iLife missing after a clean install of Mountain lion..

You should have wiped and installed 10.7, restored iLife from the AppStore and then upgraded to 10.8.

Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion

If you erase install OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion on a new Mac that shipped with OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion installed, you can download iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand from the Mac App Store.

1. After installation, start (up) from OS X.
2. Double-click the App Store icon in the dock.
3. Enter your Apple ID and password.
4. Click Purchases.
5. If you haven't previously accepted your bundled iLife applications within the Mac App Store, you should see your iLife applications appear in the Accept portion of the screen. Click Accept.
6. You may be asked for your Apple ID and password once again. Your iLife applications now move to the Purchased section. These applications are part of the software that came with your Lion based computer. Your account will not be charged for them. Click Install to complete installation of your applications.

Because you wiped and installed 10.8, you don't get the free iLife.

So your decison at this point is it worth it to buy a new copy of iLife or wipe and install 10.7, get the free copy and then redownload 10.8 again.

That's funny. I install ML clean on a separate partition and still have the iLife Apps listed in my purchases on the App store. But then I did use the setup system to copy all my Files, Programs and Settings over from my Lion partition. Never really booted into the CLEAN install of ML.

I suspect you haven't really signed into the Mac App store. When I go there even ML is listed in my purchases.

Did you buy iLife on the AppStore or was it a free Lion bundle on a new Mac?

I guess it's theoratically possible to install 10.8 on another partition, then setup assistant from the 10.7 partition which will transfer all programs, then boot into 10.8 and erase the 10.7 partition, clone the 10.8 partition to the 10.7 spot on the drive, then remove the 10.8 partition in Disk Utility and absorb the space of the 10.8 partition into the 10.7 (now 10.8) partition, thus getting all the iLife and optimizing the hard drive in the process.

It is my option that if you bought a Mac with Lion Pre-Installed, IE no Install discs supplied at all for anything, that the originally included iLife apps would, SHOULD, always be available to you from the MAS. Whether you upgrade to ML clean or whatever new version of OS X comes out in the future and you installed that clean.

Those Apps are included with the purchase of the Mac and should always be available to you, and to that Mac serial number, just like they were when all Mac's came with Re-Iinstall discs.

If not then that is just another bone head move by Apple.

EDIT:

And I have not deleted my Lion partition and don't plan on do so, ever.

I even have 2 Recovery partitions. One for Lion and the other for ML.

Shootist007 wrote:

Those Apps are included with the purchase of the Mac and should always be available to you, and to that Mac serial number, just like they were when all Mac's came with Re-Iinstall discs.

I agree.

If one wiped and installed 10.7 and tried to use the previous 10.6 machine specific disks to reinstall the bundled iLife programs the installer doesn't work as the OS has changed and possibly those versions of iLife are no longer compatible.

However one can use Pacifist from CharlesSoft to extract the programs from the 10.6 disks to 10.7, then run Software Update which would recognize the programs and update them accordingly.

If not then that is just another bone head move by Apple.

Vote with your wallet, I didn't buy a new Airport Extreme router this time around, saved $80 too.

Two can play at the sniveling petty game.

The iLife apps are always available to download, even after an OS upgrade, but the user must "accept" the apps on the Mac App Store after purchasing the Mac. After that is done, they will appear in the Purchased list until kingdom come. It sounds the OP never accepted the apps.

Honestly it shouldn't matter what OS is installed. Those apps, just like the Lion OS, is tied to, or should be tied to, the Mac serial number.

I am going to vote with my wallet. The Mac I have and the iPod I bought 3 years ago will be the only 2 Apple devices I will ever own.

Never again Apple.

Android, Windows and whatever MP3 player I chose when the iPod dies.

Shootist007,

OS upgrades purchased in the Mac App Store are not tied to a serial number. They can't be because the license allows for installation on multiple machines. The only OS that is tied to your serial number is the one that came pre-installed (the same one that it will install if you use Internet Recovery).

ClayG wrote:

The iLife apps are always available to download, even after an OS upgrade, but the user must "accept" the apps on the Mac App Store after purchasing the Mac. After that is done, they will appear in the Purchased list until kingdom come. It sounds the OP never accepted the apps.

You bring up a good point.

But I have reinstalled Lion a few time, CLEAN, and never had to Accept those Apps. They always showed in the purchases area once I had signed in to the MAS with the one and only Apple ID I created when I first go my MBP.

But if I have some time this evening I might just reinstall Lion to a clean external and check all this out.

Also since I made the Mountain Lion Install USB thumb drive right after installing ML last night I might even install that on another external fresh and clean and see what happens with those apps.

You only need to go through the "accept" process for the iLife apps once. Did you ever do that?

It also could very well be the case that the iLife apps are included in the installer of the original OS that came with your Mac (the one tied to the serial number), but not in the installers for subsequent OS upgrades. That would make sense since most users install upgrades over their existing OS rather than doing a clean install, which would keep installed apps in place and make the installer file smaller in size.

I know that but the iLife apps that came with my Mac, without a Reinstall DVD, should be available to me on that specific Mac always. Just like if they were included on a Re-Install DVD.

I'll find all this out this evening when I do what I said above.

Oh and the iLife apps are not included in any OS install system. Apple places them on all new Macs but they are separate items. Either on DVD or through the App store.

I admit the process is a bit confusing on the new Macs that don't include install DVDs or even an optical drive. But the truth is that the iLife apps ARE always available. The user must just go through one additional step of "accepting" the iLife apps on the Mac App Store, and then they will be available for re-download at any time (and on any machine).

I'm just finishing up the Clean install of Mountain Lion on an external drive. My late 2011 MPB is rebooting to the setup screens as I type this on my desktop PC. So I will post back soon with what I find out about the iLife Apps.