I would like to upgrade from my Mac Mini 2009 (2.26 Ghz with Snow Leopard) to the new Mac Mini just released which will come with Lion. However, I would prefer to run Snow Leopard. Are there any ways to install Snow Leopard on the new machine?
Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.2)
OK: Back from London! Having had some time to consider the problem, I have concluded that this bump in the road is not much different than previous bumps...
Then, as now, I have concluded that I must continue to move forward, and live with Lion, rather than crowbar Snow Leopard into my Mac Mini.
For example, I was disappointed to see when I opened my hard disk, that the amount of space remaining was no longer listed at the bottom of the window. But I have discovered that going to the VIEW menu and selecting SHOW STATUS BAR now restores that functionality. Again, as in the past, answers will appear to most of the slight glitches that Lion brings to the table.
So my only problem that remains is the Quicken problem: until Intuit comes up with a suitable Macintosh solution (unlikely given their Mac history), I need Rosetta capability. Hence: Virtualization and the wait until Apple authorizes Snow Leopard within a virtual machine.
But for those of us that do not want to wait, Ivan Drucker has documented two ways to get Snow Leopard to run under Parallels; I used the first method: http://www.ivanexpert.com/blog/2011/08/snow-leopard-as-a-parallelsvmwarevirtualb ox-guest-os/
I upgraded Parallels to version 7 (before I was aware that the article gets Snow Leopard to run under version 6). Some comments to Ivan article indicate they were unable to get his solution to work in version 7. However, I upgraded to Build 7.0.14922; Revision 693916; September 13, 2011 of Parallels 7).
Then I upgraded my 2GB Mac Mini to 8GB (online for $87 including overnight shipping! As Bill Gates would say: "You can never have too much money or too much RAM!), and allocated 2GB to Parallels.
After a couple of initial glitches, it is working like a champ today (I have posted a couple of comments to Ivan's article which discusses my hiccups and their solutions).
So until Apple unlocks Snow Leopard, here is a simple solution to my (and perhaps some others?) problems.
ok so here's where I'm at with this. I've been working on this for hours and hours now!
My Mini was booting into 10.6.8, but Thunderbolt wasn't working for my external display on that port, and I noticed my cursor wasn't swapping properly between the arrow and input point, etc. Sometimes it would just disappear until I clicked enough times and it came back. Something wasn't right for sure.
My next attempt was to then "upgrade" to Lion using TDM and the app-store image. I somehow managed that, but on boot, the Mini didn't boot and gave me the circle-line (block) icon. Cr@p! My next bright idea was to try and install the "Server" package and see if that would be enough to get it to boot.
I managed to find an "evaluation" copy, and installed it successfully. About this Mac then showed "Server". I rebooted the mini on it's own and...dang circle-block again! Ayyeee! This is driving me nuts.
So now I'm trying the original method of using the SL retail disc. It rebooted and I held option at reboot, ejected the SL retail disc, then put in 10.5.7 recovery (because the only mac that I have that isn't running Lion right now is a 2009 MBP that shipped with 10.5.7!). When it rebooted, it tried to do the install all over again!
So I rebooted, put back in my SL 10.6.3 disc and the installer picked up again. It's just about done and will soon be restarting.
Thing is, I don't thnk this is any different than my initial installation off the USB drive, since that used the same image as my retail disc has.
Does the host machine need to have Thunderbolt on it? Or at least MiniDisplay Port to get the right drivers working before I run the software update to get it to 10.6.8?
OK, it's restarting now...brb!
ok that didn't work. Same issue as before with the Thunderbolt connected display not working, incorrect dual disaply detection (says I have two displays connected when only one is connected!), and random cursor swapping issues.
Interestingly, I found a post on ZDNet about how to install SL onto a Mac Mini (Server). He did it without the recovery disc. But the main take away was that he installed SL on one of the dual drives, and left Lion Server on the other:
I wonder if that is the key I am missing, to get my drivers all activated and still working.
I'm super tired, but I am going to try and partition my boot drive and restore Lion Server to the smaller partition, then try and install SL again onto the other one tomorrow. On my Mini, I'd formatted both drives completely, with no Lion at all left.
Here goes everything!
Also FWIW, I have painfully fund out that the mac Mini "Server" edition will not boot into Lion "Desktop" period, no way no how. It seems to only boot from the offical Lion Server restore or Snow Leopard through this hack! ;-)
Currently restoring LS onto a small-ish partition now, then on to the SL fun again!
Message was edited by: bryanus
From what I've read on other threads here I think you're right in your reasoning that you should try to get SL installed on the 2nd drive and keep Lion Server on the main drive. Seems that the people who have had success did it this way.
If it makes any difference I have a 24" Apple Cinema DIsplay connected to the Thunderbolt port on my Mini. The downside for me is that apparently there's a glitch in the 24" ACD's firmware that prevents the Mini from using it properly (I had this same problem on Lion so I know it's not OS related). The monitor just sits there and flickers wildly until eventually the monitor gets tired of it and shuts itself off.
Good luck with the re-installs! Let me know if you have any specific questions (though I can't really test anything on my end since I don't have a Mini Server myself).
