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Snow Leopard on MBA 2011 fully working
- Thread starter jonny33
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does anyone know how to get the macbook display working, graphics are working just not the mba display
I don't mind ML on my newer macs (2011 mba, 2012 mini) but it seriously slowed down my old late '08 mbp. Lion/Mountain Lion was an OS too far for that imo. I reinstalled SL and it remains a fast-ish laptop for light/medium tasks.
If I'm totally honest, I actually prefer SL over ML, but I've got used to ML now and for simplicities sake in conjunction with iPhone/iPad/AppleTV/iCloud etc I couldn't even contemplate going back to SL on my main machines now.
If I'm totally honest, I actually prefer SL over ML, but I've got used to ML now and for simplicities sake in conjunction with iPhone/iPad/AppleTV/iCloud etc I couldn't even contemplate going back to SL on my main machines now.
I just ordered a maxed-out 2011 MBA11 refurb (currently steeply discounted at the Apple Store), because I'd like to give SL a try... there's a 14 day return option if it doesn't work out.
The main remaining issue I'm concerned about is the function key row, especially (1) getting the backlight keys to work; and (2) not having F12 mapped to the useless Eject button. Is there a kext or something else that could be transferred from the regular 2011 MBA 11 Lion system that would fix this? Alternatively, are there any keyboard remapping software apps that would do the job?
The main remaining issue I'm concerned about is the function key row, especially (1) getting the backlight keys to work; and (2) not having F12 mapped to the useless Eject button. Is there a kext or something else that could be transferred from the regular 2011 MBA 11 Lion system that would fix this? Alternatively, are there any keyboard remapping software apps that would do the job?
Snow Leopard boots up fine on the 2011 MBP 11" i7 refurb from an external drive (connected via the Thunderbolt/Firewire adapter). But the screen looks a bit fuzzy to me; I could be wrong about this, but System Information says that no kext was found under Graphics/Displays, so that may be related.
The Function key row is completely non-functional, both before & after trying to remap it using KeyRemap4Macbook. System Preferences doesn't recognize a Trackpad, but for some reason is detecting a Mouse.
So SL is usable but not perfect. I wonder if some Lion kexts for this 2011 MBA 11" could be extracted and imported into SL to fix these issues. Any help would be appreciated.
The Function key row is completely non-functional, both before & after trying to remap it using KeyRemap4Macbook. System Preferences doesn't recognize a Trackpad, but for some reason is detecting a Mouse.
So SL is usable but not perfect. I wonder if some Lion kexts for this 2011 MBA 11" could be extracted and imported into SL to fix these issues. Any help would be appreciated.
There are the exact same issues I experienced. A user on here (Lucky736) has told me in a PM that he was able to get the keyboard and trackpad working properly by cloning a different macbook's harddrive onto the Air. I've been meaning to try this with a friend's 2010 MBA, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Snow Leopard on MBA 2011 ***NOT*** fully working
I took my best shot at this on a maxed-out 2011 MBA11 i7 refurb and failed.
Originally I just cloned over a SL partition from a final maxed-out late-2011 MBP17 i7, which I'd previous got working perfectly with SL. After copying in the kext files (mentioned in this thread) using Kext Wizard, SL booted up fine on the 2011 MBA11, but unfortunately with the following issues: (1) Sleep doesn't work; (2) System Information says no kext was found under Graphics/Displays, which is borne out by huge CPU usage whenever doing anything graphics intensive; (3) trackpad works for clicking but not for right-clicking or any gestures, and is not recognized in Trackpad System Preferences; (4) function key row is completely non-functional. Collectively these problems are show stoppers.
I tried again by cloning over a SL partition from a maxed-out 2010 MBA11 Core 2 Duo. This worked similarly to using the 2011 MBP17 partition as a base, but I noticed something interesting this time... using the original kext files, the 2011 MBA had its screen blacked-out but could be used with an external monitor. Moreover, System Information showed that the Intel 3000 chip was detected and working fine on the external monitor. After overwriting the base kexts with those mentioned in this thread, the native MBA monitor worked, but without graphic card support, and System Information for Graphics/Displays showed that no kext was found... even for the external monitor! So there's something about the replacement kexts mentioned in this thread that allows the native screen to be recognized at a low level, but messes up Intel 3000 support.
