Need Help On How To Properly Instal Updates

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khetzler

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First of all let me say that I am not a Mac person. I am very familiar with a PC. I have a an iMac8 which belongs to my mother running Os X 10.6.8. I have the original gray install discs ( Mac OS X 10.5.2 ) that came with it. It also has Microsoft Office Suite 2011 and Adobe Creative Suite 8 installed of which I have both programs. The only thing I care about in CS is Photoshop. It has Deep Freeze installed. Some years ago she allowed a college student to work on it to clean it up because it was running slowly. Not only did this student wipe the drive he also kept the external drive that our back up was on. This tech locked Deep Freeze ( 2 GB space ) so no one is able to look to see whats in it. Preferences tells me that the System is the owner. I'm not able to save anything new. If I shut down everything is gone when I start it back up. I need to get rid of Deep Freeze completely (don't need it) and reinstall OS x up to El Capitan.

Problem is Im confused about exactly which updates to apply first. Unsure if the Combo updates are all I need. There are so many of them it's mind boggling to me. I also would like to know if I can download them to a USB drive and install them from it.

I plan on upgrading the ram to 4 GB which is currently 2 GB. I also would like to know if I could use my 1 TB My Passport USB drive to back it up with Time Machine. I know this is a lot to ask but I really could use the help.
 
Your first step is to unlock (disable) Deep Freeze.
I assume you have tried the admin password, and other passwords that your mother might know about - or maybe the Deep Freeze password was kept somewhere, maybe the "Tech" wrote it down for your mother (you may need to hunt some more for this)
You have to unlock Deep Freeze, if you want to remove it, so this is pretty important.
Or, if you don't care what is saved, you can simply erase the drive, using the Disk Utility on the original restore DVD. (I'm guessing that you want to avoid that, if possible :cool: )
Wait, you said you have both Office 2011, and the Adobe CS software - if that means that you have the installers for both, you can then reinstall those apps, after completely wiping the drive. That will not save documents, pictures, other apps, of course. You MIGHT be able to copy those files FROM the hard drive to an external drive. Have you tried that?

One more thing: If you wipe the drive, and you have the original grey DVDs, then you can restore to original 10.5.2
You will need the 10.6 (Snow Leopard) installer, which would be on a separate (usually a white label, and won't be another grey disk)disk.
If you don't have that, and don't know how to get 10.6 installed, you CAN still buy a Snow Leopard installer DVD directly from Apple - https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

If you already have the Snow Leopard installer, you would just run Software Update to get the updates that you need for Snow Leopard. That process may be needed several times before all available updates are installed. (You can also download the combo updater. All you need is the highest-numbered combo update, because it includes all system update files from version 0 to 8. For Snow Leopard, that would be this combo updater.
Even after that combo update, there will be other updates that are offered through Software Update, things like security updates, and updates to iTunes, and other Apple-provided apps. all you need then is an internet connection, and the run Software Update, until no further updates are offered.
 
In addition.....
Here’s Apple’s site about El Capitan --> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

You will be able to find out if your mom’s machine can run ElCapitan and all the requirements needed. The 8.8 GB of storage means the size of the hard drive - 8.8 GB of free space to download and install.
 
khetzler said iMac8 - so assumed and iMac8,1
OP also said that iMac came with 10.5.2 originally, and that is also the same iMac8,1
That iMac will, in fact, update to 10.11.
and if you are planning to upgrade the RAM (good plan!), you COULD change to one 2GB stick and one 4GB stick, as your iMac WILL support up to 6GB total.
If you have a source for the 10.11.5 installer download, and some method to make an OS X bootable installer, then there's no real need for Snow Leopard (as you can simply install El Capitan.)

But, if you have Adobe CS suite, and not a newer version, you probably want to stop at Snow Leopard, and get that working first, THEN update to El Capitan.
 
DeltaMac said:
khetzler said iMac8 - so assumed and iMac8,1
OP also said that iMac came with 10.5.2 originally, and that is also the same iMac8,1
That iMac will, in fact, update to 10.11.
and if you are planning to upgrade the RAM (good plan!), you COULD change to one 2GB stick and one 4GB stick, as your iMac WILL support up to 6GB total.
If you have a source for the 10.11.5 installer download, and some method to make an OS X bootable installer, then there's no real need for Snow Leopard (as you can simply install El Capitan.)

But, if you have Adobe CS suite, and not a newer version, you probably want to stop at Snow Leopard, and get that working first, THEN update to El Capitan.
Click to expand...

