How can I uninstall OS X Yosemite and return to OS X Mavericks?

.

Thanks for this, I will try this as well. I have an older iMac (2009/10ish) and had no problems upgrading with the OS's as they came out but I really DO NOT like Yosemite. It slows my computer down considerably, I no longer have yahoo chat, my online games have serious in game lag, the dock looks ridiculous and I don't like the set up if Safari.

I just tried this method but it would not let me unmount the disk. This makes me sad...lol. I'm at a loss as to what to do now.

im having this same problem!! i lost my sound thru my studio krk speakers!!! im hating yosemite im like what did i do??? is it a simple way to just get my sound back why can't i just erase yosemite and go back to being happy?? i appreciate u Kappy but that ... sound confusing!!

Hi Kappy,

Your message was really useful, I've been looking all over the internet trying to find ways on how to go back to Mavericks (which my Macbook 11" 2013 came preinstalled with). But I've got some questions and it would be great if you could answer them so that I can get rid of this cursed OS as quickly as possible.

1. When you said newly installed Hard drive, what do you mean, do I have to buy a new hard drive or do you mean the hard drive that is already in my mac?

2. What is the mfgr?

3. Do I have to buy a copy of Mavericks, because I did not make a backup or anything or download Mavericks from the app store before I upgraded (so annoying!!!!)

4. Will this damage my Mac? Because I only got this in the summer for my birthday present. And this is my only Mac.

Thank you SOOOO much if you can answer these questions. If you can't answer them can you direct me to a website that has the solution?? PLEASE???

Oh and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Like Bill Murray said in GroundHog Day... "Morons, Your Bus is Leaving."

MacBook Pro Mid 2012, 16gb Ram... Yosemite

Running over 100 Apps Old & New... 100% No Problems...

I think ya'll Tried To Install Windows 8 thinking it was Yosemite...

Get A Grip on Yourself Charlie Cheswick in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

ThePoisonApple wrote:

3. Do I have to buy a copy of Mavericks, because I did not make a backup or anything or download Mavericks from the app store before I upgraded (so annoying!!!!)

Mavericks was free, but the important point is the Apple no longer makes it available for any price, so it looks like you will just have to get Yosemite working for you as it is for millions of other users or live with whatever came originally installed on your Mac.

> Mavericks was free, but the important point is the Apple no longer makes it available for any price

That's incorrect, (for me anyways). If you look at page 2 of this thread you'll see my instructions of how I wen't back to Mavericks. To summarize though:

1. Boot using the Internet Recovery Option

2. Let it format your OS partition

3. Let it download the original OS that was on your Mac when it was brand new (mine is a late 2012 MBAir which had the OS before Mavericks).

4. Let it install that OS

5. Go to the app store --> Purchases

6. Mavericks is listed because I had previously downloaded it, (it was free, not actually "purchased" per sey) to upgrade from the Original OS.

7. Click Mavericks to download/install/upgrade to Mavericks!!!

Gotta love Macintosh!!! Yosemite not so much though, lol.

That's incorrect

Actually, it is not. For anyone who did NOT previously purchase/download Mavericks, it is no longer available.

It is only available for anyone who has previously purchased it or it came with the machine originally.

And, here is the relevant info:

6. Mavericks is listed because I had previously downloaded it, (it was free, not actually "purchased" per sey) to upgrade from the Original OS.

You cannot/should not assume that the poster Mavericks installed (which they did not); therefore, your instructions will not work for that person.

>> That's incorrect

>Actually, it is not.

I was responding to this statement:

"Mavericks was free, but the important point is the Apple no longer makes it available for any price"

I can go download it right now from the app store - so to say "Apple no longer makes it available for any price" is incorrect.

You are needlessly arguing semantics; it is quite obvious that:

a) Mavericks is NOT available to anyone who does NOT have it listed in their purchases, and

b) Mavericks is ONLY available as a RE-download (which - just to be perfectly clear - is not the same as a new purchase).

I am done here.

Sorry that I wasn't completely clear, I didn't mean to start an unnecessarily agitated discussion here.

I am completely aware of the fact that previous Mavericks "owners" like myself are still able to download it as purchased and I can attempt to find a better way of expressing it next time.

I have read some users state that a clean install helped the process of upgrading run much smoother. I have my files backed up on time machine, and would like to try that. I went searching the web, and found a lot of sites wt instructions, but each page seemed to have different ones. Could someone either include instructions on a clean install, or post a link to a place wt easy to follow instructions on performing one. Thank You!

Personally I see the so called "clean" install to be a red herring and a waste of time. I have not used one for the four or five upgrades.

I think that they only time I would consider using one is if I am selling my Mac to clean off my data.

Well, a clean install is super easy to do. You just erase your hard drive and install Yosemite. End of easy part.

Now you will need to create everything else from scratch, including your User, all settings and all third party apps from original source that are Yosemite compatible. You should be able to restore many of your user data files by dragging or restoring them from backup, of course, as long as you know where to find them.

A somewhat easier approach is to do the clean install followed by migration of certain things from your backup drive. Your choices will be:

• Users
• Applications
• Computer Settings

Details can be found at OS X Yosemite: Transfer your info from a computer or storage device.

To some extent this will negate the advantages of a pure clean install in that you will be migrating some files that are either unnecessary or at worst will not be Yosemite compatible. The Migration Assistant does it's best to weed out problematic items, but it's not perfect so anything it doesn't know about will be copied over.

There are a few unsolved issues that only affect selected Yosemite users, but at first blush it would seem that those who did clean installs are less likely to see them.