How am I supposed to reinstall OS X Lion?

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How am I supposed to reinstall OS X Lion?

I recently wiped my late 2006 iMac's Hard Drive the other day. It was a spring cleaning kind of thing. And well Long story short I dont know how Im going to be able to reinstall the OS. When I go into Mac OS X Utilities and try to reinstall the OS, it prompts me to put in my Apple ID. When I do so it then tells me to please put in an Apple ID that was used to purchase OS X Lion. Well the only thing for me to do was go to Apple.com and purchase the OS. Even doing this im still stuck. Apple will send me an E-mail containing a key to put in the Mac's App store to start downloading the OS. Theres no way for me to do this since I dont have my iMac functioning at the moment. What am I supposed to do? Is there a way to download it from a PC and put the iso on a CD/DVD or a flash drive?

iMac, Other OS

Posted on May 5, 2014 1:20 PM

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Answer 1

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MichelPM

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May 5, 2014 1:50 PM in response to -iMichael-

If this is a 2006 iMac, you do not have the orignal gray colored installation disks?

You didn't make a backup of your entire current OS X system and data before deciding, arbitrarily to completely wipe your hard drive and do a clean install?

If you do not have your orignal, gray system install discs, the only way to get back to OS X 10.7 Lion, is to purchase an retail install disc of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Found here.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Unless you already have a retail OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard install disc to use.

After you do the initial OS install, you need to use OS X Software Update feature to update to OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard so you have, once again, access to the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store only became available when OS X 10.6.7 became available.

Good Luck!

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Answer 2

-iMichael- Author

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May 5, 2014 1:54 PM in response to MichelPM

I do not have the original disk because I got the iMac from a friend of mine. And he didnt have the disk either because he got the iMac from someone else. I didn't back up the entire system.. the only items I do have backed up are things like Music, Photos, Documents, ect. I thought about buying Snow Leopard but I didn't want to have to spend the extra money since I just purchased OS X Lion.

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Answer 3

MichelPM

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May 5, 2014 2:04 PM in response to -iMichael-

You need to install Snow Leopard first before being able to install Lion.

Yes, it is going to cost you $40 to do so.

Here is Lion's system requirements in case you doubt me.

OS X Lion system requirements

To use Lion, make sure your computer has the following:

An Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
Mac OS X v10.6.6 or later to install via the Mac App Store (v10.6.8 recommended)
7 GB of available disk space
2 GB of RAM

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Answer 4

-iMichael- Author

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May 5, 2014 2:05 PM in response to MichelPM

I don't doubt you 🙂

I just wish It didnt have to be this way.

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Answer 5

MichelPM

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80,958 points

May 5, 2014 2:24 PM in response to -iMichael-

It is the only way to get the Mac App Store back onto your Mac so you can use it and your LIon install code on the Mac App Store to install Lion.

This is why you need OS X Snow Leopard. No other way to access the Mac App Store.

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Answer 6

-iMichael- Author

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May 5, 2014 2:41 PM in response to MichelPM

I just thought of something... Do you think I could use the Mac Mini's in my Computer Repair/Networking class to get to the OS X Lion installer? I could get on their App store and put in the key I got from Apple then put the installer onto a flash drive. After its on the flash drive I could bring it back home and pop it in my iMac. You think that could work?

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Answer 7

MichelPM

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80,958 points

May 5, 2014 3:05 PM in response to -iMichael-

I am not sure. I am not sure if the actual installer part of Lion is not tied to your Apple ID on a Mac or not.

There is a procedure for installing the OS installer onto USB Flash drive. It wouldn't hurt to try this approach.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install -drive.html

http://macs.about.com/od/macoperatingsystems/ss/Create-A-Bootable-Flash-Drive-Wi th-Os-X-Lion-Installer.htm

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-create-an-os-x-mavericks-usb-installation-drive-145 0280026

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Answer 8

-iMichael- Author

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May 5, 2014 3:21 PM in response to -iMichael-

Alright, Thanks for the Links MichelPM! They will really help me with this. Ive never created a bootable Thumb Drive before. I'll get started on this as soon as I can. I just really hope it works.. Ill keep you updated. Fingers crossed 🙂

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