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 Tech Harmony,

    Tech Harmony Tech Harmony Apr 25, 2012 12:32 PM in response to tmcbride67
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 25, 2012 12:32 PM in response to tmcbride67

    @tmcbride67 That's pretty amazing! The fact that it worked at all is pretty huge and actually makes me think it's doable.... but at some point it stops being practical to try

     

    When you say you can get multitouch to work, you're saying that the trackpad recognizes your touches, swipes and gestures? So it recognizes tap/touch inputs? Only with multiple fingers? Does it recognize single tap/touch clicks? It sounds like the actual mechanical click doesn't work but if multitouch works, do tap/touch-clicks work when enabled?

  • by tmcbride67,

    tmcbride67 tmcbride67 Apr 25, 2012 1:34 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2012 1:34 PM in response to Roy Miller

    @Tech Harmony,

     

    Yes, your description is correct.  Single finger tap/touch and drag works.  Also two finger scrolling and four finger swipes up and down work.  However, any time you mechanically click down on the trackpad, it doesn't regester that anything has happened.  Very unusual.

  • by Tech Harmony,

    Tech Harmony Tech Harmony Apr 25, 2012 2:49 PM in response to tmcbride67
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 25, 2012 2:49 PM in response to tmcbride67

    @tmcbride67 Sweet. I Googled a little bit more, approaching this as a regular mechanical/software clicking problem (ironically, lots of Mac folk have had clicking problems without even attempting to do what we are ...but some of that is just an old puffed-up battery preventing clicking).

     

    Here are some potentially relevant fixes:

     

    a) One person suggested deleting some trackpad preferences files from your *Username*/Library/Preferences folder. Specifically "com.apple.driver.AppleBluetootheMultitouch.trackpad.plist" They say they found 3 mouse-related drivers in there but I'm not sure I see them. So quit System Preferences, delete that one file, reboot and fire up Sys Preferences again. However, what's so interesting to me is that the BluetoothMutlitouch trackpad driver is the only preference...perhaps we need that kext installed as well, in addition to the ones you tried (or in lieu of...)

     

    b) Someone had to increase their doubleclick speed in the System Preference because clicks were registering too slowly (or quickly)? This one is a weird one and doesn't seem like it could fix it but you never know.

     

    c) Someone used these PRAM and power reset instructions http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100206215749AAAJzh4 to fix their mouse problem.

  • by T_Sem,

    T_Sem T_Sem Apr 25, 2012 9:56 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2012 9:56 PM in response to Roy Miller

    Hi Roy, great detailed instructions. 

     

    Thanks very much for the help!

  • by iPotential,

    iPotential iPotential May 12, 2012 4:20 PM in response to T_Sem
    Level 1 (24 points)
    iPhone
    May 12, 2012 4:20 PM in response to T_Sem

    Has anyone noticed a new "Recovery HD" volume on their Mac with a "com.apple.recovery.boot" folder inside?

     

    I had previously taken my Mac back from Lion to Snow Leopard (last year), however this new volume has only just shown up in the last day (or two).

  • by Shootist007,

    Shootist007 Shootist007 May 12, 2012 4:27 PM in response to iPotential
    Level 6 (16,660 points)
    May 12, 2012 4:27 PM in response to iPotential

    Unless you completely erase the hard drive, Booted to a SL install disk and partitioned the drive as one partition, the Lion recovery HD partition got left behind. It can not and will not be created by anything other then installing Lion on Mac.

  • by iPotential,

    iPotential iPotential May 13, 2012 2:04 PM in response to Shootist007
    Level 1 (24 points)
    iPhone
    May 13, 2012 2:04 PM in response to Shootist007

    Shootist007 wrote:

     

    Unless you completely erase the hard drive, Booted to a SL install disk and partitioned the drive as one partition, the Lion recovery HD partition got left behind. It can not and will not be created by anything other then installing Lion on Mac.

     

    I didn't erase the hard disk, I think I just reinstalled SL and ran Time Machine's reinstall process.  It was so easy at the time and has been great to have Snow Leopard back.

     

    Thanks for the explanation.  The disk space is a small sacrifice to have SL instead of Lion.  And (maybe after a restart last night) the Recovery HD partition disappeared again from the standard finder view.

  • by Shootist007,

    Shootist007 Shootist007 May 14, 2012 2:27 AM in response to iPotential
    Level 6 (16,660 points)
    May 14, 2012 2:27 AM in response to iPotential

    So your Mac had SL on it to begin with.

     

    If you open terminal and type diskutil list I bet you see the Recovery HD partition. The Recovery HD should not show up in Finder as it is a Hidden partition.

