New Mac Mini, wiped the HD and cannot reinstall Lion

Ric

The Mac Mini did not come with any DVD or USB to reinstall Lion?

Joseph

riccardomaclover wrote:

Does anybody have a better idea?

Use Lion Internet Recovery

If you happen to encounter a situation in which you cannot start from the Recovery HD, such as your hard drive stopped responding or you installed a new hard drive without Mac OS X installed, new Mac models introduced after public availability of OS X Lion automatically use the Lion Internet Recovery feature if the Recovery HD (Command-R method above) doesn't work. Lion Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's Servers. The system runs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to ensure there are no hardware issues.

Lion Internet Recovery presents a limited interface at first, with only the ability to select your preferred Wi-Fi network and, if needed, enter the WPA passphrase. Next, Lion Internet Recovery will download and start from a Recovery HD image. From there, you are offered all the same utilities and functions described above.

As with the Recovery HD, reinstallation of OS X Lion from Lion Internet Recovery requires an Internet connection.

Tony

FishComputer wrote (then <deleted>):

Read the post

Missed that he said "internet recovery tells me: "this version of OS X 10.7 cannot be installed on this computer".

Then he needs to call AppleCare, or go to an Apple Store as his New Model mini is supposed to work with Lion Internet Recovery

FishComputer wrote (and then also <deleted>):

I don't think he has internet recovery

He said he does (Please read the post)

FishComputer wrote:

he deleted his entire drive

So? Internet Recovery is Firmware

Please read my post

FishComputer wrote:

Oh, I see...well its not working

I guess that's why I suggested that he call AppleCare, or go to an Apple Store as his New Model mini is supposed to work with Lion Internet Recovery 😉

riccardomaclover wrote:

What is really annoying is the internet recovery does not reinstall Lion as stated

If in the meantime you have other ideas, please post!

Internet Recovery is supposed to work, you should not be getting the error "this version of OS X 10.7 cannot be installed on this computer"

If you're near an Applestore, bring it to them, if not, call AppleCare

riccardomaclover wrote:

So as a last resort I am trying to clone the HD of the Air, connect it to the mini and tell the mini to boot in recovery tools

Not a good idea, there are subtle differences in the OS due to different hardware (i.e. different drivers)

Call Apple and get Internet Recovery to work

Tony

@riccardomaclover, I'm at the same boat as you are. I have a macbook air and same thing, I can't reinstall lion within the Internet Recovery ("this version of OS X 10.7 cannot be installed on this computer"). AppleCare support told me that they'll be sending me a USB restore tool but I have to wait 3-5 days! let us know how things went.

Looks like this is a common problem: Lion install borked? Apple giving free Lion USB sticks to some

The original Apple thumb drive cannot install lion onto a Mac Mini 2011 or Macbook Air 2011. I've just tested this and it *****!

The original Apple thumb drive cannot install lion onto a Mac Mini 2011 or Macbook Air 2011.

I hear that a lot. I would restore Lion from a backup DVD or USB memory stick.

What you need is a friend with a download copy of Lion. You can then create a bootable USB from the installer package and use that to install on to your mini.

Personally I think that Apple made a mistake in removing the optical drive from the mini, it's now far too limited. I understand why they did it, but especially from a troubleshooting POV, DVDs are still far too useful.

Actually Daniel, that doesn't work on pre-installed Lion systems if you're referring to a download copy of Lion from the App Store.

I was told by an Apple Store employee that it would work. So, I tried it on my new Mac Mini (purchased last week) using my MacBook Pro copy of Lion from the App Store and it wouldn't boot from the USB thumb drive. I selected the USB drive from the list of boot drives after pressing OPTION and I received a screen with a circle and a slash through it. Even the USB thumb drive created from the Recovery Disk Assistant from my MacBook Pro wouldn't work.

What did work was this article from MacWorld. Once I created a bootable USB thumb drive following the instructions, I could boot from it and install 'my' pre-installed copy of Lion for my Mac Mini. And of course the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant helps too if one wants to install from the Apple servers after creating it from the Mac Mini.