Preparing MacBook Pro for resale, cannot download macOS High Sierra

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Preparing MacBook Pro for resale, cannot download macOS High Sierra

I am trying to prepare a mid-2010 MacBook Pro 13" Unibody for resale. Before doing anything else, I though I would follow instructions on creating a bootable recovery disk, since booting with cmd + R did not work. Sadly, the procedure involves extracting part of the High Sierra installer, but there seems to be no option to download this version of macOS, now that Mojave has been released, nor is there an installer lying around in my Apps folder or in the App Store in the list of my purchases, contrary to other, older versions of OS X, resp. macOS.

Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), (late-2011) 16 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD

Posted on Sep 28, 2018 4:16 PM

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Answer 1

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Richard Liu Author

Level 1

100 points

Oct 8, 2018 9:56 AM in response to babowa

I have just had a chat with Apple about this problem. I am not obliged to go out of my way to obtain the original OS. Here is the transcript:

Montag, Okt 08, 2018 08:44 AM
Dauer 20 Minuten 48 Sekunden

Claudia

Danke, dass Sie sich an den Apple Support gewandt haben. Mein Name ist Claudia. Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?

Claudia

Hallo, ist es ein Ordnung wenn wir uns duzen oder möchten Sie beim ”Sie” bleiben?

Richard

Hallo Claudia. Ja, duzen ist gut. Ich möchte meinen MacBook Pro 13" mid-2010 verkaufen. Ich habe "What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac" gelesen. Der Haken an der Sache: Momentan läuft macOS 10.13.6 auf dem Gerät. Kein Recovery Partition ist vorhanden. Ich habe den Original-CD (mit Snow Leopard drauf?) nicht mehr. Kann Ich Recovery über Internet machen, den Harddisk löschen, und 10.13 installieren?

Claudia

Verstehe. Ich kann das gerne kurz einmal mit Dir durchgehen, welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, den Mac neu aufzusetzen, so dass man ihn verkaufen kann.

Claudia

Normalerweise solltest Du schon eine Recovery haben, wenn Du 10.13 installiert hattest. Mit welcher Tastenkombination hattest Du es denn versucht?

Richard

Mit R, glaube ich, oder cmd + R. Meine Frage betrifft die Lizenz. Die legalen Geister im Apple Forum meinen, ich muss auf Biegen und Brechen das Original-OS installieren. Auch wenn das möglich wären, tue ich dem nächsten Besitzer keinen Gefallen.

Claudia

Nun, im Idealfall installiert man tatsächlich das originale Betriebssystem wieder, was in Deinem Fall schwierig sein dürfte, ohne eine DVD. Allerdings gibt es noch einen Umweg. Sofern Du einen USB-Stick mit mindestens 16GB Kapazität hast, könnte man 10.13.6 noch einmal herunterladen und einen bootfähigen Stick erstellen. Von diesem aus kann man dann die Festplatte löschen und macOS High Sierra neu installieren.

Claudia

Wobei es auch noch eine Möglichkeit für eine Recovery gibt. Hast Du auch einmal versucht, mit CMD+ALT+R zu starten?

Richard

Claudia, all diese Möglichkeiten sind mir klar. Das mit High Sierra nochmal runterlasen funktioniert nicht, da High Sierra im App Store nicht mehr erscheint, auch nicht unter Purchases. Aber ich denke, Du hast auch bestätigt, dass es OK ist, High Sierra nochmals zu installieren. Wenn ich mich richtig erinnere, unterbreche ich die Installation -- wie auch immer ich sie gestartet habe -- wenn die Maschine sich bootet und nach der Installationssprache fragt.

Claudia

Das ist richtig. Sobald der Mac nach der Installation neu gestartet ist und der Setup-Assistent startet, schaltet man einfach aus. Und es ist auch richtig, dass man macOS High Sierra aktuell nicht mehr direkt im App Store findet, aber man kann es noch bekommen, wenn man diesen Link in Safari am Mac öffnet.

Claudia

Auf der Webseite ist dann ein weiterführender Link, der den AppStore öffnet und High Sierra anbietet.

Richard

OK, ich danke Dir und wünsche Dir noch einen schönen Tag.

