Expired OSX Server 10.5 - What now?

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Expired OSX Server 10.5 - What now?

Hi!

I have a slight problem with continuity here.. I've got an old XServe G5 with OSX 10.5.8 Server installed, only with its serial number expired. I can't use any tools within the admin suite and it seems to be pretty bothersome any other way. Since the hardware is old PPC, I can't upgrade to 10.6. Which leaves me asking, where in the world do I get a new serial number for 10.5 (preferably one which would never ever again expire) - or am I forced to ditch the hardware and get Intel gear? Are there any other suggestions with using the old servers?

I've tried asking about this from local Apple stores but all the latte swinging hipster sales clerks do is tell me I'm stuck in the past and try sell all this new garbage to me.. so no help there from my Apple Sales Representative..

The serial number is registered to "Developer Seeding" in the "Apple Developer Connection" organization and I did find some threads that mentioned that ADC serials may expire.. but can the same serial be reused by somehow resetting it?

Message was edited by: Trashtone / Added note about ADC registration

Xserve, OS X Server

Posted on Feb 6, 2015 12:36 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 9, 2015 4:35 PM in response to Trashtone

Hi there - this isn't very helpful I know, but my $999 serial number is working just fine. Old versions are no longer offered anywhere, it seems - I had a real issue when Lion was replaced overnight by Mountain Lion, vanished from the App store and all my 32-bit Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 machines were stuck on Snow Leopard, unable to be upgraded to the most recent OS that they could run (having said that, 10.6 is a much more stable OS than Lion... but some apps need it). I feel your pain. Now, how do you contact your Apple Sales Representative? Maybe a call to the 1-800 app support number might let you acquire a valid serial number...

I'll give you mine when the Quad's liquid cooling corrodes and I can move to a now-obsolete Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server, which I found boxed on eBay.

I wish Apple would release heavily expired OS versions into the wild, as they used to with Classic OSes - I could download floppy images of System 7.5.5 for the Classic... but I guess there's licensed software in there, possibly beyond its time, that they need to pay for or abandon.

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