Roy Miller

Q: HowTo revert new MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or iMac to Snow Leopard

Hi all,

 

the following instructions were provided to me by our Apple Enterprise tech, and I've successfully performed these steps on a newly purchased MacBook Pro.

 

Please note the following - as of 15 Aug 2011:

- this technique will work on new MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or iMac computers UNTIL Apple modifies the hardware in these computers

- this technique will NEVER work on currently shipping MacBook Air or Mac Mini computers

- this configuration of Snow Leopard installed on a computer that shipped with Lion is not supported by Apple Support.  It is entirely possible that after a trip for an AppleCare support incident, or the Apple Genius Bar, that the computer will return with Lion installed.

 

with these caveats, here are the step-by-step instructions:


---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

HowTo - NetRestore - Install Mac OS X 10.6.8 on new Mac delivered with Mac OS X 10.7.0

 

    note:  this only applies to Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, and iMac computers that originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.6.x. 

               Current Macbook Air and Mac Mini computers cannot be downgraded.

 

Required resources:

    - another computer, running Mac OS X 10.6.8

    - spare external disk

    - Snow Leopard installation disc  (Mac OS X 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 Box Set)

    - Snow Leopard 10.6.8 Combo image file  (download from Apple Support Downloads page)

    - System Image Utility 10.6.8  (download Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.dmg from Apple Support Downloads page)

 

 

Procedure:

 

A. Create the NetImage:

1) mount the base source image  (Mac OS X 10.6.3.dmg - created from Box Set Installer)

2) launch System Image Utility  (from Server Admin Tools)

3) when source (from mounted image) appears in SIU screen, click Custom button

4) drag "Customize Package Selection" from Automator Library window to location

        between existing "Define Image Source" and "Create Image"

5) drag "Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" from Automator Library to location

        between "Customize Package Selection" and "Create Image"

6) in the "Customize Package Selection" section:

    a) expand the "Mac OS X" triangle

    b) select options desired

    c) collapse the "Mac OS X" triangle

7) mount the appropriate update image  (Mac OS X 10.6.8 v1.1 Combo.dmg)

8) copy the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg package to a new local directory  (Desktop/parts/)

9) drag the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg icon from local directory to the

        "Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" section of the SIU window

10) in the "Create Image" section:

        a) select the type "NetRestore"

        b) set the "Installed Volume:" field to "Macintosh HD"  (no quotes, can be any name)

        c) select the "Save To:" location

            (will be faster to a second local internal disk)

            (not faster to another partition on the same disk)

        d) set the "Image Name:" field to "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore"

        e) the fields "Network Disk:", "Description:", and "Image Index:" don't

            matter unless one is going to use results on a NetBoot Server

11) click the Run button

12) when the dialogs appear, ignore the text and click OK for proper completion

            Dialog text:    "Image creation in progress. 

                            Cancel the image creation to proceed"

 

B. Post-process to create Restore Image:

1) find the directory created in the above process, named as in A.10d above

            (Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore.nbi)

2) in this directory are three files:

    - i386

    - NBImageInfo.plist

    - NetInstall.dmg

3) mount the NetInstall image  (double-click the NetInstall.dmg file)

4) navigate into the Contents of the package, to:  System/Installation/Packages/

5) copy the System.dmg file out to desktop or other work location

6) rename System.dmg to meaningful name, such as "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg"

7) copy this .dmg file to external, bootable, Snow Leopard 10.6.8 system disk  (install in /Users/Shared/)

 

 

C. Install Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on new MacBook Pro or Mac Pro

 

via command line:

1) boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in B.7

2) open Terminal

3) find the restore target device specification

        a) run the command  "diskutil list"

        b) look for a 650 MB partition, labelled "Recovery HD" (likely disk0s3)

        c) the target partition should be immediately prior to the "Recovery HD" partition

        d) for a new computer with a 500 GB drive, this partition should be

                labelled "Macintosh HD", with a size of 499.2 GB

        e) make note of it's Device Identifier, likely disk0s2

4) issue the following asr (Apple Software Restore) command

    sudo asr restore --source "/path/to/restore.dmg" --target /dev/disk0s2 --erase

        (replace "/path/to/restore.dmg" with the path to the location and name used in step b.7)

