Use ethernet instead of wifi for reinstalling Lion?

Question

Level 1

18 points

Use ethernet instead of wifi for reinstalling Lion?

The harddrive became unbootable, so I re-formatted it from Recovery HD and now I need to reinstall Lion, which requires an internet connection to do so.

I've connected my Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter but it isn't picking up an IP address according to the Network Utility within Recovery HD. Do I have to use wifi? It's a 4 GB download. Wifi will be slow. When I plug the same ethernet cable into the ethernet port on a MacBook Pro, Network Utility there picks up an IP, so I know that the ethernet part is working.

Here's a picture of the screen of Network Utility within Recovery HD detecting the Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter but not detecting an IP:

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012), Windows 7

Posted on Jul 3, 2012 3:10 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

captfred

Level 7

26,422 points

Jul 3, 2012 3:37 PM in response to ckahn

You might have to use the Wifi connection. I'm not sure if the Recovery HD has been updated for the TB ethernet adapter yet. In any case your wifi speed is probably faster than your internet connection so it shouldn't slow you down much if any.

Reply