how to completely reinstall 2007 iMac with question mark folder, from Snow Leopard perhaps

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how to completely reinstall 2007 iMac with question mark folder, from Snow Leopard perhaps

Hi, I'm having an old iMac (24" inch), and I would like to give it a reinstallation going clean all the way back to start from Snow Leopard. I've got it second hand so have downloaded Mac OS X Snow Leopard from and tried making it bootable with Balena Etcher. But, I just have a regular wired Windows mouse and keyboard. Gave it a new Samsung 500gb SSD already, and then made it to dual boot it with Mavericks, but when trying to wipe Snow Leopard trouble started to happen and now even if I can get it as far to disk utility it only shows me a 250gb partition that I can use, and when trying to things in recovery mode, it just says forbidden 403, so I think I'm better off going back to the very beginning. Can anybody help me on how to get this to work?

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Nov 24, 2024 7:34 AM

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Answer 1

Odawg132

Level 1

49 points

Nov 24, 2024 1:49 PM in response to coengi

Hello!

I am very familiar with your situation. I have downgraded my Late 2006 MacBooks to Snow Leopard. At Apple Park, I met an employee who worked on the Mac OS X team. I was told that it is almost impossible to start up or install software on a Mac that originally came in disc format (piracy reasons). I have also tried using Balena Etcher to no avail. My recommendation is to purchase the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Install CD on eBay and booting it up from there. That was the only way I could start them up to reinstall the OS.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Odawg132

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