# new iMac need to downgrade, but how ??



## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

how can i boot off of USB drive to install 10.6 OSX on new iMac 2014 ?

i have tried several USB bootable drives and all of them just go to 
circle with line through it
and after about 1 min, it shuts down completely


i have done it with mac mini but this iMac is driving me up the wall

help !!


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## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

well, i finally managed to get it to boot up without the circle w/line through it and actually it makes it to the apple logo
as if it is trying to boot but that's all it does
after about 20mins, still on just the apple logo
no 'working circle' under it that typically should happen

people tell me i am going bald.
its actually not baldness
its me pulling my hair out

my god apple products are actually just vaccuums. ( they both suck )

haha


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

You're trying to boot off a USB drive, what's on that drive? (or is it a USB optical drive with an OS X disc)

You do also realize that 10.6 won't have the all the drivers needed that match much of the hardware in that newer machine.
Unlike Windows which has a kitchen sink of drivers, OS X is very inclusive in the drivers included with it since there is such a smaller hardware set that Apple sells and supports.


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## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

USB drive has boot image of 10.6.3
also tried 10.7.3 and 10.8.5
not one of them will boot up

the latter of the two boot up to a Circle with line through it

the 10.6.3 i can finally managed to boot to apple logo
but goes nowhere after that....

the imac has no optical drive so have to boot off of usb or recovery partition 
which i have no problem getting rid of , provided i can actually get something to boot.......... from usb
NOTE: usb is flash drive (tried both 2.0 and 3.0 )


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Which recovery partition are you talking about, the one on the internal iMac HD or on your USB stick?
Does the machine boot into the recovery partition?

I'm assuming these older OS X images you got from the internet?
Many of these are pulled from working Macs and need things like a kextcache rebuilt to working properly.

I still think the issue is you're trying to install/boot an older OS X version that doesn't have the support for your machine. 

Like the problem above you can force it sometimes but you'll need access to another Mac so you can edit the Boot.plist on the HD to enable things like kextcache rebuild, verbose logging, etc.

It's not a simple walk through and may require kext editing.

Any specific reason not to install 10.9 that comes with the iMac?


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## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

I know very little about mac
reason to downgrade to something lower is we have software to run that is not made for mavericks yet
and requires being downgraded to version 10.5 or 10.6
the recovery /restore partition works 
i can re-install mavericks anytime 
all that stuff you mention about kexts etc... i have no clue about
i already have images (dmg) of 10.6/10.7 and 10.8
each has been used in the past to boot off of, and install on different mac/mac minis

this new iMac just does not seem to want to allow me to boot
even if the hardware was too new for the OS, you'd think it should still boot up, and get to a point where it would prompt
you about it being too old or something
to just sit there and do nothing is not very helpful
another poor feature of mac i guess
i'll try some more things tomorrow
something tells me you are correct
the hardware just won't allow it........ just shocked not even 10.8.5 wont go though
that is what has gotten me confused about this whole endeavor


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

So you have some really old software that require Rosetta support. (written for old PPC CPUs used in Macs)

Instead of trying to run such an older OS on this 2014 iMac, a better solution would to be run a 10.6 OS X installation in a virtual machine. (VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop)

You are allowed to run a OS X Server installation on Macs in a virtual machine and Apple still sells 10.6 server discs for $20.
You can run a regular OS X 10.6 install, but it requires a few minor changes but it is also against the OS X license in some countries, so we can't tell you how here. You'll have to google it.

It runs perfectly fine, I have a 10.6 install running in Parallels for a few specific apps on my iMac with Mavericks too.


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## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

I am not familiar with parallels 
but, you are saying I should be able to run 10.6 in a virtual drive
will it support usb (particularly a USB modem for faxing ) ?

I may have to give that a whirl.......... 
would I be able to run multiple virtuals on there ?


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## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

I am not very mac literate
i know minor things but how to properly setup parallels with 10.6 would be awesome
any good youtbue links you could recommend ?
i also have a MacOSX server 10.6 disk here
which would work best with parallels
cdr or dmg or iso ?

you see........ me clueless
haha

thanks


PS: not sure why people think Apple products are superior when in actuality........inability to put what you want on anything just plain sucks
heavily overpriced and no ability to do what you want
i don't get how people just buy into that philosophy !


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## WWEFreak666 (Apr 18, 2007)

Firstly, I'm sorry you do not like your experience thus far as a new Mac user. Please trust me on this, you will love it the more you use it. This is a small bump in a colourful and smooth ride with OS X.

He's recommending the easiest solution and that is to run a previous OS X on a virtual machine such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion.

My only experience is with VMWare Fusion. Set up is pretty straight forward, but both do cost money. You can try both, but if you need for a significant time, I'd recommend purchasing. Google how to install OS X (whatever version you need) on a virtual machine.

Both offer full USB support.


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## Swiper (Mar 14, 2003)

there has to be a way to downgrade new mac to older version
seems as if the 'boot' function works different on new iMacs
anyone know of a 'fix' for this yet 

I can't get parallels 9 or VMware to work at all.......

I don't get it !!
time to return this junk and find an older one, maybe refurbished
typical apple
pay through the nose and dont' let you do anything with them other than what they tell you , you can do


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Swiper said:


> I don't get it !!
> time to return this junk and find an older one, maybe refurbished
> typical apple
> pay through the nose and dont' let you do anything with them other than what they tell you , you can do


You say you don't them well but you can make this statement. 
You do realize that most people in this area use Macs, so sort of belittles our choice.

You have several issues.

1) You aren't going to get 10.6 installed. It just doesn't have the required drivers to get OS X running. You don't have the skills for any kext editing to force it. There is no DOS mode, of basic via mode like older Windows. Without getting into a long winded explanation, iMac hardware isn't the same as a generic box computer.

2) You can install older OS X versions that have support for your hardware as easily as booting off a DVD, USB stick.
The problem is your's is so new that older ones don't have the drivers you need, or you aren't creating your boot media right.

3) I'm without my computer (on phone right now), but installing in a virtual machine is pretty simple. A google search should find you some good lengthy walkthroughs.

Found several:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthre...Leopard-Server-in-Parallels-9-under-Mavericks
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439

They work with DVDs, but using the USB stick works the same.


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