Can't Install Mac OS X 10.8 after erase

Do not post any serial numbers here! This is an open forum where anyone can pick up such information. With that number, it's possible to commit fraud.

Never, ever consider buying a disk or flash drive from the jillion sites selling illegal copies of the Mac OS. Unless you're a highly skilled programmer and know what to look for in such an installer, you will have no way of knowing if that illegal installer is putting a keylogger, back door, or other malware on the drive.

Lion was available on an official flash drive from Apple. No disk was ever available. This is what it looks like. Anything else is an illegal copy:

For Mountain Lion and later, the only legal source was through the App Store as a download. No media has ever been available for any version of OS X/macOS since Mountain Lion.

Hi Kurt...

I have macbook already upgrade to os X Lion, but made my macbook slower.

I already format HD with internet recovery startup and I was following your instruction and when i'm reinstall mac os X Lion after sign in my apple ID got text "This item is temporarily unavailable : Please try again later" and im stuck with that problems.

Can you help me to fix and reinstall my macbook again?
For your info my Mac is The MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13-Inch (White Polycarbonate "Unibody" - Mid-2010) shipped with OS X 10.6.3

Thanks before...

Thanks Kurt for your reply,

I already plug the cable this morning from my ruoter to reinstall mac X OS. But not fix the problem, still get message "This item is temporarily unavailable : Please try again later"

any idea to fix this promblem?

Thanks before for your attention Kurt...

Hello Kurt, it seems you have helped and replied to many posts on here. I know you are probably sick and tired of hearing this...I'm having same issues as many people that posted here.

I received iMac from a friend (model a1224). It had Version 10.7.5 and I wanted to reboot/restart it. I followed the steps that I found on Apple site and I came to same problems as many people did here.

Link- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

I started by turning on the computer and holding option+command+r. The Mac OS Utilties window came up. So I selected Disk Utilities, went to my Macintosh HD drive (I wasn't sure which one I should have erased)...erased it...(probably selected the wrong harddrive, after reading all these posts). After erasing it, the drive was unmounted. So I mounted it back and returned to Utilities page and tried installing the OS. I have Gone to the step where you select a drive to install the os on(I'm using a phone to type this...when I get on my laptop I will send pictures). I select the macintosh HD and click install and come to the point where it asks for Apple ID. I first entered my own Apple ID, it says "this item is temporarily unavailable" try again later. So with that problem...I started to search for more posts on line.

I went back to Disk Utilities and selected the first hard drive listed which is Hitachi HdT7.... and went to erase it. So it turned out it tried to erase the Macintosh HD drive but a message came up "Disk erase fails, couldn't unmount Disk."

So my next step was to go into "partition". I select partition 1, the guid partition table is selected, format setting is Mac OS extended (journaled) and I make up a name and I click apply... and I receive a message. "Partition failed, couldn't unmount Disk".

I think I have tried everything....at this point the Mac OS X utilities starts up without even using command option R.

I have also tried getting my friend's Apple ID to log in during installing the OS and it still ends with the same error. "This item is temporarily unavailable"

Do you think I might be able to "rescue" the computer so I can use it?

I was also wondering if there's any way to transfer ownership of the computer from one ID to another. For example, deactivate it on my friend's account and activate it under mine and maybe that will work and let me log in and install it. (Just an idea)

Open the App Store. Since that Mac can't be upgraded any further than El Capitan, it should give you the option to "purchase" it.

You can also go to this page. Scroll down and click on the link in the first bullet point (get El Capitan from the App Store).

Both Lion and Mountain Lion are still available for purchase. They were never free versions, unlike Mountain Lion and later. I can only guess that's why Apple still makes them available. You make the purchase online. You will then receive two emails, one of which will contain your Redeem code to be used in the App Store.

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

Before doing so, what exact model Mac do you have. It will do you no good to purchase either if your Mac is too new to install them.

He said the El Capitan was running on it before he gave it to me and erased everything.

Which is correct. App Store purchases (they're considered a "purchase" even if it's a free item) are tied to the App Store ID it was purchased under. So if at any time you had needed to reinstall El Capitan, it would have asked for the previous owner's ID and password, which you don't have.

