I have a 2011 Air. I formatted it, expecting to do the typical command-R re-installation. Whoops! It'll take the App store like 9 years to install Lion, then it just fails. So I thought to download a copy of Lion and make a bootable. But I can't find a copy with with the "installESD" file necessary to create the bootable version. Even using a DVD external and snow leopard doesn't work. Any help? I worked on this for hours before posting here. Thanks!
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Tried everything: can't find a "bootable" copy of Lion - anyone?
- Thread starter crashwins
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It’s an
.iso but you should be able to restore that to a flash drive - just like you would an InstallESD.dmg.
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I’d give Etcher a try. On macOS, Disk Utility (built-in) can also do it.
You might have to reset the system’s date to 2011 before the Lion installer will work due to an expired certificate. If it says the copy is damaged, that’s the actual problem. To fix that, fire up Terminal from the welcome screen, enter
date 0909090911, close Terminal and try running the installer again.
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This may help
Convert a disk image to another format using Disk Utility on Mac
Use Disk Utility on your Mac to convert a disk image to another image format.
support.apple.com
Forgive me for asking, but is there a specific reason you’re going for Lion? I ask because it can run up to macOS High Sierra officially.
WAIT!!!!
There's a bigger screw up than you know. Command-R should go to the highest possible macOS that Air can take, which should be 10.13.6. This crap happened with my 2011 mini on a Command-R start up and you're not going to get any progress if an OS at all on there.
There is a fix for this and I can't remember it. I just remember this was a pile of garbage to fix and I hope I never have to do it again.
No. Internet Recovery is supposed to install the version of macOS the machine originally came with. When I used it on my Late 2013 rMBP a couple of weeks ago, it installed Mavericks, which is what the machine originally came with.
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Mine did not. Lion was horrific and just refused to work correctly from installer to general use. It then, after a while of weirdness like that, went into the 10.13 internet recovery. I don't know why it happened that way, but it did. The 10.13 recovery worked wonders, but the 10.7 one? UGH!
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On an Intel-based Mac, if you use Shift-Option-Command-R during startup, you're offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. If you use Option-Command-R during startup, in most cases you're offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Otherwise you're offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
Good question! No, there's absolutely no reason. So any version where I can create a boot drive will be sufficient.
I see. Thank you! So perhaps that'll work for me as Lion seems totally unavailable via the app store now
Apple made Lion available from Apple Support downloads a few months ago - https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2077
And, If you have ever purchased Lion to download from the App store, the Lion full install is still available in Purchases tab in the App store. I just now checked, it still downloads.
But, the method that always works from Apple now is the support download that I linked to.
And, If you have ever purchased Lion to download from the App store, the Lion full install is still available in Purchases tab in the App store. I just now checked, it still downloads.
But, the method that always works from Apple now is the support download that I linked to.
It's worth mentioning that that installer is only good for updating an existing installation of OS X to Lion -- it won't do a clean install on an formatted disk. (And it won't install on top of anything higher than Lion either, if someone is looking to use this to downgrade.)
Looks like you are misinterpreting the system requirements on the download page. I just tested that Lion installer, made a bootable USB installer from that, and clean installed on a hard drive.
And, you can't install Lion to downgrade a system newer than Lion, without erasing first. It's either a clean install, or an upgrade install/reinstall of Lion, with Lion or older system already installed. OS X/macOS has never been able to install to downgrade an existing newer version, without erasing first, or starting with a blank drive (which would be one definition of a "clean install")
Yes, You can make a bootable installer for Lion with DiskMakerX. You have to download the version that supports Lion, but it's completely usable. I did the above test using a bootable installer that I made through Disk Utility/Restore tab.
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Ah, good to know. I had the impression it wouldn't work for a clean install from the system requirements listed, but it's good to know you've confirmed it works. I've had a lot of problems getting bootable USB installers to work using DiskMakerX, but I hadn't thought to use Disk Utility/Restore. I'll give that a shot next time I'm doing a clean Lion install.
After some frustration a couple of years ago - I have found that DiskMakerX works best when booted with near the same version of OS X as the installer that you are making.
(I have what I call a bootmaster drive, which has full install partitions of all Mac systems from Leopard to (current) Monterey, all on one external SSD.
Great for testing just about any Mac, so I boot to Lion, browse to both the Lion installer app, and (in this case) DiskMakerX. Plug in the drive where I want the bootable installer. Make the installer with DiskMakerX. Usually takes about 5 minutes. That's really for the older systems (10.7 and 10.8), diskmakerx works great, unless I don't give the installer partition enough space. Newer OS X systems, 10.9 and up, I use terminal commands, which almost always gives a good (bootable) result, too.
I don't think that you will get much of a useful result with using Disk Utility/Restore on Mac systems since Mavericks, when Apple began providing the createinstallmedia tool inside the installer, which is there to help create bootable installers.
(I have what I call a bootmaster drive, which has full install partitions of all Mac systems from Leopard to (current) Monterey, all on one external SSD.
Great for testing just about any Mac, so I boot to Lion, browse to both the Lion installer app, and (in this case) DiskMakerX. Plug in the drive where I want the bootable installer. Make the installer with DiskMakerX. Usually takes about 5 minutes. That's really for the older systems (10.7 and 10.8), diskmakerx works great, unless I don't give the installer partition enough space. Newer OS X systems, 10.9 and up, I use terminal commands, which almost always gives a good (bootable) result, too.
I don't think that you will get much of a useful result with using Disk Utility/Restore on Mac systems since Mavericks, when Apple began providing the createinstallmedia tool inside the installer, which is there to help create bootable installers.
That’s because starting with Mountain Lion, simply restoring the
InstallESD.dmg image buried within the installer app isn’t sufficient to create a bootable installer drive anymore. That’s why the createinstallmedia command is provided — to do it properly.I agree.
But, (not wanting to be pedantic about this
) Mountain Lion does not have createinstallmedia. Mavericks was the first with that command.Good to know. No worries, that’s not pedantic at all.I agree.
But, (not wanting to be pedantic about this