I had planned on only upgrading the ram to 4 GB unless you think I really need the 6 GB. Yes I have the original 10.5.2 gray installer discs but haven't found a Snow Leopard install DVD. I have an 8 GB bootable flash drive formatted for Mac if that's what you mean for a source for the 10.11.5 installer download. I also have a 1TB My Passport external drive I would like to use for my back up. My mom is 89 and has no idea what Deep Freeze is much less about any passwords for it. I need to get rid of it completely. The only thing she ever did on this machine was play her Solitaire. Nothing has been saved to this machine since 2014 after she got it back from that student tech. There are no restore points saved anywhere the machine can find. Starting all over I'm afraid is my only choice.

Don't really have to have the Adobe CS just wanted to be able to use Photoshop but not a must.
 
The Deep Freeze prevents anything from modifying the system or its present configuration. You can make some changes, but a reboot will reset the system to the stored configuration.
And, as you know, you can't install anything, unless it is already a part of Deep Freeze (and you have to know the Deep Freeze unlock password to do that, too)
The only way around Deep Freeze is to unlock or disable it. You can't just get rid of Deep Freeze when it is locked, you have to wipe the drive.
Time Machine would work, assuming that Deep Freeze doesn't bypass that, too.
One way to find out, eh?

By "source", I mean a source for the OS X installer app, such as this link --- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
Keep in mind that the OS X installer for 10.11.6 is more than 6.2 GB. If your download is less than that, it's simply an updater for an already-installed 10.11 system.
For example, the combo updater for OS X 10.11.6 is 1.5 GB. Far too small to be the full system install. (And, you would need the full install. Back up that installer app to a different drive when you get it. It deletes itself when it runs from the normal location for the download, which is the Applications folder.

But, first things first - you have to remove that Deep Freeze, and that doesn't happen if you don't know what the unlock password is. So, the choice then is removing by brute force (wiping the drive) I use the same name for that that I do with Windows: nuke-n-pave :rolleyes:

Best help for the system, if you do get to El Capitan, is upgrading the old spinning hard drive to an SSD. Then, 4GB will be OK
 
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DeltaMac said:
The Deep Freeze prevents anything from modifying the system or its present configuration. You can make some changes, but a reboot will reset the system to the stored configuration.
And, as you know, you can't install anything, unless it is already a part of Deep Freeze (and you have to know the Deep Freeze unlock password to do that, too)
The only way around Deep Freeze is to unlock or disable it. You can't just get rid of Deep Freeze when it is locked, you have to wipe the drive.
Time Machine would work, assuming that Deep Freeze doesn't bypass that, too.
One way to find out, eh?

By "source", I mean a source for the OS X installer app, such as this link --- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
Keep in mind that the OS X installer for 10.11.6 is more than 6.2 GB. If your download is less than that, it's simply an updater for an already-installed 10.11 system.
For example, the combo updater for OS X 10.11.6 is 1.5 GB. Far too small to be the full system install. (And, you would need the full install. Back that installer app up to a different drive when you get it. It deletes itself when it runs from the normal location for the download, which is the Applications folder.

But, first things first - you have to remove that Deep Freeze, and that doesn't happen if you don't know what the unlock password is. So, the choice then is removing by brute force (wiping the drive) I use the same name for that that I do with Windows: nuke-n-pave :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply.
Yes I've already realized I must wipe the drive clean. That's ok. What I'm not sure about are the updates to download. I have the original install gray discs (10.5.2) but no Snow Leopard Disc. Can I do all this with just the gray discs (10.5.2) and the OS X installer for 10.11.6?

From what Im understanding (and that's not much) I may need to purchase Snow Leopard so that i can at least get to the app store.

Oh wait...I just read your last line about changing the existing HD to a SSD. I don't know if that's getting too deep for me. I've only ever worked on PC's
 
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You need Snow Leopard (and Snow Leopard needs to be updated to most current updates) to get to the App Store.
You don't really need to decide what updates to do. Just run the Software Update in the system, and the proper updates will download and install.
Many updates are available through software downloads from the Apple.com site/support page. But, you really need to know what you are looking for if you want to download just the ones that you want. Better, I think, to let Software Update decide.. Keep in mind that you cannot update to another full version of OS X through Software Update. You have to use the full installer to do that, either by running as an App, or booting to an external drive that you have created from that app, which allows you to install, even when the drive is completely blank.
There's always updates to download. The older systems (10.5.x up through 10.8.x) use the Software Update utility to find updates, and walk you through installing those updates. After 10.8.x, the system updates are all through the App Store/Updates tab. You would almost never need to find those updates on your own, and a few are never made available as separate downloads, anyway.
 
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