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easiz

Q: Resetting tiger to factory settings

I want to reset my computer as if I just brought it home from the store - so that I can make a new administrator account with a new password, and have it show the "welcome" movie. How can I do this?

If I do this, will I lose iwork? I bought iwork 08 family pack, and I'm afraid to lose iwork and have to use another one of my 5 registrations. Can I reset my computer and still keep iwork on it?

Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Nov 6, 2007 7:58 PM

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Q: Resetting tiger to factory settings

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  • by cornelius,

    cornelius cornelius Nov 6, 2007 8:19 PM in response to easiz
    Level 6 (17,825 points)
    Nov 6, 2007 8:19 PM in response to easiz
    easiz:

    It might be easier to help you if we know exactly what you hope to accomplish. If it is a new admin user account you need, that is easily done without going to all that trouble. If there are some issues with your current account, it might be well to deal with that before going any further.

    I suggest that you backup your entire HDD to an external firewire HDD using a utility like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner before attempting any major procedure. This will not only preserve your data, but also your current installation which you can restore should things go wrong.

    Please do post back with updatd information.

    Cheers

    cornelius
  • by easiz,

    easiz easiz Nov 6, 2007 8:33 PM in response to cornelius
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 6, 2007 8:33 PM in response to cornelius
    Thank you for your advice. Here is my situation - I bought a new computer and I'm selling my old one (it is only 5 months old, running 10.4.10). I have idisk and have saved all the data I want, so I'm not afraid of losing anything. But when I sold it, I told my friend (the buyer) that it comes with iwork (staff in the apple store said it is legal - technically I am not selling a copy of iwork).
    When I hand over my computer, I want them to open it and turn it on to see the original "welcome" movie and be able to set their own user name and password (instead of me setting it up with them: creating theirs before deleting mine).
  • by easiz,

    easiz easiz Nov 6, 2007 8:35 PM in response to easiz
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 6, 2007 8:35 PM in response to easiz
    oh, and after I reset it, i would like to have iwork still on it.
  • by roam,Helpful

    roam roam Nov 6, 2007 8:39 PM in response to easiz
    Level 6 (13,576 points)
    Nov 6, 2007 8:39 PM in response to easiz
    The easiest way is to put a new installation of your OS onto the Mac.

    Insert your Install disk 1 into to the drive and then Restart, and hold down the C key to take you to the installation windows.
    Select your language, the start up Volume and choose Erase and Install.
    At the point your registration process starts, abandon the registration, quit and eject the disk and switch of the computer.
    This will allow the new user a freshly installed system, whereby they can complete the registration process themselves. Make sure you hand on the disks. If iWork is on a separate disk, just hand that on to the new owner and they can install it.
  • by easiz,

    easiz easiz Nov 6, 2007 9:34 PM in response to roam
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 6, 2007 9:34 PM in response to roam
    Thank you. Only problem is that my copy of iwork is a family pack and I can't give up the disk. Since it isn't running leopard, the factory settings don't include a trial of iwork, so I can't just give over the reg. number.
    Would it work if I told the buyer to download a trial copy and then I'll give the reg. number? Would this count as an additional install against my 5 (when I already used one on my pre-cleaned computer)?
  • by roam,

    roam roam Nov 6, 2007 11:25 PM in response to easiz
    Level 6 (13,576 points)
    Nov 6, 2007 11:25 PM in response to easiz
    That's a complexity I can't answer.
    What I would do instead then, would be to create a new account for the buyer with Admin privileges, tell your friend what the password is, (it can always be changed later), and delete your account. So on opening Mail they will have to set it up as theirs from scratch and make all of those other preliminary choices of a freshly installed OS.
    This isn't what you want, but that would be the compromise I would make so they could keep iWork.
  • by sig,

    sig sig Nov 7, 2007 2:21 AM in response to roam
    Level 8 (35,798 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 7, 2007 2:21 AM in response to roam
    An easy way to have the "Welcome Movie" play again and prepare the Mac or a new setup account and preserve all apps and files on it is this:
    Boot Mac OS X in single user mode, by holding down Command + S.

    mount -uw /
    hit return
    (Remove current Netinfo Database:)
    cd /private/var/db/netinfo
    hit return
    mv local.nidb local.old
    hit return
    (Force Apple Setup to launch on next startup:)
    rm ../.AppleSetupDone
    hit return
    Don't forget to delete the home folders from every user on the system in /Users!

    (Shut down the mac:)
    shutdown -h now
    hit return

    Now power on the Mac.
  • by ali brown,

    ali brown ali brown Nov 7, 2007 3:08 PM in response to easiz
    Level 7 (26,465 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 7, 2007 3:08 PM in response to easiz
    Welcome To  Discussions easiz!

    "...(staff in the apple store said it is legal..."

    As per the iWork '08 Software License (PDF), I think that is misinformation.

    Quoted;
    "This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on up to a maximum of five (5) Apple-labeled computers at a time as long as those computers are located in the same household and used by persons who occupy that same household. By "household" we mean a person or persons sharing the same housing unit such as a home, apartment, mobile home or condominium. This license does not extend to students who reside at a separate on-campus location or to business or commercial users. You may not make the Apple Software available over a network.

    ali b