How To Install Mountain Lion

Before Lion (OS X ten.vii) debuted last twelvemonth, installing the latest major version of Mac OS X meant ownership a disc and slipping it into your Mac's optical drive. Only Lion inverse all that past making Os X available for straight download. Bone 10 ten.viii—ameliorate known as Mountain Panthera leo—inherits Lion's distribution method. More specifically, it's available just as a download from Apple'southward Mac App Store. This makes it easier and more convenient to upgrade your Os than having to buy and use a DVD or thumb drive, but it also raises a number of questions, and information technology presents upgrade obstacles for some users. As I did last twelvemonth with Lion, I've compiled this guide to getting and installing Apple's latest Os.

Fair warning: If yous install Mountain Lion right when information technology'due south released, keep in mind that you're installing version one.0 of a major new Os. It could be bug-free, but if the history of Os Ten is whatsoever indication, we'll see the first update, containing a number of issues fixes, inside a few weeks. If downtime isn't an choice for you, you might consider holding off for OS X 10.8.1.

Purchasing and downloading Mountain Lion

You purchase Mountain Lion through the Mac App Store app.

Assuming you meet the requirements, getting Mountain King of beasts is piece of cake—for almost people (more on that below). You simply launch the Mac App Store application, click the Os X Mountain Lion banner on the shop'southward master page (or search for Mount Panthera leo, or click this straight link), click the $xix.99 button at the pinnacle of the screen, so click the Buy App button that appears.

(Notation: If you purchased a Mac between June 11 and July 25, 2022, but it didn't come with Mountain Panthera leo pre-installed, don't purchase it from the Mac App Store this mode—yous're entitled to a complimentary copy of the new OS. Visit this Apple tree spider web folio for details.)

After providing your Apple tree ID and password, Mount Lion will brainstorm downloading. Specifically, the 4.4GB installer application, called Install Os X Mount King of beasts.app, will be saved to your main Applications binder (/Applications) and, if you're upgrading from Lion, added to Launchpad. On my Mac, the installer even automatically launched after it finished downloading. On cablevision-model connections around the U.S. the morn of Mountain King of beasts'south release, the download took betwixt 35 and 55 minutes for Macworld editors.

Note that unlike with Lion, which continued to utilize the legacy Software Update feature (found in the Apple tree Carte) to provide Bone updates, updates to Mountain Lion will be provided through the Mac App Store app. In fact, if you lot choose Software Update from the Apple Menu nether Mountain King of beasts, the Mac App Shop app is launched.

Downloading the installer onto other Macs: In one case you've purchased Mountain Lion, y'all can download the installer onto whatsoever 10.eight-capable Mac authorized to utilize your Mac App Store account—just similar applications purchased from the store, a single purchase of Mountain King of beasts lets you install it on all your personal Macs. To download the installer on a Mac other than the one on which you purchased it, you only launch the Mac App Store application, click the Purchases push in the toolbar, and click the Download push side by side to OS X Mount Lion in the list.

Copying the Mountain King of beasts installer onto other Macs: Alternatively, once you've downloaded the Mount Lion installer onto one computer, you lot tin can copy information technology—over your local network or by using a wink drive, DVD, or external hard bulldoze—to your other Macs. This is obviously a much faster approach than re-downloading the 4.4GB installer onto each of your Macs. You won't even be prompted to authorize the installer on each Mac, as y'all are with other Mac App Store-distributed software—the Mountain Lion installer does not use digital-rights management (DRM).

Downloading the installer onto a Mac already running Mountain Lion: If you already have Mountain Lion—either the official release or the golden master (the concluding developer release, a.g.a., the GM)—installed on a Mac, yous may have problems downloading the installer onto that Mac, equally the Mac App Store app may recall yous already accept information technology and, thus, not offer to let you download it. (This was a common result with Lion, although in our experience the day of Mountain King of beasts'southward release, several Macworld editors were able to download Mount Lion without hassle onto Macs running Mount Lion.) If this happens to you lot, launch the Mac App Store app and Option+click the Purchases tab in the toolbar; that should testify the Download button next to Mountain Lion in the Purchases list. If that doesn't work, Option+click Mountain Lion in the list and then Option+click the Installed push button on the Mountain Lion page. Ane of these ii methods should allow you download the installer.

