What happens if I downgrade to Snow Leopard?

Hello,
I have a 2011 MacBook Pro that originally came with Snow Leopard. At some point, I upgraded to Lion, so that I now have 10.7.5. I would like to be able to downgrade to Snow Leopard using the discs that came with my computer. This is mainly so that I can use the Bootcamp version which supports Windows XP. I was wondering if I can downgrade without losing any of my data, and if I will lose certain apps, settings, etc. currently on my Mac. I DO NOT own an external hard drive or any backups(I know I should, but I never got around to it). So what will happen if I try to downgrade, and is it possible?
Thanks for any help.
EDIT: Nevermind, I just saw another thread exactly like this, and realized that in order to get all my files, I need an external hardrive with a backup of my files.

No, it is not possible. Here's what you must do:
Downgrade Lion/Mountain 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.
If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups made while on Snow Leopard, then you may 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/Mountain Lion files.

Similar Messages

Ok, what happened to this shortcut in Snow Leopard?

In Photoshop CS4 Mac OS10.5 and 10.6 are behaving differently in one small but annoying respect: The shortcut Shift > Option > (left and right square brackets) used to select previous and next layers inclusively. This means that layers were added to the selection as you used this shortcut. In Snow Leopard 10.6 this shortcut no longer works for some reason.
Why does it really matter? - this affects the recording of Actions, where it now seems to be impossible to to record the step "Select Backward/Forward layer - with modification Add". This is a very important step for contextual layer selection in Actions. So unless you have a machine with 10.5 on it you cannot record this step at all any more as far as I can see. Unless I'm missing something?
I tried this only using Photoshop CS4 on both operating systems, but I suspect that the problem may exist in CS5 also. Its possible I'm missing something here and someone may have a solution for me? I know its possible to dupe existing Action steps, but a direct answer would be appreciated.

Mark, I will provide you with a workaround. Please make sure that you have not changed the shortcut for "Select Backward/Forward layer" To check the list of current keyboard shortcuts please do the following:
Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
From the Shortcuts For menu, choose a shortcut type: Application Menus, Panel Menus, or Tools.
Click Summarize.
You can export the list of current keyboard shortcuts and view them. You can also delete the current short cut for a particular action here. In the Set pop‑up menu, choose the shortcut set that you want to delete.Then click on the delete icon and click OK. To create a new shortcut, do the following. In the Shortcut column of the scroll list, select the shortcut you want to modify. Type a new shortcut then save.
Hope it helps,
Bobby Johnson.

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.

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.

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.

Wanting to downgrade to Snow Leopard. Can you help?

I like Lion in many ways and it has some nice features, but I have been having wifi trouble, programs not working, safari acting wonky, etc. since installing Lion. Can someone give the tips, etc needed to downgrade to Snow Leopard until Lion's bugs are ironed out? Is it doable? Will it cause other problem? Is it very time consuming? Thanks!
I got into Mac's in 2006 to escape all the Windows troubles... Lion so far is giving me flashbacks. Whew!
Appreciate any help!
Al
P.S. BTW, my iPhone 4 has no wifi since uprading. I did the Lion upgrade and the iPhone 4.3.4 upgrade on the same day.

Backup ALL your Users folders manually to a external drive and disconnect, your going to be wiping the entire disk (Windows files too)
Hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk that comes with your computer and second screen in just STOP.
Look at the Utilities Menu for Disk Utility.
On the left is the name of your hard drive maker, click it and Erase (format HFS+ Journaled), give it the same name as before, and click Erase...
This should wipe the drive of all three partitions (GUID, OS X and 10.7 Recovery)
When it's done, quit and install OS X 10.6. Then install all your programs from fresh sources and validate/update.
Update OS X to 10.6.8 using the Combo Update for best results.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
When you setup a account, use the same user name as before, this way you can simply drag and drop your Users folders right back in and everything should work peachy.
If your original machine had 10.5 and you want the free iLife that comes with the disks with the computer, then you'll have to install 10.5 first, then 10.6, then Combo Update.
A lot of people use a Carbon Copy Clone of their boot drive to a HFS+Journaled external drive as a "hold the option key" bootable backup in case something goes bad. (in addition to TimeMachine for more immediate backups.)
If the above doesn't work, then I would suggest trying to restore your machine to a TimeMachine saved time without Lion. If that doesn't work then I would try doing what the above directions state, but going to the Apple Icon and selecting StartUp then choosing your bootable disk.

