Douglas Bashaw

Q: How do I install Lion on a partition on a 2012 Macbook pro running Mavericks?

I need to run software for which the latest OS that it is compatible with is OSX 10.7. How can I install 10.7 on a partition in my Mavericks Macbook pro?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Nov 1, 2014 11:17 PM

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Q: How do I install Lion on a partition on a 2012 Macbook pro running Mavericks?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 1, 2014 11:26 PM in response to Douglas Bashaw
    Level 7 (32,117 points)
    iPad
    Nov 1, 2014 11:26 PM in response to Douglas Bashaw

    Did your machine come with Lion originally? If so, use your bootable backup clone to wipe your drive and reinstall 10.7 (or use internet recovery to wipe your drive and reinstall 10.7). If your machine came with Mavericks installed, there is no way as Macs are unable to boot from any OS version older than what they came with.

  • by stevejobsfan0123,

    stevejobsfan0123 stevejobsfan0123 Nov 1, 2014 11:28 PM in response to babowa
    Level 8 (43,827 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 1, 2014 11:28 PM in response to babowa

    babowa wrote:

     

    If your machine came with Mavericks installed, there is no way as Macs are unable to boot from any OS version older than what they came with.

    My Mid 2012 MacBook Pro came with Mavericks, I installed Mountain Lion on it. AFAIK, Lion should work, too, since the latest MBP (non-Retina) model was released in June 2012, and Mountain Lion didn't come out until July.

  • by Douglas Bashaw,

    Douglas Bashaw Douglas Bashaw Nov 1, 2014 11:32 PM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2014 11:32 PM in response to babowa

    Can I erase the drive and restore using the time machine backup from my Macbook Pro running Lion?

  • by Douglas Bashaw,

    Douglas Bashaw Douglas Bashaw Nov 1, 2014 11:35 PM in response to Douglas Bashaw
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2014 11:35 PM in response to Douglas Bashaw

    It is a retina MB Pro that came with Mavericks installed.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 1, 2014 11:36 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123
    Level 7 (32,117 points)
    iPad
    Nov 1, 2014 11:36 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

    Well, there is always that narrow window where they can possibly boot from either - in that case, it depends on the exact build number it came with. My mid 2012 MBP came with Lion. You must have purchased yours much later since Mavericks wasn't available until 2013 (as far as I remember), but, the chart shows that the mid 2012 came with either Lion, ML, or Mavericks.......

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159

  • by Douglas Bashaw,

    Douglas Bashaw Douglas Bashaw Nov 1, 2014 11:57 PM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2014 11:57 PM in response to babowa

    I bought tha MB Pro used and according to the link, which you provided, it could have shipped with 10.7.4 or 10.8.

  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Nov 2, 2014 5:07 AM in response to Douglas Bashaw
    Level 6 (8,429 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 2, 2014 5:07 AM in response to Douglas Bashaw

    The easy way to know WHAT OS your MBP Retina shipped with is to restart into Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R). From the OS X Utilities Menu, see what OS logo shows up for the Reinstall OS X option.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 2, 2014 8:31 AM in response to Douglas Bashaw
    Level 7 (32,117 points)
    iPad
    Nov 2, 2014 8:31 AM in response to Douglas Bashaw

    Another way to find out is to call Apple (or stop at the nearest Genius Bar) and give them your serial number - they will be able to tell you with that.

     

    FWIW, if you bought it used and it had Mavericks on it but the original OS was anything earlier than that, the seller didn't do you any favors as any OS (or app) purchased/downloaded from the app store is tied to the Apple ID used to obtain it forever - and it is not transferable. What that means is that unless he did a complete erase and reinstall the original OS (as required by the licensing agreement), you won't be able to update any apps and/or won't be able to reinstall as you'll be prompted for the seller's Apple ID/password.

     

    So, let's figure out what it came with first; then you can try internet recovery (press Command + Option + R keys during boot up until you see it is connected to Apple's servers); in the Utilities screen, choose Disk Utility and erase your drive. When finished, back to the Utilities screen, choose reinstall OS X. While in Disk Utility, you should be able to re-partition - although I can't guarantee that'll work at that point because I've never tried it, but I don't see why it shouldn't. After you have it installed on one partition, install it again on the other partition. Once that's done, you can download/install Yosemite (or whatever) on one of the partitions using your own Apple ID.

     

    Note: you must erase your entire drive in order to do any of the above.

  • by Douglas Bashaw,

    Douglas Bashaw Douglas Bashaw Nov 2, 2014 10:04 AM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 2, 2014 10:04 AM in response to babowa

    Thank you. I partitioned the drive and used time machine restore, from my old computer, to install 10.7.5 with Vectorworks 2008 working smoothly. The only problem now is I can't unlock, to change, date and time preferences.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 2, 2014 11:01 AM in response to Douglas Bashaw
    Level 7 (32,117 points)
    iPad
    Nov 2, 2014 11:01 AM in response to Douglas Bashaw

    Is it not accepting your password or what exactly is happening?

  • by Douglas Bashaw,

    Douglas Bashaw Douglas Bashaw Nov 2, 2014 11:15 AM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 2, 2014 11:15 AM in response to babowa

    I clicked on the little padlock and nothing, I then went to Keychain Access to unlock, it accepted my password, I was able to change the date and time, but 10 minutes later I had the same problem with energy saver and could not unlockk it.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 2, 2014 1:18 PM in response to Douglas Bashaw
    Level 7 (32,117 points)
    iPad
    Nov 2, 2014 1:18 PM in response to Douglas Bashaw

    My suspicion is that is has something to do with the old owner (but difficult to say); short of erasing the drive and starting over, try these two:

     

    1. Go to Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and repair permissions. Restart when done.

     

    2. In Finder, go to  File Menu > Go > click on Option if necessary to show your Library folder. Navigate to Preferences folder and then move this to desktop:

     

    com.apple.systempreferences.plist

     

    Restart; open System Prefs and see if you can do it now. Check to make sure there is a new .plist in that folder - if yes, delete the old one. If not, move the old one back.