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Downgrade iMac to Snow Leopard

Sdahe

Sdahe

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 26, 2007
1,725
25
San Juan, PR
Hello,

I just got this new iMac and it came with Lion installed... I have the Snow Leopard Cd and would like to downgrade it to SL...

Need help...

Thanks
 
That DVD, if Retail/Upgrade version will not work, as it contains 10.6.3, which will not work with 2010 and later Macs.

Maybe this can help: [SUCCESS!]Late 2011 Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard

Or in other words:
Put iMac in Target Disk Mode
Connect it to your MacBook Pro, which runs Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard I guess.
Insert Snow Leopard installation medium inside MBP and boot off it
Perform Clean Install on iMac's HDD
Boot from iMac's HDD and run all available Software Updates
Boot iMac from its own HDD


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Sdahe said:
Hello,

I just got this new iMac and it came with Lion installed... I have the Snow Leopard Cd and would like to downgrade it to SL...

Need help...

Thanks
Click to expand...

Your best bet is to call AppleCare, explain why you want or need SL and they may ship you DVDs. Other than that attempting to install SL is a hack at best which may hamper the stability of OS X. Your build was intended to have Lion on it however it originally shipped in May 2011 with SL so you might get lucky if Apple provides DVDs.

Why do you feel you need SL?
 
rkaufmann87 said:
Your best bet is to call AppleCare, explain why you want or need SL and they may ship you DVDs. Other than that attempting to install SL is a hack at best which may hamper the stability of OS X. Your build was intended to have Lion on it however it originally shipped in May 2011 with SL so you might get lucky if Apple provides DVDs.

Why do you feel you need SL?
Click to expand...
Well, it's not my iMac... is from a friend. He just want to work with Snow Leopard. I think it has to be something about compatibility with the stuff he is going to work with. He is a video editor.
 
I got my 2011 27 inch iMac working with 10.6.8 using Disk Utility's Restore disk function. My Mac Pro has 10.6.8. I have two licences.

External hard drive helped a lot.
 
Last edited:
Sdahe said:
Well, it's not my iMac... is from a friend. He just want to work with Snow Leopard. I think it has to be something about compatibility with the stuff he is going to work with. He is a video editor.
Click to expand...

If he wants to dual boot it would be pretty easy. No additional computer required. If he wants only 10.6, it of course can be done but is a little more detailed.
 
I've been talking to Apple about the exact same thing. The first technician I talked to said "not possible". I then spoke to her supervisor and he said it "probably wasn't possible". I told him I had read that it could be done and he began to look into it further. Here's what he found.

First, you need to see the build number of your computer. You do this by selecting "About this Mac" and click on the version number. It will show you the build number. Then go to this page and find your computer and build number.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159?viewlocale=en_US

Each build number has an operating system that it originally shipped with. This is the earliest system you can use. For my 27" iMac it's system 10.6.6. He checked and was able to sell me a 10.6.6 replacement disc for $16.

The Apple technician cautioned me again that he wasn't positive this would work, but that it looked like it should. Once I receive the disc, I'll give it a try.
 
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