Guild Wars 2

Hey there, fellow mac users.

Ive finally decided to upgrade from snow leopard to mountain lion (for the sake of gw2).
Ive read before that you can skip lion and directly go for mountain lion if you are running 10.6.8.

So i got myself the online download of mountain line (10.8).
However (dun dun dunnnn) i cant seem to run it, i have tried a few scenarios myself and here they are:

1)I run the extract and the installer directly. Everything goes smooth until i have to select a partition to install it on and i get the error “This disk cannot be used to start up your computer”.

2)Then i wanted a create small partition in disk utility, but when i move the window for a small portion and press apply. I get the following error “Could not modify partition map because filesystem verification failed.”.

Read on the www that running a repair on it would fix it. However the repair button is greyed out, stating “Cannot use repair on startup disk.”.

3)As last i tried creating an usb flash drive as start up, but it doesnt show when i press option button at start up. Only the current os x and windows shows up (not the flash drive). And when selecting the installer when os x is running, i get the following error “The disk is not formatted as mac OS extended (journaled). Use disk ulity to enable.”.

Which is not true, since i first erase the drive completly as extended (journaled). Then pick the extracted files as source and the drive as destination.

Help???

Thanks in advance.

How come you didn’t just purchase it from the Mac App Store and install it from there as intended?

Sounds like you’ve downloaded a torrent version of ML which there is no support for as you’ve obtained an illegal copy of the OS. I apologize if I’m wrong. But, I’m not aware of another legal way of obtaining ML outside of purchasing it from the App Store which is why Snow Leopard is required to upgrade.

I have the .dmg file from my dad’s mac. Do i have to repurchase it to install it?

Yes. OS X is not distributable. It is $19.99 per machine it is installed on. Just go in to the Mac App Store and ML is listed under “Apple Apps” on the right side menu.

SpyderBite.6274:

Yes. OS X is not distributable. It is $19.99 per machine it is installed on. Just go in to the Mac App Store and ML is listed under “Apple Apps” on the right side menu.

Not true at all… I have 4 macs in my house and with both Lion and Mountain Lion I have downloaded it once and then copied the installer file across to each computer to install it.

Propaganda.8956:

I have the .dmg file from my dad’s mac. Do i have to repurchase it to install it?

The file you should have from your dads mac would be called “Mountain Lion Installer” or something like that, from memory the installer doesn’t actually show up as a DMG, it’s actually an app, which would be the issue you are having. The installer app is downloaded directly from the mac app store into the App’s folder and thats what you need to be able to install – if you didn’t copy this file before your dad’s Mac was upgraded then the file itself is gone.

Make sure you have the latest version of Snow Leopard installed so that you have the mac app store and then try again – otherwise, log into the Mac app store on your computer using your dads Apple ID and then go to Downloads and you should have the option to re-download the Mountain Lion installer.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

The file you should have from your dads mac would be called “Mountain Lion Installer” or something like that, from memory the installer doesn’t actually show up as a DMG, it’s actually an app, which would be the issue you are having. The installer app is downloaded directly from the mac app store into the App’s folder and thats what you need to be able to install – if you didn’t copy this file before your dad’s Mac was upgraded then the file itself is gone.

I found the app and used show content packages and copied an extracter which extracted something called “LED Installer” and this opened the ML installer window when executed.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Make sure you have the latest version of Snow Leopard installed so that you have the mac app store and then try again – otherwise, log into the Mac app store on your computer using your dads Apple ID and then go to Downloads and you should have the option to re-download the Mountain Lion installer.

I have the 10.6.8 update (latest one) and guess ill ask my dad for his apple ID then.

Also, if you’re having problems repairing the disk you’ll have to boot from an install DVD and begin the install process. You’ll be able to run Disk Utility from the menu bar after you select the language for the installer (you don’t have to run the installer itself).

I’d also go check out some of the guides out there on installing 10.8 onto another machine that you didn’t download the installer on. I did this by burning a DVD so I didn’t have to download it twice. Was pretty painless.

SpyderBite.6274:

Yes. OS X is not distributable. It is $19.99 per machine it is installed on. Just go in to the Mac App Store and ML is listed under “Apple Apps” on the right side menu.

However, for those ~$20 you get 5 licenses for 5 machines. It’s perfectly OK to make a USB-installer and install on more than one Mac.

Propaganda.8956:

1)I run the extract and the installer directly. Everything goes smooth until i have to select a partition to install it on and i get the error “This disk cannot be used to start up your computer”.

It could be that the partition table type or the partition type is not supported for starting up 10.8. I’d suggest backing up to a time machine volume (a very, very good idea generally and before any OS upgrades in particular), repartitioning the whole mess and just getting users / settings / programs back from the backup.

Just bought the mountain lion installer on my macbook pro and i get the same error as before when running the installer…

Propaganda.8956:

Just bought the mountain lion installer on my macbook pro and i get the same error as before when running the installer…

That is rather interesting :S
First I would suggest opening up Disk Utility then select your hard drive in the left hand panel and click “Repair Disk” underneath the large white box.
There is also something you can do by booting into the recovery disk and using disk utility that essentially defrags the disk, but I can’t remember what the option is – I had to do it once when it wouldn’t let me partition my drive for bootcamp.

I have been following this thread and I am a bit confused, that screen you show is from when you install from disk, when I upgraded one of my drives to ML from the App store I did not even see that screen.

I say this because when you buy from the App store you are logged in with the drive that you booted your machine from and therefore would not see the screen you show.

washac.2897:

I have been following this thread and I am a bit confused, that screen you show is from when you install from disk, when I upgraded one of my drives to ML from the App store I did not even see that screen.

I say this because when you buy from the App store you are logged in with the drive that you booted your machine from and therefore would not see the screen you show.

^— THis actually gives me an idea.
Is it somehow possible that what you have is the same as the Mountain Lion USB install file?

Maybe you could try putting the installer onto a USB and running it off that, it’s possible that it won’t let you install it on the disk because it can’t run the installer at the same time?

Yup, it looks as though he is trying to install it onto the same drive that he has the install program on.