Q: Final Cut Pro Studio 2.0 Will Not Install on My 2015 iMac

First...you need to read this. This thread deals with getting FCP 7 to work on the latest OS. And FCP 7 is two years NEWER than FCP 6. It's problematic for some, not for others.

FCP 7 and El Capitan?

Note that Motion and Compressor won't work. Color, may or may not.  Many features of FCP 6 may or may not work. FCP legacy (FCP 7 and earlier) is now "zombie-ware," meaning it's old and dead...but still see use.  FCP 7 was discontinued 5 years ago, and came out 7 years ago....FCP 6 was lntroduced 8-9 years ago.  The last OS that it was rated to work with was like 10.5.  MacOS 10.7 and up (now 10.11) was made without ANY considerations for older software like FCP Legacy working. And in a lot of cases, it doesn't.

The installer for FCP 6 was a legacy installer...meaning it was still a POWERPC installer, not Intel. The OS made up for this by installing ROSETTA, which allowed older installers to work. Now that's gone. 

I tried to look up the tricks needed to install this on Yosemite and El Capitan, and I can't find them. And you do need to run these tricks.  I hope someone who knows them shows up. But yeah, the whole studio package won't work...really only FCP 6 will, and not as well as it could on supported OS versions. Time to look at future apps. 

And FCX you need to buy outright...there is no upgrade to it. The good news with it, however, is that you buy it once for $300, and every update that comes out is free. But it is vERY different than FCP legacy, for sure.

As Shane points out, even if you can get FCP 6 (FCS2) to install in El Capitan, there is no guarantee that it will function properly.

Here is a recent post I assembled that discusses 3 safe installation methods for FCS2 (Final Cut Pro 6) in Mavericks and Yosemite:

Apple has created a "bug" in the attempt to install FCP6 in Lion, Mt. Lion and Mavericks, which makes it look like Rosetta is needed for a PowerPC app, the installer, so as to make it difficult for the use of FCP6 in these versions of OS X!  There are three ways to install it:

 

1.  Pacifist https://www.charlessoft.com/

 

2.  Jeremy Johnstone's Terminal method http://www.jeremyjohnstone.com/blog/2012-03-11-installing-final-cut-pro-studio-2 -0-on-mac-os-x-10-7-lion.html

 

3.  HawaiianHippie has discovered the best and safest possible solution to this problem:

 

https://discussions.apple.com/message/26309669?ac_cid=tw123456#26309669

 

I have now successfully done this on four computers, brand new iMacs running 10.9.4.  And I've discovered an even easier way to do this!  You don't need to edit the plist file, just move it into the Trash.  Install proceeds normally.  You can return it after you're done if you like, I don't know what (if any) possible repercussions might come from leaving it deleted.

 

The file, as indicated on Jeremy Johnstone's blog, is

/System/Library/CoreServices/Installer.app/Contents/Resources/PPCRequirements.pl ist

(Note that when you get to Installer.app, you will have to Control+click and select "Show Package Contents")

 

     I have not, as yet, attempted to recreate his success.

With some extra time upcoming, I may try to duplicate Hawaiian Hippies' method...

YAY!  MichaelLAX responded with the work arounds. I need to copy and paste that somewhere.  Thanks man.

Hey Shane!

Do we know about the reliability of FCP 6 in the earlier versions of OS X (Yosemite, Mavericks, etc.)?

Maybe the OP can install one of these earlier versions of OS X in a separate partition and then use the instructions to install FCP 6 and then use the "dual-boot" method to access FCP 6 as needed!

FCP 6? No idea. I use FCP 7 on Mavericks and have no issues. But Compressor and Motion don't work.

Hi Seeker6

While I cannot comment on FCP6, I can say that you can install and run FCP7 on El Capitan. I installed via a Disk Image file. Installing from a disk image also by by-passes installer issues. However, Motion4 no longer works and you may have to quit the installer and it will say "Installation Failed" but FCP7 works.

I have in the past also installed via Terminal FCP7 onto Yosemite and Mavericks.

The links to Jeremy's finding about specific red flags for FCS2 may cause issues.???

I never owned 6 only 5 then 7

Apple for a time and maybe even still ?? sold FCS3(7) off the books by contacting Apple directly. This was after they started selling FCPX and removed  7 from the App Store. The upgrade price was $299 which is the same price as FCPX.

Having been a user of X now for a long time, I cringe when I have to go back and use 7. Just this past week I had to install 7 on EC to re-edit an older video. Yes 7 runs, after very short time with 7, I exported XML ran 7toX app and now redoing the video in FCPX. Yea! So much easier/faster.

