Can I install Snow Leopard on the new Mac Mini

It seems there are two problems wrapped here.

Booting

Restoring ™

On Restoring - I’m not a ™Time Machine user - so I cannot advise - I rotate bootable clones for testing, backup & security

I’m running a mid-2011 Dual boot system with 2 separate installs of legacy Snow Leopard on the built in HD and current Mavericks(was L then ML) on an external 2TB HD - Thunderbolt connected Seagate DockPlus adaptor. I partitioned the internal drive before installing Snow Leopard 750GB threeway-split 630/100/12 for 2 Snow Leopard installations and a hidden emergency/recovery partition. (My Thunderbolt 2TB external also has a 12 GB emergency/recovery partition).

This is my legacy of cautious (fully successful) exploration of Snow Leopard on this machine - but it gives me multiple boot/recovery options - I have also created bootable installers on USB sticks for Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks and I have SL DVD and the Apple USB Optical external.

Do let us all know how you get on many people look to this thread for advice not readily available elsewhere. Apple NB!

Tim

All over Apple discussions there are may disgruntled Mac Users, used to the veracity of the "Mac Platform,' having minimal interest in iOSx!

I have been using L/ML/Mavs on FW running SL internal, my preference. Mavs is 'nice?' It integrates all that Gen ? wants, indoctrinated to text to each other at parties instead on conversing. BUT sells!

Accidently I came here -- many other threads are relevant.

IMHO: providing your Mac is based on Sandy Bridge an 'upgrade' Snow Leopard (faster only?) is viable as dedicated posters here have verified.

If your Mac is Ivy-Bridge or Haswell it will not work, IMHO. Hardware changes.

I find it amazing that 100,000 users requiring Rosetta and at $50/payment for it has been not thought of by Apple. Maybe just, 'Tea-money?' I do not know.

But, again, IMHO, if getting a 2011 Mac Mini to work at some 3 times the speed using Snow Leopard, there is something wrong with Lion et-alia, apart from dropping Rosetta?

By doing the things that many people have done herein it shows that the Mac platform needs improvement inasfar as speed? IMHO it will not happen as iOS = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Some Mac users have now been forced into, 'kext-manipulation' et-alia and it will be not long before they depart to the, 'Hackintosh,' to get the best performance required noting that Ivy-Haswell offers minimal USER improvements, apart from MacBook battery-life, but is used by Apple to sell iOS.

Just my HO.

cruttis wrote:

I find it amazing that 100,000 users requiring Rosetta and at $50/payment for it has been not thought of by Apple. Maybe just, 'Tea-money?' I do not know.

Apple's license to the underlying technology to Rosetta expired with the release of OS X Lion. This technology is now owned by IBM so it is unlikely that Apple could have relicensed it at a reasonable price, even if they wanted to.

Thank you Michael. Yes, a long time ago I used Parallels attempting to configure for SL. Apple had banned it! I used the Server and a hacked SL 10.7.8 OS and got both functioning. Never tried Mavs.

I understand licensing but still ask Apple why they support Windows QT for embedded MIDI yet no support is offered for the Mac Platform that depends on Rosetta?

Yes, I can add webpages and invoke Parallels to check embedded MIDI's functionality. Normally termed, 'a Workaround.'

I have been a, 'Fanboi,' for decades. My iPad is unused, maybe I am too old to understand how useful it is?

The way things are going I believe anyone wanting an Apple DT will find these items slowly becoming unavailable, just like Rosetta.

It's called, 'Evolution,' perhaps?

Most Advanced Version Excluding Rosetta, Ipad Compatible, Kludgy & Sinister?

Acronyms often display the intention??

Since discovering a fix for this some time ago (back on page 19), I very recently re-installed 10.6.8 on my 2011 MacBook Pro - at the time I did this I discovered why I was able to get 10.6.8 working so well on the 2011 Mini.

There are a few extra packages (eg thunderbolt updates, which contain required kext's), which I was not aware of at the time which are specific to certain Mac models. These packages are available for and install on the MacBook Pro, but obviously not on the Mac mini 2011. Then when I cloned from MBP to Mini, everything just worked. I then created the update package which was posted on here without really knowing where these newer updated drivers had come from. I could not find them in any of the larger OS updates.

