Roy Miller
Level 1 (30 points)

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

Hi all,

 

the following instructions were provided to me by our Apple Enterprise tech, and I've successfully performed these steps on a newly purchased MacBook Pro.

 

Please note the following - as of 15 Aug 2011:

- this technique will work on new MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or iMac computers UNTIL Apple modifies the hardware in these computers

- this technique will NEVER work on currently shipping MacBook Air or Mac Mini computers

- this configuration of Snow Leopard installed on a computer that shipped with Lion is not supported by Apple Support.  It is entirely possible that after a trip for an AppleCare support incident, or the Apple Genius Bar, that the computer will return with Lion installed.

 

with these caveats, here are the step-by-step instructions:


---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

HowTo - NetRestore - Install Mac OS X 10.6.8 on new Mac delivered with Mac OS X 10.7.0

 

    note:  this only applies to Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, and iMac computers that originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.6.x. 

               Current Macbook Air and Mac Mini computers cannot be downgraded.

 

Required resources:

    - another computer, running Mac OS X 10.6.8

    - spare external disk

    - Snow Leopard installation disc  (Mac OS X 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 Box Set)

    - Snow Leopard 10.6.8 Combo image file  (download from Apple Support Downloads page)

    - System Image Utility 10.6.8  (download Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.dmg from Apple Support Downloads page)

 

 

Procedure:

 

A. Create the NetImage:

1) mount the base source image  (Mac OS X 10.6.3.dmg - created from Box Set Installer)

2) launch System Image Utility  (from Server Admin Tools)

3) when source (from mounted image) appears in SIU screen, click Custom button

4) drag "Customize Package Selection" from Automator Library window to location

        between existing "Define Image Source" and "Create Image"

5) drag "Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" from Automator Library to location

        between "Customize Package Selection" and "Create Image"

6) in the "Customize Package Selection" section:

    a) expand the "Mac OS X" triangle

    b) select options desired

    c) collapse the "Mac OS X" triangle

7) mount the appropriate update image  (Mac OS X 10.6.8 v1.1 Combo.dmg)

8) copy the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg package to a new local directory  (Desktop/parts/)

9) drag the MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.8.pkg icon from local directory to the

        "Add Packages and Post-Install Scripts" section of the SIU window

10) in the "Create Image" section:

        a) select the type "NetRestore"

        b) set the "Installed Volume:" field to "Macintosh HD"  (no quotes, can be any name)

        c) select the "Save To:" location

            (will be faster to a second local internal disk)

            (not faster to another partition on the same disk)

        d) set the "Image Name:" field to "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore"

        e) the fields "Network Disk:", "Description:", and "Image Index:" don't

            matter unless one is going to use results on a NetBoot Server

11) click the Run button

12) when the dialogs appear, ignore the text and click OK for proper completion

            Dialog text:    "Image creation in progress. 

                            Cancel the image creation to proceed"

 

B. Post-process to create Restore Image:

1) find the directory created in the above process, named as in A.10d above

            (Snow Leopard 10.6.8 NetRestore.nbi)

2) in this directory are three files:

    - i386

    - NBImageInfo.plist

    - NetInstall.dmg

3) mount the NetInstall image  (double-click the NetInstall.dmg file)

4) navigate into the Contents of the package, to:  System/Installation/Packages/

5) copy the System.dmg file out to desktop or other work location

6) rename System.dmg to meaningful name, such as "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg"

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

 

 

C. Install Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on new MacBook Pro or Mac Pro

 

via command line:

1) boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in B.7

2) open Terminal

3) find the restore target device specification

        a) run the command  "diskutil list"

        b) look for a 650 MB partition, labelled "Recovery HD" (likely disk0s3)

        c) the target partition should be immediately prior to the "Recovery HD" partition

        d) for a new computer with a 500 GB drive, this partition should be

                labelled "Macintosh HD", with a size of 499.2 GB

        e) make note of it's Device Identifier, likely disk0s2

4) issue the following asr (Apple Software Restore) command

    sudo asr restore --source "/path/to/restore.dmg" --target /dev/disk0s2 --erase

        (replace "/path/to/restore.dmg" with the path to the location and name used in step b.7)

5) this process proceeds and completes quickly, about 3-5 minutes. This is due to

        the "--erase" parameter; it indicates a block-copy operation

        If the process seems slow, likely the "--erase" option was omitted and

        the copy is being done as a file-copy operation.  Quit (ctl-c) and

        examine the command used...

