My wife's iMac is running 10.6.8. I would like to upgrade her to Mavericks and have already prepared a thumb drive with DiskMaker X. As part of the process, I would like to create a recovery partition to use in emergencies going forward. My tentative process is
10.6.8 wont apps open

Back up!
Boot from an external disk. Part of previous step is a SuperDuper! (SD) update.
Erase the internal disk.
Run Mavericks installer from thumb drive. This is a 'clean' install due to the previous step, so it's supposed to offer to create a recovery partition.
Boot again from the SD external and use SD to clone it back to the internal disk's main partition after erasing it.
Boot from internal disk.
Back at the original system, run the Mavericks installer again to install over 10.6.8, leaving all my files in place.

I also run Time Machine - it too is part of the above back up step. I can replace steps 5-7 above with the Migration Assistant pulling my stuff from my TM disk. Which way is preferable? Are there other methods?

10.6.8 Wont Apps Get

And - you still have your full backup, in the (unlikely) event that you need to restore the iMac to 10.6.8 I fully expect that you won't need to do that, and your wife's iMac will get to 10.9.1 without much great drama - other than an hour or two for the upgrade process to complete. Running on 10.6.8 mac os x. I had spotify for a long time and a few days ago, it just stopped working. If I went to open it, the icon would bounce in my dock and then stop but it wouldn't open the program. It says 'application not responding'. So, I restarted my computer. Still did the same thing. I deleted the program and tried to redownload.

After 8 months and multiple 30+ attempts I got the app installed and camera working. The camera seems to be working, but it alerts on passing cars, moving shadows, and activity across the street. It does not alert on people within 30 yards of the camera. A gardener with a chainsaw walked toward the camera and trimmed hedges - NO ALARM, NO VIDEO.
2013-03-04 02:11 PM. A quick google threw this up as an issue and a possible solution: ' Navigate to your Applications folder, then to Utilities. From there open up Keychain Access. Once Keychain is open, click Keychain Access in your navigation bar at the top and select Keychain First Aid.

My feeling is my 7 step plan is safer because it does not involve moving user directories and applications, etc., back into place from TM.

So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah 10.0	Puma 10.1	Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3	Tiger 10.4	Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6	Lion 10.7	Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9	Yosemite 10.10	El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12	High Sierra 10.13	Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:

Uninstall large unused apps
Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

10.6.8 Wont Apps Download

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store

If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:

10.6.8 Wont Apps Go

Click the App Store icon.
Click Purchases in the top menu.
Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

10.6.8 Wont Apps Open

The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to down