Then I went and tried applying the original Thread Starter's instructions exactly. Unfortunately my retail 10.6.0 SL DVD crashed with a black-screen log while booting on the 2011 MBA i7 (regardless of whether it was first restored to a USB drive). So I purchased a retail 10.6.3 SL DVD and tried again, but this also failed to boot (hanging at the Apple logo instead of crashing). So this method was dead-in-the-water for me. I wonder how it could have worked for the Thread Starter? I suppose it could have worked for the 2011 MBA i5 but not for the i7, or maybe due to some differences in the manufacturer of his screen or SSD (mine are both from Samsung), or some other quirky difference. Even if his installer method worked for the Thread Starter, I'm not 100% convinced that his resulting system escaped the 4 problems listed above (sleep, graphics, trackpad, function keys). If the Thread Starter is still following this thread, I'd be interested in his confirming these points.
I later tried copying all the display/trackpad/mouse/etc. kexts from the 2011 MBA's original Lion partition over to my SL test partition, but these updates had no effect, good or bad. So I'm wondering whether the issue was never really the kexts in the first place... I'd bet that the 10.6.8 kext set is good enough to run SL fine on the 2011 MBA, but the problem is somewhere else... perhaps it's misidentifying the hardware somehow? I wonder whether someone from the Hackintosh community would know how to deal with an issue like that.
I took my best shot at this on a maxed-out 2011 MBA11 i7 refurb and failed.
Originally I just cloned over a SL partition from a final maxed-out late-2011 MBP17 i7, which I'd previous got working perfectly with SL. After copying in the kext files (mentioned in this thread) using Kext Wizard, SL booted up fine on the 2011 MBA11, but unfortunately with the following issues: (1) Sleep doesn't work; (2) System Information says no kext was found under Graphics/Displays, which is borne out by huge CPU usage whenever doing anything graphics intensive; (3) trackpad works for clicking but not for right-clicking or any gestures, and is not recognized in Trackpad System Preferences; (4) function key row is completely non-functional. Collectively these problems are show stoppers.
I tried again by cloning over a SL partition from a maxed-out 2010 MBA11 Core 2 Duo. This worked similarly to using the 2011 MBP17 partition as a base, but I noticed something interesting this time... using the original kext files, the 2011 MBA had its screen blacked-out but could be used with an external monitor. Moreover, System Information showed that the Intel 3000 chip was detected and working fine on the external monitor. After overwriting the base kexts with those mentioned in this thread, the native MBA monitor worked, but without graphic card support, and System Information for Graphics/Displays showed that no kext was found... even for the external monitor! So there's something about the replacement kexts mentioned in this thread that allows the native screen to be recognized at a low level, but messes up Intel 3000 support.
Then I went and tried applying the original Thread Starter's instructions exactly. Unfortunately my retail 10.6.0 SL DVD crashed with a black-screen log while booting on the 2011 MBA i7 (regardless of whether it was first restored to a USB drive). So I purchased a retail 10.6.3 SL DVD and tried again, but this also failed to boot (hanging at the Apple logo instead of crashing). So this method was dead-in-the-water for me. I wonder how it could have worked for the Thread Starter? I suppose it could have worked for the 2011 MBA i5 but not for the i7, or maybe due to some differences in the manufacturer of his screen or SSD (mine are both from Samsung), or some other quirky difference. Even if his installer method worked for the Thread Starter, I'm not 100% convinced that his resulting system escaped the 4 problems listed above (sleep, graphics, trackpad, function keys). If the Thread Starter is still following this thread, I'd be interested in his confirming these points.
I later tried copying all the display/trackpad/mouse/etc. kexts from the 2011 MBA's original Lion partition over to my SL test partition, but these updates had no effect, good or bad. So I'm wondering whether the issue was never really the kexts in the first place... I'd bet that the 10.6.8 kext set is good enough to run SL fine on the 2011 MBA, but the problem is somewhere else... perhaps it's misidentifying the hardware somehow? I wonder whether someone from the Hackintosh community would know how to deal with an issue like that.
