Macbook OS This item is temporarily unavailable

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Level 1

4 points

Macbook OS This item is temporarily unavailable

I was just given a Macbook Pro by my uncle it is his old one i do not know what model exactly. He wanted me to deuthorize the Mac from iTunes, he also wanted me to sign him out of iCloud and wipe the drive. I did all this and when I went to reinstall the OS with my apple id as he had given it to me, I always get This item is temporarily unavailable. I have looked online and tried a few solutions but none seem to work. I have also tried Command Option R and Command R. I have never owned a mac before is there any way to have it connect to my Apple ID. Thanks.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jul 11, 2016 11:29 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Jul 12, 2016 10:02 AM in response to Masterblakie

Enter the serial number in the link below to find out the model number. If the model number is 3.1 or higher, you can install OS El Capitan (10.11).

https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

If you have access to another Mac, you can go to the App Store, sign in with your Apple ID, and download 10.11. You can make a bootable USB stick to install using this free program which will do all the work for you. Boot off of it, run Disk Utility and select First Aid. Reformat the drive using Disk Utility/Erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then click the Option button and select GUID. Then install the OS.

Bootable USB Flash Drive – Diskmaker X

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Answer 2

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Jul 12, 2016 11:27 AM in response to Masterblakie

Some background on recovery mode…

OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

After you work out what model you have this link will tell you if your model also supports internet recovery…

Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery - Apple Support

cmd+alt+r at startup will try to launch internet recovery, that mode will try to download a basic system to get the interface working & then you can install the original OS version (it gets downloaded too). Internet recovery can take a long time be patient with it. Ideally use a wired ethernet connection if available - it is faster & usually more reliable than Wifi.

If this is too complex or your internet is slow or capped (the OS's are many GB downloads) you can go to an Apple store to get help. They should allow you to download the installer & should help you get started.

Apple have this as an alternative to DiskmakerX, assuming you can access another Mac

Create a bootable installer for OS X - Apple Support

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