Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

OS X Mavericks not available is App store

Spink10 said:
Have someone locally that can download it from their purchase history? You could then make a bootable USB drive with Mavericks on it. I keep a USB of each OS X.
Click to expand...

I have an old (late-2011) MBP that shipped with Lion. I've kept it on Mavericks b/c I've heard that the newer OSX's are very CPU-intensive and, like I said, it's old.

Anyway, my OS was corrupted by a faulty-logic-board-induced kernel panic, and now I need to reinstall Mavericks, but it's not in my purchase history.

Can you perhaps upload&link me to this copy of yours? I can make a bootable drive from there; I just need the raw OS.
 
Frogstar said:
I have an old (late-2011) MBP that shipped with Lion. I've kept it on Mavericks b/c I've heard that the newer OSX's are very CPU-intensive and, like I said, it's old.

Anyway, my OS was corrupted by a faulty-logic-board-induced kernel panic, and now I need to reinstall Mavericks, but it's not in my purchase history.
...
Click to expand...
How did you upgrade to Mavericks, if it is not in your Purchases tab?

Maybe you removed it at some point, to make that list shorter ? You can go to your App Store, then go into your store account. On the line "Hidden Items", click the "manage" button. You may find Mavericks there, and you can "unhide" it, so it will appear in the list under your Purchased tab.

Or, if you did not actually purchase Mavericks from the App Store, maybe you got the Mavericks installer through some other method, like a torrent download. That's also an option for you, although I won't offer any help with getting Mavericks that way.
Or, you kept a legitimate download of the Mavericks installer, on a bootable flash drive (which is a good method, I think), so you don't need to download through the App Store again.
 
Ive a 2009 macbook pro which I "upgraded" from 10.6.8 to Yosemite. The machine is now as fast as frozen Treacle so I want to downgrade it to Mavericks 10.9.5 but cant find an installer as Apple isnt offering it now!

Any suggestions of trusted places to get it?

Having read through this thread I dont see a link to anything?

Thanks!
 
TheBigearedOne said:
Ive a 2009 macbook pro which I "upgraded" from 10.6.8 to Yosemite. The machine is now as fast as frozen Treacle so I want to downgrade it to Mavericks 10.9.5 but cant find an installer as Apple isnt offering it now!!
Click to expand...
At this point I'd give El Capitan a try first- at least that way you can upgrade without having to reformat and restore from backup.
If you still want to go to Mavericks (and note that once Sierra ships Mavericks will no longer be getting any updates), the best thing to do is to go to an Apple Store, if you have one nearby, and bring a USB drive in so that they can give you a copy of the installer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grahamperrin
Im pretty sure my computer's performance is not going to improve if I move up to the latest system unless someone who has the same Mid 2009 MackBook Pro has done this with success?

Yosemite is so heavy on this laptop that I thought there were hardware problems like the trackpad not responding or that the GPU couldnt render (blocky pixelated looking screens)

But not wanting to take this off topic... Im really shocked and I think its disgraceful that Apple are not allowing users to download Mavericks even if they are willing to pay for it!!!



chrfr said:
At this point I'd give El Capitan a try first- at least that way you can upgrade without having to reformat and restore from backup.
If you still want to go to Mavericks (and note that once Sierra ships Mavericks will no longer be getting any updates), the best thing to do is to go to an Apple Store, if you have one nearby, and bring a USB drive in so that they can give you a copy of the installer.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: decio
Question: has anyone actually gotten the Apple Store to give them the Mavericks installer?

chrfr said:
At this point I'd give El Capitan a try first- at least that way you can upgrade without having to reformat and restore from backup.
If you still want to go to Mavericks (and note that once Sierra ships Mavericks will no longer be getting any updates), the best thing to do is to go to an Apple Store, if you have one nearby, and bring a USB drive in so that they can give you a copy of the installer.
Click to expand...
 
Hi friends; I have a macbook pro, mid 2012, mavericks, and I would try to upgrade to El Capitan. But I bought this mac as second hand; if I didn't like El Capitan, and if I would come back to Mavericks, how could I do? I couldn't download it from the apple store because I changed, obviously, the previous user and pssw. Any suggestion, please?
 
angelo1 said:
Hi friends; I have a macbook pro, mid 2012, mavericks, and I would try to upgrade to El Capitan. But I bought this mac as second hand; if I didn't like El Capitan, and if I would come back to Mavericks, how could I do? I couldn't download it from the apple store because I changed, obviously, the previous user and pssw. Any suggestion, please?
Click to expand...
If you boot into the recovery partition, I believe one could use internet recovery to reinstall the original version of OS X that shipped with the computer. It will ask you for your Apple ID, but I'm not certain if it matters whether or not you have previously downloaded Mavericks with said Apple ID. Maybe someone who's tried this before can verify this.
Edit: Ignore me, apparently I can't read thoroughly.
 
