Resolved Is it possible to install 10.6.0 on a MB Mid 2010 first delivered with 10.6.3

[Erdbeertorte]

Hello,

I am just using a

MacBook 7,1 (white) 13-inch, Mid 2010
Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
4 GB of 1,067 MHz DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA Geforce 320M with 256 MB shared VRAM
and a 500 GB HDD at 5,400 RPM

I tested that computer once with the first developer beta of El Capitan but with an SSD in it and it was running very very fast.

Sadly the SSD and the two grey install discs with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 are lying around more than 700 kilometers away.

This site says it was released with 10.6.3:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-13-polycarbonate-unibody-mid-2010-specs.html

I built in the HDD with a clean install of Lion 10.7.5 on it and booting takes minutes. Same with Mountain Lion 10.8.5.

I have an ISO with 10.6.0 and a PKG with a combo update to 10.6.8 both stored in my OneDrive, what at least has a f*cking slow upload "speed" (never tried to download any thing from that).

But before I start that torture which will takes hours (downloading the stuff from OneDrive, create an USB 2.0 stick or burn a DVD), I would be very pleased to know if an installation of 10.6.0 instead of 10.6.3 might work.

Does anyone know that?

I would be very happy.

Or if 10.9.5, 10.10.5 or 10.11 PB 7 even might run faster than 10.7.5 and 10.8.5? I am able to download these three in my AppStore purchases what only takes a few minutes.

Once I tried to install 10.6.0 on a MacBook Pro Late 2011 what was introduced with 10.7.2. I did not work. But a preinstalled 10.6.8 from an SSD of a MacBook Pro Mid 2009 is running without any problems in that machine.

Kind regards




Edit:

Another question: On 10.7.5 I was able to install all updates manually and left out the iTunes update to the newest 12.x. I found a download to the newest version of 11.x on apple.com/downloads/.
In 10.8.5 the AppStore is launching and I tried to install the updates without iTunes, but they don't start downloading if I don't click on download for the whole package. Do I have to search for each of them on apple.com/downloads/ too or is there another way to leave iTunes out?

Oh, suddenly it seems to work:

 

[DeltaMac]

Here's the story:
The MacBook7,1 originally shipped with 10.6.3 - but it came with a special build of 10.6.3
That's what those grey DVDs are all about.
You can't install 10.6 on that Macbook, and if you purchased Snow Leopard now, you get version 10.6.3, but a different build. Apple never updated the installer to anything newer, like a rolled-up version to make it 10.6.8
So, what does that mean to you? You can't install Snow Leopard directly on your MacBook7,1 unless you have the special build that came with your MacBook (those two grey DVDs
You CAN install Snow Leopard, if you have an older Mac. Use that older Mac as the boot hardware, and connect your newer MacBook, using target boot mode to set your MacBook as the destination for the install. Install Snow Leopard, then update the system fully before you use the updated Snow Leopard as the booting drive for your MacBook7,1
It's an adventure to do that.
If you don't have another Mac available (as a helper to get Snow Leopard installed), then you can't get there with a clean install of Snow Leopard (without your special DVDs), so in that case (just my opinion), forget Snow Leopard, and move on to a newer OS X version.
You actually have a nice MacBook to go to El Capitan. It's also one that you can upgrade to 16GB of RAM, if you want to do that.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

@DeltaMac

Hi,

thank you for your answer.

I know that Snow Leopard is outdated and does not get security updates anymore. But I kinda like it and don't need the cloud stuff or iMessages at the moment.

The newest versions of every other familiar browsers are running fine on Snow Leopard. I like Safari more. But the Snow Leopard version is crap today. Also I have a very good firewall. So I will be safe.

The install disks are in my new home far away. I sadly had no SuperDrive there to create an image. I will not stay very long here and don't want to buy anything. I could an SSD again if I am back. El Capitan is running even with only 4 GB of RAM very fast on this MacBook with a SSD in it.

Just found out, that my second USB stick has the 10.6.0 installation on it and is bootable. So I could just try it. If I knew that before, it had taken less time than creating this thread.

I'll be back after that…

 

[DeltaMac]

As I said, the ONLY way that 10.6.0 will work is from a helper Mac. If it really is 10.6.0, your MacBook7,1 won't boot from it.
I agree with why you want to stay with Snow Leopard - but you don't have the special build of Snow Leopard, on the grey DVDs.
The reason that I suggested that you should bypass Snow Leopard is that if you DON'T have a "helper" Mac (another older Mac that CAN boot with the 10.6.0 installer) then you will have a lot of challenges to get Snow Leopard installed.

