chacho805
Level 1 (13 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Having trouble restoring my mac to factory settings HELP!!

I can't restore macbook pro to factory settings. I followed this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdzefnG2fls), but I keep on getting the same pop-up "This item is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later". Can anyone please help!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Aug 24, 2016 10:59 AM

by think.different,Apple recommended
think.different think.different
Level 3 (695 points)
iPhone
A:

You do it via the Mac App Store on your computer not an Apple Store.

Posted on Aug 29, 2016 10:24 AM

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chacho805

Q: Having trouble restoring my mac to factory settings HELP!!

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  • Helpful answers

  • by think.different,Helpful

    think.different think.different Aug 25, 2016 9:23 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 3 (695 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 25, 2016 9:23 AM in response to chacho805

    At which point do you see the pop-up?

     

    Never mind, I assume it's when you are trying to download the OS after logging in with your AppleID.

     

    Is your AppleID associated with the purchase/download of that OS?

     

     

    There is an alternative solution, to make a bootable USB installed with DiskMakerX. You can then boot into this rather the the recovery partition.

  • by chacho805,

    chacho805 chacho805 Aug 25, 2016 9:23 AM in response to think.different
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 25, 2016 9:23 AM in response to think.different

    The pop-up appears after I enter my apple id & password.

     

    No, I just purchased this laptop.

     

    How does the alternate solution work? Can you please give me the steps or point me to the right direction? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!!!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 25, 2016 9:45 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 9 (69,659 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 25, 2016 9:45 AM in response to chacho805

    The problem is you need to do what the following article states. Since your Apple ID didn't install the OS, you can't download it. If you never downloaded Yosemite using your Apple ID, it is no longer available. Try booting into Internet Recovery (command - option/alt - R on a restart), erase the drive, and then reinstall the OS. It will install the OS the computer shipped with. You can then upgrade from there.

     

    Selling old Mac (4)          Apple support


    Check to make sure your applications are compatible. PowerPC applications are no longer supported after 10.6.      

     

    Application Compatibility

     

    Applications Compatibility (2)


     

    El Capitan 10.11 Compatibility information


     

    Also check to make sure there is a compatible driver for your printer.

     

    Do a backup before installing, preferable 2 backups on 2 different drives.

  • by think.different,

    think.different think.different Aug 25, 2016 11:32 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 3 (695 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 25, 2016 11:32 AM in response to chacho805

    You just need to go the AppStore and download the OS, have a flash drive to hand and then run http://diskmakerx.com/, this will install the OS onto the flash drive and you then can use this to boot into (just like recovery mode).

     

    Of if you want to manually do it (without the diskmakerX) then http://osxdaily.com/2015/09/30/create-os-x-el-capitan-boot-install-drive/

  • by chacho805,

    chacho805 chacho805 Aug 26, 2016 10:16 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 10:16 AM in response to Eric Root

    Eric Root: I'm unable to perform a backup since the HD was erased via Disk Utiliy. Will this still work?

  • by chacho805,

    chacho805 chacho805 Aug 26, 2016 10:32 AM in response to think.different
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 10:32 AM in response to think.different

    think.different: Will the first method not ask me for an apple ID to start the process?

  • by keg55,Apple recommended

    keg55 keg55 Aug 26, 2016 10:57 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 6 (8,368 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 10:57 AM in response to chacho805

    If you're trying to restore to factory OS which is Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R) then an AppleID doesn't matter.

     

    If you're trying to restore to a version of OS X that you did not purchase or previously download from Apple using your AppleID, you will get the message that you're seeing. For example, you may have purchased a used Mac with Yosemite installed from the seller. The seller used his/her AppleID to download/install Yosemite. Now, you try to reinstall it using Recovery Mode (Command+R) and can't because your AppleID was not used originally to install Yosemite. If this is the case then you can only restore to the OS your Mac shipped with using Internet Recovery or install DVDs depending what the Mac shipped with; then install the most current free version of OS X which is El Capitan.

  • by chacho805,

    chacho805 chacho805 Aug 26, 2016 11:52 AM in response to keg55
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 26, 2016 11:52 AM in response to keg55

    Keg55: Awesome, now all I need to do is go to the Apple Store and tell them I want to download OS into a flash drive and use www.diskmakerx.com and follow the steps.

  • by think.different,Apple recommended

    think.different think.different Aug 29, 2016 10:24 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 3 (695 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 29, 2016 10:24 AM in response to chacho805

    You do it via the Mac App Store on your computer not an Apple Store.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Aug 27, 2016 8:55 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 9 (69,659 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 27, 2016 8:55 AM in response to chacho805

    Yes.

  • by chacho805,

    chacho805 chacho805 Sep 1, 2016 10:12 AM in response to chacho805
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 1, 2016 10:12 AM in response to chacho805

    Thanks for all the help everyone! I was able to get it to work. I took my laptop to the Apple Store and they were able to restore it to factory settings, no charge, no hassle, just a little waiting. Thanks again.