Stuck on Mac OS X Utilities, cannot reinstall Mac OS X Lion 10.7

Question

Stuck on Mac OS X Utilities, cannot reinstall Mac OS X Lion 10.7

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the Apple world, saw an imac (late 2008) at the thrift store (final sale) and brought it home. When I turn it on, it takes me right to the "Mac OS X Utilities" with the four options of restore, reinstall, get help online, and disk utility. When I click on Reinstall, it drops down "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again." I am connected to the internet, have tried other forum help ideas like changing the date or repairing and fixing the disk but nothing helps. I also tried to erase the disk but it "couldn't unmount disk." I do not have another similar mac to do the app download things.

My question is, is there any other steps I can take? I saw on Ebay, an OS X 10.7 Bootable 16gb USB 3.0., could I use this to install and by pass the Mac OS X utilities? If I want to use this imac as an everyday computer can I buy other USB and download something newer to use?

Thank you so much, any help is appreciated!

Posted on Apr 22, 2024 5:12 PM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 9

77,182 points

Apr 22, 2024 6:52 PM in response to Nugsnotdrugs6444

Best bet is to use a 10.7 Lion USB Flash Drive. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?

Startup from the Lion Flash Drive > Erase and Install Lion > then hopefully upgrade to whatever macOS version is available from the Mac App Store.

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Answer 2

Apr 26, 2024 1:01 PM in response to Nugsnotdrugs6444

EDIT: I have the late 2006* not 2008.

For future references for others, getting the USB really worked! I decided on the 10.6 USB instead to not max out the iMac. I was able to install it after being able to delete the disk. Safari wasn't really working but I was able to download interweb browser on it as an alternative! Good luck to anyone else :)

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