 

[adam9c1]

I have a mid 2010 MBP which came with the gray disks
I also have a 10.6.3 retail (still in shrink wrap).
I could bust that out and try to install from that in next few days.

 

[DeltaMac]

I have a mid 2010 MBP which came with the gray disks
I also have a 10.6.3 retail (still in shrink wrap).
I could bust that out and try to install from that in next few days.

If it is the commercial Snow Leopard DVD - then it _won't_ work to install (or boot) to a mid 2010 MBPro.
That needs a different build of 10.6.3 - grey DVDs will work. The commercial DVD won't boot.
If you want to try (and fail... ), no one can stop you. Won't hurt anything - just won't work.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

@DeltaMac

Sorry for my late answer. I stayed up all night and was busy with some other stuff, then fell asleep until early evening.

What time is it now where you live? It's already dark here. Seems the night will be my day this week.

If it is the commercial Snow Leopard DVD - then it _won't_ work to install (or boot) to a mid 2010 MBPro.

Yes it is and of course it did not work. But both partitions were encrypted. Maybe it was just FileVault's fault (FileFault). Who nows.. Maybe you? I wasn't in the mood to boot into recovery, formatting everything and try it again.

That needs a different build of 10.6.3 - grey DVDs will work. The commercial DVD won't boot.

I know, you told me in your first post.

But I don't know who you are and if you already tried exactly the same version on the same Mac or anything very similar. You might have only read about this in some dubious rumors forum or telling things which just flow to your mind.

Perhaps you are an eleven year old child with rich parents, who just had birthday and got a golden iPod touch, a golden MacBook and a golden Apple Watch, thinking Facebook is the whole Internet and never saw anything apart from OS X 10.10.5 with the latest iTunes/Music version and iOS 8.4.1.
I hope your parents are a least wise enough and will give you the iPhone 6S Plus as a belated birthday present, in order that you don't have to cry next week.

Sorry, just joking around. I trust in you.

If you want to try (and fail... ), no one can stop you. Won't hurt anything - just won't work.

Yes I only got a Message to hold the power button until it turns of after several minutes of booting.


It will get a SSD when I'm back at home and perhaps 8 or 16 GB of RAM, but that seems not to be necessary with the SSD in it. I already tried it once. The captain is running faster than a (Mountain) Lion even now with an HDD. Maybe the ship is sinking and he is running for his life.


I love this sweet white thing. Never saw anyone with that and I like it to be different from the mass of people. Just need it sometimes for traveling and surfing on macrumors.com. Sadly the keyboard has no backlight but I can live with that.

Maybe I'll paint it pink sometime with a water-resistant felt pen.


At home I am using a non glossy MacBook Pro 17 inch (Late 2011), also very nice and very fast with two SSDs in it and 8 GB of RAM. But I have to use an external keyboard, because Apple seems to like useless big speakers more than a keyboard with a numeric block.


I think I am getting a little off the track...


So long!

 

[Erdbeertorte]

I have a mid 2010 MBP which came with the gray disks
I also have a 10.6.3 retail (still in shrink wrap).
I could bust that out and try to install from that in next few days.

That has to work if they belong to your MBP.

I don't know if my discs exactly belong to the machine I am using at the moment.

But it's printed only MacBook (without Pro or anything other) on them and 10.6.3, but I don't have them here to see the build number.

 

[DeltaMac]

I did not intend for you to think that my response was to you, but, in fact, was intended for adam9c1, who seemed to think it was worthwhile to offer to test the 10.6.3 installer.
And, I get my information primarily from my own experience.
Some Macs (and unfortunately, you have one of those) shipped with unique versions of OS X. They can be challenging to go back to that version, if you don't have the original DVDs easily available.
So, I try to make the information available, so someone else doesn't waste their time with an OS X installer version that won't work. I apologize if you wasted your time reading about someone else's misfortunes.

(I am considerably past 11 years old. In fact, I have been retired for more than double that time. I have had working experience with Mac OS, back to System 6 in 1991, and every Mac OS version since then. Not as an expert, perhaps, but a reasonably competent service tech. And, I have seen the exact combination that you have multiple times in a service shop, and I do know what works, and what doesn't work. I don't know everything, but I can match up Macs to proper OS X version.

 

[adam9c1]

Is the keyboard defective? Is the ambient light sensor defective?
Your keyboard has backlight.

