10.5 on new mac mini

[ls1jklover]

i have installed 10.5 on a new mac mini, based on target disc mode install,

now the mini only will boot in target disc mode with other mac attatched, how can i get this little guy to boot on his own without any other mac attatched,


help,

lost and confused

[djackmac]

That really depends on what kind of machine you used as a source for the installation. For example, the default was set to repartition the target drive as APM since the source machine is a PPC Mac, but the mini for instance is an Intel Mac and should be partitioned as GUID. This also depends on the installers that were used. Were these machine specific installers or retail disks. Usually people do these kinds of installs if the optical drive on the target machine is fubared and they need to use the source machine as an external optical drive. Another common reason for this type of install is someone is trying to bend the licensing rules and get something without paying for it. If this is the case, nobody here is going to be willing to help you out.

[Giaguara]

Your new Mac Mini came with 10.6 installed, didn't it?
If that's the case, you can't get it to install (other than the method you described) or to boot to a previous OS.
If your new Mac Mini was shipped originally with 10.5.something then 10.5.something or later should install just fine.

[ls1jklover]

retail 10.5 install disc, both machines are intel based,

i cant run 10.6 because the software needed on here only runs 10.5

so, not pirating any sofware here

[jbarley]

you did not mention why you chose to install using Target disk mode, is the optical drive in the mini not working?
Also, which software is it that is causing your grief, maybe someone here can help you with that.

[earthsaver]

But Giaguara's point was if your mini came with 10.6, then it's not compatible with 10.5 and may not work properly. If this is the case and you must run 10.5, you may need to get a previous generation mini that supports it.

[DeltaMac]

You should be able to get that mini to work, if you boot back into target mode, connected to the other Mac. Download, and install the 10.5.8 combo updater, choosing to install that update on the mini. Here's a link to the correct combo updater: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL866

Once that's installed on the mini, you may be able to boot to Leopard.

Remember that even though you can boot to an unsupported version of OS X - you may experience other issues, such as video artifacts, or other hardware issues that might be unsolvable.
What software do you have that will not run on 10.6 ? Perhaps there's an update for that which now supports 10.6?

I've downgraded several different Macs to 10.5 - not always with good results.

jbarley - the mini won't boot to the 10.5 installer, so target mode from a Mac that will boot to 10.5 is one solution to install 10.5 - Then need to update to 10.5.8 before attempting to boot from that mini.

[jbarley]

jbarley - the mini won't boot to the 10.5 installer, so target mode from a Mac that will boot to 10.5 is one solution to install 10.5 - Then need to update to 10.5.8 before attempting to boot from that mini.

A simpler solution is to use Super Duper or Carbon Copy to clone a 10.5 system to the mini.
This will bring the total updated system over.
But then again, why are we assisting anyone to play the system and end up with 2 computers running from 1 legal copy of OS X.