Transferring Snow Leopard to new(er) Macbook

Sorry if this question has been answered a million times. Please feel free to direct me, via a link, to an appropriate answer. I need to transfer a retail copy of Snow Leopard from my '06 1.83Ghz Macbook to my new(er) 2008 2.4Ghz Macbook. I plan to swap hard drives. Do I need to and/or will I be able to transfer the Snow Leopard license? How do I go about transferring the license (if it's necessary and/or possible). Thanks for any help. (I have a very tenuous grasp on all computer-related endeavors. Yesterday, I managed to accidentally erase 193GB of music from not one, but two hard drives...ugh)

Is this Server or Client?
Mac OS client installs to not require a serial number. Apple depends on each individual to honor the license agreement. Meaning that if you only hold a single use license you will only install it on one machine and delete it from others.
If it is Server, then you can enter the server serial in Server Admin. Server will check to see if another copy of the license is running on the LAN. Again, according to the SLA you can only run one instance of a serial number.
Now, if the install is from a Grey OEM disk that shipped with a particular machine, you may have difficulties installing from disk.
What are your plans for the old machine? If you sell it, please be kind to the new owner and include the grey restore / install disks that shipped with it.

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Snow Leopard on new 2011 MacBook Pro?

I need to buy a new MacBook pro, as my early 2008 model just died on a road gig (4 months out of warranty) but most of my drafting software has been found to be incompatible with lion, is it possible/simple to put snow leopard on a brand new MBP 15"?

Yes. You can create a second partition on which to install a copy of Snow Leopard.
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Open Disk Utility and select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list.
2. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss. Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.

Had to get new hard disk for my macbook. After installing snow leopard on new HD the computer only connects to free wifi at certain places and not others. Took it to genius bar (of course it worked find there!) they said it was fine. Not!

Had to get new hard disk for my macbook. After installing snow leopard on new HD the computer only connects to free wifi at certain places and not others. Took it to genius bar (of course it worked find there!) they said it was fine. But problem persist.

Hi there ricalimo,
I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps in the article below. If the issue is location specific, than you may want to save the article so you can perform troubleshooting when you are experiencing trouble.
Wi-Fi: How to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connectivity
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4628
-Griff W.

Snow Leopard on New Macbooks

Hi! I have a need to install Snow leopard on new Macbook Pros (Mabcook8,1) and above.
If I use the retail version of the DVD, it says it does not support the hardware.
If I however, drop an image updated to 10.6.8, on the new Macbooks, it will work perfectly.
Will apple support this configuration? Will doing this invalidate my warranty?
Thanks,
Luis Feliz

no. that disk is hardware specific and will not work an another mac. it is also against ULA to do it. if you want to install SL on the other MBP, you need to buy a retail copy of SL.

Why can't I upgrade to yosemite? I'm currently running snow leopard on my white macbook.

Why can't I upgrade to yosemite? I'm currently running snow leopard on my white macbook.

White MacBooks are NOT eligible to upgrade to either 10.8 Mounain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks or 10.10 Yosemite.
You maybe able to upgrade your white MacBook to OS X 10.7 Lion
OS X Lion system requirements
To use Lion, make sure your computer has the following:
An Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
Mac OS X v10.6.6 or later to install via the Mac App Store (v10.6.8 recommended)
7 GB of available disk space
2 GB of RAM
You can purchase a OS X 10.7 Download code here.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion
Before embarking on a major OS upgrade, it would be wise, advisable and very prudent if you backup your current system to an external connected and Mac formatted Flash drive OR externally connected USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire 800, Mac formatted hard drive. Then, use either OS X Time Machine app to backup your entire system to the external drive OR purchase, install and use a data cloning app, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make an exact and bootable copy (clone) of your entire Mac's internal hard drive. This step is really needed in case something goes wrong with the install of the new OS or you simply do not like the new OS, you have a very easy way/procedure to return your Mac to its former working state.
Next,
If you run any older Mac software from the earlier PowerPC Macs, then none of this software will work with the newer OS X versions (10.7 and onward). OS X Snow Leopard had a magical and invisible PowerPC emulation application, called Rosetta, that worked seamlessly in the background that still allowed older PowerPC coded software to still operate in a Intel CPU Mac.
The use of Rosetta ended with OS X Snow Leopard as the Rosetta application was licensed to Apple, from a software company called Transitive, which got bought out, I believe, by IBM and Appe could no longer secure their rights to continue to use Rosetta in later versions of OS X.
So, you would need to check to see if you have software on your Mac that maybe older than, say, 2006 or older.
Also, check for app compatibilty here.
http://roaringapps.com/
If you have any commercial antivirus installed and/or hard drive cleaning apps installed on your Mac, like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneUpMyMac, MacCleanse, etc. now would be a good time to completely uninstall this apps by doing a Google search to learn how to properly uninstall these types of apps.
These types of apps will only cause your Mac issues later after the install of the new OS X version and you will have to completely uninstall these types of apps later.
Once you have determined all of this, you should be able download OS X 10.7 Luon from the Mac App Store icon in the OS X Dock and then login to the Mac App Store using your Apple ID and password.
You can then begin the download and installation process by using the paid download code to Download and install OS X 10.7 Lion rom the Mac App Store.
Good Luck!

