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Question

Snow Leopard Install Disk - Problem

Mar 31, 2012 2:02AM PDT

Hi all.

I'm new here. I need help.

I have a Snow Leopard Install Disk for the 13-inch Macbook Pro model.

I also have a 21-inch iMac. I have OS X Lion installed on both. I have Snow Leopard installed as a partition on my Macbook Pro, which I installed via the install disk. I want to do the same thing for my iMac but I am unable due to (seemingly) my install disk is for a Macbook Pro and not for an iMac.

Does anyone know a way around this? Why won't this work? I was thinking I could change something in the package contents to alter it to allow it to work with an iMac?

I'm lost. Please help.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
There is a way around it
Mar 31, 2012 2:16AM PDT

There is a way around it, but the reason those discs are model locked is because they may not necessarily contain the proper hardware support for other models. For example, a Mid-09 MBP would come with a 10.6 disc, but a Mid-2010 iMac needs at least 10.6.3 to boot without kernel panicking. If the iMac came with Lion, which would explain why you don't have a copy of any restore media, then odds are Snow Leopard will not work because of changes made to the hardware configuration that are only reflected in Lion.

This is largely the same song and dance people have had to come to understand when they buy a new PC and want to install XP on it. The drivers quite often simply are not there to support the hardware.

Further, if the iMac shipped with Lion, then you do not have a license to use Snow Leopard on it. Apple doesn't have anything like Microsoft's activation system, but you're still only allowed a single copy installed on a single computer. You can't just go buy a retail 10.6 disc and install that on as many computers as you want... And remain on the right side of the license agreement. There's nothing stopping you technically.

So even if I told you how to get around this issue, it probably wouldn't do you any good.

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Crazyness
Mar 31, 2012 3:36AM PDT

Okay. I see where you're coming from.

My MBP is a 2009 model which came with Snow Leopard and the Snow Leopard install disk. I later upgraded my MBP to Lion. At the time, some applications like Pro Tools weren't working with Lion, and since I need to work with Pro Tools on a daily basis because of my job, I found myself "in a pickle". I just figured it only made sense to partition my drive and throw Snow Leopard onto it so I could use both versions of OS X.

So. When I saw my iMac came with Lion, I did the same thing. I partitioned it and tried the Snow Leopard disk but no luck. It just wouldn't go past the Apple Logo loading screen. This is, as you say, because it is missing hardware config elements that would be needed for an iMac and not for a MBP. Fair enough.

But what you're saying is that even with my legally purchased Snow Leopard install disk, it is breaching Apple's TOS if I try to install Snow Leopard as a partition on my iMac - even though I can't get it to work in the first place... Silly

AND, even if I bought a legal copy of Snow Leopard, it would, once again, still be in breach to Apple's TOS to install to alongside Lion on a 2011 iMac?!

But, you could, in theory, tell me how to get around my problem but you aren't going to?

I'd like to state that I'm not trying to install Snow Leopard over Lion, but in fact alongside it. But, as you say, that is not the way Apple likes to do things.

Crazyness...

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As I said
Mar 31, 2012 4:56AM PDT

As I said, you're allowed a SINGLE copy of the OS to be installed on a SINGLE computer. So if that installation is on your MBP, then running it on your iMac as well would be a violation of the license agreement. The iMac has a license to run Lion and Lion only; on the MBP you could run both without running afoul of the EULA. Now, if you went out and bought a retail disc for 10.6, that would allow you to install 10.6 on the iMac, assuming that the hardware support were there. Which is why I'm going to pass on telling you how to get around anything. You'd just run off and try it, wasting time and money in the process.

Just as some people need to realize that they won't be able to run XP on their shiny new computers (not that they'd want to if they understood some of the major architectural changes to Windows, but that's neither here nor there), Mac users have to come to grips with the fact that you can't necessarily just go slapping old copies of Mac OS X on new units.

If this or that program doesn't work on Lion, then you will need to make some allowances based on the importance of using those programs. It's just how it is. For better or worse, Apple has always been a company that's willing to kick its user base in the teeth with a steel toed boot at Christmas if it makes life easier for Apple in some way. Just take a look at the big brouhaha over Final Cut Pro X, and the fact that it's looking more and more likely the Mac Pro is going to join the MacBook in the annals of history. Pretty soon Apple will probably just get out of the computer business completely, since they already get 60-70% of their revenues from iOS devices. Not trying to be overly harsh, just laying out some things so you can start developing some long term contingency plans.