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Andras5soul

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 14, 2007
62
0
NY
How do I do this? (This question directed to anyone who HAS done it or feels comfortable enough with the procedure to run me through it)

I'm running Tiger at the moment. I've read that the $29 upgrade disc works to install Snow Leopard onto Tiger also. I want to clean install and only back up music, videos, pictures, email, and personal documents like work. I do not need any of the applications that I've added to my macbook pro over the years. I do not have time machine. Will I lose all applications from safari through ichat and itunes if I clean install or are those applications on the Snow Leopard install disc.

No website or thread has the steps to clean install SL onto Tiger yet.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
You still need leopard. It's like asking to upgrade from Cheetah to Snow Leopard.
 
You can upgrade Tiger to SL with Upgrade Disc

I went to BB and bought the upgrade for my MBP running Leopard but I decided I would try to install it on my Tiger running iMac almost possitive it would not work. It however worked and even installed faster (1/3 the time) of my MBP with more Ram and better processor. So it is definitely done
 
I went to BB and bought the upgrade for my MBP running Leopard but I decided I would try to install it on my Tiger running iMac almost possitive it would not work. It however worked and even installed faster (1/3 the time) of my MBP with more Ram and better processor. So it is definitely done

Did you just do a straight upgrade? How is it working?
 
I installed Snow Leopard on my friends MBP with Tiger as an Upgrade and worked perfectly. I am unsure, however, about a clean install. I don't see why it wouldn't work though. :)
 
I just popped in the DVD and it booted off the disc and went on the internal HD updating Tiger and keeping all apps and prefs. I did originally do a clean install on an external HD but I thought I would give a Tiger upgrade a shot and I was surprised. I did however not try a clean install on the internal HD so idk how that would work
 
Thanks everyone for your help. A more general way to ask the question again is: If I do a clean install, will mac os 10.6 end up on my computer with no applications, or does it include such apps as iphoto, mail client, itunes, safari, etc.
 
You'll have mail, itunes, safari. What you won't have is anything off of iLife or iWork - you'll have to reinstall those from your latest purchased version or the disks that came with your computer.
 
Trouble installing Snow Leopard onto Tiger

I have a three-year-old MacBook that's running OS X 10.4.11. I tried to install Snow Leopard and got the error message "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer. This disc requires that Mac OS X 10.5 or later already be installed on your computer."

Help! It doesn't sound like anyone else is having this problem.

After I inserted the disc, I restarted the computer pressing "option." Then I chose for it to boot up the OS X DVD. I got the language selection window, chose English, and then I got the error message.

Any ideas on how to bypass this?
 
Tiger to Snow Leopard on MacBook doesn't work

I have a three-year-old MacBook that's running OS X 10.4.11. I tried to install Snow Leopard and got the error message "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer. This disc requires that Mac OS X 10.5 or later already be installed on your computer."

Help! It doesn't sound like anyone else is having this problem.

After I inserted the disc, I restarted the computer pressing "option." Then I chose for it to boot up the OS X DVD. I got the language selection window, chose English, and then I got the error message.

Any ideas on how to bypass this?

I'm having the same exact problem. I have a 3 year old MacBook and it keeps giving me the same error message that I need OS X 10.5 or later to install Snow Leopard. I cannot seem to go straight from Tiger to Leopard. Anyone know a work around????
 
My understanding is SL can be a fresh install or an upgrade over Leopard, but not Tiger. A search should be able to confirm this information.

I'm having the same exact problem. I have a 3 year old MacBook and it keeps giving me the same error message that I need OS X 10.5 or later to install Snow Leopard. I cannot seem to go straight from Tiger to Leopard. Anyone know a work around????
 
Source please. The question is technical, not moral. I'm pretty sure you don't need leopard.

the 29$ disk is for an upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. if you are doing something else buy the real license. if you aren't going to - you might aswell torrent it.

i don't see what's to discuss here.
 