Similarly, if you're a developer who previously downloaded the "golden master" (GM) of the Mountain Lion installer, the Mac App Store app may merits Mountain Lion is "Installed" on your Mac—and thus not permit you download the official release—if the Mac App Store app detects that installer on whatever connected volume. (Again, this happened frequently with the Lion installer, but in my testing so far, hasn't been a problem with Mountain Lion.) If this happens to you, the solution is either to delete the GM installer (after compressing information technology or copying it to a removable drive if you lot want to go along it handy) or, if possible, to disconnect the bulldoze on which the GM resides.

Keeping the installer on paw

Before proceeding, here'south an of import tip: If y'all run the installer from its default location in the Applications binder, the installation process deletes the installer, presumably to gratuitous up the over 4GB of drive infinite it occupies. And so if, as explained above, you program to use the installer on other Macs, or if yous just want to keep the installer on hand, before installing you should copy the installer to some other bulldoze—or at to the lowest degree move it out of the Applications folder.

Installing Mountain Lion

Similar Panthera leo—and unlike earlier versions of OS Ten—Mountain Lion offers simply a single installation option: where to install the new OS. In fact, yous don't need to brand any decisions until it's time to set things upwards and start using your Mac. You don't even need to kick from a dissimilar disc or volume—the Mountain Lion installer runs as a standard awarding.

The Mountain Panthera leo installer if you've opted to prove all disks

Once you've purchased and downloaded the Mountain King of beasts installer, hither are the elementary steps involved:

Double-click the Install OS X Mountain Panthera leo app; in the window that appears, click Continue, and so click Hold to agree to the software license agreement.
On the next screen, you choose where to install the OS. By default, only your internal startup drive is listed; if you have other drives connected and want to install Mountain King of beasts onto i of them, click the Bear witness All Disks push button and so choose the desired drive. Notation that the installer volition let yous choose any drive that has OS X 10.six.eight or later installed or any blank drive—the latter is what you would cull if y'all wanted to exercise a "clean" install that contains none of your data, applications, or settings from your current installation of Snow Leopard (Bone X 10.6) or Panthera leo. In either instance, the destination bulldoze must besides be formatted every bit Mac Bone Extended (Journaled) and utilise a GUID Division Table; the congenital-in drive on any Mac eligible to run Mountain Lion should run into these requirements. (See my article on clean-installing Mountain Lion to help y'all decide if it's something you want to do.)
Click Install, and and so provide an admin-level username and password when prompted.
The installer will spend some time preparing for installation; over many test installations on several different Mac models, this procedure rarely took more than a few minutes. You'll see a message in the installer window that your figurer volition restart automatically; you can continue to piece of work in other applications during this time, merely once the preparation stage is finished, you'll become only a xxx-second warning, and then your Mac will indeed restart on its own.
After your Mac restarts, the actual installation occurs. During my examination installs, this process took roughly xv to 25 minutes, depending on the Mac. (Note that if you're upgrading from Panthera leo and you have FileVault 2 enabled, when the installer restarts your Mac, y'all'll need to provide an authorized username and password to featherbed the FileVault lock screen at startup. Once yous exercise, installation will keep commonly.)

That's it—unlike older OS Ten installers, Mountain Lion's doesn't brand you lot decide what kind of installation y'all want to do, which linguistic communication translations or printer drivers to install, or whether or non you'll ever use X11 or QuickTime 7. The installation procedure is easier and quicker than ever.

Initial setup

When the installation procedure finishes, what yous'll come across depends on whether you've installed Mountain Lion on a bare bulldoze, or if you lot've installed it on a drive containing Panthera leo or Snowfall Leopard with existing accounts, settings, and data.

King of beasts: If you've upgraded from Panthera leo (or installed 10.viii onto a blank bulldoze and imported your Lion data and settings), the beginning thing you'll run across when you log in to your business relationship nether Mountain Lion depends on whether or not you were already using iCloud under Lion. If yous were, and if Location Services and Find My Mac were previously enabled, there's a proficient hazard you'll be able to get right to work with no farther interruptions.

If didn't already have iCloud configured nether Panthera leo, or if yous did but Location Services and Find My Mac weren't enabled, your initial feel will be much like the ane I draw for Snowfall Leopard upgraders in the next paragraph.

