Today I finally received my Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard DVD in the mail. This update costs only $29 (from Apple’s website or store). This is my first time upgrading a Mac OS, and I found that I had a better experience upgrading on a Mac OS then I did with Windows. In this post I’ll show you just how easy it is to install Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Note: I didn’t back up my data with Time Machine before updating, but you should do that if you have important data on your hard drive.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Install Guide
1. Close any apps you have open on your Mac.
2. Insert your Mac OS X Snow Leopard Install DVD.
3. A Window titled Mac OS X Install DVD should pop up. Click the Install Mac OS X icon in the top right.
4. As it says in the Window, to set up the installation of Snow Leopard click the Continue button.
5. Click Agree to agree to the license agreement.
6. This screen will tell you which hard drive Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be installed on. If you want to Customize what will be installed, you can click Customize and check/uncheck whatever you want. After you’ve done that click the Install button.
7. A window will pop up asking you to confirm that you want to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on your hard drive. Click the Install button to confirm.
8. You will need to enter in your password to confirm your Mac OS X Snow Leopard installation. Enter in your password and click the OK button.
9. Mac OS X will now start installing. It will take about an hour or less for it to install. During the installation it will restart your computer one time.
10. Once Mac OS X is installed your Mac will restart and you should see the new Snow Leopard wallpaper, and a Thank You video. Congratulations, your Mac OS X Snow Leopard is installed. Enjoy the new update from Apple! Let us know your installation experience in the comments.
Get Mac OS X Snow Leopard for $9.95
Apple: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Mac OS X 10.5.8 Update
Whitoken Winterboard theme installation guide
Installation of Leopard proceeded exactly as outlined above by Hans. It did restart itself after about 15 minutes. I thought that something had gone wrong but it resumed installation with no action required from me. My Imac had 428.85 GB free before installation. After installation I have 470.67. i believe the reason for this much memory is because all the previous updates are now gone. That must have freed quite a bit of space. I will keep a log of any glitches.
that’s possible but more likely what you’re seeing is a result of apple switch from listing hd capacities in base 2 to base 10. you probably haven’t really gained any space. it’s just how what you have is being counted. this update brings apple inline with what hd manufacturers claim for hd space (and i believe windows as well).
is the same process if i have tiger????
There’s an installation guide (PDF) that comes with the Snow Leopard DVD. Check in that to see if it’s the same process.
Part way through the install I received an error message saying there was a problem and the installation had failed. I tried three more times after restarting, but kept getting the error message. What was worse was my machine no longer recognized my start up disk so I had to reinstall all my old system software and all of my programs that I had fortunately saved on an external hard drive using Time Machine. Do I have a faulty disk?
Word of caution – back up everything before you install Snow Leopard! I’m going to take this disk back to the store for a new one.
I would suggest run the following from Disk Utility before doing a Snow Leopard upgrade.
1. Verify Disk Permissions.
2. Repair Disk Permissions (if there were errors).
3. Verify Disk.
4. Repair Disk (if there were errors).
There were still a 10-15 errors listed after running Repair Disk Permissions but it appeared they were for files that the Snow Leopard upgrade would be replacing so I ran the upgrade and had no problems. After the upgrade I ran another Verify Disk Permissions and there were only 2 permission problems shown. Again I ran Repair Disk Permissions and it corrected one error. The error that was not corrected appears to be some kind of system file that is really not a true error but is reported because it is not in its expected default state which would only exit if the system were not being used.
Also definitely do some kind of backup before the upgrade. I use Time Machine but I still did a SuperDuper backup. This backup is bootable (I definitely tested it before the upgrade) so that if the upgrade had failed I could boot my system from the backup. There are other products that can create this kind of backup (Carbon Copy Cloner for one) but I was already use SuperDuper so that’s why I used it. Yes I am a little paranoid about backups.
would a functioning dvd rom be nesscary for this installation? mine no longer works, so i’m wondering can i upgrade without it?
Apple accidentally sent me two separate copies of snow leopard in 2 different shipping boxes. Has this happened to anyone else?
Hello Mac
Yes i received also 2 dvd instead of one. The other dvd is for someone else.
Well, I just tried with my brand new dvd out of the box an I got eh now infamous message “There is a problem reading the Mac OS X Install DVD. Carefully clean the disc and try again.”
Aaaarrrg!
I have since found that this is not an uncommon problem – faulty disks…
Will be calling Apple for a replacement tomorrow, when the Support lines open again to get a new disk
Alright, so i downloaded everything, the thank you movie thing came on and then i tried to find snow leopard on my applications or use it and it wouldnt work. what should i do now, if it did everything like it was supposed to what exactly am i supposed to do now??
I’m having the same problem with a faulty install DVD. Have to travel 80km to the nearest shop tomorrow. Highly disappointed in Apple.
I updated from Tiger today. Had no problems what so ever and all my software works fine. iLife 06 etc is all good!
@Beckster: You are kidding right. Snow Leopard is not an application, it is the next version of your operating system. Sounds like it is working perfectly since it did the whole “movie” thing.
I ran the upgrade last night and it failed. In the log I saw something about problems extracting from the bootcamp package.
I retried, and after three more attempts, the installation finally was successful.
Before the last try, I got the package with the Leopard install disk and placed it next to the notebook. Maybe the veiled threat did the trick :-)
i got the dvd installer from apple store, and i tried to install it 3 times and everytime i get this messege
” There is a problem reading the Mac OS X Install DVD. Carefully clean the disc and try again ”
i returned it back and i get brand new one and i had the same issue, finally i return it back..
does anyone know if i will have to re install all my applications after upgrading to snow leopard??
same here, but it has to be some general problem: i bought brand new dvd same message as you guys “There is a problem reading the Mac OS X Install DVD. Carefully clean the disc and try again ”- after that, i’ve borrowed the dvd from the friend (worked fine at him) – same story. checked my hd – fine. all other dvds and cds work just fine….just have no idea.
hey all .. i just got a new hard drive and want to replace my main HD with it .. i put it in and did the install from the 10.6 disk .. it worked all fine .. but when it came to loading up at the desktop .. all that was there was the OS disk and nothing else…. i tried taking all other hard drives out and repeating the same thing .. and it was the same … now i cant try any thing cos i used up the family pack rego thing i think … but yeah .. ether way .. need some help on getting this working … i have hardly any room left on the main HD that came with the comp :( so i need the new hard drive lol! . i have an intel 2.66GHs quad xeon .. if anyone can help me please let me know .. i have been stuffing around with this for hours! and still no luck :(
The message ”There is a problem reading the Mac OS X Install DVD. Carefully clean the disc and try again” turns out to be misleading. In my case, the problem was bad memory. I replaced the bad memory card and the upgrade then went quickly and flawlessly. In the bargain, a number of other problems (Firefox and Safari crashing frequently) have also gone away.
It’s rare for OS X to generate wrong error messages. This is the first time in 20 years of being a Macintosh user that I’ve encountered one.
Paying to be an Apple beta tester is the greatest thing ever! I remember when they were a crummy company that only cared about the professionals who used there machines! Thankfully the age of ipods and iphones came along to to help apple get it’s priorities straight!