reinstalled Lion for MBA: IPhoto missing; CANNOT "accept" in App Store. Does anyone know why this might be? The Geniuses admitted to me that my ongoing issues were their fault, but have now refused to take care of this. I'll even BUY iphoto again, but ...

The issue is that if your Mac originally came with Snow Leopard, then the version of iLife that you orignally had was the DVD version, not the Mac App Store version. Where are your original install DVDs for the Mac? That is where the installer is located, on the bundled apps DVD.

I'm having the same issue that Yllek2 describes. I have installed iLife through the app store on other machines and I'm not sure why this one (MBA 13inch) won't let me. Either way, the user experience should be better than it is in the app store. I click "accept" and then enter my apple ID only to be dumped back on the app details page with the "accept" button still present. I should get an error message at the very least. I don't have iLife DVDs. If my machine came with them then they are long gone. Why can't I just buy iLife and download again? Whatever the reason, this appears broken in the app store and Apple should repair the functionality.

It isn't broken. You either bought the Mac 2nd hand or your Mac came with the iLife apps on it. If the former, the seller messed things up for you. If the latter, you must not have accepted the iLife apps when you first set up the Mac. If you failed to accept them and you used one of them, then as per the Terms of Use for the apps they are not updateable.

If you have iLife apps on another Mac, just copy them over to this one.

When the Mac was new, did you Accept the iLife apps into your account in the Mac App Store during initial setup of the Mac, and before you used either of the three apps? Yes or no. The behavior that the apps are still there on the Purchases pane with an Accept button tells me that you did not Accept them on initial setup.

Have you been using any of the three apps since you bought the Mac? As per the Terms of Use for the apps, if you did not accept them before using them, then they cannot be reinstalled and they cannot be updated.

Answer: no, I did not.

Then that is your answer. You did not accept the iLife apps into your iTunes/Mac App Store account before using them, so you did not turn them into MAS apps, subject to the MAS Terms of Use.

As such, they are one-trick-ponies, usuable only as is, not eligible for redownloads from the MAS and not eligible for updates from the MAS. If you did not save them in a backup, such as a Time Machine backup, they are lost to you as any other non-MAS app would be lost. And because of that, this one Mac cannot buy them from the MAS as well.

At this point, the only thing that you can do is copy MAS versions over to this Mac from another Mac that you may have.

I have exactly the same prob on my MacBookPro 17". Hard drive failed, local Apple store repaired it, then I found that iLife apps (and I need iPhoto) are missing, then I got stuck on the Accept button in the App store.

While I accept (pun intended) that Dah.veed's answer may be technically correct, it doesn't make sense from a user perspective.

Like Yllek2, I want the app store to tell me something usefull (i.e. not just loop on the Accept button) and/or I want to be able to just re-purchase the app!! Now we are being kept hostage in a no-mans land.

And there is the secondary issue of Apple staff reformatting the hard disk without warning their customer of this obviously known issue.

How do I copy a MAS iPhoto version from my desktop Mac Pro? Drag & drop the app from the app folder on a memory stick? And this won't get me into other trouble, licensing etc.?

Any advice much appreciated.

How do I copy a MAS iPhoto version from my desktop Mac Pro? Drag & drop the app from the app folder on a memory stick?

Yes, that should work fine if the version on the Mac Pro is a MAS version, it is self contained.

And this won't get me into other trouble, licensing etc.?

Again, not if it is a MAS version. You may install MAS versions of your apps on as many Macs as you own or have in your control.

Sounds like a plan, thank you. Will try when back home later and let you know if it works.

Guess if someone doesn't have another machine with MAS versions they are still stuck.

The apps used to be updated without any problem by the app store. Then I had to do a clean install of OSX, because of file corruptions. I am unable to understand how a reinstall of another program would change my license.

Now I have the same app store 'you need to accept', accept, and nothing happens nonsense as mentioned by others here.

This is very unfortunate also because my iPhoto libraries might be incompatible in the meantime with the orginal iLife version. And I would possibly risk corruptions.

Apple, on the phone, in fact admits there is a problem in the app store. However they refuse to do anything about it.

<Edited By Host>

It's difficult to answer your claims because we have no idea about your Mac. What model is it? What version of OS X shipped on it? What version of OS X is running on it now? Making wild claims and theats first gets you editted. Any further it get you removed. Continuing beyond that can get you shut down.

Well it's a MBP with lots of memory, and an OSX 10.8 mountain lion installed on it on a formatted hard drive. So, no history at all. I am not making any threats, I am just telling what is happening.

The position of Apple is that they admit they caused the problem, nevertheless refuse to act on it. Same as with the topic starter. This has little to do with iLife, it is about the App Store.

When the app store shows apps in the 'my purchases' list, asks to reaccept them (why???) and then refuses to act on my action to accept them, I would call that a bug. It doesn't give any feedback.

Bugs happen, that is not so much of a problem, but I want some kind of response. That could be we'll fix it in a few days/ weeks. Or buy the apps again and we will repay you. There are quite a few possibilities for them and most Apple users are willing to cooperate. It has nothing to do with actual application support. It is all about a non functioning cloud store.

I have been mailing with iTunes store support. They asked me to delete plist files on my disk that aren't there. Then they gave up. They redirected me to the AppleCare desk. The guy there acknowledges that it is an Apple problem. Gives me the opportunity to buy incident support for 50 euros, without any guarantee for success. Tells me that the solution is on the Apple website, which I doubt, but plainly refuses to tell me where I can find the page.

Me and my family have been Apple customers for almost a decade. Spent on business and private use about 14K euro. I fail to understand this attitude. Feels like plain arrogance to me.

The good news is: since they censored my last contribution (why, hello Russia, explanation, please, hello.....?) they seem to be reading the discussion here. Great! A solution is most appreciated.

Apple isn't here. Apple doesn't answer questions here. A fellow user alerted the forum hosts to your threat, which is why your comment was edited. A company owned and financed forum is always subject to users not make ugly comments about the company. This is not a democracy, it is a company owned website.

Is this one of the files that you were asked to delete?

Library/Application Support/App Store/adoption.plst

BTW, did you accept these apps into your account when you originally set up the Mac when new? What version of OS X originally shipped with this Mac?

Dah veed,

- The forum hosts are Aple people isn't it. So they do read it, I guess?

- I did not make ugly comments. Referring to Dutch consumer law isn't a crime, even although it is outside the U.S.

- Library/Application Support/App Store/adoption.plst -> this file is not there

- did you accept these apps... yes, and otherwise they cannot appear in the my purchases list, since the app store wouldn't know about them

- OS X originally -> Lion.

But I don't feel that is so relevant. There is no issue brought up by Apple about some licensing thing. The apps are presented in the app store, ready to be accepted. Just that doesn't work.