Snow Leopard: If you lot've upgraded from Snow Leopard (or installed ten.eight onto a blank drive and imported your Snowfall Leopard data and settings), the first thing y'all'll see when y'all log in to your business relationship under Mount Lion is an Apple ID screen. Enter your Apple ID and password—y'all tin can create an Apple ID if you don't have one—and agree to the Apple tree ID Terms and Atmospheric condition, and you'll then exist prompted to gear up iCloud. Assuming you want to exercise so, click Continue (twice). You lot'll and then exist prompted to enable Discover My Mac using your iCloud business relationship; if you choose to practise so, you must also permit Location Services. Finally, you'll see a Thanks screen with a push button to Start Using Your Mac.

Notation that if you want to use different Apple tree IDs for iCloud and iTunes, the Mountain Lion setup assistant lets you lot practise so. On the commencement Apple ID screen, you just click the link that reads "Want to use different Apple tree IDs for iCloud and iTunes?" You'll be prompted to enter your credentials

After installing Mountain Lion on a bare drive, you tin can transfer your data from another Mac, a Windows PC, some other difficult bulldoze, or a Fourth dimension Machine backup.

Bare drive: If you installed Mount Lion onto a blank drive, you'll be walked through the new-system setup process. Commencement you'll choose a system language and keyboard layout. Side by side, you'll cull a Wi-Fi network and provide the network password. (Click Other Network Options to use Ethernet instead.) You'll then exist asked if you desire to transfer accounts and information from some other Mac, a Windows PC, or another bulldoze (which includes a Time Machine backup or a clone backup). If y'all choose to do so, you lot'll exist given the option to choose what to transfer—unless you actually want to start anew, yous'll probably want to transfer everything.

If you opt to transfer accounts and settings from a Snow Leopard or Lion Mac or bulldoze, the setup procedure will continue much every bit if you lot upgraded from Snowfall Leopard or King of beasts, respectively. If yous choose not to transfer—so you lot're essentially starting fresh—you'll exist asked to enable Location Services, to provide your Apple tree ID and password (and to agree to the Apple ID terms and weather condition), to set iCloud, and (assuming you enabled iCloud) to enable Notice My Mac and permit information technology to employ your location. You'll then need to create a user business relationship and password, as well as to configure a few options for that account. After that, y'all'll set up your time zone and choose whether or not to register your Mac. Finally, you'll then run across the aforementioned Give thanks Y'all screen—click Start Using Your Mac to go on.

The first time y'all kicking into Mountain King of beasts, you may be alerted to known incompatible software.

Incompatible software warning: If yous upgraded a Snow Leopard or Lion Mac, the kickoff time you boot into Mountain Lion you may see a dialog box informing you that some of the existing software on your Mac is incompatible with the new Os, and listing that software. (Apple provides more information about such software in a back up article.) You'll usually encounter this message if you had kernel extensions—depression-level software that patches the operating system itself—installed nether Snow Leopard or Panthera leo that Apple specifically knows won't piece of work with Mount Panthera leo. Information technology's also possible to come across the incompatible-software dialog box if you installed Mountain Lion onto a bare drive and and then transferred data from some other Mac or drive, but it'south less probable—OS X's Migration Banana generally doesn't import kernel extensions and like software responsible for low-level processes. In either case, OS 10 automatically moves this incompatible software to a folder called Incompatible Software at the root level of your startup bulldoze.

Post-install tasks

Once y'all're up and running in Mountain Lion, you're almost washed. You may find, despite your pre-installation checks, that some of your existing software needs updates. Similarly, if you've performed a "clean" install of Mountain Lion (onto a blank bulldoze without transferring accounts and data), you lot'll need to spend a bit of time setting things up, and you lot'll want to reinstall all your favorite apps.

Check (again) for updates: The first thing you'll desire to exercise is choose Software Update (from the Apple tree menu) to open the Mac App Store app and install any pending OS updates. If you've installed Mountain Lion in the first few days of availability, chances are you won't have any (peculiarly if you checked for updates to Lion or Snowfall Leopard immediately before upgrading, so you already have the latest updates to other Apple tree software), but it can't hurt to be certain. And if y'all've waited a week or more to install Mount Lion, there'southward a good chance Apple tree will have released a small-scale update—or will sometime soon.