Import contacts from old address book on MacBkPro Snow Leopard into new MacBk Pro Lion

How do I import my contacts from old address book on MacBkPro Snow Leopard into new MacBk Pro Lion (on MacBkPro Retina). I can see the "AddressBook" file on the old HD (extracted from old machine--which died) and have a copy of that file on to desktop of new machine. [Copied from old HD: Users/home/Library/Application Support/Address Book]. There is an Address Book in the same location on the "MacIntosh HD" of the new machine, but some of the files in that (new) folder have different names. Risky to simply over-ride this. What should I do?

My mistake - my groups are there! They transferred perfectly. Still getting used to my wonderful new machine. Sorry to bother you!

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 DO I INSTALL DISK OF MY NEW 10.6 SNOW LEOPARD ? NEW MAC DO NOT HAVE DVD ACCESS . BUT I WORK ON OLD MAC 10.4.11 TIGER THAT DO HAVE DVD ACCESS . HOW DO I CONNECT NEW AND OLD TO MAKE IT WORK ? THANKS

HOW DO I INSTALL DISK OF NEW 10.6 SNOW LEOPARD ? NEW MAC DO NOT HAVE DVD ACCESS . BUT I WORK ON OLD MAC 10.4. TIGER THAT DO HAVE DVD PLAYER . I KNOW THAT SHOULD BE EAZY . THANKS

You'll need to provide some more information .... what current mac mini do you have? Click on the apple in the left corner of the menu bar, click about this mac, and what does it say for processor, memory, and os x version?
When you say you have no DVD, do you have the mac mini server or is the DVD broken?
You can't do anything with 10.6 Snow Leopard on a PowerPC mini, however, if it is an Intel-based mini, you could probably hook up the systems in target disk mode to install 10.6.

How do I reinstall Snow Leopard on an erased MacBook?

I think I did something stupid. I used the Disk Utility Tool from a booted Snow Leopard installation disk to erase my Mac partition. I needed to erase all old data. My Windows XP partition works fine. My previous Mac partition still exists but has nothing on it. At first I thought the installation disk was bad. However, I have gotten through about 10 minutes of the installation several times, but I keep getting an error saying it is unable to copy files for the installation. I have used the booted installation Disk Utility to repair the partition a couple of times and everything runs OK. I no longer have the orignial restore disks so that is out as an option unless I can find them or some to borrow that happen to match this MacBook. Again, the machine was running fine until I decided to do a clean installation the way I did. I have since discovered from the Apple Web site that I should after run the installation from the same session where I zero-erased the partition. Thanks. In over 20 years of using and supporting Macs I have not seen this problem before.

Lyssa:
Thanks for your quick response. I am sorry for taking so long to give feedback. You were sort of right, but I never could boot from a different optical drive. However, your idea reinforced an idea we have been kicking around.
With firewire, I teathered my MacBook Pro (with Snow Leopard) to the leopardless MacBook. (Remember the MacBook did have two functioning partitions and the Boot Camp partition was working fine. The Mac partition had been erased.)
With the MacBook off, I booted the MacBook Pro and inserted the Snow Leopard installation disk. Then I powered on the MacBook while holding down the T key. The two MacBook partitions jumped up on my MacBook Pro and I started the installation from disk to the troubled MacBook Mac partition. The installation was quick and flawless.
I still don't know if my built-in DVD drive has a problem. It might.
Whatever the cause, now it works. Thanks for sharing your ideas and giving me a push to try some other out-of-the-MacBook solutions.
-- JM

I'm about to install snow leopard on my 2006 macbook, OSX 10.4.11. I read that I'm supposed to copy my old OS to an external drive before hand. Why is this? What does it accomplish? If I upgrade to 10.6.3, why do I need a copy of my old 10.4.11?

