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Install Yosemite on older iMac?

Hi,


I am restoring a 2008 iMac to basically factory settings and want to reinstall Yosemite as the OS. I've tried booting the iMac and reinstalling the OS (El Capitan) but it failed saying that it couldn't find the package (?). I have erased the hard drive as I wanted a clean slate and this method (wipe then reinstall) has worked fine for me in the past.


So my next option is to create a bootable USB pen which is where I'm having trouble. I have downloaded the Yosemite installer dmg. I have a MacBook Pro M1 and when I mount and then try to run the Yosemite installer, of course it crashes out with the error saying I can't install it on this computer. Without the installer running in the Applications folder, I can't follow any of the steps on the Apple Support site (createinstaller terminal code process) or via any tutorials on YouTube or whatever comes up on Google.


Is there any way I can download a full image, or anything else, to bypass the need to have the installer running before I'm able to create a bootable USB??


I hope someone can help, I've spent hours on this and it's driving me crazy :)


Thanks in advance!



Posted on Jul 29, 2021 8:47 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 1, 2021 12:37 AM

Do you have a copy of the Mac OS X Snow Leopard install DVD.

If you had Yosemite or El Capitan running on this machine before,

you must have had Snow Leopard on it as you can only upgrade

to Yosemite or El Capitan if the mac had previously been upgraded to

Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

If so you can install SL then update it to version 10.6.8 from this link,

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US Having updated Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 you can download and install

Yosemite or El Capitan following the instructions above.

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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 1, 2021 12:37 AM in response to joliet-nz

Do you have a copy of the Mac OS X Snow Leopard install DVD.

If you had Yosemite or El Capitan running on this machine before,

you must have had Snow Leopard on it as you can only upgrade

to Yosemite or El Capitan if the mac had previously been upgraded to

Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

If so you can install SL then update it to version 10.6.8 from this link,

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US Having updated Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 you can download and install

Yosemite or El Capitan following the instructions above.

Jul 29, 2021 10:11 PM in response to joliet-nz

When you download the InstaMacOSX.dmg for Mac OS X Yosemite

it has to be opened to the InstallMacOSX.pkg, this part you can do on all Macs.

However the next part where you open the InstallMacOSX.pkg and get an installation

window only works on Macs that can actually run Mac OS X Yosemite.

Any Mac like your MBP M1 that came preinstalled with a newer OS refuses to create the

Install OS X Yosemite.app required to make a bootable USB.


Options, find a Mac that you know that can run Yosemite and download Yosemite on it

and then make the bootable USB. This includes Mac that have ran Yosemite but have been

upgraded to a newer OS.


Try this workaround on your MBP M1, https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/379603/how-do-i-create-el-capitan-installer-on-a-catalina-or-post-el-capitan-installe

This is the Terminal command if you want to create a bootable USB installer for Mac OS X Yosemite,


sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app

Or if you feel you can only reinstall from Apples Recovery Servers then follow the instructions below.


The certificates for several of Apples OS's expired in October 2019, Apple haven’t bothered getting these updated on 

their Recovery Servers with valid certificates. 


This may be the problem you are experiencing. 


Try this workaround, we are going to set the time and date on your mac to a date previous to the expiry date of the certificates.


Connect your mac to your router via cable, not WiFi


Boot to your Recovery HD, click on Utilities in the menubar select Terminal.


Make sure WiFi is switched off, it can reset the date back to today.


Enter a new date, for example or just copy and paste


sudo date -u 011421002017


press Return

enter your password

press Return


If Terminal returns an error saying sudo : command not found, then try again without sudo.

just enter 


date -u 011421002017


press Return


You won't be prompted for a Password if you did not need to use sudo


Once the date has changed you can quit Terminal.


Now try downloading the OS.

Click on Install OS X, press Continue.


If this works then when the OS is installed and booted up you can Open System Preferences> Date & Time

and reset the time back to today.


But the big thing to take away from this experience is never erase your Mac without having your own means

to reinstall an OS on it, do not rely on Apples Servers.

Always download the OS you want to reinstall and create a bootable USB flash drive installer, then keep it in a safe

place for any future eventualities.



Jul 30, 2021 4:30 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Thank you - I have tried adjusting the date and plugging directly into my router while wifi is off, but it is coming up with an error saying I need to restart the application. I’ve tried a few times (restarting the iMac) but it keeps coming up with the same error.


I don’t know anyone with an older iMac.


is it really that black and white, is this iMac now officially a brick?? Is there any ISO images I can find with one of the big cat OS that will help?! So sad that it’s come to this :(

Aug 2, 2021 5:16 PM in response to Eau Rouge

Not everyone has access to someone with an older Mac, especially in smaller communities like ours in New Zealand :)


I am restoring this computer on behalf of a charity, they had it donated to them and they are hoping to sell it to raise funds. So no, I didn't have the installation software.


However, I found an article with information on how to download the Snow Leopard iso and further in the thread it talks about how to turn that into a bootable USB pen using Big Sur - https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/400472/how-to-create-a-bootable-os-x-snow-leopard-usb-drive


Thankfully the OS loaded fine on the iMac and we now have it working with Snow Leopard.


Hopefully this solution can be of use to someone else in the future.


Install Yosemite on older iMac?

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