5) this process proceeds and completes quickly, about 3-5 minutes. This is due to

        the "--erase" parameter; it indicates a block-copy operation

        If the process seems slow, likely the "--erase" option was omitted and

        the copy is being done as a file-copy operation.  Quit (ctl-c) and

        examine the command used...

 

 

via DiskUtility GUI:

 

1) boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in B.7

2) launch /Applications/Utilities/DiskUtility.app

3) select the computer hard drive  (typically "Macintosh HD")

4) click on the "Restore" tab

5) click on the "Image..." button to specify the "Source"

6) navigate to /Users/Shared/ and select the "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg" file

7) drag the computer hard drive volume (Macintosh HD) to the "Destination" field

            (note: grab the volume, not the disk!!)

8) enable the "Erase destination" checkbox

9) click the "Restore" button

10) in the ensuing "Are you sure?" dialog, click the "Erase" button

11) authenticate with the local admin credentials

 

 

Apple Tech recommends leaving the Restore partition alone, and installing in the "Macintosh HD" partition only

 

commands to know:

    - asr

    - diskutil      (diskutil -list to see partitions)

    - hdiutil

Posted on Aug 15, 2011 9:00 AM

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Q: HowTo revert new MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or iMac to Snow Leopard

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  • by Tom in London,

    Tom in London Tom in London Jan 5, 2012 6:02 PM in response to mulligans missus
    Level 4 (1,626 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 5, 2012 6:02 PM in response to mulligans missus

    mulligans missus wrote:

     

    You really should try Lion. Millions have found it wonderful and market sales are soaring with it. The younger generation love it in particular. Snow Leopard is just so......yesterday.

     

    As I said, I  have Lion on another computer but not the one I use to run my business.  I tried it for a month until I was absolutely sure it was slowing me down, interfering with my work, and was worse, not better than Snow Leopard. Unlike you I don't automatically believe that what happened today was better than what happened yesterday.

     

    But you haven't answered my question: what is your contribution to the topic written at the top of this thread?

     

    Not that I care, since you've now hijacked this thread the way you hijack them all. It's like you didn't have anything else to do but type messages all day long in the Lion discussion forums. That makes me feel sad, so I'm going to click on the "stop email notifications" for this thread.

  • by Ziatron,

    Ziatron Ziatron Jan 5, 2012 6:06 PM in response to mulligans missus
    Level 4 (3,930 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jan 5, 2012 6:06 PM in response to mulligans missus
    You really should try Lion.

     

    I did try it and went back to Snow Leopard.   About half the users I know either switched back to Snow Leopard (or wish they could).

     

    The younger generation love it in particular. Snow Leopard is just so......yesterday.

     

     

    I agree completely.  Those 8 to 16 years old love it.  It reminds them of their iPhone.

  • by mulligans missus,

    mulligans missus mulligans missus Jan 5, 2012 6:07 PM in response to Tom in London
    Level 2 (370 points)
    Jan 5, 2012 6:07 PM in response to Tom in London

    Tom in London wrote:

     

    That makes me feel sad, so I'm going to click on the "stop email notifications" for this thread.

    Oh Tom. That's sad. And now you won't know when people are making spelling mistakes and using wrong pronunciation. That's what everybody counts on you for. Nothing else.

     

    Goodnight

  • by Tech Harmony,

    Tech Harmony Tech Harmony Jan 5, 2012 9:17 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 5, 2012 9:17 PM in response to Roy Miller

    So to recap

     

    There are a numbrer of ways to down/re/upgrade your Lion to Snow Leopard.... but if you ever want to revert to Lion, remember to make a recovery stick!

