Resetting a secondhand 2008 Mac

Try booting the iMac into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R even though this particular model doesn't truly support it (it may work a bit differently on this model and this older OS). The Apple documentation is a bit confusing on this matter, but I did see an Apple reference article where this is the preferred method of installing macOS when giving away a Mac since it should not require an AppleID associated with the installation of macOS. Attempting to install macOS from local Recovery Mode requires using an AppleID which "purchased" Yosemite at some point in the past.

A better option would have been to create a bootable macOS 10.11 El Capitan USB installer while the iMac was still fully functional, but you can still do so if you have access to another Mac which can run macOS 10.11 (even if it may currently be using a newer version of macOS). Here is the Apple article with instructions:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

The other option is to install the retail version of OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. The family member would have had this OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard DVD installer at some point so check to see if they still have it. Once you install OSX 10.6 make sure to update it completely with all the patches, then you can use the previously linked Apple article to download the macOS 10.11 installer.

Yes, good morning dbrady912.... I have a few thoughts.... According to the screenshot you posted, it looks like you're trying to do Internet Recovery....as shown by the globe on the middle right side of the screen shot. I don't know if this model supports Internet Recovery....nope, looks like it doesn't..... so your best bet would be to get a USB stick/flash drive/thumb drive of about 12 gig capacity, Mac formatted, of course (MacOSJournaled) and then get a copy of at least Snow Leopard, or El Capitan.... and then get a Bootable USB drive installer maker, and using that copy of El Capitan, make a Bootable USB stick/flash drive/thumb drive, and then when you're done, eject it safely..... restart the the 2008 iMac and hold down the "Option" key on the keyboard....this should get you to the Startup manager....plug the properly made USB stick into your 2008 iMac, and you should be able to boot from it....including re-installing the OS. After you are done, make sure to make the internal Hard drive, in this case, the 1TB drive as the startup drive, and not the USB stick, then restart and that should be it.... Unfortunately, older versions of the Mac OS are not readily available on the App store anymore....if you look really really hard, you might be able to get a copy of El Capitan,. maybe Mojave..... here's the Apple link for older Mac OS installers.... all the way back to Sierra. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683,,,there may be other ways to get the installers you need, but I figured this is as good a way as any to do it.... I'd be inclined to skip Yosemite for now....it's not a bad thing at all, but it does have a bug in it that disables Wifi.,...... Oh, and you might have to start out with Snow Leopard (10.6.3) because many of the Mac OS's require at least that to start out with... maybe your family member has a Snow Leopard DVD kicking around somewhere.....

john B

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