Yosemite usb Installer Not Seen by OS 10.6.8

After a disastrous upgrade to Mavericks some time ago which, even after paying over $500 to Apple-certified techs, would not display properly the most important program via a guest vm on a second monitor, I reverted the hard drive (it was too late to do a roll-back). Recently, an explanation (use an HDMI rather than a DVI connection) was given me which seems to have worked after a test using my upgraded-to-Yosemite MacBookPro. I've successfully upgraded the MacBook Pro and my husband's iMac from Mavericks (neither use a second monitor) to Yosemite using the same installer usb. However, I cannot get my iMac (mid-2009) to "see" the usb drive for an install. I've held down the option key for restart multiple times; no joy. I've reset the PRAM; no joy.

I then copied via firewire the usb installer to a separate firewire hard drive; Start up Manager doesn't see it either. I am dead in the water. My husband's iMac is just months newer than mine. I know the Yosemite 8 GB installer usb is functioning because it worked twice before now.

Any ideas what to do? I do NOT want to perform a clean install, but prefer to upgrade. My computer is running just fine, as did the other two after their upgrades. I have a SuperDuper clone ready to restore back to Snow Leopard if I have to (in other words, if the second monitor again has difficulties in its most important program). I do not want to ever have to "revert" another Mac again in this lifetime. Nor am I interested in using a different Mac OS; I'll be content with Yosemite for now.
Regards,
LeslieT

Well I guess you are stick with it or Snow Leopard.

Somebody must know how to fix this: I running 10.6.8 on a 3.06 GHz intel core 2 Duo with 8 GB memory, Boot ROM IM101.00CC.B00; model identifier iMac10,1, SMC version 1.52f9.

If the other iMac could be upgraded, why can't this one be?
Leslie T

I think the not wanting to do an erase and clean install, with NOT in capitals, not wanting to upgrade the operating system leaves you in a pretty tight spot.

To do the upgrade you need to get the Yosemite Installer on to the Applications Folder. Connect the Firewire drive, boot from it, and see if you can drag the Installer to the Desktop, then drag to Applications folder and proceed.

I want to upgrade the Snow Leopard OS; that's the whole point. The Yosemite installer icon has been on my desktop ever since the first time I plugged in the installer usb. Are you saying that all I have to do is to drag the installer icon to the applications folder and I'm set???????

I just tried to drag the installer icon to the Applications folder and it won't go there.
LeslieT

And, if I open the install icon and double click on the Install Yosemite.app, I get a message which says this is not the approved way to install/upgrade the operating system.

I get a message which says this is not the approved way to install/upgrade the operating system.

Click to expand...

Does it give you any option to proceed or continue anyway?

If so, I'd do that.






- Patrick
======

It does given me the option of continuing, but I was afraid it might do a clean install which, honestly, I'd like to avoid. Can I safely back out if it starts up on a clean install????????
LeslieT

I would doubt very much if it would be doing any "clean" install as long as your normal user boot volume is chosen to do the OS install.

It can take a while so just be patient, and also again when it hopefully does all it's reboot stuff.

PS: You said you had a current backup!!





- Patrick
======

Yes, I performed a major backup (actually a clone) of the Mac system as well as a clone of the guest machine.

Thanks for your help and may the Force be with me when I try using the app to upgrade the software!
LeslieT

@Leslie

I'm coming to this well into the discussion and the last thing I want to do is muddy the waters with unnecessary comments.

What I'm confused about is that in your first post you said that the Mac could not recognise the Installer USB nor a copy of it which you made on an EHD.

Later, you said that the installer sits in your Desktop and clicking on this brings up a message basically saying, this not the way to do things.

My concern is that normally you have to boot into the Installer USB or EHD in order to carry out a fresh Installation. You cannot do this, you said.

For your installer to be on your Desktop, it is on the drive to which wish to install. I can't see how that can work.

What do the others think?

Ian

Ian, your comments illuminate what has concerned me. Yes the Yosemite drive icon shows up on my Desktop, but NOT in Startup Manager. I copied it to an EHD, but that isn't recognized either. I suspect this must be a Snow Leopard OS issue because the two Macs running Mavericks I upgraded to Yosemite on Friday worked perfectly from the usb installer (recognized it after I indicated to start up using Startup Manager).

I was deeply puzzled that when I clicked on the installer icon and then on the app, I did received a message that I could install, however there was an error message stating this was not the "approved" way to install the software. If I clicked OK, I was taken out of the app entirely. My concern has been about ignoring the error message and clicking "Continue" which is an option. I really did not want to do a "clean" install if it could be avoided for obvious reasons. However, if all else fails, that may be what I have to do. I really need to upgrade the iMac's OS (I explained earlier why it hadn't been upgraded for years after my extreme difficulties running my most important program on my second monitor), but being a careful computer user, wanted some assurance. I studied the O'Reilly Snow Leopard manual which didn't prove useful in this regard and googled relentlessly for answers about my particular issue before posting on this message board.
Regards,
LeslieT

I cannot install from the installer.app at all, I cannot get the iMac to "see" the usb installed on either the flash drive or an EHD so I have given up. I've contacted an Apple specialist (not the Apple-certified company which was unable to help me with the Mavericks upgrade) to see if he can figure out a way to to an upgrade OR a clean install.
LeslieT

Thank you, Leslie, for posting back.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not surprised.

Success, I believe, depends on having a bootable Installer on a USB or EHD and for this to be recognised by your Mac such that you can boot from it.

I wish you the very best of luck. Hope it goes well. I'm sure you'll let us know.

Ian

After an exhausting experience today, I am up and running with Yosemite. I did have to upgrade to Mavericks first (available via the App Store because I'd downloaded it earlier) before the system would "see" the Yosemite usb installer. Frankly, I've had to change a lot of settings in Yosemite to get things working more the way I like them. I can't say I'm crazy about Yosemite's visual enhancements, but then I use my computer for work. I was pleased to be able to NOT install stuff I didn't want (iCloud, etc.). I also installed the most recent Opera version - I much prefer Opera to Safari or Firefox.
Thanks again for trying to help me,
LeslieT

Well done, Leslie. Your patience and forbearance paid off in the end.

Ian