Downgrading from Lion to 10.6.8?

Youll need to restore from a backup (which hopefully you made just befor ethe switch)

I also need to "downgrade" because the "geniuses" at Apple removed the best feature in Mail (Bounce) and gave us some unneeded crap in exchange (Launchpad and Mission Control...which suck. It was easier to use Spaces and a custom applications folder in the dock).

Just out of curiosity; once I put the OS that doesn't suck back on here if they ever improve OS X 10.7 Cowardly Lion will I be able to reinstall without re-downloading?

No install disk, reduced functionality, bad ideas like Launchpad... they really screwed the pooch on this one

YOU CAN REINSTALL LION HOLDING OPTION AT START UP AND CHOOSE REINSTALL LION IF I AM YOU I TRY THAT,ALSO IF YOU HOLD OPTION WHEN CLICK PURCHASE IN MAC APP STORE LION SHOW A INSTALL OPTION SO JUST CLICK TI

IF YOU DECIDE TO INSTALL SL AGAIN JUST DO A BACK UP INSERT THE CD AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS

Thank you!

P.S. You're very helpful, but if you didn't type in all caps it would be even better 🙂

Back to Snow Leopard from Lion install method

Read and print out these instructions, your computer is going to be offline and you wil be cutoff from help until your machine is restored.

Clear the Desktop, Downloads and Trash of anything you wish to keep by placing their files in the respective Documents, Music, Pictures, Movie folders.

If you have a TimeMachine drive, update it and disconnect for the duration of this restore time. It will be your second backup system and will have to be wiped and setup again after successfully going back to Snow Leopard if it was connected to the OS X 10.7 boot drive. If it wasn't, then leave it disconnected without updating to Lion.

Backup ALL your Users folders (Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music etc) manually (drag and drop methods) to a (not TimeMachine) external powered drive (HFS+ journaled formatted in Disk Utility) and disconnect, your going to be wiping the entire disk of ALL DATA. (warning, everything will be gone and not recovered)

Here we go!

Hold c and boot off the 10.6 installer disk that comes with your computer and second screen in just STOP.

Look at the Utilities Menu for Disk Utility.

On the left is the name of your hard drive maker, click it and Erase (format HFS+ Journaled), give it the same name as before, and click Erase...

This should wipe the drive of ALL partitions (GUID, OS X and 10.7 Recovery, Windows if present)

When it's done, quit and install OS X 10.6. Then install all your programs from fresh sources and validate/update.

When you setup a first account, use the same user name as before, this way you can simply drag and drop the content of your previous Users folders from the external drive right back into the new Users folders and everything should work peachy. Links in iTunes to music, playlists and iPhoto links especially.

Update OS X to 10.6.8 using the Combo Update for best results.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399

(Note: If your original machine had 10.5 and you want the free iLife that comes with the disks with the computer, then you'll have to install 10.5 first using the same c boot/erase/format methods as above, then update to 10.6 via the disk, then Combo Update 10.6.8)

Final step optional but highly receommended.

A lot of people use a Carbon Copy Clone of their boot drive to a HFS+Journaled external drive as a "hold the option key" bootable backup in case something goes wrong with their boot drive or need to restore to a previous OS X version.. (in addition to TimeMachine drive for more immediate backups.)

It's not advised to have a Bootable Clone and a TimeMachine partition on the same external drive, as two drives gives hardware protection in case one fails.

very sorry about that people

Thanks ds store

Very clear explanation ds store thanks. But is it possible to downgrade to osx 10.6.8 with a time machine back up?

I downloaded lion on 21st July. But I have a 20th july time machine back up file on the time machine with os x 10.6.8. How can I use that to re load 10.6.8?

While this/these methods may work on computers delivered prior to the release of Lion, a new MacBook Pro delivered from with Lion installed will not boot from the Snow Leopard Install dvd. This is true, in my case at least, for Snow Leopard Install discs version 10.6.0 (Box Set) and 10.6.3 (Box Set).

I'm still searching for a way to downgrade this new laptop ;-(

as a point of info, I know several individuals that send all messages in uppercase with a large font size, and I reply in kind to them. Why, you might ask. They each have visual conditions that make it very difficult for them to see what many of us think of as "normal' text.

Admittedly they represent a very small fraction of my correspondents, and in general I detest messages all in uppercase characters, and I agree with you statement (again in general). 😉

cheers!

Roy - I've just bought a refurb iMac from the AppleStore, as it was advertised as coming with Snow Leopard. It turned up with Lion (wasting 2 hours of my time trying to get it to see Migration Assistant on my old Mac running Tiger - it can't, though Snow Leopard can see it). When I gave up trying to migrate from my old Mac and just let it start up, I was horrified to see Lion.

Moreso because my Snow Leopard 10.6.0 disc wouldn't boot it.

I rang the Apple Store and said it wasn't as ordered, and they assured me it would boot from Snow Leopard, and they sent me SL 10.6.3, which like yours, didn't work.

I rang again to ask them to take the machine back and they put me through to Apple Care. 30 minutes later, I managed to speak to someone who didn't believe my symptoms, and called in his supervisor, who said I needed the Install DVD that came with the machine, not a "S/L DVD that can upgrade Leopard".

They're sending me one. It is later than 10.6.3. and apparently a recent machine can't run 10.6.3 but it can run a later Snow Leopard.

They seemed optimistic an Erase and Install would then be possible.

I haven't got the disc yet, but Roy, I suggest you ring AppleCare and ask them for the Install Disc that *would* have shipped with the machine 2 months ago.

They said that only the new Macbook Air and MacMini can't be downgraded, as they never DID run Snow Leopard.

Hope that helps!

Derek

Hi Derek,

I was assisted by an Apple Enterprise Engineer, and now have a procedure for installing Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.8 on currently shipping MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and iMac models. I've gone through the procedure several times, and it works.

The process entails creation of a NetRestore image of Snow Leopard 10.6.8, creation of an external drive with a bootable copy of Snow Leopard 10.6.8, and some know-how.

Basically, using the System Image Utility provided in the Server Admin Tools 10.6.8, one specifies the Mac OS X 10.6.3 (or 10.6.0) base system from the Box Set DVD, and the OS X 10.6.8 Combo Update as the package to be laid over the base system, and creates a NetRestore image.

One has to find the System.dmg created in this process, which is located in the Contents of the top-level image output of the System Image Utility. This is then copied to the 10.6.8 boot drive. The 10.6.8 boot drive is used to boot the computer delivered with Lion, and then via DiskUtility one performs a Restore of this 10.6.8 image to the boot partion on the new computer.

I'll write up step-by-step details sometime soon and post to a new thread.

thanks for your info - I suspect the disk they send you will be installing OS X 10.6.8. if so, you should be golden to go.

cheers,

Roy

A lot of people use a Carbon Copy Clone of their boot drive

Most people I know use SuperDuper. Will that also work?

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Wow Roy - that sounds amazing.

As my promised Install DVD hasn't turned up today, I've got an entire weekend kicking my heels when I COULD be migrating stuff onto a Snow Leopard Mac.

Have you written up the instructions? If so, can you point me there, and if not, can you just tell me the key steps I might not be able to fathom (format of the external drive, how to apply that combo).

I'm Mac Savvy, but not Server Savvy, so I'm off to download the server tools and see whether I can make sense of it, but your help would be appreciated!
Derek