Snow Leopard on MBA 2011 ***NOT*** fully working
One (final?) update...
I realized that I hadn't given the Thread Starter's method a fair chance because I couldn't get the retail 10.6.3 installer to boot on the 2011 MBA 11" i7. It turns out that there exists a straightforward method to create a universal 10.6.7 Snow Leopard installer, as described at:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120123175902871
This method worked perfectly (aside from a "disk full" error when copying the 10.6.3 printer files to the 10.6.7 image, but this was easily worked around by deleting the 10.6.7 printer files first).
The resulting 10.6.7 installer booted fine on the 2011 MBA 11" i7, except that the internal screen was black so an external monitor was required. After installation and upgrading to version 10.6.8, Snow Leopard worked pretty well using the external monitor, with full Intel 3000 graphics support and Sleep operating properly. The only problems were that the internal screen didn't work, the trackpad wasn't fully recognized (so no gestures or right-clicking worked), and the entire function key row was disabled.
In order to get the internal screen to work at all, the kext files posted by the Thread Starter needed to be installed to the S/L/E folder. That succeeded in enabling the internal screen, but at the cost of (1) disabling external monitor support; (2) disabling Intel 3000 graphics (making the screen look bad, waste power, and perform terribly); and (3) disabling the Sleep function. In other words, the resulting system was no different or better than what I'd earlier achieved using simpler methods (e.g. just cloning over a 10.6.8 disk image and installing the Thread Starter's kext files).
This tradeoff was unacceptable for me, so I returned the 2011 MBA 11" i7 according to Apple's terrific no-charge/no-questions return policy.
So I'm done with this effort... unless perchance someone else is able to cook up kexts or some other white magic that gets Snow Leopard fully working on the MBA 11" i7 for real.
One (final?) update...
I realized that I hadn't given the Thread Starter's method a fair chance because I couldn't get the retail 10.6.3 installer to boot on the 2011 MBA 11" i7. It turns out that there exists a straightforward method to create a universal 10.6.7 Snow Leopard installer, as described at:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120123175902871
This method worked perfectly (aside from a "disk full" error when copying the 10.6.3 printer files to the 10.6.7 image, but this was easily worked around by deleting the 10.6.7 printer files first).
The resulting 10.6.7 installer booted fine on the 2011 MBA 11" i7, except that the internal screen was black so an external monitor was required. After installation and upgrading to version 10.6.8, Snow Leopard worked pretty well using the external monitor, with full Intel 3000 graphics support and Sleep operating properly. The only problems were that the internal screen didn't work, the trackpad wasn't fully recognized (so no gestures or right-clicking worked), and the entire function key row was disabled.
In order to get the internal screen to work at all, the kext files posted by the Thread Starter needed to be installed to the S/L/E folder. That succeeded in enabling the internal screen, but at the cost of (1) disabling external monitor support; (2) disabling Intel 3000 graphics (making the screen look bad, waste power, and perform terribly); and (3) disabling the Sleep function. In other words, the resulting system was no different or better than what I'd earlier achieved using simpler methods (e.g. just cloning over a 10.6.8 disk image and installing the Thread Starter's kext files).
This tradeoff was unacceptable for me, so I returned the 2011 MBA 11" i7 according to Apple's terrific no-charge/no-questions return policy.
So I'm done with this effort... unless perchance someone else is able to cook up kexts or some other white magic that gets Snow Leopard fully working on the MBA 11" i7 for real.
I cant even get it to the install screen it just gives me the kernal panic and says the cpu isnt compatible i have a 2011 mba as well
Ok so using CC i got it to boot but it freezes at the loading wheel and the usb activity light goes out
HELP !
Ok so using CC i got it to boot but it freezes at the loading wheel and the usb activity light goes out
HELP !
I don't think anyone ever actually got a usable version of SL on the 2011 MBA. I think all of us with 2011 MBA just moved on to the newer versions of OSX. El Capitan runs pretty good on the 2011 MBA.
