Jediko
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Install more than 2 OS X in a Mac mini

Hi

 

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, The only apple product I have is iPhone, but I got an assignment to install several versions of OS X in the same Mac for testing. I have done searching and google, but all I could find is Dual booting (ex Lion + Mountain Lion...etc).

 

Now I have a Mac mini and hope to install 4 ~ 3 versions OS X (Mavericks, ML, L,SL) on it then choose one of them (hold the Option key?) when I start the machine.

 

Is that possible ? Accourding to the article about dual booting , it seems easy and possible to install more version just by repeating the process? but I couldn't  find other article that install more than 2 OS X. I hope it is just because not many people need to do this.

 

Thank you very much

Mac mini

Posted on Dec 11, 2013 8:01 AM

by babowa,Solvedanswer
babowa babowa
Level 7 (32,357 points)
iPad
A:

A Mac cannot boot from an older OS version than what it came with.

 

So, yes, you can boot from more than one OS (I have a mid 2010 iMac which will boot with Snow leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks because it came with Snow leopard), but you need to pick the right Mac. Mid 2010 models came with Snow Leopard. A new Mac with Mavericks pre-installed can only boot from Mavericks.

 

If you have the right machine, partition your hard drive and install the base Snow Leopard on all. Update it to 10.6.8 to get the app store. Then purchase Lion and ML and install each on one of the partitions (while booted to that partition). Then download Mavericks on the last one and you're done.

 

The difficulty will be to find a mid 2010 machine.

 

Here is a detailed list of Mac builds and the OS version they came with:

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159

Posted on Dec 11, 2013 8:09 AM

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Jediko

Q: Install more than 2 OS X in a Mac mini

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Dec 11, 2013 8:07 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 11, 2013 8:07 AM in response to Jediko

    You'll need to set up a separate partition for each system version.  You'll also need mini that's old enough to boot to the earliest OS but new enough to support the newest OS you want to try.  A brand new mini that comes with Mavericks won't boot to anything earlier but an early Intel Mini from 2006 probably won't run Mavericks.

  • by babowa,Solvedanswer

    babowa babowa Dec 11, 2013 8:09 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 7 (32,357 points)
    iPad
    Dec 11, 2013 8:09 AM in response to Jediko

    A Mac cannot boot from an older OS version than what it came with.

     

    So, yes, you can boot from more than one OS (I have a mid 2010 iMac which will boot with Snow leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks because it came with Snow leopard), but you need to pick the right Mac. Mid 2010 models came with Snow Leopard. A new Mac with Mavericks pre-installed can only boot from Mavericks.

     

    If you have the right machine, partition your hard drive and install the base Snow Leopard on all. Update it to 10.6.8 to get the app store. Then purchase Lion and ML and install each on one of the partitions (while booted to that partition). Then download Mavericks on the last one and you're done.

     

    The difficulty will be to find a mid 2010 machine.

     

    Here is a detailed list of Mac builds and the OS version they came with:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159

  • by stevejobsfan0123,Helpful

    stevejobsfan0123 stevejobsfan0123 Dec 11, 2013 8:09 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 8 (44,007 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 11, 2013 8:09 AM in response to Jediko

    Snow Leopard came out in '09, so try to get a Mini from then. It can run 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9.

  • by Jediko,

    Jediko Jediko Dec 11, 2013 8:44 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 11, 2013 8:44 AM in response to Jediko

    Thank you guys very much to tell me this. I will try to look for a Mac with as old as version I can find to buy it....(is that possible ? haha). We now have a old mini in the office but our developers love it so much that they don't wanna let it go since they already builded a steady environment on it. Let's see what gonna happen =)

     

    Again.... thank you

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Dec 11, 2013 5:46 PM in response to Jediko
    Level 6 (19,682 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 11, 2013 5:46 PM in response to Jediko

    In theory, you can install Mac OS X Lion (10.7) and Mountain Lion (10.8) in a virtual machine if you are on a Mavericks system.  And if you have Snow Leopard "Server", you are allowed to legally install that in a virtual machine as well.

     

    VMware Fusion, Parallels, VirtualBox are virtual machine software packages.

  • by Jediko,

    Jediko Jediko Dec 12, 2013 1:19 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2013 1:19 AM in response to Jediko

    Hello

     

    In the end, our boss decide to "enlist" the old mini. After some more research, I found the mini is a Core i5 2.3 from mid 2011 and came together with OS X 10.7 (Lion). So I think we can at least install Mountain Lion on it.(right?) But how about the latest verion Mavericks ? Will it be too old to run the latest OS?

     

    Is there any ppl have a mini that is at the same age ? Can it run Mavericks ? how is the performance?

     

     

    Thank you

  • by Jediko,

    Jediko Jediko Dec 12, 2013 1:23 AM in response to BobHarris
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2013 1:23 AM in response to BobHarris

    Hi BobHarris

     

    So you mean If people use virtural machine solution, installing older OS X on a newer machine is possible.

     

    I wonder why the Snow Leopard need to be Server version?

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Dec 12, 2013 3:30 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 6 (19,682 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 12, 2013 3:30 AM in response to Jediko

    Yes, I think you can run older Mac OS X versions in a virtual machine, THAT is running on a Mac. But you would have to try it to be sure there were no issues.

     

    The consumer Snow Leopard license did not allow running in a virtual machine and the virtual machine vendors honored the license. The Snow Leopard server license did allow virtual machine use.

     

    Note: running Mac OS X in a virtual machine is ONLY allowed on a Mac. The license does NOT allow running on non-Apple hardware, and the virtual machine venders honor that as well.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Dec 12, 2013 7:48 AM in response to Jediko
    Level 7 (32,357 points)
    iPad
    Dec 12, 2013 7:48 AM in response to Jediko

    As far as I know, you'll need to decide how many OS versions you want to run as the license only allows 2 OS in a virtual environment (appropriate excerpt of OS licensing agreement here):

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-12 at 7.43.03 AM.png

     

    The full SLA's are available here:

     

    http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Jan 7, 2014 11:27 AM in response to BobHarris
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Jan 7, 2014 11:27 AM in response to BobHarris

    BobHarris wrote:

     

    The consumer Snow Leopard license did not allow running in a virtual machine and the virtual machine vendors honored the license. The Snow Leopard server license did allow virtual machine use.

    It was a common Urban Myth that the Snow Leopard EULA prohibited its virtualization in Lion, Mt. Lion, etc.  That myth has been debunked over the last two years.

     

    Apple rendered the issue largely moot when they dropped the price of Snow Leopard Server by 95% to the same $19.95 as Snow Leopard; by telephone orders only: at 1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753) - Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A