Installing OS X Server on Lion does not work

Question

Installing OS X Server on Lion does not work

I just tried to install Mac OS Server (Mountain Lion) on my Mac Mini Server. It refused to download and install, saying it requires Mac OS 10.8 on it. By that I assume it means the previous version of the server OS. The error message was not more specific.

This is really annoying since there is no way to download the previous version of the Mac OS Server OS. Even then, it would be strange to force people to go through another pay upgrade, which was more expensive than the current price for OS X Server.

Any ideas how to get OS X Server on my Mac Mini with Mac OS Server 10.6.8 are appreciated.

Mac mini, OS X Server

Posted on Sep 1, 2012 2:10 AM

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Answer 1

Mark23

Level 4

994 points

Sep 1, 2012 2:48 AM in response to Henning von Vogelsang

First you need (this is not optional) to install Mountain Lion. Then you can install OS X Server on top.

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Answer 2

Sep 1, 2012 2:57 AM in response to Mark23

So this means I can install a regular version of Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion) over Mac OS Server 10.6?

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Answer 3

Mark23

Level 4

994 points

Sep 1, 2012 3:05 AM in response to Henning von Vogelsang

Yes, I did too on five servers. Many setting will return after you've installed OS X Server.

You should always back up your server, but all servers upgraded without a problem in my case. Just install the latest updates from software update and you should be all set to go. 🙂

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Answer 4

Mark23

Level 4

994 points

Sep 1, 2012 3:09 AM in response to Henning von Vogelsang

Please be aware that managing 10.8 server is very much different from managing 10.6 server and you might first want to set up a lab environment before applying this to your production server.

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Answer 5

Sep 1, 2012 3:13 AM in response to Mark23

Thanks, this makes sense to me now. I simply didn't understand Apple's changed approach. Reading more about the current server OS version I learned that it is not really a different OS, but Mountain Lion with server apps on top of it.

I also understand that the server settings will change, which is not really bad in my case, because I used the server for a private home environment. There may be a couple of functions I may be missing, but generally I am more the simple user case than a professional server host.

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Answer 6

Mark23

Level 4

994 points

Sep 1, 2012 3:21 AM in response to Henning von Vogelsang

Even professional server hosts make mistakes 🙂

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