Upgraded to an SSD how do I install MACOS making a USB from Windows

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Apple withdrew Snow Leopard OS X.6 from sale and now the earliest available is Lion OS X.7 I believe and would not recommend Lion to anyone.
 
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Apple withdrew Snow Leopard OS X.6 from sale and now the earliest available is Lion OS X.7 I believe and would not recommend Lion to anyone.

I wouldn't recommend either if something newer can be run (unless one specifically needs Snow Leopard for Rosetta). He just needs one or the other of these as a path to getting the El Capitan installer to run.

I'll confess this is a bit of a nuisance. Apple is freely making El Capitan, Sierra, and High Sierra freely available to download and install without going through the App Store, but making it so you have to have at least Snow Leopard already installed is making this unnecessarily hard. I also don't get the point of running an installer to create the installer. Just update the “Install OS X El Capitan” app so it can be run from 10.5 also and just put that in the DMG file. They are a multi-billion dollar company. They can figure this out.
 

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In post #11 audi911 states that he can still boot from the device so assuming the CD/DVD Drive still works all that is required is a bootable installer on a disk. Alternatively if it is capable of connecting to the internet it is possible that a later OSX could be downloaded but creating a USB installer on the device is probably out of the question.
I think Bob's suggestion of a friend with a Mac is probably the best option and the only free one.
All that would be required would be to download a free Instal Disk Creator, download say OSX Lion or El Capitan (I'm sure one of us has a link for that) and create a USB bootable installer.
Or am I missing something?
 

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Sorry a few people posted while I was writing my last post but the link provided for El Capitan by Lifeisabeach will work. I'm not sure if 10.5.8 is able to create the bootable USB installer though. Worth trying anywaay, maybe Install Disk Creator from MacDaddy will run on 10.5.8 it's certainly the easiest to use.
 

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Sorry a few people posted while I was writing my last post but the link provided for El Capitan by Lifeisabeach will work.

Have you actually tried that? Directly from 10.5 without going via Snow Leopard the way the Apple site specifies?

I upgraded to El Capitan myself, but I was coming from Snow Leopard so I met the requirement that Apple supposedly (?) requires.
 
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Jake, that version requires the Mac OS X/OS X App Store. We're not sure what is installed on the iMac to begin with.

Edit: Also, if you have a friend with a Mac, you could ask them to help you make the bootable USB installer.
It doesn't say that on the website linked to. In fact, it refers to being available at an Apple store and that it takes about 3 days to deliver by email. Nothing about the App Store at all. How did you get to that conclusion, Bob?
 
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Have you actually tried that? Directly from 10.5 without going via Snow Leopard the way the Apple site specifies?

I upgraded to El Capitan myself, but I was coming from Snow Leopard so I met the requirement that Apple supposedly (?) requires.

If he can get a bootable installer made, then he's good to go. The problem is that the package that Apple provides as a download must be launched first from within OS X to make the actual installer app that DiskMaker uses, and that package has to be run under Snow Leopard or later. At least, I assume it does. Maybe the package will run under Lion and make the installer, but the installer is what won't run. If that's the case, it won't matter because he can make a bootable USB installer using DiskMaker.

ALTHOUGH! Hold the phone here! I just inspected the El Capitan package from Apple using the app Suspicious Package and extracted the installer app right out of it! I can't fully test it, but it appears to be valid. Link below. They have a version compatible with 10.5!
Suspicious Package | Frequently Asked Questions

So here's what I would do.


  1. Download El Capitan direct from Apple as directed. Download DiskMaker X 6. Download Suspicious Package 1.2
  2. Open the El Capitan DMG file that was downloaded. Open InstallMacOSX.pkg that is contained in the DMG with Suspicious Package.
  3. Using Suspicious Package, while examining the pkg, click on the "All Files" tab and look for the content Install OS X El Capitan.app. Right-click on that, and select "Export to..."
  4. Now use DiskMaker X to create a USB installer using that app you just exported.

This has a good chance of working, so long as what DiskMaker is doing isn't relying on something built into the OS that is exclusively found in 10.6 or later.

FYI, Store link for Lion. If you HAVE to buy a disk, you may as well get this direct from Apple. Some resellers are flipping used copies, and some are copies that came with a new Mac and ONLY have the drivers for that specific Mac.
OS X Lion (10.7) - Apple
 
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It doesn't say that on the website linked to. In fact, it refers to being available at an Apple store and that it takes about 3 days to deliver by email. Nothing about the App Store at all. How did you get to that conclusion, Bob?
On the linked page it states in the Product Information section:

[FONT=&quot]What you receive:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] An email with a content code for the Mac App Store.

and

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Content codes are usually delivered within 1 business day but may occasionally take longer. The use of content codes and redeemed software is subject to the terms and conditions of the Mac App Store (Legal - Apple Media Services - Apple) and the OS X Lion End User License Agreement (Legal - Software License Agreements - Apple). Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply. Some Lion features have additional hardware requirements. These requirements may be found at System requirements for OS X Lion and Mac OS X v10.6 - Apple Support.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]System Requirements

An Intel Core 2 Duo, i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon processor

  • Mac OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.6 up to v10.6.8 (recommended)
  • 7 GB free hard drive space
  • 2 GB RAM
[/FONT]
 

krs


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If he can get a bootable installer made, then he's good to go. The problem is that the package that Apple provides as a download must be launched first from within OS X to make the actual installer app that DiskMaker uses, and that package has to be run under Snow Leopard or later. At least, I assume it does. Maybe the package will run under Lion and make the installer, but the installer is what won't run. If that's the case, it won't matter because he can make a bootable USB installer using DiskMaker.

