Complete Steps to Perform a Clean OS X Reinstall on Your MacBook Air

[yymca6]

Uninstalling Garage Band

Is it easier then to use App Zapper to uninstall Garage Band and any other apps that we may not be using? Reinstalling the OS seems more risky after reading people's comments after doing it.

2nd question: At the beginning of this thread someone wanted to use a portable HD like the WD Passport to install Parallels then Windows? Is it doable technically to run Parallels on an external HD and how can you install Windows on your portable HD when you have only one USB port on the MBA?

 

[alpinadvl]

Is it easier then to use App Zapper to uninstall Garage Band and any other apps that we may not be using? Reinstalling the OS seems more risky after reading people's comments after doing it.

I used AppZapper to remove Garageband - and had no issues doing it (just make sure to "deselect" the preference which preserves standard apple apps)

But, I do not see the harm in troubleshooting and getting Remote Disk to work - once you have done this - it is good to know for future reference. I would give it a try just to see if you can do it. It is really not an overly-complicated process, it just seems that way the first time because of the "unknown" factor.

I would encourage you or anyone to try it, for, at the very least, the benefit of learning about the process.

-alf

 

[Dh22]

Help

i got really excited about doing this and had hoped not to run into any problems. unfortunately, i did. i hope somebody can help me!

so this is where i am stuck:

I hold option and it boots, but then when it asks me to select my home network, there is nothing there.

I clicked into the "..." to enter in my own network manually. it asks for my wireless network name? and password. i entered them in (i put 2wire351 then my password) and for the last hour (literally) the circle progress thing just keeps going. I connect effortlessly to my network under normal conditions. hellllp.

thanks in advance =)

 

[alpinadvl]

i got really excited about doing this and had hoped not to run into any problems. unfortunately, i did. i hope somebody can help me!

so this is where i am stuck:

I hold option and it boots, but then when it asks me to select my home network, there is nothing there.

I clicked into the "..." to enter in my own network manually. it asks for my wireless network name? and password. i entered them in (i put 2wire351 then my password) and for the last hour (literally) the circle progress thing just keeps going. I connect effortlessly to my network under normal conditions. hellllp.

thanks in advance =)

can you try connecting to your router directly with an ethernet cable (via the dongle)? That is what I did - it would just "help" to eliminate the factors behind the problem. I wish I could be of better help.

 

[StayWhatYouAre]

i got really excited about doing this and had hoped not to run into any problems. unfortunately, i did. i hope somebody can help me!

so this is where i am stuck:

I hold option and it boots, but then when it asks me to select my home network, there is nothing there.

I clicked into the "..." to enter in my own network manually. it asks for my wireless network name? and password. i entered them in (i put 2wire351 then my password) and for the last hour (literally) the circle progress thing just keeps going. I connect effortlessly to my network under normal conditions. hellllp.

thanks in advance =)

I've just run a clean install on my macbook Air, wifi was nothing but problems, first it wouldn't connect until i'd deactivated the WPA encryption and then it took forever booting from the remot disk before eventually crashing.

Bought the Ethernet adapter and things were much smoother, didn't take much longer than if it was from a local CD/DVD drive. I did notice it took a good few minutes to see the disk in the source computer via Ethernet after starting up holding down alt.

Choosing the erase and install option has always worked well, no need to worry about using disk utility

I used a timemachine backup from my USB2 external to run the migration assistant, really impressed with how that worked for 40 GB of files.

Great computer, really enjoying it and my other half has inherited my CDuo Blackbook so everybody wins.


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[Doctor Q]

Please note that there is a Mac Guide for the topic of this thread:

MacBook Air: Complete Steps to Perform an OS X Reinstall​

The Guide links back to this thread for discussion.

 

[clayj]

Please note that there is a Mac Guide for the topic of this thread:

MacBook Air: Complete Steps to Perform an OS X Reinstall​

The Guide links back to this thread for discussion.

Great, except that the guide entries at the top of the MBA forum page don't seem to be showing up correctly much of the time.

