Help downgrading System 10.5 to 10.4

[fetalsono]

I have the latest MacMini computer and recently upgraded to Leopard. It has been a nightmare at least 50% of the time most recently with characters entered automatically non-stop, unable to quit, etc. I decided to downgrade to 10.4 using my install disks and then upgrade to 10.4.11, which I have done. Please advise me what to do so that I won't have to reinstall programs and serial numbers. When I installed the original system it asked me what to do and I chose create archive of previous system.

Can I transfer over preferences, application support etc. I am not sure how to do this and I don't want anything that has a 10.5.1 'flavor' left on it.

Thanks

Peter

[acme.mail.order]

You can, with a bit of work return to exactly where you were. You selected "Archive and Install", so if you look around you will see a folder called "Previous Systems", which in your case contains your old 10.4 OS.

Reverting to a Previous System is not overly difficult, but not simple either. You will either need a second Mac or reasonably good knowledge of the Terminal. With a second Mac, move the current System, Library, private, bin, opt, sbin, mach_kernel and usr (last 5 are normally hidden files) to another folder (Previous Systems -> Previous System 2 would be a good choice) and move everything in Previous Systems 1 back to the top level of the drive.

If you have used any applications like iTunes and did not make a copy of the program's user-specific files like the iTunes Library you may not be able to revert that application. Try and see.

[MacosNerd]

selecting archive and install with Tiger should work, though I'd recommend reformatting and starting over. Since an archive and install will keep your ~/Library folder around you may still run into issues because of a corrupted preference file or some other issue.

Its always safest IMO to start off with a clean install if you're trying to fix a buggy system. This is especially so if you're downgrading.

[benwiggy]

Quote: Originally Posted by fetalsono It has been a nightmare at least 50% of the time most recently with characters entered automatically non-stop, unable to quit, etc.

This is by no means a typical Leopard experience, so it may be that the problems are caused by some other underlying factor, which may persist even under Tiger.
Archive and Install should be fine, and you should not need to re-install or authorise any of your Applications.
As has been pointed out, it might be worth deleting the preferences in /User/Library/Preferences, as there may be Leopard .plists there which Tiger cannot deal with.

[Hal Itosis]

Quote: Originally Posted by MacosNerd selecting archive and install with Tiger should work, though I'd recommend reformatting and starting over.

Had he reformatted and done a clean Leopard install initially,
there would probably be no need to "downgrade" now.

--

I still don't see how anyone can 'archive & install' from Leopard to Tiger.
The NetInfo database is *gone*. The /Users home folders and data will
still be there... but no user "accounts" will exist anymore! They will need
to be recreated (similar to doing a fresh install).

-HI-

[tlarkin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hal Itosis Had he reformatted and done a clean Leopard install initially, there would probably be no need to "downgrade" now. -- I still don't see how anyone can 'archive & install' from Leopard to Tiger. The NetInfo database is *gone*. The /Users home folders and data will still be there... but no user "accounts" will exist anymore! They will need to be recreated (similar to doing a fresh install). -HI-

Well Hal beat me to it, but it is true no more netinfo db, it is all gone. It is all just directory service app and dscl now in OS X 10.5.x and above. So, and archive and install most likely will not work.

I would copy your home directory to an external device, wipe and reload and copy the data back, excluding everything from ~/Library/Preferences and ~/Application Support.