I’ve just gotten a 2011 iMac and am thinking of replacing my 2008 unibody MB with it. I use the MacBook for Quicken 2007, QB 5 Pro and Eudora, plus I stream music from it (and import music CDs into it).
It has El Capitan on it, and I’ll need a Snow Leopard partition for the other software. I have a SL install disk that looks like a retail copy. It will not work to setup my unibody, so I’m not sure what it’s for. But it says it’s 10.6.3 and Low End Mac says the iMac came with 10.6.7.
Is there a way to get an original install CD for the iMac, or a later SN disk? I see the Apple Store has one, but it doesn’t say which version it is.
I’ll check my disk to see what its date is. I wish I knew which version the brick and mortar Apple Store is selling.
Can the problem be that I am booting into El Cap on the iMac and trying to install from there? Maybe I need to make a bootable USB drive. I normally completely erase my laptop but I don’t want to do that to the iMac.
I believe you answered your own question in the original post. It’s basically impossible, usually, to install versions of the OS earlier than what a Mac shipped with. Wikiepedia gives the release history of 10.6, which shows that @neil1’s DMG (and mine) must be the original full 10.6.0 installer.
According to Mactracker, the Mid 2011 iMacs came with 10.6.6 (10J4026), which is not listed at the Wikipedia link above — the standard 10.6.6 version was 10J567.
So, unless you can find a 10.6.6 installer disk that actually shipped with a Mid 2011 iMac, I think you’ll need to find an OS X 10.6.7, 10.6.8, or 10.6.8.1 full installer. Those versions shipped on March 21, June 23, and July 25, respectively.
I (and probably many others here) have combo update DMGs for 10.6.7, 10.6.8, and 10.6.8.1, but they won’t help you.
What if the iMac was in Target Disk Mode and attached to the MacBook, preferably by FireWire, OS X 10.6.0 was installed from the MacBook and a combo update was installed before a boot of the iMac was attempted?
I’m hoping the people I got it from have the disks. Otherwise I’ll contact Apple and see what version they have on their site. I think our independent dealer went out of business else I’d contact them first.
I’ll dig through my external drive but I doubt I have anything other than the combos either.
I thought it was possible to buy replacement install disks in the past, but google doesn’t bring anything up.
USB should work but since the 2008 MacBook has USB 2.0 ports, it will be slower.
I just remembered that the iMac already has El Capitan and you’re talking about installing Snow Leopard on another partition; you shouldn’t need to use Target Disk Mode, just run the Snow Leopard installer and combo updater from the El Capitan partition before trying to boot Snow Leopard.
Are you sure that there is an install disk? I don’t know about the iMac, but I have a 2011 MacBook Pro. I am almost sure that it didn’t come with a disk. Apple had already moved to download-only installers.
I believe I found the installation package (2 DVD’s and docs) for my refurbished iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) on eBay. The disks are labeled:
27691-6752-A Mac OS version 10.6.6 Disk version 1.0
27691-6756-A AMT version 3A214 Disk version 1.0
Why does it have to be late enough for the iMac? Do you think an earlier installer won’t run because the iMac is too new? I think it will, it just won’t boot, that’s what installing the combo updater before trying to boot is for. If I’m wrong, you can still try it with the iMac in Target Disk Mode, then the installer won’t know, to it, it’s just an external drive attached to a 2008 MacBook Pro.
Probably a bootable USB won’t work…since it shipped after the OS you’ll need whatever third digit included the stuff for that hardware (if there was any). You might try Parallels or Fusion or VirtualBox and then create the SL installation on there.
