Preparing For OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Or Mountain Lion Server

Article ID = 72
Article Title = Preparing For OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Or Mountain Lion Server
Article Author(s) = Graham Needham (BH)
Article Created On = 24th July 2012
Article Last Updated = 6th July 2021
Article URL = https://www.macstrategy.com/article.php?72

Article Brief Description:
A handy check list to do in preparing to install OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or Mountain Lion Server

Preparing for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Client/Server

Here is a check list to do before installing Mountain Lion (Server):

Check whether you have a compatible Mac from this list:
- iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
- MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
- Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
- Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
- Xserve (Early 2009)
NOTE: If you are not sure whether you have a compatible Mac check our Mountain Lion FAQ before proceeding.
Check you do not need any of the following as Mountain Lion does not directly include them:

Rosetta for running PowerPC software - Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard users only
Web Sharing - see our Mountain Lion FAQ for alternatives
Xgrid Sharing - see our Mountain Lion FAQ for alternatives
X11 - see our Mountain Lion FAQ for alternatives
Java - see our Java article for more information

Make sure you are connected to the internet (preferably with a fast connection and with a large or no data cap in place).
Make sure you have an Apple ID (use the iTunes or App Store application to create one if necessary e.g. Go to Macintosh HD > Applications > App Store > Store menu > "Create Account…" to get started if you don't have an Apple ID).
Consider whether you want the Mac App Store Apple ID to be the same for services such as iCloud, iTunes, etc if you are going to use them.
Make sure your that Apple ID "account" has enough credit on it or has a credit card on file (with enough credit on it).

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion = ~~£14.00~~ free as of the 30th June 2021
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Server aka OS X Server 2 = no longer available

Check you have enough disk space (at least 10GB+ free).
Go to Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility:

Select the volume under the disk you are going to use for Mountain Lion on the left, then on the right of the window click "Verify Disk" - if problems are found you will need to repair your disk.
Select the volume under the disk you are going to use for Mountain Lion on the left, check at the bottom that it states "Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". If it doesn't state "(Journaled)" you will need to turn journaling on by going to File menu > Enable Journaling.
Repair your boot disk's permissions.

Backup or clone your computer.

Check that your favourite software is Mountain Lion compatible.
Temporarily disable any third party disk encryption software.
Temporarily disable any anti-virus software.

Article Keywords: OS X OSX 108 Mountain

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