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.

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.

What version of iLife works with Snow Leopard 10.6.8, and where can I buy it?

What version of iLife works with Snow Leopard 10.6.8, and where can I buy it?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You can install the latest version, iLife '11. It's available at the Mac App Store, but the versions available there aren't compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, so you have to get iLife '11 on a DVD at eBay or Amazon > http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC623Z-A-iLife-VERSION/dp/B003XKRZES
After installing it, open  > Software Update, and install the most recent version for Snow Leopard

Need help with Mountain Lion downgrade to Snow Leopard

Recently upgraded to Mountain Lion, my daily applications do not work and i am losing patience, I need help downgrading to snow leopard, i have the snow leopard CDS that came with my mac
***detailed instructions help***
my mac specs
macbook pro 13" early 2011
My time machine
i have a backup with mountain lion, and i also have a backup from snow leopard,(my goal is to restore my latest backup from mountain lion to snow leopard)
i have backed up my files using time machine AND justcloud
My question is how, i do not want to lose any data, also is there any thing i need to be aware during this process

Downgrade Lion/Mountain 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.

What version of photoshop works with snow leopard

What version of photoshop works with snow leopard?

CS6 will run on OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)
System requirements | Photoshop

Can i downgrade to snow leopard?

Hi. i just bought a new iMac (27" MD096TU/A) and i don't like mountain lion. (Because i must use Freehand MX and mountain lion does not support this software). Now i want to downgrade to snow leopard. Is this possible?

Freehand running on Snow Leopard (with Rosetta) installed into Parallels:
[click on image to enlarge]

Ho bisogno di Aiuto. Ho installato OSX Mavericks ma non mi funziona più Windows con bootcamp. Ho fatto il downgrade a snow leopard 10.6.8 ma windows non riparte più. Cosa devo fare ????

Ho bisogno di Aiuto. Ho installato OSX Mavericks ma non mi funziona più Windows con bootcamp. Ho fatto il downgrade a snow leopard 10.6.8 ma windows non riparte più. Cosa devo fare ????

Risolto!
Lanciato installazione di windows 8.1, eliminato completamente tutte le partizioni dal disco secondario e creato nuova partizione, a quel punto mi ha permesso di proseguire e completare l'installazione.

What is the next upgrade from snow leopard 10.6

what is the next upgrade from snow leopard 10.6

maryellenfromkemah wrote:
what is the next upgrade from snow leopard 10.6
Apple has been updating OS X 10.6 with security updates, although the version is still 10.6.8 max.
OS X 10.4/10.5 need to upgrade, 10.6.8 ok still
Depending upon what your machine is and it's RAM amount if it can go to 10.7 or 10.8
We need to know the Model Identifier and the RAM amount.
Older machines that came with 10.5 or 10.4 originally are not advised to proceed any further than 10.6.8 due to age and performance issues on the newer OS X versions of 10.7 and 10.8. Best buy a new machine if you want 10.8, doesn't make sense to buy software and have a slow machine with a older box. Either sell/donate it or use it for backup.
Also 10.7 and above will NOT run your PPC based software your currently running.
So before you upgrade, it's best to take stock of all your third party software and if they will run on the newer OS X verison. This site can assist.
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

HT1553 how do i find what version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard I have?

how do i find what version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard I have?

Choose About this Mac from the Apple menu.
(79776)

What happens if I downgrade to Snow Leopard?

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