This item is temporarily unavailable Mac error

Ahhh! I went in so many circles with this. I have a Mid 2011 Macbook Pro 13".

I couldn't access my Mac OS X Recovery when pressing Cmd + R or even Cmd + Shift + R, I could only access Internet Recovery Mode which was only letting me download Lion OS X. I couldn't download Lion OS X because I didn't have that OS associated with apple ID anymore, and I didn't have the original disk nor is there a physical disk being sold.

Per previous replies, I did end up buying the $20 digital version of Lion and applying the redemption code in the App Store while logged into the apple ID I would use in the Internet Recovery Mode. I did use my mac, but I'm sure you could you use the app on your iphone if you have that? But anyway, worked like a charm and now it's installing! I could cry with relief.

Thanks, THIS ONE REALLY WORKS. Glad I found it before bothering to faff around making bootable USB. Virtual Hugs & Kisses to you.

IN REPLY TO:

Re: this item is temporarily unavailable

Pcguyvancouver

SOLVED!!!!!!!!

without any help from useless support at apple....btw

The reason you get this message is YOUR apple id is not associated to an apple o/s.

DO Not use someone elses apple id. Youll get all their apps.

In the 4 choices you get click "GET HELP ONLINE"

This opens Safari.

Click icloud and sign in with your apple id.

Now you can go back to installing screen and the downloading will finally work because you have now shown applie id youve logged in from your computer.

What a **** show and i can't believe how easy it was to fix

So!!! After trying for three days, I tried my Apple ID and my brothers, the same message kept popping up. HOWEVER, I decided to try my dads so once i erased all data, and pressed command+R while restarting the mac, I went onto “ install Mac OS X Lion “, my dad was the original owner so when I typed in his ID information, instead of getting the “ temporarily unavailable ‘ pop up, it started downloading. Moral of the story; the original owners // previous Owners ID should fix this problem—- i think it’s a safety thing.

i ended up contacting apple support after doing everything i could think of & read online.. i started with an early version of lion, had to buy the update for mountain lion ($19.99 on the apple online store, they send you a code & you can redeem it in the mac app store then download) got my computer updated to the most recent mountain lion & from there i was able to download all the way up to high sierra for free.. (using a late 2009, early 2010 macbook pro)

restart the computer and hold down CMD OPT R until you see a spinning globe. it will download to the latest upgrade on your computer

i just did mine a few minutes ago. It did install a fresh new upgrade (High Sierra) when i held down command option R after a restart. Good luck to you, hope you find your solution

I ended up finding a 3rd-party site that archives old Mac OS installers and makes them available for download. They provided a link to a DiskMaker app that takes the installer and makes a disk image on a USB for you to use to install the OS. Search YouTube for: "Download Yosemite And USB Install - Easy & Free"

I called for Apple help and this awesome guy had me turn off my computer. When i turned it on he had me push command option R. I held them down until I saw the screen that said, Internet recovery. This allows you to recover your OS that is not associated with an Apple ID.

Once it downloaded the necessary components, I went into disk utility and picked the hard drive and erased it to make sure it was clear. Then i closed out of disk utility and went to reinstall os and viola, it reinstalled my OS.

I searched google high and low and couldn't find this "install from internet" option.

I’m sure this issue is fixed by now, but if anyone else has this issue maybe what I did will work for them. Just sign in with the original username that was used when the Mac was purchased and it should start installing just fine. I think it may be a safety feature, very weird but most things apple related are.

If the internet down load of OS X 10.XX is not working the it’s probably because your firmware is using an older version of Safari that is not compatible with App Store. You would need a firmware update to fix this. If you already erased the disk you will not be able to update the firmware. You can purchase a disk (ima before 2011) or usb of i.e. OS X 10.7 Lion at your own risk online eBay, Amazon. Trying to install Windows to this patrician if you have a intel processor and then downloading OS X 10. will not work as windows uses FAT formatting.

i ended up contacting apple support after doing everything i could think of & read online.. i started with an early version of lion, had to buy the update for mountain lion ($19.99 on the apple online store, they send you a code & you can redeem it in the mac app store then download) got my computer updated to the most recent mountain lion & from there i was able to download all the way up to high sierra for free.. (using a late 2009, early 2010 macbook pro)

Uh no. It actually worked for me. Here is the link for reference. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Incidentally, I solved it be downloading the installer from the app store, then creating a bootable installer disk. But, I was not able to get any of the OTA methods to work; I got the original error mentioned no matter which variation I tried.

wait, just so everything is clear, when you press down on the buttons cmd-opt-R after a restart, you are supposed to hold it down until you see the spinning globe. if you let go too early, it will not work.

is this what you've been doing?

Nite,

Also check if you changed the country of your apple id account, this would affect if you're able or not to update an app,

Regards,

wgalan