Create a bootable usb for old iMac

[Manneman32]

Hey guys!

I have an old iMac 2009 that I was thinking about using again. It’s an old maschine but I upgraded it with more RAM and gonna put an SSD in it. As it stands… the harddrive is empty.

I’m not allowed to install Yosemite (as it suggests). File not found on AppStore. I get the reason for that!

I found the Yosemite and older .dmg’s and I want to create a USB for it. Since the 2009 can’t boot I have to do this on my other old iMac. It’s a late 2011 (souped up) with High Sierra.

The guides I find is good but I’m afraid to do it on my High Sierra iMac. Afraid to mess that mac up.

Is it safe? Can I use the guides here on MacRumors to create a bootable Yosemite, Maverick or Mountain Lion USB without messing up the High Sierra?

 

[Amethyst1]

Is it safe? Can I use the guides here on MacRumors to create a bootable Yosemite, Maverick or Mountain Lion USB without messing up the High Sierra?

Yes. As long as you ensure to point the createinstallmedia command at the USB drive, it's perfectly safe.

 

[Manneman32]

Can you recommend a guide?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Is your iMac has a black back, or full aluminum back?
Black back = Early 2009 => supports El Capitan
Aluminum back = Late 2009 => support High Sierra.

 

[Manneman32]

It’s an early 2009… black backside

 

[Manneman32]

To be clear… Yosemite is the last OS X installed. It’s also the OS X that tries to install through recovery. But after the Apple ID Login, it says ”Not available, try later”.

The disk is formatted… sadly.

 

[Amethyst1]

Can you recommend a guide?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

It assumes the macOS installer app is in the Applications folder and your USB drive is called MyVolume.

 

[Manneman32]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

It assumes the macOS installer app is in the Applications folder and your USB drive is called MyVolume.

And this will work for Yosemite too?

• Installer for OS X El Capitan or later

 

[Amethyst1]

And this will work for Yosemite too?

IIRC I’ve used it for Yosemite.

 

[Manneman32]

Thank you! Will let you know how it works out

 

[AlixSPQR]

Why Yosemite? El Capitan is better and supported by the machine.

 

[Manneman32]

Why Yosemite? El Capitan is better and supported by the machine.

Yeah, I think I will do that. Still… Yosemite is the last OS X installed on it… so it’s supported, right? In any case… I was thinking El Capitan too

 

[TheShortTimer]

Yeah, I think I will do that. Still… Yosemite is the last OS X installed on it… so it’s supported, right?

Yes it is, however...

In any case… I was thinking El Capitan too

...El Capitan is newer and will provide you with access to more recent versions of software releases.

 

[Siliconguy]

Why Yosemite? El Capitan is better and supported by the machine.

El Capitan works on my 2009 mini. Unfortunately Firefox is no longer supported on El Capitan.

Linux Mint also works on a 2009 Mini. That version of Firefox is supported. So it depends on what you want do with it.

 

[Manneman32]

El Capitan works on my 2009 mini. Unfortunately Firefox is no longer supported on El Capitan.

Linux Mint also works on a 2009 Mini. That version of Firefox is supported. So it depends on what you want do with it.

That’s interesting. You can run Linux Mint as a standalone? Or you have to have OS X installed first?

 

[Amethyst1]

You can run Linux Mint as a standalone? Or you have to have OS X installed first?

No need to have OS X at all.

 

[TheShortTimer]

No need to have OS X at all.

The OP could run Mojave or even Catalina, seeing as their computer has been upgraded with extra RAM and they're planning to install an SSD. DosDude's Mojave and Catalina Patchers support the iMac 9,1...

 

[Amethyst1]

The OP could run Mojave or even Catalina, seeing as their computer has been upgraded with extra RAM and they're planning to install an SSD. DosDude's Mojave and Catalina Patchers support the iMac 9,1...

Of course, and since both Yosemite and El Capitan have been unsupported for quite a while, this is very much worth looking into in terms of macOS. However, installing Linux doesn’t require macOS to be present.

 

[paardenkapper]

I'd also consider running Catalina - you'd get way better app support. Otherwise if you want to run 32 bit apps stay on Mojave.

Dosdude does provide easy to run installers: https://dosdude1.com

 

[AlixSPQR]

OCLP also supports this iMac model, with only a few caveats. At least Big Sur or Monterey should work fine.
If browsing is all that is necessary, then there is Chromium-legacy, which supports El Capitan, and even older macOS's. No need to update system certificates, they are built-in.
Any modern Linux x86 should be bootable and installable. There may be additional drivers needed to be installed.

 

[Manneman32]

I actually took another turn than what I was planning. I thought I’d give it a try and WOW!!! I installed Ubuntu… and I’m still amazed how easy and fast it went. The bluetooth keyboard and mouse had to wait after the first install… but when everything was done, I can’t believe how fast and responsive the old machine became.

I love OS X and MacOS, but it’s gonna be really nice to play around with Linux for a while. I will install OS X at one point, but for now… this is great!

Thanx guys, for giving me the curage to do this!

 

[Siliconguy]

That’s interesting. You can run Linux Mint as a standalone? Or you have to have OS X installed first?

I do have El Capitan in the mini, I pick which one to boot with the option key on startup. I have directly booted to Linux on startup without holding down the option key, I would think Linux alone would boot.

One other thing to note, I run the Xcfe version of Mint in deference to the elderly graphics on the mini. The current version of then Xcfe desktop is very nice looking, I think I like it better than Cinnamon that I have on the main machine. If you try Cinnamon first and performance is not what you can live with don't be afraid to try Xcfe.

 

[Pelemos]

Thank you everyone for all your contributions in this thread. If I don't need to have Macos on the drive before installing Mint, then I'm going to go for it and just load Mint on my early 2009 iMac (black rear).

I've been running various versions of Linux on macs off and on for the last 20 years, beginning with Yellow Dog on a G3 iMac back in 2003, Kubuntu 6 on a G4 Digital Audio in 2005, but recently Linux Mint has been giving some of my older iMacs a whole new lease of life, just running from the USB Live iso. My early 2009 iMac struggles with El Capitan complaining about needing upgrades from the Apple Store, but any upgrade attempt gets rejected as my iMac cannot officially run any later versions of Macos.

This last week I've been trying Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon Live iso and was not really surprised that it found all the hardware out of the box, plus the driver manager detected a BroadComm driver for the Wifi, then I'm on the internet with an up-to -date web browser. I'm going to install a 500GB SSD and replace the faulty DVD drive.