HowTo revert new MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or iMac to Snow Leopard

argh, my reply post got wiped (operator error) just as I was finishing it up.

okay zirkenz, here is the short version:

1. the "Mid 2011" i5 and i7 iMacs (http://support.apple.com/kb/SP623) have at least different graphics cards as well. End of story - they are not the "identical except for the upgraded processor" - the difference in graphics cards alone would likely be a show-stopper.

4. because a) there is no known restore disc for the models of computers we are discussing, b) I don't know how to do so, and c) this process does not create an installer.

This process creates a bootable system disc image, which is copied to the target hard drive. It will run the current Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, and iMac computers, and likely all previous models that are capable of running SL 10.6.8.

3. if you are booting from a clone of a system, it is no different than booting from the system itself, other than the protected boot disk is now no longer the internal hard drive.

2. I can't retain all your specific details in my head. However, if your new i7 iMac can run correctly from an installed Sl 10.6.3 system, then you can simply boot it from the SL 10.6.3 retail box set, perform your installation and upgrades, and away you go.

please - try booting your i7 iMac from the 10.6.3 box set install disk.

if it boots, proceed.

if it doesn't boot (big bet here), then if you want good results, I suggest that you follow the procedure specified in this thread.

You are welcome to attempt to find other procedures that work - my understanding is that there are few to none, other procedures that is. If you decide to follow this procedure, then please post a checklist-type post, something like:

A.1 - complete

A.2 - complete

.....

A.6.a - what triangle do you mean? I don't see any triangle

something like this will help us answer your questions and provide feedback to keep you going. But you're going to have to try the procedure on faith, and many of the steps will become meaningful as you try them.

without reading back through all your posts, I believe that you had installed 10.6.3 on your iMac internal hard drive when the iMac was booted in Target Disk Mode on a MacBook Pro. If this is correct, then the system that was installed is one for the MacBook Pro, not the iMac.

are your geekbench 5xxx scores by any chance appropriate for the version of the laptop that you used, assuming I'm correct in the previous paragraph?

zirkenz,

I think i got part A processing. Just got a dialog box saying something about creating an image file with just an ok button, clicked on it and it is still running. So far 2 files created a system.dmg 4.82GB and a Tempimage.sparseimage file 6.6 gb. green check marks on "customize package selection" and "add packages and post install scripts" (bottom of those windows). At the bottom of "create image" a spining disc showing its still running. it sure is taking a while.

Great! it does take a lot of processing time. it took some hours (??) on my Mac Pro. However, step C is literally 5-10 minutes!

Question i have is if i download the combo updater on a macbook or an imac does that make a difference? Meaning does the website know what mac i'm on and hands me the installer for that computer?

it doesn't matter. The updaters all handle all systems, unless they specifically have a model name in the filename. you're good to go

please see my previous post about the "identical" (not!) nature of the i5 & i7 iMacs.....

good luck, I'm going home for a weekend - hooray!

thanks for the response. I want to be clear that i am in no way trying to undermine roy's method rather i'm just trying to understand how this all works.

I get it, I appreciate it, and this is one of those where they say in the movies: "Just have some faith my son! All will be revealed in time." Really, it takes going through this complicated-looking process to find out that it isn't quite as complicated as it appears. And, I'm a huge fan of "understanding how it all works" - just sometimes this gets in the way of getting things done.

good luck, please let us know how it goes for you!

Fantastic Zirkenz!

b7) copy this .dmg file to external, bootable, Snow Leopard 10.6.8 system disk (install in /Users/Shared/).

Don't understand what this means. Right now i copied to my imac desktop and renamed the system.dmg file (from the netinstall mount, system/installation/packages) as you said to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg. This file is ow sitting on my imac desktop. What do i do next? I dont understand part b7. Where is the external bootable snow leopard system disk and where is install in /Users/Shared/ ?

since Tech Harmony has filled in the "how to go from here", I'll take a small stab at fillling in some of the "understanding how it alls works".

in b7 - the Unix side of my roots are showing. I also have very strong Mac OS roots, dating from about System 6. Anyway, on the Unix side, the "root" partition starts with the symbolism "/". This is why in the Terminal, your home directory (read "Folder" in Mac speak), is displayed as the path: /Users/your-user-name/.