     

    I'm sure I'm forgetting some routes but, broadly speaking:

     

    1. You can use "The Procedure" in this thread to make a pure virgin 10.6.8 system image that can then be restored or cloned to your Lion machine.
    2. You can use a Target Disc Mode procedure to boot your new computer's hard drive to an older computer and then get yourself up to 10.6.8 through a retail install and updates.
    3. You can get the install/restore/factory discs for your model computer by geting them from Apple. You'd probably want to call them for them and they might cost you 15$...might be free.
    4. You can go to the Apple "Genius" Bar and have them revert your computer to Snow Leopard for you.
    5. You can clone an existing 10.6.8 install to your new computer.

     

    NOTE ON SPEEDS: The Macbook Pros seem to benchmark just dandy with any of these methods. The iMacs require the install/restore/factory discs to run at full speed. I think the Mac Pros should run optimally, not sure. The Minis will run slower than benchmark.... I can't remember if someone figured this out yet in the other thread but as the new Minis don't have restore/install/factory discs (I don't think), I think they need an "open mac" technique to supply their missing drivers (kexts). I think they were doing something with the kernel too over in the Mini discussion forum (don't have the link handy, sorry). Honestly, I shouldn't even mention this part because if you didn't know it was slower than bench, you wouldn't know it! Everything is still fast and dandy.

     

    Closing Thought: Honestly, I held off on upgrading to Snow Leopard from LEOPARD until Lion came out. I had hoped that Snow Leopard would solve, among other things, my Flash/Safari shenanigans (dozen windows open, each with a dozen tabs... yeah yeah I know) but it turns out Flash/Safari seem to perform worse under SLeo than Leopard. No wonder SJ (RIP) was so ****** about Flash I guess. But that's a discussion for another time.

  • by Ziatron,

    Ziatron Ziatron Jan 5, 2012 10:36 PM in response to Tech Harmony
    Level 4 (3,930 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jan 5, 2012 10:36 PM in response to Tech Harmony
    remember to make a recovery stick!

     

    I would recommend making a Lion install DVD.

  • by annettep38,

    annettep38 annettep38 Jan 21, 2012 2:31 PM in response to Ziatron
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2012 2:31 PM in response to Ziatron

    I made a copy of my Lion system with CC Cloner. It is still bootable on another, non-SSD partition. For the unlikely case that I'll ever need it again...

     

    many many thanks to Roy Miller for his fantstic recipe. I was going mad with Lion, half of our software didn't work anymore and I felt like I was the only one in the company working with windoze on my new MBP.

     

    Thanks again Roy, I feel like a human being working on the Mac again, not the other way round.

  • by MacCekko,

    MacCekko MacCekko Feb 22, 2012 6:29 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2012 6:29 PM in response to Roy Miller

    Thanks to all the people, Roy Miller on top, for the explanations (I've read all of them right from the start! Pheeeww!).

    I am awaiting my new iMac 27" mid 2011 i7 and I know that it will be shipped in a couple of days obviously with that horrible Lion sleeping inside it.

    I have finally found this thread, passing sleepless nights in search for answers, and finally understood that I MAY be able to boot from an external HD with a newly and fresh installed 10.6.8 (actually it was a 10.6.3 then upgraded to 10.6.8). I will for sure use my iMac 24" early 2008 (the one I am on now, although it's running 10.5.8! I am not the "Upgrade" type! ) to perform a clone onto the 27" from the external HD using CCC, and then I will, sadly, have to reinstall everything on the new iMac, since it seems that I will NOT be able to restore anything from my 10.5.8 Time Machine Backup using the Lion Recovery HD "Restore from Time Mahine" option.

    I was thinking if it was a good idea in finally upgrading to Snow Leopard my iMac 24", but still not sure... Cloning a 2Tb HD from the old 24" to the new 27" would in this case be easier, in fact... Have to sleep over this decision and tomorrow I will likely make my mind up.