Claudia

Gerne. Dann wünsche ich Dir auf jeden Fall auch noch einen schönen Tag und hoffe, dass Du soweit mit meiner Unterstützung zufrieden warst. Falls Du keine weiteren Fragen, Anliegen oder Feedback für mich hast, kannst Du den Chat einfach beenden.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Apple Support

I apologize that the chat took place in German. In summary, it is OK to (1) follow the instructions in What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support , which isn't very helpful at the very end, where it blithely states that one should boot into Recovery mode, wipe the hard disk, and reinstall the OS. The above chat confirms that one can use whatever way works to boot into Recovery mode, including, as stated further below, Internet Recovery, and then install macOS. I am unsure what version will be installed by Internet Recovery, but, given a choice, I will certainly select 10.13.6.

Regarding non-transferability of license, that surely ends when I wipe the boot disk. It will be the next owner who runs the Setup Assistant who will agree to another license.

[Personal Information Edited by Host]

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Answer 2

Sep 28, 2018 4:22 PM in response to Richard Liu

Help for a backup > What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Oct 2, 2018 6:30 AM in response to babowa

It maybe if you no longer have access to the original OS media that the safest option is to

Erase the drive and leave it blank - ensure the RecoveryHD partition is also wiped
Tell the purchaser about using Internet Recovery - see About macOS Recovery - Apple Support

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,412 points

Sep 28, 2018 6:23 PM in response to Richard Liu

The legal option is not to install a newer operating system than what shipped on that MBP, but rather reinstall the original operating system that shipped on that mid-2010 MBP via the installer disks that came with it. If you no longer have these, you should contact Apple about their sending you replacements, that you will need to include when it is sold.

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Answer 5

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Oct 13, 2018 3:10 AM in response to Richard Liu

as far as I remember, logging into the (internet) Recovery with CMD+R+Alt/Option will install the original OS from the internet.

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Answer 6

Richard Liu Author

Level 1

100 points

Sep 28, 2018 4:34 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Been there, tried that.

"The best way to restore your Mac to factory settings is to erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS."

That is done from macOS Recovery, performed on most modern Macs by cmd + R while booting. As I said, it does not work on such an old Mac, and so I decided to try any of a number of available recipes, including How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support. They all begin with downloading an installer. I figured, since the machine is now running macOS 10.13.6, it makes some sense to download the installer for that. I hadn't realized that all the OS's between Lion and El Capitan appear in my Purchased list in the App Store, but neither Sierra nor High Sierra.

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Answer 7

Richard Liu Author

Level 1

100 points

Sep 28, 2018 10:48 PM in response to VikingOSX

Oh dear, where in the world did you get that idea? Please supply a link to a statement from Apple.

In What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support, step 6, one is told to erase the hard disk and to reinstall macOS. How to reinstall macOS is not further described, nor is a link provided. However, googling for "how to reinstall macOS" finds, among other web pages, How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support. In neither article does Apple mention a restriction on the version installed. In fact, in the latter, it describes an option to "[u]pgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac" and this is still legally my Mac. I can hardly imagine a restriction of the kind that you mention, since major upgrades of OS X and macOS have been free since OS X Mavericks (10.9). I do understand that I am not allowed to pass on any software that was installed on the machine before wiping the hard disk. The new user only gets what is installed during the reinstallation

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Answer 8

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Oct 1, 2018 6:34 PM in response to Richard Liu

A little late to the party, but since you were having a problem finding the legalese about having to reinstall the original OS -

Off the bat I find no article from Apple support on restoring to factory settings

There may or may not be an article. What is important, is the software licensing agreement which you agreed to and which states on page 6, Section 3 b:

B. If you obtained your license to the Apple Software from the Mac App Store or through an automatic

download, it is not transferable. If you sell your Apple-branded hardware to a third party, you must

remove the Apple Software from the Apple-branded hardware before doing so, and you may restore your

system to the version of the Apple operating system software that originally came with your Apple

hardware (the “Original Apple OS”) and permanently transfer the Original Apple OS together with your

Apple hardware, provided that: ℹ the transfer must include all of the Original Apple OS, including all its

component parts and its license; (ii) you do not retain any copies of the Original Apple OS, full or partial,

including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (iii) the party receiving the Original

Apple OS reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of the Original Apple OS license.