In the Mac OS, from the GUI (Graphical User Interface), which is the view we see from Finder, your home Folder (read "directory" in Unix speak) is located in the path "Macintosh HD:Users:your-user-name:". Your Desktop is located in the path "Macintosh HD:Users:your-user-name:Desktop:". This assumes that your system uses the default name for the internal hard drive, which Apple has decided to be "Macintosh HD". As a note, I always rename my hard drive to the same name as the computer, such as naming my computer "Sam" (instead of "Roy Miller's Computer") and then changing the name/label of the hard drive to "Sam" as well.

Anyway, I digress. If you open a Finder window, and click on your hard drive icon in the top left of the window ("Macintosh HD" if not renamed), then you should see a folder named "Users". Open this folder and you should see a folder with the name/label of your account user name (often "miller" for me). The icon will look like a small house. In this same Users folder, there should be another folder named/labeled "Shared".

In Unix-speak, this "Shared" directory is /Users/Shared. The purpose of this folder/directory is to provide a place where any user account has the ability to read and write files. For most Mac users I suspect, this is likely un-necessary. However, for computers with multiple accounts on them, like I have here at home with a family of 4, I can ask my wife to drop a file in the Shared directory, and I can then copy it to mine. She can't directly put files in my home directory, nor can I in hers.

anyway, hopes this makes some sense....

Hey Photonomadic,

you just caught me about to log off!!

the new Mac Pro's you bought 2 days ago came with Lion installed, correct?

if so, there are absolutely no pre-existing Snow Leopard discs that will boot these machines, outside of those which you might be able to convince Apple to send you. They were the discs that the same Mac Pro's shipped with immediately prior to Lion's release.

So,

a) there is no problem with installing another internal hard drive to use a Snow Leopard boot drive.

b) short of the above-mentioned rare discs, there is no other way (of which I'm aware) to get a "proper" Snow Leopard system installed on a 2-day old Mac Pro delivered with Lion than following this procedure.

Of course, you can use whatever filenames you want for the System.dmg file, and use a different directory/folder besides /Users/Shared from which to deploy the system image, but basically the steps must be followed to achieve the desired result of installing a "proper" Snow Leopard system on a Mac Pro delivered with Lion installed.

more in a bit...

so, it sounds like you have a Mac Pro already running Snow Leopard. This is good news, as this is a good fast system on which to perform the long Part A of the process.

...install snow leopard from there with brand new snow leopard install disks. Shouldn't this work as a work around for Mac Pro users?

It is highly likely that you don't have a system install disk that can install a "proper" system on a 2-day old Mac Pro. If you do have an installer that will boot the new Mac Pros, then you probably should use that.

I suggest that you make sure your Snow Leopard system is up to 10.6.8, then download and install the Server Admin Tools 10.6.8 on it. Follow the steps in Part A, let it simmer for a couple hours, and you'll be able to extract a system image file in Part B that you can use for each of your 2 new Mac Pros. Please note - this is not an installer! This is an image of a system that will replace the contents of your second internal hard drive on the 2 new Macs, using the methods in Part C.

hope this helps...

I bought a family pack snow leopard disc brand new from a certified mac seller today. not an actual mac store. I called a mac store and know they have pulled all the discs from their retail stores. should these discs work for me?

no.

The only version of Snow Leopard that will run 2-day old Mac Pros is version 10.6.8. No such retail discs were ever distributed by Apple.

The family pack likely has either Snow Leopard version 10.6.0 or 10.6.3. These are the only retail versions of Snow Leopard that I'm aware Apple has released. Since these versions of the OS software won't properly run the 2-day old Mac Pros, due to changes in hardware, such as video cards, processors, etc., you need to somehow get Snow Leopard 10.6.8 onto your new Mac Pro boot disks.

Therefore this procedure.

As I've counseled others, the procedure seems complicated and is hard to envision, until you've actually gone through it (once or twice). I recommend you try to get through Part A, taking some of it on faith, and recognizing that the initial post gives the wrong name of the source file for the package contiaining the System Image Utility. It should say "Server Admin Tools 10.6.8.dmg".

give it a shot...