopard. My computer has already frozen and needed to be restarted upwards of 15 times. If I no longer posses the Snow Leopard install disc (never thought I'd need it since I upgraded), is there any way for me to revert to Snow Leopard? I just can't stand the freezing, as well as how long it takes to restart following said crashes, it has rendered my mac nearly unusable. Also, when I run the Software update application, updates keep finishing downloading and then telling me that the download "Can not be saved" which forced me to move my music library to Spotify. Although after 3 days the iTunes update did finish however i did not want to go back to iTunes for fear of future problems. Help?

I've already tried all of those methods using the 10.6.3 disks I bought, they simply don't work as I posted earlier.
All that happens is the machine constantly bleeps 3 times in a row and the DVD drive stops spinning. I know booting from a DVD install disk is a slow process but no matter how long I leave it nothing happens except for the 3 bleeping sounds.
Having scoured the net and spoken to Apple themselves all information tells me these 10.6.3 disks are actually for someone upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard.
I have no idea why Apple sold me this version as before I ordered it I explained fully to the sales person what I was wanting to do and they had all the details of this mid 2011 iMac I have bought. So unless the sales person didn't have a clue what they were talking about then I should be able to "downgrade" to Snow Leopard on this iMac as even the specs for this model clearly state on everymac.com that it originaly shipped with OS 10.6.6 (Snow Leapard)
http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-comparison-chart/?compare=all-intel-macs&hi ghlight=0&prod1=iMacIntel041
So there must be somewhere I can purchase these 10.6.6 install disks to "downgrade". Trouble is on Ebay or Amazon where you can buy Snow Leopard most of them are 10.6.3 or "retail" versions with no actual version numbers to let me know I'm buying the correct disk.
Who would have thought setting up your computer could be a mission impossible task and why Apple don't help is simply a disgrace to be honest.

How can I Downgrade to Snow Leopard and keeping all 3rd party apps?

New to MacBookPro and really happy. With Lion...not so much. I want to downgrade to SL, however, apparently I must reformat the hard drive. Here´s the real question: If I have a backup of my entire HD with the user, docs and all the apps I have installed (on Lion), once I downgrade to Snow Leopard, can I just move all my apps from the back up disk I have made of my Lion-Running hard drive? In other words, How can I downgrade without having to reinstall every single third party app I have?

First, how new is this Mac? A Mac as a rule cannot boot to an older operating system version than that with which it was originally supplied. In other words, if this is a new MBP that came with Lion then you probably cannot get it to boot to SL.
Some applications (and I take it you do mean full "applications" rather than "apps" which are mobile device programs -- it helps to be clear o terminology) can just be dragged from place to place. Others, notably Adobe and Office, install things all over the place and unless you are good at finding hidden files with obscure names in 10 different places you will just have to re-install them.

How to Downgrade to Snow Leopard from Retail disk

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