ALTHOUGH! Hold the phone here! I just inspected the El Capitan package from Apple using the app Suspicious Package and extracted the installer app right out of it! I can't fully test it, but it appears to be valid. Link below. They have a version compatible with 10.5!
Suspicious Package | Frequently Asked Questions

So here's what I would do.


  1. Download El Capitan direct from Apple as directed. Download DiskMaker X 6. Download Suspicious Package 1.2
  2. Open the El Capitan DMG file that was downloaded. Open InstallMacOSX.pkg that is contained in the DMG with Suspicious Package.
  3. Using Suspicious Package, while examining the pkg, click on the "All Files" tab and look for the content Install OS X El Capitan.app. Right-click on that, and select "Export to..."
  4. Now use DiskMaker X to create a USB installer using that app you just exported.

This has a good chance of working, so long as what DiskMaker is doing isn't relying on something built into the OS that is exclusively found in 10.6 or later.

FYI, Store link for Lion. If you HAVE to buy a disk, you may as well get this direct from Apple. Some resellers are flipping used copies, and some are copies that came with a new Mac and ONLY have the drivers for that specific Mac.
OS X Lion (10.7) - Apple

I don't understand why you are working so hard trying to help the OP to bypass the normal upgrade process that Apple decided to implement.
One could argue that's actually software piracy.
I'm sure what you are proposing will work because that has come up in another thread here a while back.

I think the OP should just spend the $28.- and do it the way Apple has set it up.
Good grief, we are talking $28.- not hundreds.
 
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I don't understand why you are working so hard trying to help the OP to bypass the normal upgrade process that Apple decided to implement.
One could argue that's actually software piracy.
I'm sure what you are proposing will work because that has come up in another thread here a while back.

I think the OP should just spend the $28.- and do it the way Apple has set it up.
Good grief, we are talking $28.- not hundreds.

Calling this software piracy is one heckuva stretch there. There's no DRM being broken. No illegal downloads involved. You may as well claim that the apps I mentioned are piracy tools since they are doing things Apple didn't explicitly intend to be used for their software or anyone else's. Or maybe they did intend this for people who know what they are doing... they could have done something to encrypt the downloadable package or any number of things if they really wanted to stop it. You want to show me an EULA for El Capitan that explicitly says "you may only install El Capitan if you have a legal license to Snow Leopard or later", then I'll grant you the argument.

I don't know why he doesn't want to spend the $28... I'm not familiar with his finances and I'm not going to judge the matter. I know what it's like to be dead broke.
 
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Bob, thanks for that. I had not realized there was more on that page that was not on my screen.

OK, given where the OP is and where he can go, I think the best way to get there is to spring for Snow Leopard (10.6) even if he has to get it through Ebay. He just needs to make sure that what he gets is a full installer, not a machine-specific one. That installation comes on a disk and should put him in touch with the App Store. Then he can directly move up to El Cap at no additional cost.

Or he could call Apple and explain what he is trying to do and see if he can purchase Lion or Mountain Lion and get a full download without having to get to the App Store. With that download he can build a bootable installer and go directly to one of them and from there jump to El Cap.

Or he could call Apple and explain what he is trying to do and see if they will let him get to El Cap directly, which would be even nicer as he would not have to pay anything.

Other than that, I don't see how he can get what he wants done without a thousand hoops...
 
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That's why I phrased it:

Well aren't we feeling saucy today? Well I'm arguing it's not, so I suggest dropping the subject and maybe thinking better of suggesting someone is facilitating piracy without better cause for it in the future. It'd be pretty awful if that someone was to take it personal. :hurt
 
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Fight! Fight! Okay one COULD ARGUE that it is also murder. I said could argue. Ease up people. Chill.
 
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Fight! Fight! Okay one COULD ARGUE that it is also murder. I said could argue. Ease up people. Chill.

LOL! This discussion was over a week ago. It was chill by the tine you chimed in here, chief. Believe you me (and believe those who are more familiar with my earlier days here), I'm known to get EXTREMELY not-so-chill over lesser things, although that's VERY largely in the past (turns out there was good reason for it, but hey, it is what it was). That said, I'm not going to turn the other cheek, and anyone who has the nerve to question my motivations for helping someone needs to stop and consider the hypocrisy of that attitude given the mission of this site and the fact that the members participate for nothing in return, themselves included. 'Nuff said.
 
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M

MBAmtloin

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if anyone needs a legitimate version of Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion, i can install that on a usb drive for them, rather than risking a seedy download. since apple is discontinuing these OSX the mac users with older machines need the proper software to run their computers.
i was going to type something about my stubborn opinion on apple pulling support for older things they manufactured, but desired to be productive instead.
im glad the forums are back!
 

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