Apple just announced the Mac OS X Lion july release yesterday at the 2011 Apple WWDC conference. Good news is that it is going to cost just $29!
However, there was one interesting fact in the announcement. Steve Jobs said that Mac OS X Lion will only be available through the Mac App Store as a digital download. Apple will not sell an optical disc of Mac OS X Lion for us to purchase off the self in a brick and mortar store or online.
This brings an interesting problem to many. Here’s a few
- If you are on Mac OS X Leopard, you don’t have Mac App Store in the first place to download 10.7 or Lion.
- If you didn’t have an Internet connection or a really slow one, this could be painful
- What if you wanted to wipe and do a clean install of Mac OS X 10.7?
Luckily, I just found out from Egg Freckles on how to create a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion boot disc in a few easy steps. This does require you to have access to a Mac with Snow Leopard so you can buy your own Mac OS X Lion from Mac App Store.
How to create a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion boot disc?
- On a Mac with Snow Leopard, buy Lion from Mac App Store for $29 (if you are on Leopard, you have to upgrade to Snow Leopard first and buy Lion.. I know, what a pain right?)
- Right click on Mac OS X Installer and choose Show Package Contents.
- Look for a folder called SharedSupport
- Now, look for a file called InstallESD.dmeg.
- Copy InstallESD.dmeg to another folder in your computer.
- Launch Disk Utility and burn this to a disc
With this boot dics, you can boot any Lion compatible Mac computer and install Mac OS X 10.7 Lion just like you have in the previous versions.Look at the bottom of the post for Lion-compatible hardware.
If you have an optical-disc less computer like Macbook Air or Mac mini server, you can burn this image to an external hard drive with the Disk Utility’s Restore menu.
With all the amazing features in the Lion release, I can’t wait to get to upgrade it on our 21.5″ iMac. If you are looking to buy a Mac, there has never been a netter time.
Mac OS X Lion Download
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Hardware Compatibility
Your Mac must have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor to run Lion. Find out if your current Mac has one of these processors by clicking the Apple icon at the top left of your screen, then choosing About This Mac.
{ via Egg Freckles }
