


Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.

Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage). The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.
Using windows to download mac os x 10.6 install#
Snow Leopard may not be compatible with newer Macs that were sold after the Jrelease of OS X Lion. Install older OS X onto an external drive. You can also create a bootable USB flash drive of the Snow Leopard install disk, but you'll still need access to a Mac that has an optical drive. Im currently using a Windows wired keyboard. Ive tried pretty much every key combo I can find but no matter what it just starts normally. Id like to do a factory reset, but no matter WHAT I do during startup the computer wont go into Recovery mode. If you don't have an optical drive, you can use an external unit or connect to another Mac that has a DVD drive via Target Disk Mode. I just received an old Imac from a family member running os x 10.6.8. It also assumes that your Mac has a built-in optical drive. Each method assumes you have an OS X 10.6 install DVD that you purchased from Apple. The rest of this guide will take you through the various methods of installing Snow Leopard. You can create a Snow Leopard partition on your Mac to run old games or apps that aren't compatible with newer versions of OS X. Of course, you can avoid that headache by having a good backup system, but $19.99 is a small price to pay for insurance in my book. The main reason is that if your Mac should suffer a catastrophic drive failure, forcing you to replace the drive, you may need to install Snow Leopard before you can download a current version of OS X from the Mac App Store.
Using windows to download mac os x 10.6 update#
Why does Apple continue to sell a version of OS X that was first released in the summer of 2009? The most important reason is that Snow Leopard is the minimum requirement for using the Mac App Store, and the Mac App Store is the only way to purchase and download later versions of OS X, such as Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks and Yosemite.Īt some point, Apple will stop selling Snow Leopard, but while it's still available, I highly recommend that you purchase it and keep it on hand. Go to the Apple menu Select Software Update Be sure that the checkbox next to Mac OS X Update is checked Click on Install Items and let the installation proceed and your Mac reboot Update: If you have troubles getting the update or would rather have the dmg file stored locally, you can use Mac OS X 10.6.6 direct download links as well. Snow Leopard, the last version of OS X that you can purchase on a DVD, is still available from Apple's online store and retail stores for $19.99, a very reasonable price.
