Install an older OS
- Thread starter Graham
- Start date
chas_m
Well-Known Member
Graham":t7d8wk70 said:
Well, there's a few things to understand first:
1. If you're talking about installing a macOS version that is older than the machine you want to use for this project, that's a non-starter: Macs generally cannot run OS versions than the ones they shipped with.
2. If the macOS version you're thinking of installing is older than three versions back (i.e., Yosemite or older), I would strongly advise not to have that machine connected to the internet in any way -- those versions are no longer updated with security fixes and your chances of malware or ransomware increase exponentially. A friend of mine needs to run Lion (10.7) in order to make some custom DVDs using now-discontinued software, but he is doing so on his old machine, which is "offline" from the internet (so that's fine).
3. By far the simplest and best long-term solution is to update the apps you want to use if possible, or seek out and try alternatives. While I'm not saying you shouldn't run old apps under any circumstances, it's just delaying the inevitable (and could strand your important data in the meantime if you don't/can't migrate it easily later). What has often happened in my case is that I was forced to check out some alternative programs, and usually found ones that were actually better.
4. Have you double-checked to be sure you can't run the old app under High Sierra? I have the older versions of the iWork suite (not sure why, I never use them anymore), iPhoto (same), and Photoshop CS3 (which I *do* occasionally use), all of which still work. Even iWeb still works (sort of -- the uploading function is kaput).
All that said, I don't underestimate the value of nostalgia or the ability to open old files in outdated formats and hopefully migrate them to newer formats. The ideal setup for running an older version of macOS is a separate, non-Internet-connected machine of sufficient age to be able to run the older OS, but one could perhaps set up a bootable external drive of the older OS, and make sure Internet connectivity is turned off when booted from that drive.
Another option would be to use a virtualization environment like VirtualBox, which I believe can be used to install some older versions of macOS, though again if this is on an internet-connected machine you will want to turn off that functionality in the virtualization environment: the number of threats an obsolete macOS version can be subjected to are growing rapidly. I'm sorry if I sound discouraging, but generally speaking setting this up can be (not always will be, but can be) a big hassle and/or risky from security standpoint, so it's best handled by "offline" machines compatible with the desired OS version for specific purposes.