  • by iPotential,

    iPotential iPotential May 14, 2012 4:21 AM in response to Shootist007
    Level 1 (24 points)
    iPhone
    May 14, 2012 4:21 AM in response to Shootist007

    Shootist007 wrote:

     

    So your Mac had SL on it to begin with.

     

    If you open terminal and type diskutil list I bet you see the Recovery HD partition. The Recovery HD should not show up in Finder as it is a Hidden partition.

     

    Yes it was originally a SL machine - holding off any further Mac purchases until Exposé returns.

     

    Your right it does show the Recovery HD and it only uses 650mb - thanks.

  • by Shootist007,

    Shootist007 Shootist007 May 14, 2012 4:29 AM in response to iPotential
    Level 6 (16,660 points)
    May 14, 2012 4:29 AM in response to iPotential

    Well Good Luck on the Return of Expose.

     

    Yes the Recovery HD is only 650MB. It is NOT Lion nor does it contain the Lion install files. It is a system to re-install Lion by downloading it for the internet and or run certain other features like Disk Utility and terminal.

  • by PC_CP,

    PC_CP PC_CP Jun 24, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Ozblade
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 24, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Ozblade

    Instead of using kexthelper I suggest using this:

     

    http://3rr0rists.net/driver/kext-wizard.html

     

    kextwizzard makes the job that easy.

     

    See the pics in documentation. Deadeasy.

     

    No more fiddling with permission.

    It does rebuild the kext-cache too.

    On a Mac leave the "extra-folder". It is for Hackintosh's.

    Oh,you know  Intel-Macs are PC's too, and vice versa?

    At least a lot of them, on the cheap converted by owners. FYI, Google for it.

  • by yangjun1222,

    yangjun1222 yangjun1222 Jul 18, 2012 3:35 AM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 18, 2012 3:35 AM in response to Roy Miller

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

    How to get this bootable.snow Leopard 10.6.8 system disk?external means it is usb device?

  • by mailjeh,

    mailjeh mailjeh Jul 31, 2012 4:50 PM in response to Silly rabbit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2012 4:50 PM in response to Silly rabbit

    I can only think that you are suggesting that Bootcamp can work with a SL disk as though it was a Windows 7 disk, is that true? Nobody is listening to you because you haven't explained yourself. You may understand what you're on about but no one else has any idea.

  • by kagepeint,

    kagepeint kagepeint Dec 2, 2012 5:19 AM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2012 5:19 AM in response to Roy Miller

    Hello Roy

     

    Thanks for this wonderful tutorial. I had the same issue with a late 2011 iMac. I tried your process but I got stuck at:

     

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

     

    I have a bootable 10.6.0 installer on an external HD that I normally use to restore. I was unable to see the path /Users/Shared even with all files visible. I am not sure if that is what you were asking but I decided to restore Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg to a thumb drive. I realise the OS was installed onto the thumb drive and I was able to boot from it. I then cloned the thumb drive onto the HD of the iMac using Carbon Copy Cloner. Everything has been workign fine thus far.


  • by Roy Miller,

    Roy Miller Roy Miller Dec 3, 2012 8:22 AM in response to kagepeint
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Dec 3, 2012 8:22 AM in response to kagepeint

    HI kagepeint,

     

    glad you got it working - I was sure by now that this "short-term" procedure would die a graceful (or not so) death by the end of calendar year 2011!

     

    I believe your difficulty with step 7 was that you were trying to copy the 10.6.8 installer dmg file to a bootable installer disk, rather than a bootable installed disk.  The procedure is to have/create/clone an installed system on an external disk.  That disk, like any computer with Mac OS X 10.x.x installed, would have the standard directory structure that we work in every day, including the "/Users/" directory, which contains your home directory(s), and one labeled "Share".

     

    If I remember properly, the procedure continues to then boot the new computer from this bootable external disk, and launch the 10.6.8 installer, from which you install Mac OS X 10.6.8 onto the 2011 computer that came with Lion installed.

     

    There are many ways to acheive the install - the key is to be able to boot the Lion-delivered computer from an external drive containing the 10.6.8 installer, and run that installer to populate the computer's internal disk.  One could even clone the 10.7.x system to an external disk, and use that to boot the computer and install the 10.6.8 system....

     

    To any who read this far in the thread, it is my humble opion that it is now already past time to be porting oneself to Mac OS X 10.8.x, and move on with the Apple OS, for as long as they continue to produce computers and OS X.  I know of many of the reasons for not doing so..., no lectures necessary!  ;-)

     

    cheers,

    Roy

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