The gray disks are SPECIFIC to the Model type, not just family.
IE no single Macbook disk for all Macbooks.

OK, I won't open up my 10.6.3 retail DVD ;-)

 

[DeltaMac]

Is the keyboard defective? Is the ambient light sensor defective?
Your keyboard has backlight.
...

?
OP has a mid-2010 Macbook - the keyboard is not backlit.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

I did not intend for you to think that my response was to you, but, in fact, was intended for adam9c1, who seemed to think it was worthwhile to offer to test the 10.6.3 installer.
And, I get my information primarily from my own experience.
Some Macs (and unfortunately, you have one of those) shipped with unique versions of OS X. They can be challenging to go back to that version, if you don't have the original DVDs easily available.
So, I try to make the information available, so someone else doesn't waste their time with an OS X installer version that won't work. I apologize if you wasted your time reading about someone else's misfortunes.

(I am considerably past 11 years old. In fact, I have been retired for more than double that time. I have had working experience with Mac OS, back to System 6 in 1991, and every Mac OS version since then. Not as an expert, perhaps, but a reasonably competent service tech. And, I have seen the exact combination that you have multiple times in a service shop, and I do know what works, and what doesn't work. I don't know everything, but I can match up Macs to proper OS X version.

Sorry I started to write before Adam wrote and got interrupted for hours. After my post I must have overlooked, that you already answered him.

You really don't need to justify yourself. As I said it was just an ironical joke. You are registered here since 2003. I discovered this website quite recently, as I was searching for informations about El Capitan beta.

I was just wondering why my MacBook Pro 17" (Late 2011) works without any problems with a preinstalled 10.6.8, because it was released with a special build of 10.7.2. And so I just thought that it might probably be able to install 10.6.0 on a Mac that came with a special build of 10.6.3.

I believed everything you said but couldn't resist to try it nevertheless. Took me just three minutes. I just opened this thread because I forgot, that the installer was still on my second USB flash drive and it might take ages to download it from OneDrive and create a bootable device again.

My first short Mac experience was a Power Mac G4. Must have been in 2001 or 2002. I only remember that I could choose between Max OS X 10.? and Mac OS 9.?. I sold it very quickly, because I hated the ICQ version what I used the whole day in that time.

I had only used PCs with DOS and later Windows since the end of the 1980s before. My first one was an Intel 80186, 6 MHz, 640 KB RAM, 20 MB HDD, 360 KB 5.25"-Floppy-Drive and MS DOS 3.11 with a nice monochrome (kind of orange I think) CGA display.

I really moved into the world of Mac in 2012 with a new iMac 27" and Mountain Lion, in between I had a Mac mini also 2012, a MacBook Air 2013, and the best MacBook Pro 15" Retina (Late 2014) that was available. But I sold all that new stuff, because it was totally overdimensioned for my purposes. So I bought some old defective MacBooks (Pro), partially repaired and upgraded them to SSD and more RAM.

No I have to choose which of them I keep and which I sell again. The other two white MacBooks have a really bad display and are not supporting anything above 10.7.5. But I can choose between some 17" MacBook Pros from 2007 to 2011 as my main computer. They all support El Capitan.

I will never ever go back to a Windows PC. I really hate Windows so much and don't really like Linux too and also I will now never go back to an older OS X again.
El Capitan is faster than Yosemite and Mavericks, I think even faster than Mountain Lion and Lion, if you have at least 4 GB RAM.
Before Mavericks there are too many useful things missing and I like Safari most of all browsers.

But the Mail Application is unusable for me since Yosemite and I hate the new iTunes version, that includes Apple Music.

Is the keyboard defective? Is the ambient light sensor defective?
Your keyboard has backlight.

Are you sure? The F5 and F6 keys doesn't even have any symbol on them. Or did you mean my MacBook Pro?


Perhaps @DeltaMac clarified that in the meantime. I got interrupted again for at least one hour since I started writing.



P.S.:
Just saw El Capitan Beta 8 update available in the AppStore. Have to restart soon. Your luck, I am writing too much uninteresting stuff.


Edit:

?
OP has a mid-2010 Macbook - the keyboard is not backlit.

As I expected.

 

[adam9c1]

I have a late 2008 MB unibody with backlight and mid 2010 MBP and both have backlight keyboards.
I was not aware of unibody laptops without this feature.
I apologize.

 

[Fishrrman]

Question:
"Is it possible to install 10.6.0 on a MB Mid 2010 first delivered with 10.6.3"

Answer:
No.

