This is weird. I have Mac OS X Snow Leopard (specifically 10.6.2) running on my MacBook and want to install Quicktime Pro for some video work. I bought a license key off the Apple site but it says to go to the System Preferences and enter the data into the Quicktime preference pane. But, um, there isn’t one. What the heck??

Dave’s Answer:

Without much fanfare, Apple has continued to tweak and fiddle with its Quicktime software, moving it from one place to another, changing how it’s installed and updated, and even making it easy to have it vanish from your computer if you don’t install every single piece of Snow Leopard.

Poke around a bit in your favorite search engine and you’ll find that the Quicktime app you need to enter that license number is Quicktime Player 7, and it’s in the Applications -> Utilities folder.

Or is it?

For a lot of users, it’s nowhere to be found. Sure there’s Quicktime Player in your Applications folder, but that’s not the same app and it doesn’t have the ability to be upgraded via license key into Quicktime Pro.

So where do you get this mysterious Quicktime Player 7 utility? It’s on the Snow Leopard install DVD. Yes, that means you need to find your original OS install disk (or borrow one from a friend or colleague) and slip it into your computer. You don’t have to reboot, just open up the disk. You’ll see:

You probably never noticed, but see that folder “Optional Installs”? Open it. Now you’ll see:

Double click on “Optional Installs.mpkg” and after clicking through a bunch of default and informational screens — and entering your admin password once — you’ll finally get to a list of the optional installs included with Snow Leopard:

As I have done, choose “QuickTime 7″ and proceed. Won’t take long for you to be looking at this:

Now in your Utilities folder is “QuickTime Player 7″. Launch it, and choose File –> Registration. You’ll see this:

Enter your registration information as delivered from Apple and you’ll see this:

Score! Now you’ve figured out how to add QUickTime Player 7 to your Mac OS X system and upgraded it to be QuickTime Pro. Now, have fun!!

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