Getting late 2013 rMBP ready for sale by installing El Capitan

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Getting late 2013 rMBP ready for sale by installing El Capitan

I have a late 2013 rMBP that I'd like to get ready for sale. First I'd like to totally wipe the drive (partitions and all) with a fresh install of El Capitan so that even recovery (command R) option is El Capitan, and the system is fresh for the next user. How would I go about doing this - will just running the El Capitan update through the App Store accomplish this?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Feb 9, 2016 10:12 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 9, 2016 10:15 AM in response to Shodan_Cat

What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

keg55

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11,755 points

Feb 9, 2016 10:26 AM in response to Shodan_Cat

I have a late 2013 rMBP that I'd like to get ready for sale. First I'd like to totally wipe the drive (partitions and all) with a fresh install of El Capitan so that even recovery (command R) option is El Capitan, and the system is fresh for the next user. How would I go about doing this

What BobTheFisherman provided is the correct way to install the version of OS X that came pre-installed as well as other considerations like signing out of iCloud and iTunes. You will also want to go to your My Support Profile and remove your 2013 Mac from your list of Products you own.

But since you want to give the buyer El Capitan, then all you need to do is restart into Recovery Mode (Command+R), erase the Macintosh HD via Disk Utility and Reinstall OS X. After the install is complete and you are at the Setup screen to enter a user account, just Shutdown the Mac.

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Answer 3

Shodan_Cat Author

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Feb 9, 2016 10:24 AM in response to keg55

Thanks keg55; if I do this having Yosemite currently installed, will it automatically install El Capitan or do I need to update through App Store first and *then* perform the Recovery Mode reinstallation?

Thanks again 🙂

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Answer 4

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,306 points

Feb 9, 2016 10:39 AM in response to Shodan_Cat

internet recovery will install the OS that came with your mac when it was purchased new, this is a transferable instance of OS X because it is tied to the machine.

You will need to have the account that managed by the new owner to upgrade to 10.11 otherwise if decide to use yours the instance of OS X is tied to your apple ID, not the machine, and would not be transferable by law. In other words, they need to download it themselves to their apple ID account if the machine is eligible to download with what it came with, not what you may have purchased when you owned it.

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Answer 5

keg55

Level 6

11,755 points

Feb 9, 2016 10:33 AM in response to Shodan_Cat

You will want to go to the App Store, download El Capitan and install it. Then use Recovery Mode to reinstall it.

Or you can just download the Install OS X El Capitan.app, Quit the installer instead of clicking Continue and create an 8GB USB thumb drive installer. While keeping Yosemite installed, boot from the newly created installer, use Disk Utility to erase the Macintosh HD; then Reinstall OS X.. This way you won't have to redownload it. Everything is on the USB thumb drive to install OS X El Capitan.

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