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Not asking about Snow Leopard but Leopard. Have install disc. Trying to figure out how to install on partition. Currently Mac is running High Sierra on main drive. Need this to run some software.

Michael
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    But given that you try to install 10.5 and the late 2011 MBP got rolled out with 10.7 the chances are slim. 10.5 most likely lacks drivers for parts of the hardware. – nohillside Dec 16 '20 at 13:11

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General rule is no Mac can run an OS older than itself. There are no drivers for hardware that wasn't yet invented. The 2011 Macbook Pro runs OS X 10.7.2 at minimum.

You could normally run an older OS in a VM, but Leopard isn't licensed for virtualisation (see What are the technical and license restrictions around virtualization for Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion?).

nohillside
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Tetsujin
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  • Just one correction, as this MBP is an exception: the late 2011 is the same model as the early 2011, which came with Snow Leopard and it also does run Snow Leopard (Mactracker shows it as 10.6.6). – Redarm Dec 16 '20 at 13:44
  • @Redarm, EveryMac.com says: Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.7.2 (11C74). See https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.4-13-late-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html – lhf Dec 16 '20 at 15:04
  • @Ihf I don't dispute that. I'm saying that the late 2011 MBP is the same model number as the early 2011 MBP and therefore can run the same software. The early 2011 came with Snow Leopard 10.6.6. PS. I've got a "late 2011" 15" MBP running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 sitting next to me. – Redarm Dec 16 '20 at 15:22
  • @Redarm - whilst you're correct in saying the late 2011 is nothing more than a processor update of the early 2011 & that they can both in all likelihood can run the same earliest OS, that they share a model number is not actually proof of that. Some model numbers cover several years & many disparate models. idk why, but you can never rely on the model number to identify a given Mac. – Tetsujin Dec 16 '20 at 15:57
  • @Tetsujin Without checking, you very likely are right. I had reservations myself, putting the word 'number' and should have left it at "model". – Redarm Dec 16 '20 at 16:00