 

[Doctor Q]

Great, except that the guide entries at the top of the MBA forum page don't seem to be showing up correctly much of the time.

What's wrong with them when they aren't correct?

 

[clayj]

What's wrong with them when they aren't correct?

They're just not there. Here's a screenshot I took just moments ago in Safari:

 

[clayj]

FYI, the steps in the first post in this thread have now been updated in the Guide:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Complete_Steps_to_Perform_a_Clean_OS_X_Reinstall_on_Your_MacBook_Air

 

[davekr]

OK, some quick questions here from a mac book pro user, seems I might want to do the clean install one day either to this mac book or perhaps a MBA in the future....

in step 6 you partition/repartition the hard drive first, does selecting "1 partition" give you one drive or 2 after the reformat and clean install? every time I have installed a "partition" I end up with 2 drives in effect? do you delete the partition later?

if one were to decide to "clean install" on a machine that has been in use for some time, and had all programs and data backed up to time machine, could one selectively pull data to the clean install afterwards? just looking for the least painful method of clean install and returning to the current state of my machine, minus the fluff the clean install pulls out?

 

[clayj]

OK, some quick questions here from a mac book pro user, seems I might want to do the clean install one day either to this mac book or perhaps a MBA in the future....

in step 6 you partition/repartition the hard drive first, does selecting "1 partition" give you one drive or 2 after the reformat and clean install? every time I have installed a "partition" I end up with 2 drives in effect? do you delete the partition later?

if one were to decide to "clean install" on a machine that has been in use for some time, and had all programs and data backed up to time machine, could one selectively pull data to the clean install afterwards? just looking for the least painful method of clean install and returning to the current state of my machine, minus the fluff the clean install pulls out?

When you select "1 Partition" in the Disk Utility, you are saying "I want there to be ONE partition." The existing partition will be deleted and a new one created in its place; this is why you should perform these steps before you install a bunch of stuff.

If you were to perform these steps later on, obviously you'd want to back up your data somewhere else first. Once the reinstall was complete, then you could restore your data and reinstall whatever applications you need.

 

[davekr]

When you select "1 Partition" in the Disk Utility, you are saying "I want there to be ONE partition." The existing partition will be deleted and a new one created in its place; this is why you should perform these steps before you install a bunch of stuff.

OK, I think I'm following, but what your describing above leads me to think that somehow there would be 2 drives? or what is the difference between 0 partitions and 1 partition?

If you were to perform these steps later on, obviously you'd want to back up your data somewhere else first. Once the reinstall was complete, then you could restore your data and reinstall whatever applications you need.

yes, I do understand, however I am contemplating using a yet to be purchased time capsule, and am wondering if doing a clean install after completely backing up to time capsule would allow me to access the backed up files given the clean install?

 

[clayj]

OK, I think I'm following, but what your describing above leads me to think that somehow there would be 2 drives? or what is the difference between 0 partitions and 1 partition?

I honestly don't follow what you are saying. 1 <> 2, and 0 <> 1.

A hard drive can contain anywhere from 0 to n number of partitions. Each partition acts like a separate logical hard drive on the actual physical hard drive. If you want to have more than one partition, knock yourself out; but you will be splitting up your total hard drive space across multiple logical drives. Obviously, having zero partitions means there are zero logical hard drives and therefore you can't actually store anything on the hard drive. In order to use a hard drive, you must have at least one partition.

The steps I have outlined will completely erase your physical hard drive and create a single drive-filling partition onto which OS X will be installed. If you want to complicate things by setting up more than one partition, that's your own lookout.

yes, I do understand, however I am contemplating using a yet to be purchased time capsule, and am wondering if doing a clean install after completely backing up to time capsule would allow me to access the backed up files given the clean install?

I don't have a solid grasp of how a Time Machine's backup can be used following the reformatting of your OS X partition, so I cannot speak to whether this will work. When I say "back up your files", I am referring to just copying them somewhere else. If this means using Time Machine and you're sure that will work, then fine.

 

[clayj]

Went throught the process as described by clayj... Worked like a charm !