@Mason Dulemba
Unless you are trying to install SL for PowerPC applications, I would suggest trying Mountain Lion. In my opinion, Mountain Lion is the best OS version since SL, plus it will work stable on your MBA. One option for running SL is to get the SL server software and run it on parallels. That works very well.
I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro that came preinstalled with Lion. I did a 'downgrade' to Snow Leopard and even though I did get it to work, I had random freezing happening frequently during daily use and I was forced to restart every time. It just was not practical to continue using it because of the unreliability, using on an unsupported device.
Unless you are trying to install SL for PowerPC applications, I would suggest trying Mountain Lion. In my opinion, Mountain Lion is the best OS version since SL, plus it will work stable on your MBA. One option for running SL is to get the SL server software and run it on parallels. That works very well.
I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro that came preinstalled with Lion. I did a 'downgrade' to Snow Leopard and even though I did get it to work, I had random freezing happening frequently during daily use and I was forced to restart every time. It just was not practical to continue using it because of the unreliability, using on an unsupported device.
I'm going to try and bring this topic back into the spotlight here as I just bought a 2011 MBA and I would dearly like to install Snow Leopard on there because honestly I think it still is the best OSX that Apple has ever made and I have been using it daily since 2011 even after going through all the other subsequent OSX's - L/ML/MV/YS / HS and I've always reverted back to SL so I'm done with all of them.
I've purchased all-sized 2011 MBP's and looking to run only Snow Leopard as a lifetime legacy software so I would like to get my favorite OS on the MBA even if it means sacrificing some features such as function keys described in this thread so far. But I do not want to sacrifice my screen's graphics to becoming fuzzy and not normal, nor do I want to sacrifice a non-functioning trackpad. These are the 2 most important points for me in regards to the fault list mentioned in the thread. External screen monitor capability and sleep mode and function keys I don't care about.
There are a few very knowledgeable members from this old thread; the thread starter - jonny33 and other members - oneMadRssn, thestickman, AL-Baby, solmaker and I would like to get these same members or anyone else whom has installed Snow Leopard on a 2011 MacBook Air successfully to re-participate despite this thread being a few years old. It's awesome that there are some great reference points already, and I have read everything here very carefully, and will attempt the install to the T in a step-by-step chart which I will comprise and post up here for preview pre-install. I would appreciate it if anyone could help out and expand on the already posted data here.
I've purchased all-sized 2011 MBP's and looking to run only Snow Leopard as a lifetime legacy software so I would like to get my favorite OS on the MBA even if it means sacrificing some features such as function keys described in this thread so far. But I do not want to sacrifice my screen's graphics to becoming fuzzy and not normal, nor do I want to sacrifice a non-functioning trackpad. These are the 2 most important points for me in regards to the fault list mentioned in the thread. External screen monitor capability and sleep mode and function keys I don't care about.
There are a few very knowledgeable members from this old thread; the thread starter - jonny33 and other members - oneMadRssn, thestickman, AL-Baby, solmaker and I would like to get these same members or anyone else whom has installed Snow Leopard on a 2011 MacBook Air successfully to re-participate despite this thread being a few years old. It's awesome that there are some great reference points already, and I have read everything here very carefully, and will attempt the install to the T in a step-by-step chart which I will comprise and post up here for preview pre-install. I would appreciate it if anyone could help out and expand on the already posted data here.
I heard many good things on Mountain Lion and Mavericks. if you have no specific reason to run SL, you can consider using those OS which fully compatible with MBA 2011 and still quite efficient (though not as low memory usage as SL obviously, but still speedy due to SSD).
I have MBA 2012 and I like Mavericks the best. I never upgrade to 10.10++ due to its performance is way slower compared to Mavericks.
I have MBA 2012 and I like Mavericks the best. I never upgrade to 10.10++ due to its performance is way slower compared to Mavericks.
I have a 2011 MBA and I run High Sierra and it runs ok. Deep sleep to usability takes 5-10 minutes depending on the length of sleep.
I think Mavericks would honestly be ok too. I think you can upgrade to that and be happy.