I just spoke to an applecare advisor and he said that it is possible to downgrade a new mac that came with Mountain Lion, but that they were not allowed to tell me how to do it.
Does anybody have any info on this topic?
Thanks
I heard that was possible too, but not recommended. The Mountain Lion System incorporates elements that will not relate to Snow Leopard. A typical example is Rosetta.
I have done it on a 2011 MBP. What Mac do you have?
Ciao.
Hi, I too did it on a 2011 mbp which shipped with lion. However, my brandnew computer won't even boot from an external usb-connected HD with a fully installed copy of 10.6.8 on it, even after the latest software update.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Run Mac OS X Server 10.6 in emulation or give up; it's otherwise not possible.
(75844)
If I can repeat the gist of my earlier post. The Mountain Lion System on new Macs incorporates elements that do not relate to the Snow Leopard system.
A typical example is Rosetta; there are others.
I notice too that Neil has now joined us and if he's negative about it you can bet your life it's not a good route to try.
Well that tells me that you cannot install 10.6.8 on 2012 MBPs. You might look at this discussion which probes the possibility of installing Snow Leopard on a 'virtual environment'.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3187252?answerId=16262461022#16262461022
Ciao.
...don't go all the way back, to 2011!
Install Snow Leopard (with Rosetta) into Parallels:
[click on image to enlarge]
Full Snow Leopard installation instructions here
NOTE: Computer games with complex, 3D or fast motion graphics make not work well or at all in virtualization.
MichaelLax, greetings: Perhaps I failed to be clear. I was speaking about installing 10.6.8 on a Mac originally delivered with Lion or Mt. Lion as the primary OS, or 'down grading'. I know it can be installed on 2011 MBPs and the OP indicates that it cannot be installed on the the next generation of MBPs (2012) by cloning or use of a boot drive.
Now one may employ some gymnastics such as Parallels so that one can use it on with a 2012 MBP, but that is a totally separate issue from what I was trying to communicate. If it suits ones needs to do so on a 2012 MBP, so be it. I am neither pro nor con in that regards.
Ciao.
Hello!
I was responding to your suggestion:
OGELTHORPE wrote:
Well that tells me that you cannot install 10.6.8 on 2012 MBPs. You might look at this discussion which probes the possibility of installing Snow Leopard on a 'virtual environment'.
https://...
Ciao.
And your link to an old discussion about the virtualization of Snow Leopard in Lion...
MichaelLax, greetings; That was just a suggestion for additional food for thought for those with an interest in this issue. It was not meant as an endorsement of the subject matter on my part.
The only reason that one can install 10.6.8 on a late 2011 MBP is because it seems that they were the same as the early 2011 MBPs with slightly faster CPUs and GPUs. At least that is the conclusion I have come to. Thus it would appear the the Apple dictum of not being able to install an older OS on a newer MBP still holds true.
Since I believe in the KISS principle, running an OS in a virtual environment is of little interest to me.
And, yes I will accept that it can be considered old. To be truthful, I did not notice that until you brought it to my attention.
Ciao.
OGELTHORPE wrote:
Since I believe in the KISS principle, running an OS in a virtual environment is of little interest to me.
Which means that you also believe in continuing to use your older Macs and not purchase a newer one that would require Mountain Lion, and hence not allow for booting into Snow Leopard.
MichaelLax, greetings: Not quite the case. I do recognize that all OS have a lifespan and newer ones generally incorporate improvements in contrast to prior versions. It depends upon what one views as improvements. There are two types, ease of use and the introduction of a new feature.
In the case of the former, in Tiger if one had several windows open, in order to close one that was behind the one that was displayed, the user would not be able to click on the red button to eliminate it, but rather click on it to bring it to the front and then click on the the red button. In Leopard, you could eliminate any window by clicking on the red button regardless of its position in relation to other windows, so long as the button was visible. In short, a one vs two click process.
It would seem like a very small an insignificant detail but magnify it by the number of times the user does it and in concert with similar ease of use procedures can make the difference between an OS that is easy to use or not.
Also with the introduction of Leopard was Time Machine which was a truly worthy new feature which justified the new OS on that basis alone.
In regards with the Lion's I have picked up several reversals in the ease of use category and I have registered my dissatisfaction with Apple support. Some of the new features such as Launch Pad and Mission control among others I find to be of dubious value.
Am I against new OSs. Not at all. I have Lion as the principle OS in the late 2011 MBP with Snow Leopard in a partition. In the 2010 MBP I have Snow Leopard as the principle OS with Mt. lion in a partition. However I do look forward to an OS, or a Mt. Lion upgrade, that will eliminate the flaws that I have found.
All companies like to make one believe that the latest product is the best ever and makes the prior versions obsolete. I say that obsolescence if more often a perception rather than a reality. I find that a five year old Mercedes can deliver you in comfort to your destination as well as a new one, or at least close enough.
Ciao.
Ciao made some very well reasoned points about the ease of use. I can add another comment in this respect: it would be good if Apple were to reinstate the keyboard shortcut for find-by-file-name as it would eliminate the substantial trouble of navigating a drop down menu. The shortcut disappeared in the transition from 9.2 to 10.0 and did not come back till 10.4. Then in the transition from 10.6 to 10.7 it went away again. Will they ever learn? And they might also stop spotlight from returning hits to email messages. I have never yet performed a finder search when I was looking for the content of an email! How dumb is that?
I would also like to thank Neil. As I have not come up with a solution thus far I think I will give up and suffer ML on the new AirBook. I only use it for occasiononal travel so it's not too much of a torture.
I remain unable to understand why Apple should make, what seem to me, very large blunders in the ease of use department.
There isn't a way to install OS X Snow Leopard onto a Late 2011 Mac or later without some substancial software hacking as there isn't compatible hardware drivers for the newer hardware for 10.6.
The only thing we can do is run OS X 10.6 in a virtual machine under OS X 10.7+ or later.
This is a better method as it uses the free VirtualBox and it gets updates longer than VMFusion or Parallels.
http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/17/install-run-mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-in-virtual -machine-on-lion/
For Early 2011 Mac's and earlier, instructions and links here
ds store, greetings; Snow Leopard (10.6.8) can be installed on a late 2011 MBP with relative ease and no hacking whatsoever. A Retail Disk of Snow Leopard will be regurgitated by the MBP. What is required is a 10.6.8 version. That is what I cloned to a partition on my late 2011 MBP using Disk Utility>Restore. You may want to update your files accordingly.
Ciao.
Downgrade to Snow Leopard
