Former owner of a MAC with IOS X Lion erased OS off laptop before giving it to me. I am having difficulty in downloading the IOS X Lion even after setting up an Apple I-store account.
How do I get the old OS back on the laptop?
MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)
Lion is available from the App Store App. It's an application that is included with the last version of Snow Leopard onwards.
Depending on the model of MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, something you haven't really disclosed, you would most likely need to boot from disk #1 of the 2 disk DVDs that shipped from the Mac. If that OS X version installs Snow Leopard, then you would have to update it to the last version, then use the App Store app to purchase Lion, it's not free, or download and install El Capitan, for free, if your MacBook is new enough to run it.
You see, it's almost impossible to give you specific advice, because you haven't identified the specific model of MacBook that was given to you.
Your Tag line indicates a MacBook with Mountain Lion, but now your talking about what appears to be a different MacBook that was running Lion.
It could be anyone of these:
If you have a Macbook (NOT A MACBOOK PRO) you will have to use the original DVD install disks to install the original OSX. Then you will have to upgrade to 10.6.8 and then you will be in position to install Lion or a newer OSX.
No Macbook ever came with Lion installed. The Lion OSX that the prior owner deleted technically belonged to him and was connected to his Apple ID, not yours. That is why you are unable to install Lion.
Ciao.
The standard procedure is boot into recovery mode (hold cmd+R at startup).
Use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive. Install the OS (it is downloaded inside recovery mode, so have a fast reliable internet connection available). After that you can try upgrading to a newer OS if you have them in your Mac App store account.
What to do before you sell or give away your Mac - Apple Support
Step 5 links to this which explains the process.
How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support
Older Macs should have USB or CD/DVD's to install the OS, or you can make a bootable USB installer via another Mac.
was given a MAC with OS X Lion, but having difficulty downloading OS that was accidently erased by former owner