     

    I was wondering, after all, what are the physical differences between a 27" iMac shipped say in july 2011 (that is labelled "mid 2011" after all) and an almost identical iMac 27" that shipped on february 2012 with Lion pre-installed? The EFI Firmware Boot ROM? Because it seems that there are NO physical diferences between the two models, exccept from the OS X (Lion vs SnowL) itself... as far as I can understand.

     

    And after reading all of this posts, after all, it would seem to be a simple (?) matter of finding a suitable way of putting one's hands onto a, iMac 27" original 10.6.8 SnowL DVD (grey ones) that almost a year ago Apple used to sell along with their iMacs...

     

    Have some friends at Apple Care: gonna call them tomorrow, and see if they could be of any help in providing me with such a DVD: this would luckily be the easiest way.

     

    Thank you for every answer anyone would provide with.

    Cheers,

  • by Ziatron,

    Ziatron Ziatron Feb 22, 2012 7:53 PM in response to Tech Harmony
    Level 4 (3,930 points)
    Apple Watch
    Feb 22, 2012 7:53 PM in response to Tech Harmony

    You can go to the Apple "Genius" Bar and have them revert your computer to Snow Leopard for you.

    On a recent trip to the Apple Store I encountered two customers that were having their computers switched from Lion to Snow Leopard.

  • by Ian Cheong,

    Ian Cheong Ian Cheong Feb 22, 2012 8:33 PM in response to MacCekko
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Feb 22, 2012 8:33 PM in response to MacCekko

    Definitely do not have to reinstall everything - I didn't. One can use Carbon Copy Cloner to shift apps and everything in the users home folders, since it will not overwrite folders/files that are newer on the destination in the right mode (probably synchronize - it was a long time ago I did that).

     

    Some apps that don't work might need more stuff copied manually from /Library/Application Support or <user>/Library/Preferences, etc.

     

    Note: some apps dependent on Rosetta died with a MacOS 10.6.8 security update this year, but a later update fixed it. (Much anguish in the meantime.)

  • by iPotential,

    iPotential iPotential Feb 23, 2012 1:14 AM in response to Ziatron
    Level 1 (24 points)
    iPhone
    Feb 23, 2012 1:14 AM in response to Ziatron

    Ziatron wrote:

     

    You can go to the Apple "Genius" Bar and have them revert your computer to Snow Leopard for you.

    On a recent trip to the Apple Store I encountered two customers that were having their computers switched from Lion to Snow Leopard.

     

    That's good news because when I went in a week ago they said that I had to buy Snow Leopard separately and install it myself.  I think they wanted me to give up, however and try again as it is the only thing preventing me from upgrading my laptop.

  • by annettep38,

    annettep38 annettep38 Feb 23, 2012 8:22 AM in response to Ian Cheong
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2012 8:22 AM in response to Ian Cheong

    It is , imho , safer to assume you DO have to reinstall everything. Unfortunatley some apps create a lot of clutter these days, notably if they orignate from the adobe empire.

    Little helpers like Default folder also require reinstalling, so do many Photoshop plugins.

    BTW CCCloner may say that your HD is not partioned properly for rebooting etc.... Well it works fine, just make a complete backup.

     

    So best be prepared and make a printour of all tour serial numbers and similar stuff, Aplle IDs and you name it.

    Better prepare to much than not enough.

     

    I have done the procedure on two other computers since, including our new server on an Imac and it worked

    Again, a month and two machines later I am so glad I did it, I have even recommended Roy miller's recipe with thanks to others, got one eually plesed feedback.

     

    Apple, why don't you give us the option whilst ordering the machine?

     

    As to 'genius bars' I think there are very few of us who will ever get cloe to one, let alone be sure that will work

  • by rpg2288,

    rpg2288 rpg2288 Feb 24, 2012 6:40 AM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2012 6:40 AM in response to Roy Miller

    hey, noticed that EFI firmware updates are available. hmm....install?