I'm about to install snow leopard onto my 2006 macbook with OSX 10.4.11. I read that I should copy my old OSX to an external drive before I start. Why? What is the purpose of this? Once I have snow leopard, why do I want a copy of 10.4.11? Won't I be able to import what I need while installing?   Also, what is the point of partitioning my disk? I don't understand what that's for if I'm only going to run one OS on there. Any experience or advice is greatly appreciated.

It is always wise to have a copy of your latest working system ... preferably on an external drive.   As Neil says, you may run into trouble and if you do you can always return to the original situation and start again.
Once you have installed Snow Leopard (an excellent system if I might say so) then you probably won't need 10.4.11 though you can never have enough back ups in my opinion.   It's amazing how often a need arises.
Having a backup on an external drive allays the need to partion your hard iMac drive for the same purpose..

Snow Leopard 10.6 on MacBook Pro 2,1

As the title suggests, I'm trying to install 10.6 on my MacBook Pro 2,1. I am getting into iPhone dev with a few of my colleagues, and one of the requirements is 10.6. However, when I previously tried installing the OS it told me it could not be installed on my computer due to my 32-bit EFI or something like that. I have read numerous accounts of people running Snow Leopard successfully on their MacBooks, an I am wondering what I am doing wrong.
System Specs:
Model Name: MacBook Pro 17"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP21.00A5.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.14f5
Thanks a Lot.

You probably are not running the retail disc, or have enough space, or migrated from PowerPC the migration assistant. The retail disk looks like *
Of course you should always backup your data at least twice before installation
- * links to my pages may give me compensation

Should I upgrade to Snow Leopard/ Lion using a MacBook Pro with 2.26 GHz Inetl Core 2 Duo Processor and 2GB Memory? Can my old macbook take it?

Should I upgrade to Snow Leopard/ Lion using a MacBook Pro with 2.26 GHz Inetl Core 2 Duo Processor and 2GB Memory? Can my old macbook take it?
thanks

Yes. You should be fine with Snow Leopard, but Lion requires a minimum of 2 GBs of RAM. If you upgrade to Lion I would first upgrade your RAM to at least 4 GBs if your model supports it. Also, see:
How to Install OS X Updates Successfully
A. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions:
Boot from your current OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then 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. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) 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.
B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
C. Important: Please read before installing:
If you have a FireWire hard drive connected, disconnect it before installing the update unless you will boot from this drive and install the update on it. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted.
You may experience unexpected results if you have installed third-party system software modifications, or if you have modified the operating system through other means. (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)
The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation, use the standalone installer (see below) from Apple Downloads to update. While the installation is in progress do not use the computer.
D. To upgrade:
Purchase the Snow Leopard Retail DVD.
Boot From The OS X Installer Disc:
Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
Restart the computer.
Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
Wait for installer to finish loading.
E. If updating:
Download and install update(s)
Use Software Update, or
Download standalone updater(s).

While installing snow leopard 10.6 on macbook pro, install begins then disc is ejected after a few minutes?

While installing snow leopard 10.6 on macbook pro, install begins then disc is ejected after a few minutes?

Does the disc look like this DVD?

Transfer time machine data (snow leopard) to new mb air (lion)

MB Pro died. How do I transfer external Time Machine backup (Snow Leopard) to new MB Air (Lion)?

Your best bet, by far, is to use Setup Assistant when your new Mac first starts up, to transfer your 3rd-party apps, user accounts, data, settings, etc. from the backups. See Using Setup Assistant on Lion for detailed instuctions.
If the backups are on a Time Capsule, get a USB-to-Ethernet connector, so you can do this via Ethernet -- it's 2-3 times faster, and much more reliable, than WIFIl.

Snow Leopard brand new iMac, several user accounts: some Safari pages show aaaaaa instead of text for only one of the users

Snow Leopard brand new iMac, several user accounts: some Safari pages show AAAAAAAAAA instead of tex, but for only one of the users

Check out this thread. https://discussions.apple.com/message/11938010#11938010

Transferring Snow Leopard to new(er) Macbook

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