If you try and install these extra required Apple updates *manually* on the Mac mini it wont work without some effort, as they were designed for certain mac models, which doesnt include the 2011 mini. The updates can be integrated in Mac OS X before installation.

All the tools and bits you need to create a full functioning Mac Mini 2011 image, from an original 10.6 DVD for example, are actually available free from Apple. AND, the best bit is you dont need a Macbook Pro to do it! Anyone can create a clean image for the Mac mini 2011 using any Mac which already has 10.6.8 installed on it.

All you really need is System Image Utiltity, which is included as part of the free Server Admin Tools 10.6.8 from Apple. You must install this only on a mac running 10.6.8. SIU is cabable of creating an integrated Mac OS X image with all the component parts and updates you want already baked-in. It is commonly used by sys admins to create updated Mac OS X images for deployment in large enterprise environments.

At the end, you get a never-booted-before clean image and installer of Mac OS X with everything working for the 2011 mini. You can just install it on your 2011 Mini with no further modifications.

Could detail the exact steps if anyone is still doing this, as I guess you could get a bit lost in the process if you arent familar with SIU, disk utility and package maker.

Hi , newfoundglory,

I've been following this thread since the beginning , thanks again for all work arround provided for installing snow leopard on mid 2011 mac mini , specially to you for package created.

As i mentioned here before i have mac mini mid 2011 mod. 5.2 , succesfully running 10.6.8 but with certain bluetooth glitches with magic mouse , some times works right some times not ( alredy comented here thought) so using wired usb mouse and bluetooth keyboard fine. I have also a 2007 intel imac updated to 10.6.8 ( I bought apple mac os x snow leopard DVD v. 10.6.3) .

My question is , if will my mac mini bluetooth issues be fixed , following method u just mentioned (SIU ) , mean better then the way done before with your pkg. etc. ? or , it will be the same ? If so ,I would aprecete to know how.

I kept a copy of mountain lion on external drive , now updated to mavericks , working fine , yes but still my main system is 10.6.8 , specially and more then ever now with the new mavericks ,witch doesnt support local sync ( with usb cable) ios devices with mavericks ,forcing to use icloud witch I never used and will not use in the future either.

Thanks again,

Jose

yes please,

i would like a copy of your new instructions. i just bought a 2011 server and am just waiting for a firewire cable to arrive. it has lion on one drive and a blank second. i have the 94 mb installer you made earlier. is this sufficient?

i have a 2009 mini running just how i want. it would be good to have a disk with everything on it. the 2009 is named z1 and the 2011 will be a1. how to copy z1 to a1 and change all users to a1 and keep both machines on the same apple account? or leave both machines with the same names?

thank you for all your effort.

sorry, apple maintenence trashed my edit.

i want to end up with 10.9 and 10.6.8 on two machines with all the same accounts, prefs and settings. i don't know or want to run a server - just the regular. i am the only user. i have the 10.6.3 retail installer.

At the moment, the answer is no, sorry. Snow leopard only runs on sandy bridge, therefore macs from 2010 and 2011. This is what people say on the inetrnet, bit i dunnno if its true. The current macmini is ivy bridge, and its from 2012. There is no macmini 2013

Btw, apple pnline store is selling snow leopard for $20. Ot saysonly that you need a mac with core 2 duo or superior. I dunno it this version they are sellin will install pn a macmini 2012" you can try of you want. 5 days ago i sold my 2012 macmini and went back to a 2010 macmini. Incredible how a Snow Leopad machine is a mich better experience then the current macs

Who knows? Bac in 2011, everyone said you could not install Snow Leopard on a 2011 mini, and now itsossible. I wish i had bought one....

Ah, the good old bluetooth problems. The really interesting thing about the bluetooth on the Mac mini 2011 is that it is in fact Bluetooth 4 - low power - and I think it might even be a combined Wifi AND Bluetooth on the same chip.

The exact drivers to make this work are actually included in Snow Leopard (!!), but were introduced to SL in the 10.6.8 update (they were not in 10.6.7). I actually went into the drivers and checked this was the case. This was really really strange, as I think this particular wifi/bluetooth chip was originally ONLY in the 2011 Mac mini and 2011 MacBook Air at the time - both of those Macs NEVER even shipped with Snow Leopard! You might be asking yourself if this was deliberate on Apple's part... including drivers in the OS which are not going to be used... thats a bit weird right?

