How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Mac

How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Machine
How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Macbook Pro
How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Macbook

So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.

LATEST UPDATE (July 31, 2012): Check out our guide to installing OS X Mountain Lion in Virtualbox. For the unacquainted, distros are pirated copies of Mac OS X that have been modified to work with normal computers. Right now, using a distro is the only practical method for getting Mac OS X Lion to run a virtual machine in Windows. I have bought my mac last month, so I am eligible to get a free upgrade of Mountain Lion. As Apple stated - I have requested for my upgrade and it said you will be notified with your upgrade code. It's been 24+ hours and I have not received any mail from Apple. Apple recently dropped the $19.99 fee for OS X Lion and Mountain Lion, making the older Mac updates free to download, reports Macworld. Apple has kept OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Get the latest 10.8.5 OS X Mountain Lion the newest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. It has over 200 new features that update the Mac and make it.
If Apple releases Mountain Lion on the same schedule they released Lion last year, they will unleash the latest version of OS X to the world the day after their quarterly earnings call.

Cheetah 10.0	Puma 10.1	Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3	Tiger 10.4	Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6	Lion 10.7	Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9	Yosemite 10.10	El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12	High Sierra 10.13	Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

If your computer already has Mac OS X Lion installed, iAtkos will just update Lion to Mountain Lion normally, without deleting any of your apps or files. However, not every computer will work with Mac OS X. Be sure to read the Hackintosh compatibility guide (will be posted soon) very carefully, to check whether or not your computer qualifies. (Mountain Lion’s OS X Recovery feature, known as Lion Recovery prior to Mountain Lion’s release, is a big help here, but not all Macs get it—and if your Mac’s drive is itself having. If this happens to you, launch the Mac App Store app and Option+click the Purchases tab in the toolbar; that should show the Download button next to Mountain Lion in the Purchases list. Lion is an upgrade and can be installed on all your authorized personal Macs. The OS X Lion Up-to-Date upgrade will be available through the Mac App Store at no additional charge to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on.

You need to update to 10.6.8 and then update to 10.8 to accomplish this. The problem: Right around 2008/2009 models is the cutoff for compatibility with Mountain Lion. If I remember correctly, the 2008 MacBook Pro cannot take Mountain Lion so you'.

Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:

Uninstall large unused apps
Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store

If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:

Click the App Store icon.
Click Purchases in the top menu.
Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.

After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.

Mac Os X 10.8 Download Free

STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
Select external drive as a source.
Enter your Apple ID.

Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is “captured” onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.

Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
Connect the external drive.
Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

How To Download Mountain Lion On Unsupported Mac

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Mac

Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.

These might also interest you:

This tutorial shows you how to get Mac OS X 10.8.4 (Mountain Lion) running on a late-2006 Mac Mini (model A1176), which officially can only support up to Mac OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard), according to this Wikipedia article. Although I have not tested it myself, the same steps would probably work if you have an early-2006 Mac Mini.

Hardware upgrades

Mac Mini 2006 comes with a Core Solo or a Duo Core processor, whereas Mac OS X Mountain Lion requires at least a Core 2 Duo, so you will need to upgrade the processor on your Mac Mini first before continuing. Although it is possible to patch the installer to run on a Core Duo, I would still recommend upgrading for a straightforward installation experience. Compatible processors can be found on eBay for as low as US$20 and available at a wide variety of speeds – 2GHz, 2.16GHz or 2.33GHz. A detailed step-by-step guide on how to upgrade the processor can be found here.

Optionally, to make the whole process worthwhile, it is also recommended to upgrade the RAM. Although the Mac Mini 2006 comes with the Macmini1,1 firmware which can only support up to 2GB of RAM and will not boot if more than 2GB is installed, you can install up to 4GB (2 pieces of 667MHz laptop DDR2 SDRAM) by updating the firmware to Macmini2,1, originally meant for the Mac Mini 2007 family. The steps are summarized below:

Download the newer firmware from here http://www.mediafire.com/?lfangrn69rxln3q and extract it
Put the extracted files in /System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates folder. Check the permissions of the files, or just do a chmod 777 on the files to be safe.
Run the following command in terminal:
sudo bless-mount /-firmware/System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/EFIUpdaterApp.efi-payload/System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/LOCKED_MM11_0055_08B.fd-options “-x-apple-efi payload0-data” -verbose
Turn off the computer by shutting it down from the Apple menu.
Wait for a few seconds and press the power button until the power LED flashes. Wait until the flashing stops.
At this point the firmware upgrade is completed. You may see some distorted pictures on the screen, which is normal. Simply turn the Mac Mini off by pressing the Power button, and turn it back on
After a reboot, the Mac Mini should recognize 4GB of RAM.
If the machine doesn’t boot up or doesn’t recognize the extra RAM, check that the memory modules have been securely inserted. If it still doesn’t work, try to do a PRAM reset.

