Reinstalling OS X Lion without disk utility

Question

Reinstalling OS X Lion without disk utility

Is there a way to reinstall Lion without using disk utility? My Mac started behaving funnily so I tried to reinstall the OS. I did NOT upgrade from Snow Leopard. The machine came preinstalled with Lion. So no hard copy. The online install failed and some threads here pointed to the online install not working for some machines (especially the early Lion machines). Time machine backup from ANOTHER Mac and restore worked for them so I tried the same. The TM backup was from the a Mac that was the same make/model (probably even the same batch off the assembly line as all were bought together). The backup suddenly crashed while in progress and disk utility started behaving weird as well. I restarted and now it's all gone. Holding the Option key shows no Lion Installer, no disk utility only my Windows partition. Is there a way to reinstall Lion without having to buy the $70 flash drive? I have other Macs with Lion installed. I also have a dmg image back up that I made while making a Bootcamp partition some time ago. Is there any way to get back my OS from those? Data loss is acceptable; eveyrthing is backed up.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 23, 2012 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Jan 23, 2012 8:43 AM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

Try Holding ⌘R on Boot, you should then see Internet Recovery

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Answer 2

Jan 23, 2012 10:06 AM in response to Tony T1

Okay that got me to disk utility. However, the original problem of online install still remains. I cannot do a TM restore unless I have Lion already installed right? If I try to install Lion, it fails when it downloads and restarts. It shows a crossed circle.

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Answer 3

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Jan 23, 2012 10:09 AM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

If you are able to boot into Recovery HD with ⌘R, you should see an option to "Reinstall Mac OS X"

During Install, you will be given the option to "Transfer data from a Time Machine or other Disk"

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Answer 4

Jan 23, 2012 10:14 AM in response to Tony T1

Yes I tried that. That is the one that fails. I believe the reinstall has two parts, the first one is downloading it from their servers and the second is installing it. The download completes. Then the computer restarts. Once it restarts, the crossed circle appears. If on restart I press Options, at this stage I get two partitions, one with windows and the other that says "Mac OS X Base System".

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Answer 5

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Jan 23, 2012 10:19 AM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

It appears something messed-up when you tried to restore a "Time machine backup from ANOTHER Mac"

If you want to start from scratch (a clean install)

Backup to Time Machine or a Clone
Boot into Recovery HD with ⌘R
Select Disk Utility
Erase Macintosh HD
Quit Disk Utility
Select Reinstall Mac OS X

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Answer 6

Jan 23, 2012 10:44 AM in response to Tony T1

I have repeated steps you mentioned a couple of times. Every time the installation stops and it displays "An error occured while installing OS X". That was why I tried to do a TM back up in the first place because some threads here said that some versions of MBPs would fail while performing online reinstalls.

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Answer 7

Jan 23, 2012 11:38 AM in response to Tony T1

Just as an addition to my earlier response, I have tried both resets at startup. Installation fails every time but never says "Click continue to ...." which is what I have read in other threads. It just hangs at that point.

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Answer 8

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Jan 23, 2012 12:13 PM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

At this point, as it a new Mac in warranty, you should call Applecare (if within 90 days of purchase, call is free)

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Answer 9

Jan 23, 2012 12:29 PM in response to Tony T1

Pay USD 50 and get the job done (may be) eh? Tht was what I was trying to avoid. Anyways, thanks for your responses.

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Answer 10

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jan 23, 2012 4:39 PM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

That sounds like you may have a directory problem. Have you verified your internal HD, per #6 in Using Disk Utility? If not, try that.

By the way, assuming your Mac is over 90 days old, and out of free phone support, I'd strongly recommend purchasing AppleCare for it. That extends the standard 1-year hardware warranty to 3 years, and includes free phone support for the full 3 years, too. Most extended warranties aren't worth it, but this one is. You can buy it up to a year from the original purchase.

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Answer 11

Jan 23, 2012 5:44 PM in response to Pondini

Yes. I have tried everything. Now it says your Macbook could not be verified for OS X installation. Please call Applecare. So basically everything is screwed. Thanks for the help.

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Answer 12

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jan 23, 2012 5:50 PM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

Slow down a minute. Do you mean the verify disk said the drive needs repair? If so, follow the instructions in the yellow box of #6 in Using Disk Utility to repair it.

Or, did verify disk report the disk "appears to be ok" and you tried to install OSX and got that message?

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Answer 13

Jan 23, 2012 5:59 PM in response to Pondini

So when I do an online reinstall, it fails in the middle and says there was an error. Some times (like thrice until now) it has said Macintosh HD appears to be corrupt or whatever and asks me to reinstall. The rest of the times it just fails and says There was an error installing OS X and hangs. Trying to click or press a button brings the rainbow wheel which goes on forever.

Following this, I restart. Early on I used to hit Option and choose the Mac OS X Installer from the two options that showed up. I do have Windows on Bootcamp partition. This method never worked.

So after every fail I started doing an erase and verify and repair. None of these choices worked. Finally, today when I tried my umpteenth reinstall, at the install screen, it says "Apple will not verify if OS X Lion can be installed on your computer" or something to that effect. At that point it said Verification failed. Please call Applecare.

Also, I can boot into my Windows partition just fine. I had a .dmg back up image I made when I made a Bootcamp partition. I thought it would be helpful to have that stored on an external so I tried to copy that over from the MAC side WHEN ON WINDOWS. That would always bring me to a BSOD. However, I could copy my data from my Windows partition onto an external. It appears that one of the many tries worked. However, I realized my external had a 13 odd gig .dmg image of the backup.

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Answer 14

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jan 23, 2012 6:03 PM in response to vinayakfromwest lafayette

vinayakfromwest lafayette wrote:

. . .

So after every fail I started doing an erase and verify and repair. None of these choices worked.

What do you mean by that? The erase failed? If so, with what message? It sounds like the disk may have failed.

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Answer 15

Jan 23, 2012 6:10 PM in response to Pondini

I should have been more clear. The verify and repair and everything works. The two ways I get to reinstalling Lion are erase after a failed install (in which case the OS X Installer is wiped and I need to click on reinstall Lion from disl utility) or hold Options and click on OS X Installer without erasing and just try the installation again. They don't help me in actually installing. that was what I meant by they both don't work.

Wouldn't a disk failure mess with the Windows side as well? If one OS boots fine but when trying to read the other side from Windows, it crashes, tells me something is funky with the Mac installation rather than the hardware.

Also, I was trying to read from the Mac side when I actually had it installed. It has since been erased so no more Mac data left.

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