Try Terminal or Disk Image, no you do not need Rosetta!

MichaelLAX - You cannot boot any Macs with OS's earlier than what came with the computer. Dual Boot Won't work.

Since the OP has a brand new iMac, most likely this means El Capitan.

You can install a virtual machine such as Parallels and install older OSs, but now you are using lots of resources - 2 OSs + FCP all resource hogs = slowdowns.

Really everyone, just buy and use FCPX. Get 7toX (free on App Store) learn the new software and slap yourselves for not doing it sooner.

Hope this helps, Greg

EcoGreg wrote:

 

MichaelLAX - You cannot boot any Macs with OS's earlier than what came with the computer. Dual Boot Won't work.

Since the OP has a brand new iMac, most likely this means El Capitan.

Good point: I did not focus on how new his iMac is; so dual boot Yosemite may not be an option.

I may just have to try installing it on El Capitan and see what happens.  The problem is that I am not a user of FCP 6 (a copy was loaned to me for instructional purposes to work with getting around the installation problems).  So I have no data files nor expertise in actually using it...

Maybe you or Shane can link me to a simple online Tutorial on using FCP 6 for the purposes of testing it out in El Capitan.

EcoGreg wrote:

 

Really everyone, just buy and use FCPX. Get 7toX (free on App Store) learn the new software and slap yourselves for not doing it sooner.

 

My recollection from past posts, is that 7toX will NOT convert FCP 6 files; leaving those who need to go back and edit their FCP 6 projects with an ongoing need to run FCP 6.

MichaelLAX

Actually 7toX does indeed work with FCP6 and even Premiere

From Intelligent Assistant … "An application that exports Final Cut Pro XML (such as Final Cut Pro 7 or 6, Premiere Pro CC, etc.)"

Site Link…http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/7toX/

Hope this helps, Greg

Well that is good news and good advice from you to users of FCP 6.

I note from the same link that Final Cut Express (version 2 of which is the cousin of FCP 6) does not export XML and perhaps the negative comments I read earlier were from users of FCE 2:

Unfortunately Final Cut Express does not export XML, which is what we translate. It is possible, if you have an accommodating friend, to import your project (with media) to Final Cut Pro and then export Final Cut Pro 7 (or 6) XML that we can translate to the new Final Cut Pro X XML format.

Same Site Link

Of course, this converter would still require running access to FCP 6 so that the data file could be converted to XML and the XML file could be exported first.  So, FCP 6's ability to be installed and run in El Capitan may still be an issue, even after they purchase 7toX and FCP X.

HawaiianHippie wrote:

 

I have now successfully done this on four computers, brand new iMacs running 10.9.4.  And I've discovered an even easier way to do this!  You don't need to edit the plist file, just move it into the Trash.  Install proceeds normally.  You can return it after you're done if you like, I don't know what (if any) possible repercussions might come from leaving it deleted.

 

The file, as indicated on Jeremy Johnstone's blog, is

/System/Library/CoreServices/Installer.app/Contents/Resources/PPCRequirements.pl ist

(Note that when you get to Installer.app, you will have to Control+click and select "Show Package Contents")

https://discussions.apple.com/message/26309669?ac_cid=tw123456#26309669

I can now confirm that HawaiianHippie's method works for installation of Final Cut Studio 2 (Final Cut Pro 6) in Yosemite:

                                                          [click on images to enlarge]

Two elements were excluded from the install (Compressor and Apple Qmaster - which may be due to the fact that I have not installed iLife '11 on Yosemite and hence iMovie was not available):

I ran into a glitch when attempting to install FCS2 in El Capitan.  I will continue my work there soon...

Compressor and QMaster don't rely on iLife for anything, so having it installed or not is a moot point. QMaster isn't supported at all in El Cap, nor Mavericks...thus why it won't even install. There is a later version of Compressor that's sold separately, so maybe that's why that won't install. But that too is besides the point. Compressor from Final Cut Studio...and Motion, and QMaster don't work in 10.9, or 10.10, or 10.11. So installing them is pointless anyway.

I am attempting to get some DV footage, so I can run the tutorial and trying using FCP 6 in Yosemite and then El Capitan, if I can get it to install.

What are the consequences of not having access to Compressor and Qmaster?

Compressor is the tool used to compress your video for various final delivery needs.  DVD, H.264 for the web...or to convert camera masters that are h.264 or other files INTO a format that FCP will edit with. It's a pretty major tool.  And QMaster allows Compressor to use multiple processors at the same time. Without it, Compressor only uses one processor.