The machine can only use around 3.3 GB out of the total of 4GB that is recognized, due to limitations of the 32-bit processor. And while you are at it, take the time to upgrade the hard disk (a 2.5″ SATA drive) to an SSD, preferably 128GB or more. The final configuration, 2GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD, will make your Mac Mini 2006 machine performance more or less in line with the Mac Mini 2009, a much later model.

Preparing the installation

Before you proceed you will need to upgrade the OS on your Mac Mini to Snow Leopard 10.6.8, the last officially supported version. Next, get your Mountain Lion installer media ready – which can be a .DMG image or an actual DVD. After that, download MLPostfactor 0.3 from here, needed to patch the original Mountain Lion installer disk, which does not support the Mac Mini 2006, to run on your machine.

As at the time of writing this article (May 2015), MLPostfactor 0.3 only supports Mac OS up to 10.8.4. Versions 10.8.5 or above are not supported, so make sure that your installer is of the right version.

More How To Download Mountain Lion On Mac Videos

To make it easier to switch the boot partition without holding the Option key, you may also want to install a boot manager such as rEFIt.

Bypassing MLPostfactor limitation

Here comes the trick. The user interface for version 0.3 of MLPostfactor apparently only supports OS X Lion (10.7) and will refuse to run on 10.6. I tried to trick it by changing the system version number in /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist but things would still not work – MLPostfactor started but could not find Install OS X Mountain Lion.app in the Applications folder even though the installer was clearly there. A workaround would be to use MLPostfactor 0.2, which can run on Snow Leopard, to upgrade the system first to 10.7, and from there upgrade it to 10.8 by running MLPostfactor 0.3 again. I did not attempt this method because it seemed time consuming and most importantly, I had no installer disc for 10.7.

My relief came when I read this article which showed me how to use MLPostfactor from the command line. Apparently there is another MLPostfactor.app folder inside the original MLPostfactor app which can be invoked using the following command to patch the installer:

Surprisingly, there is no version check in the command line version of MLPostfactor and this method actually works to create the 10.8.4 installer partition. There are a few other commands that need to be done to patch the installer partition – refer to the original article for details.

Using MLPostfactor from bash script

A simpler way would be to use the MLPostfactor script written by pjherron available from github. With this script, the steps to upgrade to 10.8.4 from 10.6.8 on your Mac Mini can be summarized as below:

Download MLPostFactor 0.3 and unzip it to desktop
Copy the ‘Install OS X Mountain Lion.app’ folder from your 10.8.4 installer disc to the Applications folder
Create a 8 GB or larger partition on the target drive to host the patched installer. The volume label should be Install and it should be automatically mounted at /Volumes/Install
Create another partition, 20GB or more, on the target drive where you will install 10.8.4. Alternative, if you do not need the original Snow Leopard partition, you do not need to create this partition and can simply choose to install on the Snow Leopard partition later, losing all existing data.
Run the upgradesl2ml.sh script and give it 30 minutes to an hour to complete. When done, reboot the machine and choose to boot from the 10.8.4 installer partition just created
When prompted, choose to install 10.8.4 on the partition created in step 4, or simply overwrite your Snow Leopard partition. It is highly recommended to format the partition and perform a clean install – do not perform an upgrade as there are known issues.
Let the installer run. The process will either end in an error or a white screen – this is normal. Reboot the machine when this happens.
Choose to boot from the 10.8.4 installer partition again (not the partition where you installed 10.8.4 to).
When the installer finishes starting up, choose MLPostfactor from the Utilities menu and let it repair the partition where you’ve just installed 10.8.4
When the repair is done, reboot your system and choose to boot from your fresh Mountain Lion partition. It should boot normally
Done, you can now enjoy Mountain Lion on your Mac Mini 2006!

If the installation is successful, the About This Mac dialog should show something similar to below:

Common issues

In my experiment, the final system runs fine without major issues. Application such as Firefox, Skype or even xCode and the iOS simulator could run well. VLC player works well to play normal DivX or Xvid videos. The only major application that is problematic is Dropbox, which couldn’t even install due to error ‘no mountable filesystems’ when mounting the installer DMG. Tuxera NTFS can install and appears to work but will later cause random kernel panic when browsing NTFS partitions in Finder. I had to resort to removing Tuxera and learn to live with read-only NTFS support for now.

How To Download Mountain Lion On Mac - Video Results

If your dock in Finder appears to be transparent after the installation, open Terminal and run the following command to fix it:

How To Download Mountain Lion On Mac

Read here for other useful tips and tricks.