Last edited:
Avenged110 said:
If you boot into the recovery partition, I believe one could use internet recovery to reinstall the original version of OS X that shipped with the computer. It will ask you for your Apple ID, but I'm not certain if it matters whether or not you have previously downloaded Mavericks with said Apple ID. Maybe someone who's tried this before can verify this.
Click to expand...
One problem with that scenario...
The Mid-2012 MBPro would have originally shipped with Lion (newest would be Mountain Lion), so you would then have to rely on having previously purchased Mavericks, using your AppleID.
 
0x100 said:
That's true. Internet recovery runs your serial number and downloads the version that mac came with from the factory.
Click to expand...
So what's the best way to snag the downloaded mavericks disk image? I did it with Lion long ago, but I don't recall how.
 
Is Mavericks still available via a Developer License? I don't like paying for something that was free, but if it's either that or snagging an "unofficial" copy, than I'd rather spend the cash.
 
I did download and install Mavericks on my mac pro 2 years ago so I tried to create a boot installer disk using the terminal commands recommended and it all completed but my macbook pro wouldnt boot off the resulting installer.

If I make the installer on the macpro then will it only allow the mac pro to boot off it or should the macbook pro boot off an bootable installer disk created on a macPro also?
 
TheBigearedOne said:
I did download and install Mavericks on my mac pro 2 years ago so I tried to create a boot installer disk using the terminal commands recommended and it all completed but my macbook pro wouldnt boot off the resulting installer.

If I make the installer on the macpro then will it only allow the mac pro to boot off it or should the macbook pro boot off an bootable installer disk created on a macPro also?
Click to expand...
I'm going by the Apple Store to see if I can just buy a USB drive and get a copy.

I have a machine with a clean install of Mavericks on it, but if they'll give me copy it'll take less time to drive by, then futz around with another download.

Ah, the good old days, when I could just fish around in a drawer for a DVD. Well, everything is better now!
 
Last edited:
Larry-K said:
I'm going by the Apple Store to see if I can just buy a USB drive and get a copy.

I have a machine with a clean install of Mavericks on it, but if they'll give me copy it'll take less time than the download to drive by, then futz around with another download.

Ah, the good old days, when I could just fish around in a drawer for a DVD. Well, everything is better now!
Click to expand...
I completely agree. Installers on flash drives are much less likely to get damaged/scratched, and (generally) install much faster than the old DVDs, and less likely to throw errors with a failed install because of a drive that needs to be cleaned.
Those were the "good old days" [/sarcasm]
 
DeltaMac said:
I completely agree. Installers on flash drives are much less likely to get damaged/scratched, and (generally) install much faster than the old DVDs, and less likely to throw errors with a failed install because of a drive that needs to be cleaned.
Those were the "good old days" [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...
The difference being, you always got a DVD, and nothing further was necessary. What did it cost Apple? A buck? maybe. Never had a DVD take as long as the system download does.

I've also never damaged a DVD so that it wouldn't play, (and what are you playing that gets the drive so dirty it won't run). but I take good care of everything. I have had downloads from Apple abort and fail, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm not impressed by your sarcasm. Any time Apple wastes my time to save a few pennies, it makes me question my allegiance to the wealthiest cheapskates on the planet (close enough).

As I said, it'll take me less time to drive to the Apple store, and see if the "Deer in the Headlights" Employees can pry loose a relatively stable version of the operating system.

Yeah, those were the "good old days" Maybe these days, they could toss in a 8GB Flash drive, those are worth about a buck, but I don't want to cut into Apple's massive pile of cash with a modest request for customer service.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grahamperrin
My point is that Apple no longer provides OS installers on DVD (since Snow Leopard).
Users who create a bootable DVD have discovered that the installer is no longer optimized for booting through optical media. (DVD install typically takes 45 minutes to an hour or more, where a USB 3.0 flash drive copies the system files off in 5 to 15 minutes, at the most. The install is not complete, but the flash drive is done. I eject that when the Mac first reboots. There's nothing more that downloads from internet, other than later updates. Depends on the OS X version which has other updates.
And, Apple does provide online instructions for creating a bootable installer, which you can do on you own. Not too challenging for most.
Once you have downloaded the installer app, you don't need to download that again, just make a bootable installer on a flash drive, or other external storage. I have a 64GB flash drive with every installer from Snow Leopard on, each on a bootable partition. Quite handy when going on site, and not knowing what Mac I will find.

I have seen everything you can imagine to "gook up" a DVD drive.
Cigarette smoke is probably the worst, but then there was the 4-y-o kid who decided that CD tray was a good place to store a PBJ. The drive never recovered from THAT ordeal!
 