My understanding is SL can be a fresh install or an upgrade over Leopard, but not Tiger. A search should be able to confirm this information.

It's all over the internet that it can in fact be done. Even Apple admitted it. The question is not whether it can or cannot be done or even if it ought to be done... the question is why am I getting this error and how do I get around it. Is there anyone out there with actual know how and can assist ?
 
It's all over the internet that it can in fact be done. Even Apple admitted it. The question is not whether it can or cannot be done or even if it ought to be done... the question is why am I getting this error and how do I get around it. Is there anyone out there with actual know how and can assist ?

Your machine is obviously tossing a reflag during the system check. You would need to modify the Distribution file and remove the system checks that flag your system.

I have a suspicion that there is code that ignores machines that shipped with Tiger. Maybe those before the Leopard UTD eligibility date.

I have been going through the Distribution file to find any out of the ordinary system checks. Here it is for others. Unzip, open in textedit.

EDIT: I checked the Localizable.string file from the OSInstall.mpkg. Here is the message you are getting:

Code:
"IC_Upgrade_message" = "This disc requires that Mac OS X %@ or later already be installed on your computer.";

The code that runs this check is not in the Distribution file I posted, unless I am blind. I will keep looking.
 

Attachments

  • Distribution.zip
    119.8 KB · Views: 381
Finding a lot of stuff, just found this: Interesting....

Code:
/* ==========================================
	Mac OS X Installer: Upgrade check strings
   ========================================== */

"UPGRADE_CHECK_TITLE" = "In order to upgrade to Mac OS X v10.6, you must have Mac OS X v10.4.4 or later already installed on this computer.";
"SEARCHING_FOR_MAC_OS_X" = "Searching for Mac OS X on this computer…";
"CANNOT_INSTALL_TITLE" = "Mac OS X can’t be upgraded to v10.6 on this computer.";
"UNABLE_TO_FIND_MAC_OS_X" = "Mac OS X v10.4.4 or later could not be found on this computer.";
 
the 29$ disk is for an upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. if you are doing something else buy the real license. if you aren't going to - you might aswell torrent it.

i don't see what's to discuss here.

So, I'm looking at the package of the $29 disk I just purchased. It simply says "Mac OS X Snow Leopard" and on the disk it says "Install DVD". Nowhere does it say that it is an upgrade only disk. In tiny type on the bottom edge of the package, it does say "Use of this product is subject to the software license agreement included in this package." But, in fact, there is no license agreement in the package. Just how much work is the user expected to do to figure out that she is not allowed buy this disk, insert it in a Tiger system and perform the install???
 
I'm having the same exact problem. I have a 3 year old MacBook and it keeps giving me the same error message that I need OS X 10.5 or later to install Snow Leopard. I cannot seem to go straight from Tiger to Leopard. Anyone know a work around????

Did you guys figure this out?
I'm having the same problem.
 
Boot from your MacBook restore disc, format the Hard drive with disk utility and then shut down and boot from the snow leopard disc. Should work.
 
It doesn't work. I just saw such a process fail. Hard drive was wiped clean from the Tiger boot disc (because there was no getting passed the language selection in snow leopard installer and therefore no getting into disc utility via the snow leopard boot disc). After the Computer hard drive was wiped the machine was restarted with a blank slate and Snow Leopard STILL denied installation: "Mac OSX can't be installed on this computer" appears after selecting a language. There is no "CheckforOSX" application in the installer/content/resources folder of the Snow Leopard install disc either - even with hidden files in view. There is something else of course, somewhere in there. I've seen forums that place the blame on a script that checks the make and model of your machine. If your machine is too old, installer won't proceed past the language selection. Cold. I don't see how people can possibly do a clean install (legitimately from leopard or illegitimately from tiger) from an old macbook at all.:confused:

"I have a suspicion that there is code that ignores machines that shipped with Tiger. Maybe those before the Leopard UTD eligibility date"

Agreed. How to get past that I have no idea
 
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