Downgrade Mountain Lion to Lion USING Clean Install

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Level 1

8 points

Downgrade Mountain Lion to Lion USING Clean Install

I've recently purchased a MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) that came with Lion, I then upgraded to Mountain Lion, I don't like Mountain Lion at all and I'd really preffer Lion, so now I want to downgrade to Lion. No I don't have a Time Machine nor a backup of what was before, and YES I do want to do a clean install of Lion (since I don't have any files to lose or whatever). Do I still have it as a Lion Recovery HD or is it now a Mountain Lion Recovery HD?? If not, is there any way I could get Lion back since I don't have it in the AppStore (It came with the MacBook Pro as mentioned above)??

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 2, 2013 12:10 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 2, 2013 2:57 PM in response to negib

AFAIK, restoring via the recovery mode should restore Lion (you can't get it via the MAS, since it came with the machine). Then, if you ever want ML, you can DL it again from the MAS.

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Answer 2

negib Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 2, 2013 3:35 PM in response to baltwo

Yes that's what I thought too, but I've read that Apple updated the firmware so that people using Mountain Lion can do a recovery of Mountain Lion (which is in fact the logical thing to do, but not practical because ML isn't quite there yet).

When I go into recovery mode on startup (cmd + R), the Reinstall OS X option in OS x Utilities shows the image of Mountain Lion, would Lion become an option if I choose to erase the disk??

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 2, 2013 3:45 PM in response to negib

That, I don't know, not having a machine that shipped with either Lion versions. All I can suggest is to inquire at Apple's Express Lane or Apple Support.

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Answer 4

negib Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 2, 2013 10:42 PM in response to baltwo

Unfortunetly, I have neither of them in my country.

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 2, 2013 11:27 PM in response to negib

negib wrote:

Unfortunetly, I have neither of them in my country.

Which is? International contact numbers are in http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57

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Answer 6

negib Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 3, 2013 7:34 AM in response to baltwo

It's not on the list. I'm gonna erase the disk and see if I can install Lion that way.

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Answer 7

negib Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 3, 2013 10:31 AM in response to baltwo

Just did a clean install of Mountain Lion, Lion wasn't available.

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Answer 8

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jan 3, 2013 11:55 AM in response to negib

Since your Mac came with Lion pre-installed you need to do an Internet Recovery by pressing/holding the COMMAND+OPTION+R keys until you see a spinning globe. This will connect to Apple's servers and the OS X Utilities option to reinstall OS X will be for Lion, not Mountain Lion.

Since you have Mountain Lion installed, the Recovery HD (CMD+R) on your hard drive is ONLY for ML installs. Internet Recovery is the way to get back to pre-installed Lion that came with your system.

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Answer 9

negib Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 6, 2013 4:50 AM in response to keg55

YES!! Thank you it worked!!

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Answer 10

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jan 6, 2013 6:47 AM in response to negib

My pleasure.

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