Lion/Mountain Lion on an old Mac mini

[klashjelm]

Hello,

I have an old Mac mini that I would like to bring up to the latest possible OS X and use as a media player. Not sure about the year now, but it's one of these higher ones with a white top. It's maxed out with an after-market 2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 Gb of RAM (Hardware Overview says Macmini2,1).

It's running 10.6.8 now, and I've tried with all kinds of installers and ISO files to bring it up to 10.7 or 10.8, but nothing works.

What is the latest possible OS X I can run and what is the easiest method of getting there?

 

[Amethyst1]

Officially: Lion. Download the installer package and run it.
Unofficially: Mountain Lion (installer package) using NexPostFacto.

 

[Boyd01]

You can find your exact model at everymac.

Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 Specs (Mid-2007, MB139LL/A, Macmini2,1, A1176, 2108): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.0. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

Browse all the models here

All Apple Mac mini Specs (2005-Current): EveryMac.com

Tech specs for all Apple Mac mini from the original to the latest (2005-Current). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, storage details, configuration options and more.

everymac.com

The specs will show the maximum version of MacOS and it says that for the 2,1 Mini, Lion (10.7) is as far as you can go. Not sure where you can find that version today but others will probably know.

 

[Amethyst1]

Not sure where you can find that version today but others will probably know.

I’ve provided a direct link to a Lion installer.

 

[Boyd01]

Yes, I see... I was posting at the same time!

 

[klashjelm]

Thanks for the help so far guys!

Unfortunately, this installer renders the same message as several others - see screenshot.

As I don't have anything of value on this computer, I guess my best bet is to create a bootable installer. I've tried that through disk utility, but also get some sort of error message there as well. Any other ideas?

Edit: Tried with an old DiskmakerX, but also didn't work. Does the USB-stick need to be exactly 8 Gb (and not more)?

 

[klashjelm]

Ah sorry, I see that I made a mistake in my original post. I'm running 10.5.8, not 10.6.8. Do I need to go over 10.6 in order to get to 10.7?

 

[Boyd01]

IIRC, you had to *purchase* the 10.6 update from Apple on DVD. Did that for my daughter's old iMac many years ago but didn't bother upgrading my old laptop since I already had a newer Mac and I didn't want to spend the money. Last time I looked, it was no longer available, so I'm now sure how you can do that anymore.

 

[Amethyst1]

Ah sorry, I see that I made a mistake in my original post. I'm running 10.5.8, not 10.6.8. Do I need to go over 10.6 in order to get to 10.7?

Yes, you need to have 10.6 in order to run 10.7’s installer.

But first — it might work — try simply restoring the InstallESD.dmg image to a USB stick to create a bootable USB installer. Right-click on the installer, click “Show Package Contents” and open the Contents/SharedSupport folder to get to the image. Try Disk Utility first.

IIRC, you had to *purchase* the 10.6 update from the app store.

10.6 was never available on the App Store, just as a DVD.

 

[Boyd01]

Right, I realized that and updated my post as you were typing. I had to purchase it from Apple's online store and they sent me a DVD.

 

[Amethyst1]

[...] my best bet is to create a bootable installer. I've tried that through disk utility, but also get some sort of error message there as well.

What is the error message?

 

[rampancy]

Yes, you need to have 10.6 in order to run 10.7’s installer.

But first — it might work — try simply restoring the InstallESD.dmg image to a USB stick to create a bootable USB installer. Right-click on the installer, click “Show Package Contents” and open the Contents/SharedSupport folder to get to the image. Try Disk Utility first.


10.6 was never available on the App Store, just as a DVD.

YMMV but I tried to do that to make my own 10.7 Install DVD from my purchased Lion installer; it never seemed to work on top of Macs (a MacBook 2,1 and 3,1) I worked with that had 10.5.x installations; IIRC the error message was something like, "Install failed. The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance."

It only worked if I installed 10.6 first.

 

[Amethyst1]

It only worked if I installed 10.6 first.

Bummer.

Another idea: Install a trial of VMware Fusion 3.1.4 which still runs on Leopard and set up Lion in a VM (I've done this back in 2011. I think I've had to convert the InstallESD.dmg to an ISO). Then, mount the .vmdk and clone the Lion installation to a partition on the Mac mini's hard drive. It's also possible to have Fusion access the partition directly.

 

[klashjelm]

Haven't had time to look into it more lately, but thank you so much for your willingness to help out!

The attached pic is when I'm trying to create a bootable usb stick (32 Gb) from a 10.6.3 installer I found. It's in swedish, but reads something like:
...
Controlling source...
Done
Controlling sizes...
Could not control sizes - the action is not allowed.
The action could not be completed (OSStatus error 1)

Action failed.

 

[Amethyst1]

The attached pic is when I'm trying to create a bootable usb stick (32 Gb) from a 10.6.3 installer I found. [...]

Try making the bootable USB stick using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!: Set up the USB stick using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) with a single HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled) partition first, then clone the Mac OS X Install DVD partition to it using either of these tools.

(Disk Utility on modern macOS is, well, kinda hopeless.)

 

[klashjelm]

Well, after a lot of trial and error I was able to create a bootable stick from Disk Utility on the mac mini itself, got 10.6.3 installed and made all updates available to 10.6.8. So hooray for getting that far at least!

10.7 won’t work though, neither through different dmg or the bootable stick with it. Just says that it cannot be installed or so.

 

[Amethyst1]

Just says that it cannot be installed or so.

Try setting the date back to late 2011 and rerun the installer: maybe it’s certificate has expired?

If that doesn’t work, have a look at the Installer’s log when the error appears.

 

[klashjelm]

Late reply, but here are the screenshots from trying to install. How do I look in to the installer's log?

I tried setting back the time, but made no difference.

 

[Amethyst1]

How do I look in to the installer's log?

When the error message appears, click Window > Show Installer Log (or something like that) in the menu bar.

Are you using the Lion installer you downloaded from Apple or another one? A message like that also appears when trying to run an installer keyed to a specific Mac (model identifier) on a different one.

 

[klashjelm]

I've tried both with random downloads and this official one:

Mac OS X Lion Installer - Apple Support

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is available for older systems that are not compatible with the latest version of macOS

support.apple.com

The error message comes right away. I guess I'll just have to live with 10.6...

 

[Amethyst1]

The error message comes right away.

Are you 100% sure your model identifier is MacMini2,1 (Core 2 Duo model; officially compatible with Lion) and not MacMini1,1 (Core Solo/Duo model; not officially compatible with Lion)? If it's an 1,1, that (probably) explains why the installer keeps failing with that error message.

 

[MultiFinder17]

Are you 100% sure your model identifier is MacMini2,1 (Core 2 Duo model; officially compatible with Lion) and not MacMini1,1 (Core Solo/Duo model; not officially compatible with Lion)? If it's an 1,1, that (probably) explains why the installer keeps failing with that error message.

One other thing to note is that if it's a 1,1 that's been flashed to a 2,1 it will show 2,1 in System Profiler but still won't install Lion because it goes off the board ID which is still that of a 1,1.

Generally if you have a 1,1 and you're installing that C2D in it, most people would probably flash it to a 2,1 to use more RAM.