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Dellapearl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 1, 2016
5
0
I downloaded the free El Capitan today my 2008 iMac today.
BIG MISTAKE. I HATE IT.
How can I go back to 10.6.8?
 
I don't have as many options now for the appearance so everything is so small. The folder icons are ugly. I could just cry. These size of the tabs on Firefox are so small I have to use Control+Scroll to make everything large enough to see.
 
I believe if you do an internet recovery (hold down Command+Option+R), that should install the OS that came with the Mac - at least that's what happened to my MBP when I did that.
 
I downloaded the free El Capitan today my 2008 iMac today.
BIG MISTAKE. I HATE IT.
How can I go back to 10.6.8?
Even though I have yet to experience El Capitan I can understand your dismay. I accepted the free upgrade on my Gateway pc from windows 7 to windows 10 and I totally hate it so that is why I decided to give Apple a try. I'd love to see my new iMac but UPS rerouted it from here to Denver and now it's on it's way back here. Maybe I'll yet see it this week sometime. I hope maflynn's suggestion works for you.
 
Internet Recovery may be a problem since your 2008 iMac originally shipped with OS 10.5.

Here is a quote from the link above in the Internet Recovery section:
"Some Macs that came with OS X Snow Leopard can use Internet Recovery after installing OS X Lion or later and a software update.'

Hopefully you have a complete backup of your OS 10.6 system.
 
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Internet Recovery may be a problem since your 2008 iMac originally shipped with OS 10.5.
You're right, I forgot about that. That option is not available to him.

The other option then is to grab is old system discs and downgrade to what came with his Mac and then go back up.
 
I don't have as many options now for the appearance so everything is so small. The folder icons are ugly. I could just cry. These size of the tabs on Firefox are so small I have to use Control+Scroll to make everything large enough to see.
I assume you're talking about the slightly thinner font. If getting used to it is not an option, there is a solution which doesn't require you to downgrade your OS. Reverting the folder icons is also possible, but requires a backup of the older icons and temporarily disabling System Integrity Protection.
The other option then is to grab is old system discs and downgrade to what came with his Mac and then go back up.
Why would the OP need to downgrade to 10.5 and then upgrade to 10.6? A retail copy of Snow Leopard is all they need to downgrade to 10.6, but either way it won't install on top of El Capitan and will require a clean install.
 
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