DeltaMac said:
My point is that Apple no longer provides OS installers on DVD (since Snow Leopard).
Users who create a bootable DVD have discovered that the installer is no longer optimized for booting through optical media. (DVD install typically takes 45 minutes to an hour or more, where a USB 3.0 flash drive copies the system files off in 5 to 15 minutes, at the most. The install is not complete, but the flash drive is done. I eject that when the Mac first reboots. There's nothing more that downloads from internet, other than later updates. Depends on the OS X version which has other updates.
And, Apple does provide online instructions for creating a bootable installer, which you can do on you own. Not too challenging for most.
Once you have downloaded the installer app, you don't need to download that again, just make a bootable installer on a flash drive, or other external storage. I have a 64GB flash drive with every installer from Snow Leopard on, each on a bootable partition. Quite handy when going on site, and not knowing what Mac I will find.

I have seen everything you can imagine to "gook up" a DVD drive.
Cigarette smoke is probably the worst, but then there was the 4-y-o kid who decided that CD tray was a good place to store a PBJ. The drive never recovered from THAT ordeal!
Click to expand...
Well, the Apple Store, or is it "Store, Apple" now? Said No, they don't provide downloads of Mavericks, even if you buy one of their overpriced Flash Drives. So I guess that actually was a "Mac Rumor".

My point is, I should have access to any OSX system I want without having to spend a couple of hours, or more (yeah, that's longer than a disc drive takes) downloading it, and then screwing around in terminal. Yes, I'll be ready for subsequent Mavericks installations, but this may be the only one I do.

I do admit the best part of putting a system on, that Apple doesn't condone, is the nose-thumbing afterwards.

PB+J may be why Apple abandoned Optical Media.
 
Larry-K said:
Well, the Apple Store, or is it "Store, Apple" now? Said No, they don't provide downloads of Mavericks, even if you buy one of their overpriced Flash Drives. So I guess that actually was a "Mac Rumor".

My point is, I should have access to any OSX system I want without having to spend a couple of hours, or more (yeah, that's longer than a disc drive takes) downloading it, and then screwing around in terminal. Yes, I'll be ready for subsequent Mavericks installations, but this may be the only one I do.

I do admit the best part of putting a system on, that Apple doesn't condone, is the nose-thumbing afterwards.
Click to expand...

What has happened to this company? If we had wanted to be treated like this then we all would have bought Windows PCs in the first place.
 
Last edited:
Kiki61 said:
What has happened to this company? If we had wanted to be treated like this then we all would have bought Windows PCs in the first place.
Click to expand...
Terminal certainly brings back memories of DOS.

Download is actually taking 5 hours, guess somebody in the office is watching an Olympics live stream or something.

Bright Side is that I went to Costco and got a Flash Drive 4 times bigger than the ONE (they only had one, but they certainly had no shortage of Watch Bands) at the "Store, Apple" for ten bucks less. Is it stylish? Who cares? Spent the ten bucks on a pizza to enjoy while I wait for the download.

I'll have to snag a El Crapitan Installer before they hide that too, once they bring out "Sierra", who knows how long it'll be before the thing works properly, I really look forward to a new, slower, buggier OSX with Siri yapping at me. After that, I figure it'll all be Phone OSes.
 
Larry-K said:
So what's the best way to snag the downloaded mavericks disk image? I did it with Lion long ago, but I don't recall how.
Click to expand...
I think the best way is to use Internet recovery on a Mavericks Macintosh. When I bought another 2012 Macbook Pro 13" this year it came with some junk Mac OS 10 El Capitan or something. So I just grabbed my old 2012 Macbook Pro 13" and made a USB installer for Mavericks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grahamperrin
0x100 said:
I think the best way is to use Internet recovery on a Mavericks Macintosh. When I bought another 2012 Macbook Pro 13" this year it came with some junk Mac OS 10 El Capitan or something. So I just grabbed my old 2012 Macbook Pro 13" and made a USB installer for Mavericks.
Click to expand...
That's what I ended up doing, fortunately I had a Mini of the right vintage to get it, but it shouldn't be that much trouble to download and install an alternate system.

I know Apple likes to limit our choices. I guess they figure that if we're stupid enough to pay their inflated prices for outdated hardware, we can't make sound decisions about which system to install.

I'll move on to El Crap when: A) It's Finished, B) Apps I use, force me to; not when Apple thinks it's a good idea.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ThunderMasterMind, ErnstStavroBlohard and grahamperrin
Avenged110 said:
If you boot into the recovery partition, I believe one could use internet recovery to reinstall the original version of OS X that shipped with the computer. It will ask you for your Apple ID, but I'm not certain if it matters whether or not you have previously downloaded Mavericks with said Apple ID. Maybe someone who's tried this before can verify this.
Edit: Ignore me, apparently I can't read thoroughly.
Click to expand...

?? What do you mean?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back