Problems Booting From USB

Snow leopard will not install on any newer mac than a 2011 model and not even on some of those. So it will certainly not install on a mid 2012 retina. That is why you care getting the white screen and nothing else.

You can not use a mid 2012 model to boot snow leopard. It won't do it. To start a mac from any dirve it must have a version of os x that will actually work on that model. Snow leopard will not work on that model so it won't boot from any drive that has snow leopard on it in any form. Doesn't matter if it is just the installer for snow leopard it is still snow leopard and will not work on a mid 2012 model.

Use a older mac computer. Any from 2011 will boot from snow leopard if the version is 10.6.7 or .8. For older versions of snow leopard, 10.6.6 and before, you need a mac from 2010.

HELP.

I have two MBP's. One of them is a brand new retina. I have used this machine to create a bootable USB of Snow Leopard, a bootable USB of Leopard, a bootable external hdd of Snow Leopard, and a bootable external hdd of Leopard. All are GPT/GUID. All are recognized as OS X Install disks.

The second laptop is a mid-2010 MBP with a blank hard drive. I would like to install either Leopard or Snow Leopard onto the mid-2010 MBP. At boot, I press the option key and all of the above mentioned disks are recognized as OS X Install disks. However, no matter which one I select to boot from, the mid-2010 MBP simply displays the gray screen with an Apple logo.

I have let it sit for up to 12 hours before. It never boots. I want to install OS X on my mid-2010 MBP. Why is this so impossible? And what is a solution?

an Installer based on the last "Full Retail" DVD, which contained 10.6.3, is too old to boot any except MAYBE some 2010 models if they did not require a custom version.

--table is from: HT1159-Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers

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Thank you for sharing. I'm not sure I understand what you're suggesting.

I've seen this table before and used it to understand I cannot use 10.7 or 10.8.

Are you suggesting that a retail version of 10.6.x or 10.5.x would not work on a mid-2010 MBP because it requires something special? It seems unlikely like the laptop would require some secret non-retail version. How would we ascertain the truth in this case?

Many "full retail" 10.6 DVDs were 10.6.0.

The key to using that table in your case is the build numbers for the lowest version that was shipped on a particular Mac. If you are trying to install a lower-numbered build, it is not going to work.

It is not unusual at all to ship what you called a "secret" version, it is the standard, qualified, released version of the day -- enhanced with the drivers needed for a newly-released Mac. Note that the 3 2010 models all shipped with different build numbers -- that is a hint that each was a "special" build with added Drivers for that model.

My "Full Retail" 10.6.3 is build 10D575, which would not boot ANY of the 2010 MacBook Pro models!

You CAN obtain a version shipped in the box with a particular Mac (provided it was a DVD version, like 10.6.x) by calling AppleCare with your serial number at the ready, talking to a specialist (the first-responders do not seem to be familiar with this) and paying about US$20-$30 to have them send you a System Disc.

RE: Boot older Macs from DVD

There have been several detailed discussions about booting 10.6 on older Macs. There are a few important take-aways that surfaced from those discussions.

A) Shipped-in-the-box DVDs are model-specific, and may contain Drivers for only the model they shipped with. Updates to such a base system may not add any more Drivers.

B) "Full Retail" DVDs AND paid-for Downloads contain "Drivers for every appropriate Mac". Updates to such Full-Retail versions may add even more Drivers for later models.

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If you can start with a "full Retail" version, update it to the latest version using an appropriate Mac, it is very likely to boot an older appropriate Mac, even if the full retail DVD it is based on could not (e.g, boot another appropriate Mac to Full Retail 10.6.0, Update to 10.6.8, clone to your 2010 MacBook Pro, and it is likely to boot and run just fine).

Some computers can install an EFI Update to enable Internet Recovery (so no more Recovery_HD required to re-load Mac OS X). The 2010 MacBooks look to be on that list:

HT4904-Computers that can be upgraded to use Internet recovery

• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
• MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
• iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)
• iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)
• MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010)
• Mac mini (Mid 2010)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch and 17-inch, Mid 2010)
• iMac (21.5-inch and 27-inch, Mid 2010)
• MacBook Air (11-inch and 13-inch, Late 2010)

That's not really correct. Although some older Macs can be updated with a firmware update to use the Online Internet Recovery system none of them can really use it to reinstall Lion or Mountain Lion because that Mac did not come with either of those version of OS X Pre-Installed.

From reports here on this forum when the Online internet recovery system is used on one of those older Macs and the user selects Reinstall Mac OS X a Error pops up. It can be used for Disk utility and to get help from the internet but since the system didn't come with Lion you can't download that version of OS X. That system isn't equiped to handle Apple IDs for authentication. It used the Machine serial number to authenticate it for the download.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Some computers can install an EFI Update to enable Internet Recovery (so no more Recovery_HD required to re-load Mac OS X). The 2010 MacBooks look to be on that list:

Thanks for that clarification. I agree that you could not download any version of 10.6 using Internet Recovery.

You would have to have a pre-existing purchased version of Lion or Mountain Lion on the same Apple_ID for Internet Recovery to be really useful in this case.

My statement as written is too broad, and may be misleading. I stand corrected.

I sincerely appreciate the replies, suggestions, and clarifications.

It is a mid-2010 15" MBP i7. It fails to boot from either USB or external hdd which are bootable disk images of 10.6.3 Retail. It is my understanding that this version of Snow Leopard *should* work. But it is not booting.

The machine recognizes the source as a OS X Install disk (at boot, hold Option, and the only item listed is the OS X Install) whether I use the USB or the external hdd. Once I select either drive to boot from, there is a gray screen with an Apple logo and nothing happens irrespective of how long you leave it.

[Note: It is not feasible for me to install Snow Leopard on my retina MBP in order to clone the drive. Nor does this laptop allow me to actually install Snow Leopard to an external drive because Mountain Lion explicitely prohibits you from launching the actuall installer app (yes, it's the same "You cannot use this version... 23.1.1" message everyone else reports). So, the retina MBP is basically only good for creating the USB or external hdd of the DVD image.]

You CAN NOT boot a Mac from a Disk Image. You have to Restore that image to a drive/disc of some type, USB thumb, standard HDD or DVD disc.

You can restore that image to a thumb or standard drive or to a DVD disc if you have a external DVD drive on your Retina.