How To Download Mountain Lion On Mac Computer

Other than the above issues, my installation of 10.8.4 on the Mac Mini is stable and serves me well as my daily work machine. My next attempt would be to install 10.9 (Mavericks) or 10.10 (Yosemite) on this computer. As far as I know, although there are proof-of-concept attempts, nobody has managed to get a stable working system yet, presumably due to challenges in getting graphics drivers to work properly.

See also

Upgrading the SSD in a mid-2012 Macbook Air
Keyboard issues in GRUB bootloader on a Mac Mini booting Mac OS, Windows and Ubuntu Linux

Download Mac OS X Mountain Lion DMG File Installer for version 10.8. Free download and experience Apple's OS X 9th edition with brand new features. Clearly, OS X Lion 10.7.x is no longer downloadable from Apple store. However, many our visitors still request this very old version for education purposes.

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah 10.0	Puma 10.1	Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3	Tiger 10.4	Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6	Lion 10.7	Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9	Yosemite 10.10	El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12	High Sierra 10.13	Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Machine

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Uninstall large unused apps
Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store

Click the App Store icon.
Click Purchases in the top menu.
Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

How to get macOS El Capitan download

Mac Os Dmg File Download

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.

STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
Select external drive as a source.
Enter your Apple ID.

Mac Os Dmg Install

Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
Connect the external drive.
Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

These might also interest you:

Get the latest 10.8.5 OS X Mountain Lion the newest version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. It has over 200 new features that update the Mac and make it the best computer there is. Use the new Messaging app to write and send photos, videos, contacts, links and documents to anyone using another Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

OS X Mountain Lion 10 DMG enables you to start a conversation on one device and continue on another. Send to all files, web pages, photos, videos and tweets with the new Share button, directly from the app you are using. Create to-do lists and alerts that will appear in the new Notification Center, with the Reminder app. Take notes of all your ideas with Notes, and write aloud with the Dictation feature.

Download OS X Mountain Lion Mac and enjoy the most useful operating system for mac users. And if you want to have fun, challenge friends who have a Mac or an iOS device in fantastic games on the Mac with Game Center. And in addition iCloud is standard: so keep up to date on all your mail devices, contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, to-do lists, music, photos, iWork documents, PDF and much more is really easy.

OS X Mountain Lion 10 DMG Features:

Messages
• Send messages from your Mac to anyone with an iPhone, iPad or another Mac.
• With iMessage you can start a conversation on your Mac and continue it on your iPhone or iPad.
• Messages also supports traditional instant messaging services such as AIM, Yahoo! Google Talk and Jabber.

iCloud
• Documents in the cloud lets you create and edit documents on your Mac, iPhone and iPad.
• The new Reminder app simplifies task management. Pin up your ideas with the new Note app. And with iCloud, keep your reminders and notes up-to-date on all your devices.

Safari
• Use the new smart search field to write addresses and search the web.
• Pinch to view panels with the panel view and scroll to switch between them.
• With iCloud panels, the last websites you’ve visited are accessible from your iPhone, iPad and Mac. *

How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Macbook Pro

Notification center
• New notifications appear in the upper right corner of your screen.
• Open Notification Center from anywhere in OS X to see the latest notifications.
• Configure your notifications to receive only the ones you want.

Sharing
• Share links, photos, videos and other files directly from the app you are using.
• Share with Mail, Messages and AirDrop.
• Log in to Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo once, and then start sharing.
• Tweet directly from your apps.

Game Center
• Play live multiplayer and turn-based matches against your friends on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac.
• Log in to the Game Center app to see friends on your gaming network.
• Check the rankings and results.
• See what your friends are playing and keep track of your progress.

Key features of Mountain Lion DMG:

Dictation allows you to speak instead of writing: there is no need for training or configuration.
AirPlay Mirroring shows the screen of your Mac on an HD TV via Apple TV.
Power Nap keeps your Mac up to date while you’re sleeping, so it’s ready to go.
With Gatekeeper downloading apps from the internet is safer because it allows you to control which apps can be installed on your Mac.

What’s new in Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 ?

The 10.8.5 update improves the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac. This update:

• Resolves an issue that may prevent Mail from viewing messages.
• Improves file transfer performance over AFP over 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
• Resolves an issue that may prevent the screen saver from starting automatically.
• Improves Xsan reliability

Mac Os X Mountain Lion Dmg Download Free

System requirements:

Manufacturer :	Apple Inc
Language :	Multi-languages
Mac Platform :	Intel
OS Version :	macOS X 10.8.5
CPU Type:	86-Bit & 64-bit
Size :	4.2 GB

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How To Get Mountain Lion For Free With New Macbook

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