  • by Tech Harmony,

    Tech Harmony Tech Harmony Feb 24, 2012 10:31 AM in response to MacCekko
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 24, 2012 10:31 AM in response to MacCekko

    @MacCekkoReinstalling apps can be therapeutic -- both for you and your machine   It will likely run faster/better and clean up cruft between 10.5.8 and 10.6.8. However, I think what you could just do is get your 10.6.8 system going on the new machine, boot up, and then use "Migration Assistant" from the new computer's Utilities folder to migrate your old 10.5.8 Mac to this new one. That process will handle the conversions/cruft better than a Carbon Copy Clone from 10.5.8 apps to 10.6.8 apps. You'll just have to figure out how to make your 10.5.8 drive available (over network? Firewire Target Disc Mode, etc).

     

    @rpg2288 General rule of thumb I operate by is: if things are working well, don't update them. At least resist for as long as possible and do so only if you are willing to fix any fallout That being said, I've heard of shenanigans with Thunderbol, external monitors, sleep/wake and I believe some of the firmware updates have helped things. BUT it took them 2 or 3 successive firmware updates to get it right (or, er, better) and that's just sloppy in my opinion. Really don't want to be mucking with firmware much at all. So if you're experiencing buggery, you could go for it. The 2 or 3 firmware updates that I eventually succumbed to did not mess up my Snow Leopard install. I see I have a new one available now but I'm afraid to do it Let me know if you do!

  • by Roy Miller,

    Roy Miller Roy Miller Feb 24, 2012 11:14 AM in response to rpg2288
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Feb 24, 2012 11:14 AM in response to rpg2288

    @rpg2288 - I also notice that these firmware upgrades, released 7 Feb and a second batch released 23 Feb, state that the required OS version is Mac OS X 10.7.3 or later.  I don't know if that is because the targeted computers were shipped with Lion installed (and of course, no one would even think of installing Snow Leopard on such a computer ), or because the firmware updates address the way that the hardware interacts with that version of the OS.

     

    I would tend to let the Software Update application help guide me - if an update isn't listed in Software Update running on my particular flavor of computer, I would not likely go grab the update and install it.

     

    on another note, a good thing to remember, IMHO, is that as hardware continues to develop since the time of Lion's release, the ability to run Snow Leopard on "current" hardware may become less and less.

     

    the original reason for this entire thread was to address the installation of Snow Leopard on a newly purchased Apple computer that had been shipping with Snow Leopard installed, but now (actually on this date of 24 Feb 2012, I should say "then") shipped with Lion preinstalled.  It really isn't about reverting to Snow Leopard after the computer owner had updated their computer from Snow Leopard to Lion.  Solutions for that particular circumstance are much more simple than the original problem statement.

     

    It seems that this thread has been poked, prodded, jabbed and stretched into a new entity - and that is great!  But for all those who continue to read this, please don't forget the conditions that prompted this thread - those conditions really set up the utility of the solutions presented.

     

    cheers!

  • by Ian Cheong,

    Ian Cheong Ian Cheong Feb 24, 2012 12:49 PM in response to annettep38
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Feb 24, 2012 12:49 PM in response to annettep38

    I know many people like to reinstall everything from scratch. Perhaps that is a legacy of experience with other OS's (eg Win). When you have a load of applications on board like I do, reinstalling everything and fixing up all the preferences would take days/weeks of lost productivity. I have been migrating my stuff from OS to OS over many years without reinstalling by default. I have had no major issues since System 7 on a Mac Classic II. An occasional application that protests might require a reinstall or fix to authentication system, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Some applications wil break with an OS upgrade and it is no hassle to remove them.

     

    I lose a lot less productive time by not wanting a "clean" machine and have no regrets. The system log may provide clues to applications with problems, but there are still a load of errors in there that are OS "features" (with no fixes).

     

    PS Many thanks to Roy for starting this thread.

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