You can install Lion from another Machine onto an external USB Drive and boot your Mac Mini Lion Desktop from there. Once successful, you can transfer your partition to your Mini with Carbon Copy Cloner. I used this Method to get Snow Leopard Desktop on a Mini Server 2010, now I am booting an external USB Disk with Lion on it.
Morning all. John, just wondering if you got PLEX installed yet on your Mini? This is the main reason I got the new Mac mini and was hoping to hear some feedback on wether downgrading to SL had any adverse affects?
Hey Hardax,
Yeah I got Plex 9.3.4 installed last night. Plex just released a new version last night (previously it was like 9.2.7?) so I figured it was a good time to get it up and running. I added my Movies & TV Shows folders before heading to bed and left it to scan the Library all night.
I woke up to a quarter inch of water in the basement so I didn't have a chance to check the status this morning, but I figure it's probably finished scanning.
Ok I just VNC'd into it from work and it looks like the scanning is complete. It found 1386 movies (should be ~1450 so I'll have to clean that up) which is about what I'd expect. Unfortunately it's not worth trying to play a movie via VNC so I can't really report on the UI at the moment, but I'll be able to later tonight or tomorrow.
Ack! sorry to hear about the water. That really puts a crimp in your day doesnt it! Trust me, I feel your pain as I have been there. I should be able to downgrade tonight or tomorrow so either you or I will test out Plex compatability first! Will let everyone know how it works and if I find any other glitches.
Woah whata night! ok i'm up now and saw that Lion Server had restored, awaiting my setup. Well, get this, I set it up and decided to try the CS 5.5 installer, and wth, it's installing??!! Ugh.
Unfortnately the partition for LS is like 10GBs, so I think I'll try installing SL again since I can't get enough of these installs, and if my Thunderbolt works I think I'll stick with SL for now. Hopefully as more users get the Mini Server someone will figure out a way to gte Lion (Desktop) onto the Mini Server, or Apple will allow it to be installed onto this specific version of the mini.
I'll report back in a bit...
Bryan -- since you have the server mini it has two drives, right? My 2010 server minis came with SLS on one disk and the other one blank. In order to raid the two, I had to erase the boot disk, raid the two disks together, and then re-install from the grey restore disks. Did the Lion server ship that way, not RAIDed? At any point did you try starting with two unRAIDed disks and restoring lion server on one disk and installing snow leopard not-server on the other?
hi cathy,
the first thing I did when i got this is pull the top (bottom?) drive out and swap in a 256gb ssd. I left the other drive in there. I didn't even boot it. I then did the command-r to restore, which is when I discovered that it only restores the server version. I then began to set up my mini environment the way I like, which is when i ran into issues running the CS5 installer...and this nightmare began. The other 500GB drive was wiped also, and I put my Home folder and other files onto that.
Well, the main thing I was trying to tackle was the CS5 install, and it seems like that worked with a clean restore of Lion Server this time, so at least if this new SL attempt doesn;'t work, i can just clone that partition, reformat, then clone back to the ssd and go back to lion Server and be back up and productive for once again.
I'm running the 10.6.8 updater now and should now soon if my Thunderbolt and cursor issues remain after booting back into the mini...fingers crossed!
ok, bummer. Having LS on the other partition didn't help my Thunnderbolt or cursor issues. Looks like I will just clone the LS partition, then reformat the SSD to make the partition larger, then clone LS back and hopefully I won't hit any more software issues (yeah right!)
ok, i'm up and running now under Lion Server [sigh]. Seems to be the only configuration I can get working with my hardware, and now that CS5 is running and installed, I should be more or less productive again. Thanks for your help guys.
John, first of all — thanks for clearing up my "misinterpretation" (a handy euphemism for "Uh-oh! I got it all wrong!") in my response to an earlier question, here.
Now, about your problems driving the 24" ACD -- dunno if this has relevance: the discovery that the new Air (and some previous MBP's) used a chopped-down "Eagle Ridge" version of the Thunderbolt chip ("Light Ridge") that powers the Thunderbolt connections on iMacs and other desktop machines. I wonder if they used that same simplified half-chip for the Thunderbolt port on the 2011 Mini — I think it's likely, since the Mini is largely derived from laptop equipment and configurations. Now, even if true, that might not play any role in your 24" ACD connection problem; but, then, again, it could be a problem with drivers and expectations that are built into them; so...
Here's one link among many---
http://www.slashgear.com/macbook-air-gets-half-power-thunderbolt-29168292/
Hey Steve! You know I'm happy to help 🙂
According to AppleCare there's a known issue w/ the firmware on the 24" ACD...that's all I know on that front. I have a 2010 MBP w/ Mini Display out that works just fine on both my 24" ACD and 27" ACD (w/o thunderbolt). It would make sense though if what you're suggesting were true and the Mini is running on some kind of neutered version of Thunderbolt. I guess we'll have to wait to see if someone does a true tear down (beyond iFixIt) and analyzes the port. Until then I'll just keep it plugged into my HDTV via HDMI and call it good. 🙂
I would guess that if it's really a driver issue (one where Lion Server has X driver but SL does not) then you'd have to boot into Lion Server to fix the problem. Having the OS present doesn't really help w/ the driver loading unfortunately. :\
Can I install Snow Leopard on the new Mac Mini