You can get the retail Snow Leopard disk here. Insert the DVD into the Mac's drive and restart. Immediately hold down the C key. The Mac will boot to the DVD. As soon as you have the option, click on the top menu bar and launch Disk Utility. Choose the hard drive at the left and Erase it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The name can be almost anything you want. The erase takes less than a minute. Quit Disk Utility and install the OS.

When it's done, the Mac will automatically reboot to the internal hard drive. 10.6.3 will be the current OS, since that's what the DVD is. Then download and install the 10.6.8 Combo Updater. That will put the App Store on the drive. Ignore any other updates Software Update says to install. You're going to move on to El Capitan after that anyway. No sense wasting any more time on the other Snow Leopard updates.

It will reboot again after the Combo updater installs. Now you'll be able to open the App Store, create your own user ID and password, and then obtain El Capitan.

Model A1224 originally shipped with OS X, 10.4.10. Which means it can't boot to recovery firmware using Command+Option+R. It doesn't have that capability. What it did, without giving you a clue what that was, is it booted to the hidden recovery partition on the drive, as if you had used Command+R. That's why you get the message that the drive can't be unmounted. You're booted to the hidden recovery partition of the drive, and so can't remove it out from under yourself.

You can't transfer any App Store purchases. They are always locked to the ID of the person who obtained it.

There are a few ways out of your current predicament.

1) Find the gray disks the Mac shipped with. Boot to disk one and use Disk Utility to completely wipe the drive. Booted to th DVD, you will be able to partition the current recovery partition off the drive and reinstall the original OS. Upgrade the OS as you need it from there.

2) Basically the same as method 1, but will save time. In order to get at the App Store to retrieve Lion or later from your App Store account (presuming you have some of the older version of OS under your purchases), use a retail copy of Snow Leopard to do the same thing as step 1. Boot to the DVD and completely wipe the drive. This a time saver because in order to get the App Store on the drive, you have to be running 10.6.6 at minimum anyway. A retail disk will install 10.6.3 and you can then apply the 10.6.8 Combo Updater. From there, login to your App Store account to upgrade past Snow Leopard. This method is particularly useful if you can't locate the original 10.4.x disks. A retail Snow Leopard disk is only $20 from Apple. Cheaper than getting replacement gray 10.4.x disks.

3. Not so much a solution as a confirmation. There are quite a few folks who've posted here that they boot into Recovery mode on the drive, but then get the message about being "temporarily unavailable". I haven't seen anyone post what that really means, other than Apple's server is offline, overloaded with requests, or other. Typically, the advice is to just try again later.

Hello Kurt,

Thank you so much for all your help. You have given me the most information and very helpful. I will probably go with buying Snow Leopard disk and update my mac from there.

When I enter the disk, will it complicated to install or will there be instructions on the screen once the CD is entered?

When I enter the disk, will it complicated to install or will there be instructions on the screen once the CD is entered?

It's pretty straight forward and easy to step through. At the first opportunity when booting to the DVD, go to the top menu bar and launch Disk Utility. Use the steps outlined earlier in this topic to remove everything from the drive by repartitioning it. You want to get that old hidden recovery partition off the drive.

Once Snow Leopard is installed, use the Combo Updater to get it to 10.6.8. There's no need to install any other updates Software Update finds if you're going to upgrade it past Snow Leopard. According to the listings at everymac.com, the model you have supports up to El Capitan, 10.11.x. So you'll be able to upgrade to that for free.

Hi Kurt,

so i got snow leapord up and running but now when i try to update it to higher version, it keeps saying its up to date and its still 10.6.8. Not sure if there is a link to download el capitano or lion update like Erick Root posted. Let me know thanks!

Hello guys,

I have the same problem with my macbook. I bought it as it was completely empty. It's trying to install the Lion but it's not available. And have no more options. I made all the steps you guys wrote but no success. What can I do? Thanks

We need to know what model it is before any useful advice can be given.

Go to this page and enter the serial number. It should be on the bottom of a MacBook.

Then post a link here of the model it shows you is the MacBook you have.

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved and is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

What computer model/year of computer do you have and what OS are you using?

I went through everything that was said on here too and it didn't work as well. Call the apple store and let them walk you through it and they can give you an answer. I solved my issue by buying a cd to install the OS and worked just fine.