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Giving away your iMac, erasing hard drive and reinstalling operating software

I followed Apple's instructions for this process through erasing the hard drive. I think I did it correctly, but when restarting iMac to install operating software, the screen is blank white with a circle, with a slash through it, in the middle. I inserted my original software disk into slot. Nothing happens and disk does not eject.


iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Jul 23, 2020 2:58 PM

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3 replies

Jul 23, 2020 4:38 PM in response to BDAqua

I learned that I was holding down the wrong keys at one point in the process. When I learned that only the R and command keys should be held down at that point, I was able to begin completing the process of reinstalling the operating software. That just completed successfully a few minutes ago. I did get help from Apple support via telephone which led me through the process. Thanks for the reply.

Giving away your iMac, erasing hard drive and reinstalling operating software

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