Unable to install Snow Leopard after El Capitan

Question

Level 1

18 points

Unable to install Snow Leopard after El Capitan

I am not happy with El Capitan, and it is also not compatible with both music hardware and software that I have, so I want to go back to Snow Leopard on my late 2009 iMac.

After installing El Capitan the CD drive on my iMac is not working, and I was unable to install Snow Leopard from it.

So I made a bootable USB that gets recognized when I hold option when the machine is booting. When I choose it, I get the white screen with the Apple logo, but it doesn't go into the installation phase. I have formatted my drive and no longer have El Capitan on it.

How can I install Snow Leopard? It looks to me like El Capitan has blocked the option to downgrade to an earlier OS, and it is a bit infuriating that I am not in control of hardware that I have spent a lot of money on.

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 5:47 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 1, 2017 12:21 PM in response to ArnsteinK

Any mac, after upgrading to OSX 10.7 or newer, refuses to boot from any original SL DVD if it contains a release of SL older than OSX 10.6.4. You should try with an USB installer/DVD/.dmg of SL 10.6.4 or later. Unfortunately, the last DVD sold by Apple as SL universal installer contained osx 10.6.3 (which no longer works after the upgrade).

Reply

Answer 2

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,275 points

Sep 27, 2016 7:24 AM in response to ArnsteinK

Check this doc How do I downgrade my Mac OS X operating system

Reply

Answer 3

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 7:54 AM in response to anonyme4321

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, this did not solve my problems :/ I still am unable to install Snow Leopard, as it won't be installed either from CD (it doesn't read CDs anymore after the Mavericks update) or USB.

Reply

Answer 4

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,275 points

Sep 27, 2016 7:59 AM in response to ArnsteinK

So you can't boot from USB with the alt button pressed during boot ?

Reply

Answer 5

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:07 AM in response to anonyme4321

No. If I choose the Snow Leopard USB after pressing alt during boot, I just get the white screen with the Apple logo. No progress bar and no progress at all, even though I've waited for hours.

Reply

Answer 6

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,275 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:09 AM in response to ArnsteinK

Maybe there was a bug during flashing Snow Leopard on your USB key and the image is corrupted.

Did you try to re-flash ?

Reply

Answer 7

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:12 AM in response to anonyme4321

Yes.

The first time I flashed it in Windows with an app called Transmac.

The second time I did it in the recovery disk utility.

Maybe third time's the charm?

Reply

Answer 8

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:14 AM in response to ArnsteinK

Assuming you formatted the startupdisk with GUID Partition Table, Mac OS Extended (journaled) - this is not absolutely necessary, the CD will take care of it -

put in the CD (grey disc): then start while holding the C key.

Reply

Answer 9

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Lexiepex

When I put in the CD(either on a fresh El Capitan install or during bootup when pressing C) it just reads it for a moment and spits it out, it doesn't work reading it. The whole CD drive stopped working after upgrading.

Reply

Answer 10

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Lexiepex

And yes, the startup USB is GUID and OS X journaled extended.

Reply

Answer 11

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:34 AM in response to ArnsteinK

Is there anything on it at all ? I mean, did you do a complete format (from the Recovery Partition) ?

Reply

Answer 12

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Lexiepex

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I have formatted the internal iMac HD(1TB). And yes, I formatted the USB through the recovery partition disk utility before restoring it with the Snow Leopard dmg file.

Reply

Answer 13

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 27, 2016 9:41 AM in response to ArnsteinK

Put the disk that you want to install SL from the disc on, inside the Mac. After the installation you can take it out again.

Reply

Answer 14

ArnsteinK Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 27, 2016 9:56 AM in response to Lexiepex

Sorry for being unclear.

When putting in the grey SL installation disc, the mac ejects it after 10 seconds.

When starting from the bootable USB I don't get past the white screen with the Apple logo.

Reply

Answer 15

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Sep 27, 2016 10:05 AM in response to ArnsteinK

You were not unclear, I was perhaps.

Originally you boot with a CD with SL on it, to install SL on the inside disk, not an outside disk.

The actual inside disk is not really "clean" I suppose. Since you want it on the outside (USB) disk, I propose to put that one inside first.

The issue may go away when you do a SMC and a PRAM reset, but I doubt it.

Reply