 

 

via DiskUtility GUI:

 

1) boot MacBook Pro or Mac Pro from external source prepared in B.7

2) launch /Applications/Utilities/DiskUtility.app

3) select the computer hard drive  (typically "Macintosh HD")

4) click on the "Restore" tab

5) click on the "Image..." button to specify the "Source"

6) navigate to /Users/Shared/ and select the "Snow Leopard 10.6.8 System.dmg" file

7) drag the computer hard drive volume (Macintosh HD) to the "Destination" field

            (note: grab the volume, not the disk!!)

8) enable the "Erase destination" checkbox

9) click the "Restore" button

10) in the ensuing "Are you sure?" dialog, click the "Erase" button

11) authenticate with the local admin credentials

 

 

Apple Tech recommends leaving the Restore partition alone, and installing in the "Macintosh HD" partition only

 

commands to know:

    - asr

    - diskutil      (diskutil -list to see partitions)

    - hdiutil

Posted on Aug 15, 2011 9:00 AM

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Roy Miller

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

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  • by markfromhelena,

    markfromhelena markfromhelena Dec 3, 2011 2:54 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 2:54 PM in response to Roy Miller

    First of all thank you Roy for taking the time to start this post. I just bought an MacBook pro with lion solely because I was sure I could roll it back to snow leopard after reading your guide. I spent the better part of last night getting things ready but I am having problems.

    I followed parts a and b with no big issues and everything seemed to goto plan. I ended up with the sl 10.6.3 with automated 10.8 upgrade bundle ( I did not remove the add user step) as a dmg which I copied to an empty  USB drive (250 gb). I did this on a mbp I bought in 2009. My new mbp is identical except it has lion.

     

    I started the lion mbp and created a new partition called machdsl and set this portion as the boot Partion and copied image from USB drive to this new partition. Restarted and just got apple logo and 3 beeps which repeat. No key strokes seemed to do anything. I then restarted and held option key and got into the restore option and tried to restore from new partition, mbp restart and same 3 beeps.

     

    Before starting this endeavor I spoke with apple support and the very helpful rep told me that your method would not work on my machine but that I was welcome to try it. According to him late August hardware changed and it is now impossible to put sl on the Mbps. Rep told me I would not be able to get sl to boot and so far he seems right.

     

    Ive read that if I wipe the hd on the new mbp and then restore with sl it might work since the lion restore partition is preventing the sl from loading- am I doing something wrong with your method or should I wipe the lion hd, or should I just take it back and buy a cheap windows7 laptop. This is for my son and I will not support lion. I have spent 5 minutes with lion and I already hate it. Old mbp loaded to the gills boots faster than clean lion OS.

     

    I'm quite knowledgeable with IBM machines but I'm definitely a noob when it comes to macs. I bought macs for the family to avoid having to do battle every other night with the household computers. Hopefully you can help. Thanks to everyone posting you're all abig help to the Mac community.

  • by Ian Cheong,

    Ian Cheong Ian Cheong Dec 3, 2011 4:30 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 4:30 PM in response to markfromhelena

    I can boot my early 2011 MBP from a SL drive made for MPB 1,1 2006. Suggest as an experiment that you clone the SL drive made on the 2009 MBP to the USB drive, set it as startup disk, and see if it will boot the new machine.

     

    If so, you have proven that SL will run on the new machine. Then figure out if there is a problem with the netimage. (You mentioned "copying" the image - it did need to be a restore.)

     

    One would hope that the minor hardware upgrades to CPU and GPU in late 2011 MBP wouldn't greatly affect compatibility.

     

    Quick fix could be to clone the 2009 MBP SL drive to the new machine, since if it works, will make your life changing over a lot easier.

     

    (FWIW, my early 2011 machine is running a new internal SSD so there is no lion stuff on it.)

     

    I also note there are bugs in Disk Utility on the shipping version of Lion on my machine, a software update fixed that. So do update Lion if using Lion disk utility to do the netimage restore. I used SL disk utility. Have also cloned the new drive to a new partition on the shipping drive (external USB-SATA adapter) but haven't tested if it will boot.

  • by markfromhelena,

    markfromhelena markfromhelena Dec 3, 2011 4:28 PM in response to Ian Cheong
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 4:28 PM in response to Ian Cheong

    Thanks for the reply, I did restore it actually ,not copy. Im planning to do as you suggest here momentarily. I reply when I finish.