Unfortunately even though the correct drivers for the Wifi/Bluetooth are included they have not received any updates, obviously. I was hopeful that Apple might do a 10.6.9, like Microsoft did an XP SP3. But it didnt happen. There were even Apple support articles which referred to 10.6.9, so it must have existed in some form within Apple.

I've had all sorts of problems where the wifi seems to drown out the bluetooth signal using SL. I actually wonder if this is a hardware problem, which is now being masked by some clever software (there are more recent drivers in Lion, ML and Mavericks!). This is something you would have to live with I think under Snow Leopard.

I should just say I cant see how its possible to run SL on anything more recent than the 2011 model.

I will see if I can make a video recording of how to use System Image Utility.

Hello newfoundglory,

I installed the modded 10.6.7+updates 10.6.8+NFG dmg on mac mini 5,2 - everything seems to be working except the firewire port.

I'm trying to connect an old scanner (that requires rosetta). in "more info" I can see it is recognized, but the software just seems to no be able to comunicate with the scanner. there is a device lookup app for the scanner, and it just can't find it. when connected to a native 10.6 machine, it finds the hardware with no problem. where should I start troubleshooting this? is there a kext I need to copy?

Hi, NFG,

I just recently installed your package on a 2011 server I just bought. I cloned my old drive in target mode and then i manually put in the hd 3000 kext and and the Mini definitions and was able to see the monitor. Then I ran the installer. Everything seems to be working.

I did, and still, keep getting messages about some kexts not being installed correctly. Most were about printers I don't have so I deleted them. There are a few others:

System extension cannot be used
The system extension "System/Library/Extensions] BJUSBLoad.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used. Please try reinstalling it, or contact the product's vendor for an update.

"System/Library/'Extensions/ iTunesPhoneDriver.kext"

"System!Library/Extensions! lOVideoFamiIy.kext/Contents,lPluglns/ lOVideoDeviceUserClient.kext".

What should one do about these?

Thanks so much for making it work.

Quote:

All you really need is System Image Utiltity, which is included as part of the free Server Admin Tools 10.6.8 from Apple. You must install this only on a mac running 10.6.8. SIU is cabable of creating an integrated Mac OS X image with all the component parts and updates you want already baked-in. It is commonly used by sys admins to create updated Mac OS X images for deployment in large enterprise environments.

At the end, you get a never-booted-before clean image and installer of Mac OS X with everything working for the 2011 mini. You can just install it on your 2011 Mini with no further modifications.

Could detail the exact steps if anyone is still doing this, as I guess you could get a bit lost in the process if you arent familar with SIU, disk utility and package maker.

______________________________________________

If the exact steps could be detailed, it would be very much appreciated,

Largely through the efforts of newfoundglory, who assembled the kexts necessary, the 2011 Mac Mini can run boot and run Snow Leopard from a separate partition.

Search for his posts earlier in this thread and his link to the assembled kexts.

I do not know if the poster you linked to, is as comprehensive as newfoundglory's work.

Well that of course is the problem: you have to find someone who has actually attempted your suggested method, has found success and is hopefully still reading this thread!

I was an original contributor to this thread when my iMac G5 died (for the last time) and I replaced it quickly with the 2011 Mac Mini without doing any due diligence on the release of Lion from my known experiences with Snow Leopard.

Even before newfoundglory announced his successes here, I made the decision that I wanted to continue to run Lion exclusively (that is not dual-boot) and regain my access to my PowerPC apps (that quickly died at that time, such as Office 2004, Quicken PPC 2007 for Mac, etc.). This decision, in my case, was primarily for the reason that I had just acquired a hand-me-down iPhone 3G that I had modified to work on my T-Mobile account and wanted the ease of iCloud for updates to my Address Book/Calendar.

So in my case, I went down the separate road to get PowerPC apps working in Snow Leopard client installed into Parallels, since at that time Snow Leopard Server was being sold by Apple at $499! As you know, after much research of the state of the art at that time, I was able to "hobble" together a way to accomplish this result.

I then moved my continued research and support for third parties over to MacRumors, primarily because this site does not allow for the constant modification of the first thread. You are discovering this flaw as you attempt to run down the state of the art of running Snow Leopard on the 2011 Mac Mini in a 45 page thread that has important information that is difficult to find and extract from this thread!

I would suggest that you attempt it, and be sure to come back and post your successes or failures!