Making a USB installer for Lion on Monterey

[ricecrispies]

I have acquired a very old Macbook Pro. It's recovery partition wants to install Lion. However, when I try to get it to install Lion, it says that it is "temporarily unavailable". I have tried various supposed workarounds to get installation going from the recovery partition, but they haven't worked. So the next step is to try to boot from something else. I don't have a DVD burner that is up to the job, so the next thing to try is to create a USB install drive. The trouble is that I can find instructions on how to make such media on a machine running an old version of OSX, and I have found instructions for making install media on Monterey for Monterey, but I can't find instructions for creating install media for old versions of OSX on newer versions of MacOs. Is there a way to do this?

 

[pigoo3]

A bit of Apple history. macOS 10.7 "Lion" was one of the last macOS versions users had to purchase (10.8 Mountain Lion was the last pay-for macOS). This used to be an issue doing a macOS reinstall on really old Apple computers (the solution was users still needed to purchase these macOS versions many years later).

But according to Wikipedia...as of last year (June, 2021)...Lion & Mountain Lion were finally made freely available for all users. Thus Lion & Mountain Lion should be available for free.

Anyways... Do you REALLY need to install macOS 10.7 Lion on this older MacBook Pro...or will a slightly newer macOS work too? If you can't get a macOS installed via Recovery...then the 2nd & very common route to go is make a bootable USB thumb drive macOS installer (the macOS version is up to you...as long as that version is compatible with this MacBook Pro).

Hopefully this helps,

Nick

p.s. Maybe you could share exactly what MacBook Pro version this is...and we can verify what macOS versions are compatible with it (if you don't already know).

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I have acquired a very old Macbook Pro. It's recovery partition wants to install Lion. However, when I try to get it to install Lion, it says that it is "temporarily unavailable".

If the Recovery Partition won't work (or doesn't exist), you can use Internet Recovery instead (as long as your Mac is connected to the Internet):

You can use Shift-Option-Command-R during startup to be offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. Or you can use Option-Command-R during startup to be offered either the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac, or in some cases the macOS that came with your Mac or the closest version still available.

If you can't start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

Learn what to do if you can't get your Mac to start up from macOS Recovery.

support.apple.com

the next thing to try is to create a USB install drive.

Here is how to do that:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Use an external drive or secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install macOS.

support.apple.com

You can download the installer for Mac OS Lion, for free, from here:

Mac OS X Lion Installer - Apple Support

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is available for older systems that are not compatible with the latest version of macOS

support.apple.com

 

[ricecrispies]

Lion is the latest version of MacOs that will work on this machine.

The instructions from Apple on how to burn bootable media relate to versions of MacOs later than Lion. They do not work for Lion.

I have managed to get Leopard installed on the machine, but this is severely crippled. For instance, Safari is too far out of date to be usable, and I have not succeeded in installing a recent version of any other major browser.

One problem with Lion as a DVD is that it needs to be written to double-layered media, but the internal DVD drive of the Macbook only reads and writes to a single layer. This means that I am back to having to use a USB stick.

 

[pigoo3]

Ok good deal...sounds like this MacBook Pro is even older than I thought. This is why it's very helpful to include info exactly which model MacBook Pro you have. Then we can get to the proper solution quicker.

One problem with Lion as a DVD is that it needs to be written to double-layered media, but the internal DVD drive of the Macbook only reads and writes to a single layer. This means that I am back to having to use a USB stick.

Lion never shipped or was available on DVD. Lion (macOS 10.7)...was the first macOS version to not come on a disk. Officially Lion was only available from Apple as a digital download (which most folks did)...or it was available from Apple on a USB thumb drive.

Use the Lion download link in Randy's post above...and make yourself a bootable Lion 10.7 USB thumb drive installer. This would probably be the quickest & least expensive route.

Another option (if you preferred doing an install via a disk). Is purchase an official Apple Snow Leopard install disk (macOS 10.6) via eBay. Then install Snow Leopard via the disk...then you can use a 10.7 Lion downloaded installer to upgrade from 10.6.

- Nick

 

[ferrarr]

Lion does not need a double layer DVD. Get DiskMakerX (originally called Lion Diskmaker). I remember I was able to burn a regular DVD of Mac OS X Lion and I gave it to my nephew and never saw it again. He used it to install on my sisters 2007 MacBook.

Downloads

diskmakerx.com

 

[ricecrispies]

I created a U

Lion does not need a double layer DVD. Get DiskMakerX (originally called Lion Diskmaker). I remember I was able to burn a regular DVD of Mac OS X Lion and I gave it to my nephew and never saw it again. He used it to install on my sisters 2007 MacBook.

Downloads

diskmakerx.com

Diskmakerx says that it can't run until I upgrade to MacOS 10.10 or later, even though I am using Monterey.

 

[ferrarr]

Did you scroll to the bottom and look at the different versions available?

Monterey is too new. Use your Lion Mac.

 

[IWT]

I created a U

Diskmakerx says that it can't run until I upgrade to MacOS 10.10 or later, even though I am using Monterey.

Yes you can. Using the Link member ferrarr gave you, scroll to the very bottom where you will see this:




Now Click on the link arrowed in red. It will automatically download a version for Lion and put it in your Downloads Folder. I just tried this. It's called LionDiskMaker.zip

Open that and you're on your way.

Ian

Ian