MacOS – Is it dangerous to reinstall 10.7.4

macmacossafari

I installed Mac OS 10.7.4 on my MBP last night, along with Safari 6. I was leery about installing Safari 6, but I figured I could cope with the changes. But, after using it for about 30 minutes I want Safari 5.1.7 back.

My "plan of attack" was to download the 5.1.7 installer, delete Safari 6, and install Safari 5.1.7. After the installer finished downloading I ran sudo rm -rf /Applications/Safari.app. As expected that deleted the application file. However, when I opened the 5.1.7 package installer I get the following error.

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I decided that the best way to get Safari 5.1.7 back was to reinstall Mac OS 10.7.4. But before I run the install I have a couple of questions.

  1. Is the "Client Combo" edition the wrong thing?
  2. Will it attempt to install 10.7.4 incorrectly?
  3. Is there a better way of deleting Safari 6 and installing 5.1.7?

Best Answer

First off, double check your backup situation and be ready to use it to restore your data onto a clean 10.7.4 install if needed.

Your idea to delete the safari app and then re-install the Combo Updater is a great one and I have used it to great success in many cases where people managed to delete Safari in the past. The client combo is the correct update for you. (Client is correct as opposed to the server version of the combo updater)

It is not guaranteed to work (and I haven't tested it with Safari 6 having been installed and 10.7.4 yet so you could encounter a dragon but if your alternative is to do a clean install and skip the upgrade to Safari 6.0 you don't have much to lose by trying the combo updater trick.)

Watch the install logs to be sure that the Safari installation isn't skipped due to detecting a newer version. If that happens, you'll have to much around in the /Library/Receipts folder and potentially the receipts database to remove the recipt that tells the system what version of Safari was installed in the past.

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