iPhoto application missing after Snow Leopard upgrade

[Seahorse]

Suspect I'm missing something obvious here, but any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

I've just upgraded my MacBook Air from OS X 10.5 to OS X 10.6. Following the upgrade, I have no iPhoto application. A quick website search suggests that iPhoto (and the other iLife applications) don't come bundled with my cheap Snow Leopard upgrade. (How irritating.)

I can download iPhoto 7.1.2 from Apple but it won't install because I don't have an earlier version of iPhoto on my computer.

So I insert my OS X installation disk 1 into another Mac, networked, and try to fire that up to install iPhoto from that. It's the disk that came with my MBA. (I think it was OS X 10.4 at that stage.) I assume it should have iLife on it, as did the MBA itself.

But when I try to run the installer, over the network, it says:

The application "Install Mac OS X" cannot be used from this volume.

To install Mac OS X, please use the application provided on the Mac OS X installation disc.​

And now I can't quite work out what to do. I could switch to another application. But, imperfect though iPhoto undoubtedly is, I've grown used to it.

Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated!

 

[r.j.s]

There should be a "Install Bundled Software" on that disc, run that.

 

[Seahorse]

There should be a "Install Bundled Software" on that disc, run that.

Thanks for the reply.

The main application on the disc is called "Install Mac OS X and Bundled Software". That's the one that gives the error message that I quoted above.

The two other potentially relevant application are "Optional Installs" and "Install Bundled Software only". Neither will run from a network volume: both tell me to copy them to my local volume. "Optional Installs" runs fine, but doesn't include iPhoto (or iLife). "Install Bundled Software Only" is in fact an alias, and running it locally gives the same error message: that it (the target program) can't be run from a network volume and needs to be copied to my local volume.

The target program is /Volumes/Mac OS X Install Disk 1/System/Installation/Packages/Bundled Software.mpkg. I have to admit that I don't know how to explore hidden files in OS X's finder but, firing up a terminal window, I discover that "Bundled Software.mpkg" is in fact a directory (as UNIX would call it). It doesn't contain iPhoto in either of the two levels below.

Any further thoughts? I guess I could copy the whole directory hierarchy to my local hard drive... This is all seeming a bit extreme for something quite simple?! Thanks again for your help.

 

[Scottsdale]

Wait a minute. Am I misunderstanding this? Do you expect Apple to give you iLife 09 with Snow Leopard?

 

[Seahorse]

Am I misunderstanding this? Do you expect Apple to give you iLife 09 with Snow Leopard?

Well, I suspect one of us is misunderstanding something! Apple sold (not gave) me iLife bundled with my MacBook Air. Having done a clean installation of Snow Leopard, I'm wondering whether I can still use the iPhoto application that I already own and, if so, how. I'm not much bothered about which version I use.

In these circumstances the answer may be that, for some reason, I can no longer use iPhoto. But I don't (yet) understand that to be the case.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Well, I suspect one of us is misunderstanding something! Apple sold (not gave) me iLife bundled with my MacBook Air. Having done a clean installation of Snow Leopard, I'm wondering whether I can still use the iPhoto application that I already own and, if so, how. I'm not much bothered about which version I use.

In these circumstances the answer may be that, for some reason, I can no longer use iPhoto. But I don't (yet) understand that to be the case.

Check the disks that came with your Air. My Air (which came with Snow Leopard though, so it may be different) came with two disks. One with Snow Leopard, one with the bundled applications, i.e. iLife. It's that second disk that you need. If there is only one disk with Leopard then check the folders on the disk, there should be another way to install the bundled applications.

If all else fails and you're sure there's only one disk then you may want to do a fresh install of Leopard from your restore disks and then do an upgrade install to Snow Leopard.

 

[aleksandra.]

So I insert my OS X installation disk 1 into another Mac, networked, and try to fire that up to install iPhoto from that. It's the disk that came with my MBA. (I think it was OS X 10.4 at that stage.) I assume it should have iLife on it, as did the MBA itself.

But when I try to run the installer, over the network, it says:

The application "Install Mac OS X" cannot be used from this volume.

To install Mac OS X, please use the application provided on the Mac OS X installation disc.​

And now I can't quite work out what to do. I could switch to another application. But, imperfect though iPhoto undoubtedly is, I've grown used to it.

Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated!

MBA never ever came with Tiger, as it was first released after Leopard.

If you're using OS X 10.4 disks, they're for the wrong machine. Which shouldn't matter anyway, as iLife should be on a separate DVD (you're inserting the wrong disk). "Bundled software" means apps that come with OS X, like Mail or iCal. iLife doesn't come with OS X, it comes with your Mac.

 

[Seahorse]

If all else fails and you're sure there's only one disk then you may want to do a fresh install of Leopard from your restore disks and then do an upgrade install to Snow Leopard.

Good idea. Though the clean install of Snow Leopard took me a whole day (mainly reinstalling software and files and setting things up again the way I wanted) and I'm not sure I love iPhoto that much!

Thanks for the pointers, though.

MBA never ever came with Tiger, as it was first released after Leopard.

Good point. So it was Leopard.

If you're using OS X 10.4 disks, they're for the wrong machine. Which shouldn't matter anyway, as iLife should be on a separate DVD (you're inserting the wrong disk). "Bundled software" means apps that come with OS X, like Mail or iCal. iLife doesn't come with OS X, it comes with your Mac.

Thanks for clarifying. I've tried all of the disks I've ever received, and can't get it to work.

Thanks, though, for the suggestions. I think I'll give up and use Picasa or something else instead!

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Where did you get your MBA from originally? If you have all the original disks then you will definitely have iLife on one of those disks. If you're completely stumped then book a genius appointment at an Apple store and get their help. All Macs are sold with OS X and iLife bundled together and the recovery disks always have the same software on them. You can definitely install iLife on its own afterwards from these disks.

 

[Scottsdale]

There are two disks that come with the MBA. One is the OS X and the second is an Applications disk. Use your new Snow Leopard disk in place of the original Leopard disk (if that's what you originally had), then use the Applications disk to reinstall iLife.

 

[Seahorse]

Problem solved! Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions, which persuaded me to keep on fiddling around until I stumbled, by accident, upon the solution.

It was not anything suggested above but your advice did lead to my finding what was going wrong.

I was accessing the installation disk by logging into the remote computer over my network, and mounting the drive/disk on my MacBook Air. The installation software apparently won't run this way. It only works when you use the proprietary CD/DVD sharing function (no logging in but, if this option is set, you ask permission from the local machine and grant permission from the remote machine).

There was, I suspect, a hint of this in my original posting: the error message stating "The application "Install Mac OS X" cannot be used from this volume". But I wasn't sharp enough to spot the distinction between the two ways of accessing the disk.

Thanks again, everyone, for your help. I'm very grateful.

 

[trulezzz]

question

Im doing a clean install of Snow Leopard today as well and I have a quick question. Are the bundled applications (iLife etc) on both the Leopard and Snow Leopard disc? If not, can I use the Leopard disc to install the apps on Snow Leopard? Reply

 

[r.j.s]

The bundled apps are not on the SL disc, they are on the gray restore discs that shipped with the machine.