Even if no updates to Mountain Panthera leo itself are available, y'all may detect that, afterward installing Os X 10.viii, a firmware update is available for your Mac. For case, some Mac laptops crave a firmware update to back up Mountain Lion'southward new Ability Nap feature, and this firmware update volition appeared only after installing Mount Panthera leo, presumably because it'southward not necessary under Lion or Snowfall Leopard.

Mountain Lion can automatically download the latest drivers for many recent printers.

Set upward printers, if necessary: If you lot didn't upgrade from an already-configured installation of King of beasts or Snow Leopard, you'll want to prepare your printer(s). As with Snowfall Leopard and Lion, Mountain Lion doesn't include many printer drivers; rather, when you set up a printer, the OS determines which drivers you need and, if necessary, either downloads them automatically or helps you get them. Open the Print & Browse pane of System Preferences and click the Add (+) button, and you'll come across a list of connected and nearby (Bonjour) printers. Cull one, and OS X will encounter if drivers are available. In the case of my Brother 7820N, the bottom of the Add window displayed the message "The selected printer software is available from Apple. Click Add to download it and add together this printer." I clicked Add and, certain enough, OS X proceeded to download the software and set the printer.

Cheque for incompatible software and, if necessary, install apps: Next, if y'all saw the aforementioned incompatible-software dialog, now's a skillful time to check the contents of the Incompatible Software binder at the root level of your startup drive, and then check each vendor's website for updated versions of that software. Similarly, if you lot performed a clean install—installed Mountain Lion onto a blank drive and didn't transfer accounts, applications, and data—it's time to reinstall your app. Just exist sure you've got the latest versions, besides as any updates you lot'll demand to utilise to software you install from CDs and DVDs.

One compatibility issue of notation is that if you upgraded from Lion or Snowfall Leopard and you had Adobe's Flash Histrion 10.3 or later installed, it will piece of work fine later upgrading; nevertheless, if yous had a version prior to 10.3 installed, Flash volition be removed and you'll be instructed to download the latest version. (Thanks to Macworld contributor Joe Kissell for this tip.)

You'll be prompted to install Coffee if you demand it.

Notation that the first time y'all try to load a webpage or run an app that requires Java, Mountain Lion will prompt you to download and install the Java runtime, even if you upgraded from Snow Leopard or Lion and you'd previously installed Java. This is normal—you shouldn't worry that installing Mountain Lion somehow "lost" any of your data or apps.

Enable FileVault: If you want to use FileVault, OS X'southward deejay-encryption characteristic, just it's not enabled—either because you've never used it or considering you upgraded from Snow Leopard and followed my communication to disable it before upgrading—now's the time to turn it on, via the Security pane of Organization Preferences. Note that if the Mountain Panthera leo installer (or the King of beasts installer before it) was non able to create a Recovery Hard disk division on your drive, you won't be able to enable FileVault.

Cheque services: On several Macs—just not all—I upgraded from Lion to Mount Lion, the get-go time I logged in to the new Os, I was alerted that Location Services and Sharing services had been disabled. You may or may not encounter these messages, but it'due south a good idea to have a quick wait at the Sharing pane of Arrangement Preferences, every bit well as the Privacy tab of the Security pane. If any of these services accept been disabled, and you desire to employ them, turn them on now.

Upgrade and installation challenges

For virtually people, Mount Lion—like Panthera leo before it—is easy enough to go and like shooting fish in a barrel to install. But, also every bit with Lion, upgrading to Os X ten.viii presents challenges for a few groups of people.

People with Mountain Lion-uniform Macs who are nonetheless using Leopard (Bone 10 10.v): There are a few Mac models that originally shipped with OS X 10.five and are compatible with Mountain Lion. While I'yard certain there are a skilful number even so running Leopard, I'll bet few of their owners volition want to make the jump direct from Leopard to Mountain Lion—if someone has been happy enough running 10.5 for 3 or four years that they never bothered to install OS X 10.six or 10.vii, I doubt they'll exist running out to install 10.8.