  • by markfromhelena,

    markfromhelena markfromhelena Dec 3, 2011 5:04 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 5:04 PM in response to markfromhelena

    Ok tried restored dmg on portable  drive over FireWire using option at boot up on lion Mbp. Got same result, three beeps. I'm ready to throw in the towel and take Mbp back before my 14 day return policy expires. My child's school uses Microsoft so he might (a sad day when this has to be said) be better off with a Microsoft laptop. At least they are cheap. I'm recovering from an ios5 fiasco so I've had it with apple for now. FYI laptop was purchased last week of nov from bestbuy.

  • by markfromhelena,

    markfromhelena markfromhelena Dec 3, 2011 5:21 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 5:21 PM in response to markfromhelena

    Okay couldn't leave it alone. I booted my old mbp with portable drive and I see I don't have the latest updates, shows as 10.6.3. So I must have done something wrong. As someone else suggested I'm performing updates on my portable drive and then will try again.  It will all be worth it if it works!

  • by markfromhelena,

    markfromhelena markfromhelena Dec 3, 2011 7:32 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 7:32 PM in response to markfromhelena

    Okay success using my portable drive. I just booted from it on old mbp and did all the updates. On new mbp booted from portable drive and it's working great. Now I just have to get what's on my portable drive onto the new mbp hard drive partition . I updated software again while running on new mbp and there was an efi 2.3 and thunderbolt update which I installed with no consequences thus far. So it does work on my new Mac! Thanks Ian. I just needed a bit of motivation!

  • by markfromhelena,

    markfromhelena markfromhelena Dec 3, 2011 8:00 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 8:00 PM in response to markfromhelena

    Success, I used lion boot to restore my portable drive to a new partition and I can dual boot to lion or snow leopard. Really easy actually. Only took 2 days. Thanks to everyone's posts that made this possible. And to the rep that told me not possible I'm sticking my middle finger up at you! Woohoo!!! Now to roll back ios5!

  • by Ian Cheong,

    Ian Cheong Ian Cheong Dec 3, 2011 9:28 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 9:28 PM in response to markfromhelena

    markfromhelena wrote:

     

    Okay success using my portable drive. I just booted from it on old mbp and did all the updates.

    I actually booted the new machine from the USB SL drive (installed for MBP 1,1). Having booted new machine into SL, ran the server image utility on new machine - probably a lot faster (42mins).

  • by Tech Harmony,

    Tech Harmony Tech Harmony Dec 3, 2011 11:39 PM in response to markfromhelena
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Dec 3, 2011 11:39 PM in response to markfromhelena

    Nice persistence people!

  • by mbrethen,

    mbrethen mbrethen Dec 4, 2011 2:09 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2011 2:09 PM in response to Roy Miller

    I was able to create a dual boot SL with the following procedure (albeit condensed):

     

    Setup:

    MacBooK Pro 13" 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/SL 10.6.8 OS

    Late 2011 MacBook Pro 15" 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 with Lion installed

    500Gb G|Drive external usb

    Original SL (Grey) DVD (10.6.3)

    10.6.8ComboUpdate

    Disk Util

    Carbon Copy Cloner

     

    1. Created a second (30Gb) partion named "Snow Leopard" on the 15" MBP usng Disk Util

    2. Formatted the external usb drive with 2 partions (leaving 30Gb for the 2nd) using Disk Util.

    3. Using CCC, copied my Lion Partition from the 15" MBP to the ext. usb drive.

    4. Checked to make sure the ext. usb drive booted on the 15" MBP when holding option key.

    5. Shutdown the 15" MBP and connected ext. usb drive to the 13" MBP

    6. Using original (Gray) DVD, installed SL (10.6.3) on 30Gb partition on the ext. usb drive.

    7. Ran 10.6.8 Combo Update

    8. Shutdown 13" MBP and connected ext usb to 15" MBP

    9. Was able to boot SL from the ext usb partition.

     

    Everything seems to work, but have not had time to use it enough to do a full check. I used CCC once again to copy the SL partition from the ext usb drive to the SL partition on the 15" MBP.

     

    Having never used a dual boot setup before, what can stay on the Lion side and what do I need to migrate to the SL side, in the way of Users? Apps? Other?

  • by Gerard Boon1,

    Gerard Boon1 Gerard Boon1 Dec 7, 2011 4:30 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 7, 2011 4:30 PM in response to Roy Miller

    Hi Roy,

     

    Great work! however I am stuck at image creation stage when press run I get Errror Image creation failed The nbi and volume names must be specified to create an image (-1701) there are two green tick marks higher.

     

    What am I doing wrong?

