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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > How to get Mountain Lion?

How to get Mountain Lion?
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kevs
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May 15, 2019, 03:21 PM
 
I want to get a copy of Mountain Lion to put in Virtual PC, I went to app store, don't see it. Any ideas?

Just read and article that with Mojave which I just upgraded to two days ago, Apple, in it's great wisdom, has removed ability to get old OS. (wish I had known that week before upgrading, I probably had all old os in there)

I do see, thankfully installer, El Capitan, in my apps folder, only that one... but I wanted to try older ones: Snow Leopard to Yosemite. I think those work better with my old Dreamweaver CS3 I'll be using in Parallels.

Any idea how to get those old OS?
     
andi*pandi
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May 16, 2019, 12:00 AM
 
do you have any old install discs?
     
kevs  (op)
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May 16, 2019, 01:35 AM
 
I did find Yosemite and El Capitan in my apps folder, so I think I'll be able to go with those. we'll see.. Interesting you now have to pay Apple $20 each for those.
     
kevs  (op)
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May 17, 2019, 02:42 PM
 
DARN IT.
OS X Yosemite
OS X Yosemite JUST says app store download and doubleclick take me to app store.

and this one more promising:

Install OS X El Capitan says application
But when double click it is says, "the copy is too old to be opened in this version.."

Wonder if it'll be ok in Parallels..

Wish I had more Installs, wonder why only El Capitan is in my apps folder and not other 10 from over years?
     
reader50
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May 17, 2019, 07:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by kevs View Post
Install OS X El Capitan says application
But when double click it is says, "the copy is too old to be opened in this version.."
From around Yosemite or El Cap, Apple blocked using older installers. Your El Cap installer is fine. But you have to use it while booted into 10.11 or earlier. Any later OS blocks it from installing, to prevent you from running earlier macOS versions.

It ticks me off too.

There's probably some undocumented way to bypass the block and run the installer anyway.
     
ghporter
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May 17, 2019, 09:20 PM
 
The Parallels documentation should tell you about how to install OS X as a guest OS. Apparently Parallels 13 works fine with Mountain Lion as a guest OS.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
kevs  (op)
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May 18, 2019, 06:07 PM
 
Thanks guys, the thread is too confusing for me: I only have for some reason, I don't know -- only one installer in my apps folder: (without paying Apple for more)

Install OS X El Capitan -- it's 6GB --

I just got Parallels 14 and Windows 10.

I have a phone appointment Monday with Parallels, but if you know or can in advance of that how to get it onboard Paralles, please do.. Do you need two Mac OS? to get one going?
     
reader50
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May 18, 2019, 06:14 PM
 
To install El Cap, you need to boot from El Cap or an earlier macOS. For the last few macOS versions, Apple only allows a current or later installer to run.

If you boot from El Cap (10.11) you can run installers for 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14
If you boot from High Sierra (10.13) you can run installers for 10.13, 10.14

To run the El Cap installer, you need to boot from Lion (10.7) through El Cap (10.11). Anything later will block the ElCap installer from running.

If you have a Mac that is officially supported only up to El Cap, those Macs can be network-restored to El Cap even if they're running a later OS. If you have an old Mac that came with Snow Leopard or Lion install media, you could use those Macs to install later macOS versions.
     
kevs  (op)
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May 18, 2019, 06:53 PM
 
thanks, Reader, I only have Mac 27" on Mojave. I have some spare external hardrives around.
Then I should.... do...?

Or.. maybe Windows 10 can .. ultimately this is going in Windows 10 via Parallels.

(actually before I decided to get Windows 10/ Parallels I was going to post on how do I boot into an old OS from an external)
     
reader50
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May 18, 2019, 08:55 PM
 
Plug the external in. After the drive mounts, go to Sys Prefs -> Startup Disk -> choose external.
Or plug external in, reboot while holding the Option key. A firmware boot-drive selector will come up.

The option-boot is the safer choice. Reason: if you set the external as the startup disk, macOS versions before Yosemite typically cannot "see" macOS installs after Yosemite. So using Startup Disk in, for example, Snow Leopard - your El Cap system won't be seen as a choice. If your Mojave install is done using APFS, nothing before Sierra can see Mojave.

If you have Snow Leopard or later on one of your old drives, you'll be good to install later OSs (on other drives or partitions).
     
kevs  (op)
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May 18, 2019, 10:14 PM
 
Reader, again, all I have is I'm on Mojave and I have the El Captian install file.

So I need another OS to install El Capitan, I have to buy it for $20?

And this is just using Mac.

Do you know what the story will be for Parallels?
     
reader50
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May 18, 2019, 10:59 PM
 
Yes, to install an earlier OS, you need to boot from an earlier OS.

I archive my OSX installers, and keep partitions with older macOS versions installed. So I can easily boot into any version, and install anything.
     
kevs  (op)
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May 19, 2019, 12:05 AM
 
So what I do for:

1- Mac
2- Parallels?
     
   
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