That said, ane if y'all're one of the people who really practise want to leap directly from 10.5 to 10.8? Apple'due south official policy is that you demand you lot purchase and install Snow Leopard ($29 for a single copy or $49 for a family pack) and then upgrade to Mountain Panthera leo, bringing the cost of upgrading to either $49 or $69, rather than $20.

The Mountain Lion installer, like the Lion installer, is strict about requiring OS 10 10.6.8. The installer application itself will launch under Leopard, but information technology won't let you install Mountain Lion, either over Leopard or onto a blank drive. Nor can you mountain a Leopard bulldoze on a Mac running Snowfall Leopard, Panthera leo, or Mountain King of beasts and and then install x.8—the installer only refuses to install over Leopard.

Merely what if you own a copy of Snow Leopard for the Mac in question, but you lot don't want to add together an hr or 2 to the installation process by installing Snow Leopard offset?

People with wearisome or express-bandwidth Internet connections: If your Cyberspace connectedness is slow, it will have a long time—perhaps days—to download the 4GB+ Mount Panthera leo installer. Even worse, if your Isp enforces caps on your Cyberspace-data usage, you could end up paying a hefty price for the privilege.

If yous've got a Mac laptop, you lot tin can instead tote it to your favorite Apple retailer, the library, a friend'due south house, or the part—anywhere with a fast Internet connection—and download the Mount Lion installer there. In fact, when Panthera leo was released, Apple tree's official policy was to invite you to your local Apple tree Store and use the store's Cyberspace connexion to download Lion; store employees would even walk you through the purchase, download, and installation processes. I suspect that will continue to be the example with Mountain Lion.

Of grade, if your Mac doesn't happen to be portable, or if yous alive in an area where you can't borrow a fast, inexpensive Internet connectedness, yous'll need to find another solution. If you've got an Apple tree Store nearby, you lot may be able to accept a portable hard drive or an 8GB-or-larger thumb drive to the store and inquire to purchase and download the installer on one of the store's Macs; similarly, you could borrow a friend's calculator, or—if you're lucky enough to have a Mac at the office—employ your piece of work computer to download Mount Lion.

Last year, Apple made available a $69 bootable flash drive containing the Lion installer; the company hasn't yet appear if it will do the aforementioned for Mountain Lion. I'll update this article with the latest information as it becomes available.

Businesses, schools, and other organizations and institutions that need to install Mountain Lion on many different computers: When Lion was released last year, we heard concerns from large installations—schools, businesses, and the like—almost the Mac App Store-only distribution. These organizations oft need to roll out new versions of Os X to many Macs, and forcing each user to download and install Lion presented significant technical, logistical, and support issues. Os X 10.viii presents the aforementioned challenges. With Lion, Apple released a certificate titled Bone Ten King of beasts for Business and Educational activity that explained the options for these organizations. The visitor hasn't yet released a version for Mount Panthera leo, but I'grand assuming the options volition remain the same: While organizations will utilize the aforementioned purchasing procedure as always to buy Os X, they'll exist given one Mountain Lion redemption code for each purchase contract. After using that lawmaking to download the Mount Panthera leo installer from the Mac App Store, that copy of the installer can be used on any and all Macs covered by the contract.

To do and then, Apple tree says customers can copy the Mountain Lion installer to the /Applications folder on each Mac and so run the installer from in that location, or they can create a NetInstall or NetRestore paradigm, or apply Apple Remote Desktop. They tin can likewise create ane or more bootable Mountain Lion-install drives and and then install the OS using those.

Purring along

While researching this series of manufactures, I installed literally dozens of copies of Bone 10 x.8 on a variety of Mac. As with Lion, my experience has been that for the typical Mac user with a broadband connection, the procedure of purchasing, obtaining, and installing Mountain Panthera leo is like shooting fish in a barrel and relatively pain-gratis. Still, heeding the communication above volition reduce the chances of problems and make the upgrade become every bit smoothly as possible.

(For an even more than in-depth look at upgrading to Mount Lion, check out Macworld contributor Joe Kissell's Take Control of Upgrading to Mountain Lion, which covers such topics equally extensive pre-install diagnostics, make clean installs, installation troubleshooting, and much more.)

[Dan Frakes is a Macworld senior editor. His Macs are all very tired from having Mount King of beasts installed on them over and over and over and over.]

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