Actually, you should be running 10.6.8 on a mid-2010 MacBook.
That was the last update for 10.6.

Personal experience:
I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro 13" myself.
It still runs just fine with 10.6.8 and an SSD that I installed.

Suggestion (that many others on here will criticize):
If you don't have a usable copy of 10.6.3, you may be able to scrounge up a "workable" copy of 10.6.x from "non-official" sources (other than Apple).
One has to do, what one has to do...

More thoughts:
10.8.5 would probably run very well on a 2010 MacBook.
I would NOT use anything "later than" 10.8.5 UNLESS I had an SSD in it.

 

[DeltaMac]

I have a late 2008 MB unibody with backlight and mid 2010 MBP and both have backlight keyboards.
I was not aware of unibody laptops without this feature.
I apologize.

The Late 2008 Macbook is a unibody design, aluminum body.
The plastic-bodied MacBooks, which is what the OP has, never came with a back-lit keyboard.
(I think that Apple should have called the 2008 aluminum Macbook a "Macbook Pro", as it had more in common with the "Pro" models, than the white plastic MacBooks of the time.)

 

[adam9c1]

I think they wanted to make a more upscale version of the MB, and not including the FW port differentiating between the MBP.

 

[chrfr]

I have a late 2008 MB unibody with backlight and mid 2010 MBP and both have backlight keyboards.
I was not aware of unibody laptops without this feature.
I apologize.

My mother has the lower end 2008 aluminum unibody MacBook, and it also does not have a backlit keyboard.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

Good morning guys,

maybe it's not morning where you live but when you read it...

Just looked for it, I am 6 hours ahead Delaware @DeltaMac and 7 hours ahead Chicago @adam9c1, where @Fishrrman is living a can't see.

Feel free to grumble if you have any problem with my font color and I will change it.

10.8.5 would probably run very well on a 2010 MacBook.
I would NOT use anything "later than" 10.8.5 UNLESS I had an SSD in it.

Installing 10.8.5 was my first step because 10.7.5 was preinstalled when I bought the used MacBook.

I had the installer on an USB flash drive and does not own any 10.7 DVD only 10.6.0 on two grey discs which came with a MacBook Pro and another one which is directly from Apple, not bound to any special Mac. That last one I have on another USB flash drive here.
The two grey 10.6.3 discs that came maybe with exactly this MacBook I don't have with me.

I am happy now with 10.11. On this MacBook I started with Beta 7 and one day later updated to Beta 8.
Had not a single issue and it seems to be faster for my purposes than the older ones.

Maybe 10.6.8 runs a lot faster. I could try it if I am back at home. I have an SSD where it is already preinstalled on there too. But as I already wrote with an SSD El Capitan is running really fast too, with only 4 GB of RAM. And if I find cheap used RAM that fits into this MacBook, I also could upgrade it up to 16 GB.

I am not sure what to do. I don't need this whole cloud stuff, but I love Safari and will definitely not use the outdated one from Snow Leopard and who knows how long other browsers get updates for 10.6.8 maybe they will stop supporting it when 10.11 is released. For 10.5.8 it does not exist a current version of any browser.
For E-Mail I am already using an external application since Yosemite on my MacBook Pro.

I think I really stay with 10.11, 10.7.5 until 10.10.5 are too slow and 10.6.8 is too much outdated, maybe in October next year even 10.9 will be dropped by Apple and some other applications I might need. 10.11 is in any case faster than 10.10. So I also can stay using Airmail which is perfectly able to handle my many e-mail accounts instead of Apple Mail.

The Late 2008 Macbook is a unibody design, aluminum body.
The plastic-bodied MacBooks, which is what the OP has, never came with a back-lit keyboard.
(I think that Apple should have called the 2008 aluminum Macbook a "Macbook Pro", as it had more in common with the "Pro" models, than the white plastic MacBooks of the time.)

Those are even the last original MacBooks that support El Capitan. I have a white one from 2008 too and it only goes up to 10.7.5 and has a very crappy display as I already mentioned.
If you are not in the correct angle (which is very small) it's nearly unusable.
I have installed 10.5.x on it and upgraded it to 10.6.8 the day after I created this thread. But I have no tools here to change the HDD with the one in my 2010 MacBook.


Kind regards



Edit: I hope you did not read my answer in an e-mail. There have been some very bad typos.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

@DeltaMac
@adam9c1
@Fishrrman
@chrfr

My nick might change today. On precaution I tell you that in an extra post, so that nobody gets confused.