Resurrected my MPB 2011 with Snow Leopard only to find App Store no longer works

[tbabb]

Long story short, I installed fresh copy of 10.6 on my 2011 MBP to get access to some Rosetta apps I had backed up. I however noticed weird DNS issues
and even though I could get system updates and managed to upgrade to 10.6.8, I could not login to the app store. I got "Connection failed" and never past that point i.e. no 2FA. Even tried manually getting a 2FA number and using that appending that onto the password during login but that also didn't work.

Spend two days with Apple support, and in the end, they told me Snow Leopard is too old and no longer supported for the app store.

Anyone have a working solution?

 

[sdfox7]

Long story short, I installed fresh copy of 10.6 on my 2011 MBP to get access to some Rosetta apps I had backed up. I however noticed weird DNS issues
and even though I could get system updates and managed to upgrade to 10.6.8, I could not login to the app store. I got "Connection failed" and never past that point i.e. no 2FA. Even tried manually getting a 2FA number and using that appending that onto the password during login but that also didn't work.

Spend two days with Apple support, and in the end, they told me Snow Leopard is too old and no longer supported for the app store.

Anyone have a working solution?

It's the same on my MacBook2,1. Snow Leopard is likely just too old. Companies regularly update their APIs, so if that or the security authentication method changed, it's likely broken forever.

It was notably the first OS to offer the App Store, but only if you had the 10.6.6 update installed.

 

[JustinePaula]

We have the same issue with the macs at work, we get the little red flag saying there is an update, so the server knows there is a 10.8.5 system that needs some love, sadly the 2nd part, the actual update, cannot be found, that server is now landfill..Apple love to troll, or maybe a not so subtle hint to upgrade... My High Sierra works with the app store, as for updates, hahahaha, no, 7 incompatible, it says, shows only 2.. oh well..

 

[tbabb]

We have the same issue with the macs at work, we get the little red flag saying there is an update, so the server knows there is a 10.8.5 system that needs some love, sadly the 2nd part, the actual update, cannot be found, that server is now landfill..Apple love to troll, or maybe a not so subtle hint to upgrade... My High Sierra works with the app store, as for updates, hahahaha, no, 7 incompatible, it says, shows only 2.. oh well..

Hmm. I was able to get all the updates, so I'm at 10.6.8. That would indicate that the updates are still available.

 

[JustinePaula]

There has been communication from the update server to your mac, your mac reads the update files , produces a list of updates it wants... However the host of that updates call it server 2, is now landfill, it is gone to the server room in heaven.. Unless there is a 2nd back up server, the code within 10.6.8 is looking at an address of xyz, and this is offline,you need to re-code 10.6.8 to look at wqp for the updates, for example the weather widget, it on my High Sierra, is offline, it cannot see the server it needs, gone... I accept this...

Unless you can find a way to offline update, I am highly doubtful if it is possible to update.. My HS, is stuck, the same with my ipad, bought the same time, 2013, stuck at iOS 935... and every single app requires some sort of 2FA and the 2FA server it looks to, is landfill, scrapped a long time ago, probably someone's itunes player..

 

[sdfox7]

Hmm. I was able to get all the updates, so I'm at 10.6.8. That would indicate that the updates are still available.

In Mac OS X 10.9 and older, Software Update is a separate shell from the App Store, available from the Apple Menu. This is why you're able to get updates without connecting to the App Store.

In Yosemite 10.10 and newer, Software Update is integrated into the App Store. You cannot perform Software Update independent of the App Store.

*Mavericks 10.9 is the oldest OS X I have that can still connect to the Mac App Store.

**Software Update will download updates for most of the OS X going back to Tiger 10.4. I haven't recently tested anything older.

 

[JustinePaula]

That might be as a result of geography, for example, if you are in the US, you might have better success than say if you live off shore and use an off shore app store, the local to me, might have been taken offline, and there is a random US server still, but geo blocking might prevent me from accessing that server in the US.. hard to say, I can download apps, but for how long, and what, varies.. If it works, yay, if not life..

 

[sdfox7]

That might be as a result of geography, for example, if you are in the US, you might have better success than say if you live off shore and use an off shore app store, the local to me, might have been taken offline, and there is a random US server still, but geo blocking might prevent me from accessing that server in the US.. hard to say, I can download apps, but for how long, and what, varies.. If it works, yay, if not life..

This information is no longer updated, but you might find it useful since we're talking about obsolete systems.

SWCDN.APPLE.COM below is the most common server I have seen serving file downloads from Apple. SoftWare Content Delivery Network.

Requirements for Software Update service​

DNS (Domain Naming Service)

The Software Update service requires that the server is registered in DNS and resolved correctly. The clients use the DNS name of the server to download updates.

Servers and ports

The synchronization module accesses the following public Software Update Servers on destination port 80:

http://swscan.apple.com

http://swquery.apple.com

http://swdownload.apple.com

http://swcdn.apple.com

The server (http://swcdn.apple.com) currently redirects to the Akamai content distribution network that hosts the updates. Note that the redirected IP address of http://swcdn.apple.com may vary over time or by geographic region.

With OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 or later, the synchronization module also accesses the following public Software Update Server on destination port 443:

https://swdist.apple.com

 

[sdfox7]

As you can see, in 10.9 and older the Software Update and App Store are completely separate functions in the Apple Menu.

So you can download OS updates without access to the App Store.