From here:

https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS1013.pdf

(please note: all SLA's contain the same restrictions).

Since yours is a 2010, you will need to get the original install media.

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Answer 9

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Oct 8, 2018 9:52 AM in response to Richard Liu

Well, I am fluent in German, so I understood whatever Claudia said. Which, in part, is simply wrong because it violates the licensing agreement. Tech support help is not always up to date with legal terms. Here is a link to the SLA:

https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS1013.pdf

Note (in English) Section/para 3 B (page 6) which states that you must erase any software you've obtained from the app store because it is NOT transferable. Putting the latest OS on a USB stick which YOU download is not transferable either, so it should not be transferred to a new owner. Additionally, the only way to disassociate the machine from the seller's Apple ID is to follow the steps outlined.

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Answer 10

Oct 26, 2018 5:31 AM in response to Richard Liu

It turns out, that you both are right.

You shouldn't give a Mac away on which a software is installed you purchased with your AppleID from the AppStore as this violates the license agreement.

But you may have realised that starting with Sierra, the macOS is not longer visible under "Purchased" in the App Store. You don't even have to log in with an AppleID to get them from the AppStore.

That means in theory, that the macOS will be connected to the hardware you install it on rather than to your AppleID. If you download and install it, before selling your Mac, you simply give away the license to the new owner. Like in the old times, when you installed the bundled version from those grey DVDs and gave the DVDs away with the Mac.

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Answer 11

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Oct 13, 2018 8:32 AM in response to Lexiepex

Unfortunately not on that model as it came with install DVD and Snow Leopard which cannot be downloaded.

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Answer 12

dialabrain

Level 10

136,553 points

Sep 28, 2018 11:12 PM in response to Richard Liu

The first sentence from the page you linked…

Before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac, you should back up your computer, disable some features and services, and restore to factory settings by erasing the hard drive and reinstalling macOS.

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Answer 13

babowa

Level 9

78,580 points

Oct 2, 2018 8:07 AM in response to John Lockwood

The problem is that unless the hard drive is wiped and the other steps of signing out of the Apple ID are followed, the machine will still be associated with the original Apple ID used. And, free OS or not, the license is not transferable.

So, the buyer doing these steps may work and be easier for seller (I don’t think they’d be safer, just less hassle), but legally it is the seller’s obligation and I, for one, prefer to follow those rules/terms.

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Answer 14

Richard Liu Author

Level 1

100 points

Oct 8, 2018 10:29 AM in response to babowa

Well, I am fluent in German, so I understood whatever Claudia said.

Good, thanks for confirming that I have faithfully represented what is contained on the transcript.

I see no sense in flogging a dead horse. An Apple employee said that it is alright to proceed in the manner that I outlined above. I fulfill my responsibility by wiping the hard disk, and what I install in order to give the new owner the usual Apple experience requires that he/she accept the license before setting up the machine and using it. This is the way I have been selling my PowerBooks and MacBooks for years. Transferring the remaining AppleCare that all but this laptop have had does require sending a letter to Apple with the new owner's name, email, etc. I have always done that, too.

You are misinformed about the purpose of the USB stick. It is not the OS itself that is transferred to it, but the recovery partition, what Claudia refers to as "einen bootfähigen Stick erstellen". The recovery code is extracted from the OS installation using Terminal. This is an alternative to an Internet Recovery. All these procedures have, for my intent, a single purpose, namely, to enable me to boot the machine, wipe its hard disk, and install the OS. When the OS installation is finished, the machine boots into the setup, and I turn off the machine. Setting up and agreeing to any licenses is the job of the next owner, just as it was when I bought the machine new.

Thanks for your contribution to the thread.

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Answer 15

Richard Liu Author

Level 1

100 points

Oct 8, 2018 11:15 AM in response to babowa

No, it is you who have made up yours. I was open-minded enough to consult an Apple representative on the matter and have related here what she told me, not because she agrees with me -- I would have done the same had she agreed with you -- but because others who face the same problem might be more interested in a solution than in hairsplitting and sophistry.

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Preparing MacBook Pro for resale, cannot download macOS High Sierra

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