     

    Thanks Gerard

  • by Steve Jolly,

    Steve Jolly Steve Jolly Dec 10, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Gerard Boon1
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Gerard Boon1

    Hey, folks. I've lurked around this discussion thread for several months, trying to keep up with your progress over here while we explored similar issues over at the "2011-Mac Mini-to-Snow Leopard" thread.

     

    As some of you know, we're suddenly having significant success (at the other thread) with full-speed running of Snow Leopard on 2011 Mac Minis (which are definitely designed to be Lion-only machines!).

     

    The pathway opened when user "newfoundglory" started carefully modifying his system files. It involves some significant hacking of kext files and editing of other resources -- and there are still some display issues that are being sorted out -- but it's clear that they're on the right track.

     

    The benchmarks for "modified" Snow Leopard on the 2011 Mac Mini are suddenly very high! -- even faster than what Lion is scoring, and in many cases are well ahead of Snow Leopard's benchmarks on older machines that it was designed for!

     

    Interested?  Then look in on the thread at

         https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3209335?start=315&tstart=0

     

    and then come back and share what you've learned!

     

    The breakthrough from newfoundglory happens around pages 19 and 20 on that Mac Mini thread -- and continues thru to the current postings (which are on page 22 as I write this).  You might want to look back to those earlier pages if you need to "catch up" to what's currently happening.

     

    The steps required for success get pretty tech-y, but the ideas are definitely applicable to solving problems with the Macbook Pro and for other Lion machines that are struggling with Snow Leopard on current hardware. Folks at the other thread are working on simplifying the whole process and on stamping out the final bugs.

     

    (Meanwhile, there's still hope that Apple may modify its policies and at least allow running of Snow Leopard client under virtualization on Lion machines. We're working on that -- but the "Apple reconsiders" road may simply peter out before it gets anywhere.)

  • by Tech Harmony,

    Tech Harmony Tech Harmony Dec 10, 2011 12:31 PM in response to Steve Jolly
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 12:31 PM in response to Steve Jolly

    That's wonderful news! I'll have to check this out... I was hoping someone would figure out which kexts (drivers) were needed and if anything needed to be more deeply modified for Mini (and iMac) users...that's just great.

     

    From what I can tell, the Macbook Pro's don't suffer the speed hits that the Minis and iMacs take running a generic 10.6.8 so it may not be necessary to fix anything on the MBP side. But this would be welcome news for iMac-folk. Of course, iMac-folk have a 10.6.6-10.6.8 restore disc floating around out there so one would think there are kexts on there that could "simply" be ported to the iMac installs rather than having to do any deeper mods. I don't have an iMac to figure this out.

  • by Ian Cheong,

    Ian Cheong Ian Cheong Dec 10, 2011 4:08 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 4:08 PM in response to Roy Miller

    Re: getting the iLife Apps back

     

    I tried copying the apps from the Lion hard drive to SL including stuff in application support but not prefs. Something wasn't right and the error message said they wouldn't run on this hardware.

     

    For Lion shipping computers, internet download (intended for restore) of the iLife Apps is enabled as the only way to recover them after a reinstall of Lion, which doesn't come with iLife. iLife is bundled with hardware.

     

    Hardware must be registered while running Lion and AppStore to make the iLife apps appear under AppStore>Purchases. Hardware registration won't work under SL, presumably because SL-shipping hardware came with iLife Apps on disk.

     

    Once hardware is registered, run Snow Leopard AppStore>Purchases to install iMovie, iPhoto, and GarageBand.

  • by DBering,

    DBering DBering Dec 10, 2011 4:26 PM in response to Roy Miller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2011 4:26 PM in response to Roy Miller

    My situation was straightforward. I used my wife's early 2011 macbook pro 13", which came with Snow Leopard, so this may not add a much to the discussion. My late 2011 macbook 13" (2.4GHz) arrived a few days ago with Lion. I connected an external USB drive to the new macbook pro. That drive contained a clone of my wife's drive (early macbook pro). It booted Snow Leopard fine. While I consider my subjective feel of a computer to be more important than benchmarks, I will use Geekbench (64-bit) here for reference since scores have been mentioned earlier in these discussions.

     

    Her early 2011 MBP running the factory installed Snow Leopard scored 6546. My late 2011 MBP running Snow Leopard from the external USB drive scored 6532. My late 2011 MBP running the factory Lion scored 6709. I cloned my wife's Snow Leopard to a new OCZ 3 128GB SSD and put it in the late 2011 MBP, along with a RAM upgrade to 8GB. The score of the upgraded late 2011 MBP running Snow Leopard was 6815. I changed the user and migrated my apps and files, so I now have a late 2011 MBP running the way I want it.

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