How to install a new version of OSX on a 2009 MacBook?
March 31, 2020 8:36 AM Subscribe
How to install a new version of OSX on a 2009 MacBook? Without leaving home?
Okay, so.
My mom rescued a 2009 MacBook from a free pile before the lockdown. During the lockdown, I've updated the RAM to 4GB (thanks ebay), and established that the current OS of 10.5.8 is not gonna work for almost anything.
I downloaded an ISO of the 10.6 installer from Internet Archive (apparently it's abandonware now), followed instructions online to put that image onto a usb stick (both by "Restore" from Disk Utility on a mac, and dd on a linux machine). Either way I did it, I ended up with a big friendly mac installer that says I need to burn it onto a DVD whenever I launch it, and that can't be used as a boot disk.
Am I doing something obviously wrong? Any other suggestions?
Okay, so.
My mom rescued a 2009 MacBook from a free pile before the lockdown. During the lockdown, I've updated the RAM to 4GB (thanks ebay), and established that the current OS of 10.5.8 is not gonna work for almost anything.
I downloaded an ISO of the 10.6 installer from Internet Archive (apparently it's abandonware now), followed instructions online to put that image onto a usb stick (both by "Restore" from Disk Utility on a mac, and dd on a linux machine). Either way I did it, I ended up with a big friendly mac installer that says I need to burn it onto a DVD whenever I launch it, and that can't be used as a boot disk.
Am I doing something obviously wrong? Any other suggestions?
Response by poster: That's pretty much the same vintage as mine. It seems to run pretty stable? I've only got 4GB of RAM on this thing!
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:06 AM on March 31, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:06 AM on March 31, 2020
Best answer: Some older Mac OS X installers are still available in the App Store by direct link, not search. See this question on Ask Different. In particular, here is a page on Apple's website with links to the installers. It looks like you can get up to High Sierra on that machine.
posted by mkb at 10:21 AM on March 31, 2020
posted by mkb at 10:21 AM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: oh thank Ghu, that sounds exactly like what I'm looking for, mkb. I'm gonna see if I can get that to work. basically anything 10.6 or newer should allow me to run modern software, that's all I want out of the world.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:46 AM on March 31, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:46 AM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: sadly, substars, it looks like the dosdude patcher is yet another piece of software that I can't run on 10.5. [sad trombone plays endless solo of Yakkety Sax]
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:47 AM on March 31, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:47 AM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: Okay, for future reference (since I'm sure I'll forget most of this information before I have to work on this mac again), this is model 5,2. Currently downloading Yosemite via mkb's link, although it looks like the most my MacBook supports without patching is El Capitan, a version later (d'oh). Will update my many fans after I get something working.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:00 PM on March 31, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:00 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: oh good, that's not working either. Downloads successfully, and then gives the following error message:
The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.installer.pagecontroller error -1.) Couldn't open "InstallMacOSX.pkg"
Any other ideas, folks? It is looking ominously like I have to upgrade to 10.6 or above in order to upgrade to 10.6 or above.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:46 PM on March 31, 2020
The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.installer.pagecontroller error -1.) Couldn't open "InstallMacOSX.pkg"
Any other ideas, folks? It is looking ominously like I have to upgrade to 10.6 or above in order to upgrade to 10.6 or above.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:46 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: Okay, looks like I'm looking for the "Snow Leopard upgrade only" version of El Capitan, via mkb's other link.
This version of El Capitan is for users running OS X Snow Leopard or OS X Lion who would like to upgrade to macOS High Sierra. If you are running Snow Leopard or Lion and would like to upgrade to High Sierra, you need to install El Capitan first. This version of El Capitan can also be installed on computers that are not compatible with High Sierra.
It hurts.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:51 PM on March 31, 2020
This version of El Capitan is for users running OS X Snow Leopard or OS X Lion who would like to upgrade to macOS High Sierra. If you are running Snow Leopard or Lion and would like to upgrade to High Sierra, you need to install El Capitan first. This version of El Capitan can also be installed on computers that are not compatible with High Sierra.
It hurts.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:51 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: Wait, I'm still on Leopard. Oh hell.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:51 PM on March 31, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 12:51 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: I'm clutching at straws now. Could I install 10.6 or later to a VM, write the image of that VM to an external firewire drive, boot off of that drive, then install onto an actual physical computer?
Should I just give up and order a physical install disk?
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:09 PM on March 31, 2020
Should I just give up and order a physical install disk?
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:09 PM on March 31, 2020
Check the model number. There are a very few 2009 MacBooks that can run 10.13, some will go to 10.11, and if you're really unlucky, only 10.7.
posted by scruss at 2:48 PM on March 31, 2020
posted by scruss at 2:48 PM on March 31, 2020
How to create a Bootable USB drive with Snow Leopard
Balena Etcher to create a bootable USB drive; it may work.
How to create install media for macOS Only goes back to El Capitan.
posted by blob at 3:23 PM on March 31, 2020
Balena Etcher to create a bootable USB drive; it may work.
How to create install media for macOS Only goes back to El Capitan.
posted by blob at 3:23 PM on March 31, 2020
Okay, from what you've said, you have a MacBook5,2 with 4GB of RAM. From the link you posted, this will support El Capitan (10.11). Use this link to download the install image for El Capitan, and follow the instructions listed there to create a install bootable usb thumb drive.
Open /Applications/Disk Utility and erase the USB thumb drive. Name it "MyVolume"
Download the El Capitan install application as directed, open /Applications/Terminal and paste these two lines into Terminal, then hit return
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume \ /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app
After it's done, shutdown the computer. Start it up, holding down the option key on the keyboard. You'll see icons for the internal hard disk, and the USB thumb drive, now called "Install El Capitan" or something like that. Choose the Install thumb drive. Bob's your uncle.
posted by blob at 5:07 PM on March 31, 2020
Open /Applications/Disk Utility and erase the USB thumb drive. Name it "MyVolume"
Download the El Capitan install application as directed, open /Applications/Terminal and paste these two lines into Terminal, then hit return
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume \ /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app
After it's done, shutdown the computer. Start it up, holding down the option key on the keyboard. You'll see icons for the internal hard disk, and the USB thumb drive, now called "Install El Capitan" or something like that. Choose the Install thumb drive. Bob's your uncle.
posted by blob at 5:07 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: okay, looks like most of you are missing what I missed earlier: can't use createinstallmedia on systems prior to Mavericks (10.9), can't follow instructions for Snow Leopard when I'm running Leopard (the software architecture disjuncture appears to be 10.6, and I'm on 10.5.8).
Checking out Balena Etcher link to see if it will work where others failed...
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:10 PM on March 31, 2020
Checking out Balena Etcher link to see if it will work where others failed...
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:10 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: Hrm. Not working with any of my existing disk images that I've found, but Balena Etcher does seem to be a value-added sdcard writing tool. Cute.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:21 PM on March 31, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:21 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: I might be stuck waiting until a friend finds a physical 10.6 installer DVD. Pfui.
I'll let you guys know if anything works.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 9:15 PM on March 31, 2020
I'll let you guys know if anything works.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 9:15 PM on March 31, 2020
Response by poster: Okay, I finally have a physical original Snow Leopard DVD in my hands, which SHOULD mean that I will get to benefit from all the hard work y'all did for me. I will update you when I know the known knowns.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 4:47 PM on April 3, 2020
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 4:47 PM on April 3, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by substars at 9:47 AM on March 31, 2020