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ryan-e-w

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2012
5
0
Upgrading a friend to Mavericks this weekend. Their computer is still on Leopard, but plenty capable of running Mavericks.

I'm planning on doing a USB install of Snow Leopard, and then Mavericks via the App Store.

Remembering now that you can jump from Leopard -> Lion as well…

Do you think there will be any difference between going:
Leopard -> Snow Leopard -> Mavericks vs. Leopard -> Lion -> Mavericks?

Would either be easier than the other to do a USB install with?
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
located
You can only jump to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion from Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard via that USB Lion install stick for 69 USD. It is cheaper to go via Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, as Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard only costs 29 USD, unless you already have it. OS X 10.9 Mavericks is free regardless if you upgrade from Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
 
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tywebb13

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2012
2,939
1,618
Mountain Lion is free .....

No. Only mavericks is free.

There is 1 advantage in going from leopard to lion first though instead of snow leopard. If you plan on making a bootable usb of mavericks it's better to do it in lion, not snow leopard.
 
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
located
No. Only mavericks is free.

Sorry, was a typo.

There is 1 advantage in going from leopard to lion first though instead of snow leopard. If you plan on making a bootable usb of mavericks it's better to do it in lion, not snow leopard.
How so? I can make a bootable OS X 10.9 Mavericks installer in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard just fine using CCC or Disk Utility.
 

tywebb13

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2012
2,939
1,618
The method for making bootable usbs is different for mavericks.

There is now a built-in app to make a bootable usb for mavericks called createinstallmedia which only works in lion, mountain lion or mavericks. It doesn't work in snow leopard.

You can follow this method to make the bootable usb for mavericks:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18081307/
 

ryan-e-w

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2012
5
0
Got my solution after reading simsaladimbamba's post about pricing and already owning past OS X versions.

Realized that I had purchased Lion through the App Store when it was released, and that it can still be re-downloaded.

So I should be able to create a bootable USB Lion install with that, and then jump to Mavericks through the normal update process.

No re-buying old OSs to use as a stepping stone, nor dealing with shady pirated versions necessary.

Thanks for discussing!
 

KoolAid-Drink

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2013
1,811
843
USA
I recommend you change an entry in one of the PLISTS currently on Leopard, to fool the Lion installer into thinking your OS X version is Snow Leopard. This is because Lion won't upgrade from Leopard, and will rather spit an error message out.

So, before you do an install of Lion, change that plist file. I'll look online and see which plist needs to be edited, then let you know.

Got my solution after reading simsaladimbamba's post about pricing and already owning past OS X versions.

Realized that I had purchased Lion through the App Store when it was released, and that it can still be re-downloaded.

So I should be able to create a bootable USB Lion install with that, and then jump to Mavericks through the normal update process.

No re-buying old OSs to use as a stepping stone, nor dealing with shady pirated versions necessary.

Thanks for discussing!


----------

Aha! Here you go:

LINK

Scroll down to the "quick-but-techie" way. Follow the instructions. MAKE SURE YOU DO A BACKUP FIRST! Then, attempt to upgrade using the bootable USB drive with the Lion installer on it.

Let us know how it goes.
 
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ryan-e-w

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 4, 2012
5
0
I recommend you change an entry in one of the PLISTS currently on Leopard, to fool the Lion installer into thinking your OS X version is Snow Leopard. This is because Lion won't upgrade from Leopard, and will rather spit an error message out.

So, before you do an install of Lion, change that plist file. I'll look online and see which plist needs to be edited, then let you know.



----------

Aha! Here you go:

LINK

Scroll down to the "quick-but-techie" way.

Wow, you probably just saved me a ton of time. I was thinking that you could do Lion over Leopard without any edits. I'll try the .plist route. Thanks so much for dropping in!
 

abcdefg12345

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2013
281
86
why don't u make a bootable usb and erase the hard drive and install mavericks from the usb
this method worked for me when i did clean install from mountain lion to mavericks

Your 8 GB USB drive should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Mavericks.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction

You should see something like this:

Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 100%...
Copying installer files to disk...
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Copy complete.
Done.

You can then boot up from the USB by holding down the option key, then install from the USB.
 

tywebb13

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2012
2,939
1,618
Yes that's the proper way to make the bootable usb of mavericks, provided you already have lion, mountain lion or mavericks installed.

But he's got leopard.
 

drew627

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2013
199
22
Yeah, clean install of Mavericks with no intermediary steps is the best way to go.
 
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