Thanks for this great thread...

You're welcome! Glad I could help.

 

[Mhaddy]

Well, here's what Apple says:

To use Remote Install Mac OS X:

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 into the optical disc drive of the other computer.
2. If the other computer is a Mac, open /Applications/Utilities/Remote Install Mac OS X. On Windows, choose "Remote Install Mac OS X" from the Install Assistant.
3. Read the introduction and click Continue.
4. Choose the install disc you want to use, and click Continue.
5. Choose a network connection: AirPort, if you are using an AirPort network, or Ethernet, if the other computer is on an Ethernet network and you have an optional Apple USB Ethernet Adapter connecting your MacBook Air to the same network. Click Continue.
6. Restart your MacBook Air and hold down the Option key as it starts up, until you see a list of available startup disks.
7. Click Continue in Remote Install Mac OS X.
8. If you chose AirPort as your network in step 5, on your MacBook Air choose your AirPort network from the pop-up list.
   If the network is secure, you are prompted for a password. You can enter a private network name by choosing the ellipsis (...) and typing the name.
9. If you chose AirPort as your network in step 5, when you see the AirPort status icon indicating signal strength, click Continue in Remote Install Mac OS X.

Step 6 is critical. If you don't hold down the Option key until the list of startup disks appears, you will not get the menu. I'd recommend holding it down until you actually see the OS X Installer.

As I said, I'd also recommend temporarily removing security/passwords from your WiFi network so that you can use it, rather than your neighbor's.

I definitely think this should be added to the top of the Guide as I was driving myself nuts trying to get the Remote Install to work before I stumbled my way through this thread and found this post. I did not see this to be an "obvious" step either.

In either event, after about an hour (or less), I am enjoying a helluva lot more space on my MBA. Thank you so much clayj!

 

[clayj]

I definitely think this should be added to the top of the Guide as I was driving myself nuts trying to get the Remote Install to work before I stumbled my way through this thread and found this post. I did not see this to be an "obvious" step either.

I'll see if I can make some time to add these steps to the Guide this weekend.

In either event, after about an hour (or less), I am enjoying a helluva lot more space on my MBA. Thank you so much clayj!

You're welcome!

EDIT: The Guide ( http://guides.macrumors.com/MacBook_Air:_Complete_Steps_to_Perform_an_OS_X_Reinstall ) has now been updated with the Remote Install steps!

 

[shivpaul]

Has anyone tried installing leopard from an external usb hard drive or ipod?

I've tried the Remote Dish install method but it always hangs at the beginning of the install saying "Calculating time Remaining" or something like that...

 

[shivpaul]

Has anyone tried installing leopard from an external usb hard drive or ipod?

I've tried the Remote Dish install method but it always hangs at the beginning of the install saying "Calculating time Remaining" or something like that...

Well just to answer my own question, it is possible to install leopard onto the Air via an ipod. Granted, I installed the bare minimum using just the image of the first installation disk. Hope this proves useful to others.

 

[Mhaddy]

Unfortunately I had to exchange my first MBA due to a battery that wouldn't charge, but now that I'm doing the install on a new MBA... running into some problems during the install. It's been stuck on the "Installing Mac OS X on the volume "Macintosh HD"" for a while now, currently stalling with 16 minutes remaining.

Should I restart the install process?

Edit: after anxiously messing with the Top menu bar, the install process jumped back to life and was successful Crisis averted!

 

[JasO]

I'm trying to do a fresh install...this is rather annoying.

do everything up to booting up and selecting the wifi and then selecting my iMac, then i just get the 'waiting for macbook air to start up...' screen on my iMac and the MBA just has the circle swirly process thing... doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Also the leopard DVD in my iMac isn't moving... so it's not actually doing anything...any help?

edit - doing it again, first i see the apple logo in the middle of the screen with the spinning earth logo underneath, then it goes to a circle with a line thought it (like a delete or cant do icon) and then the little circle swirly thing.

 

[Mhaddy]

I wasn't able to get very far on this, using a MacPro. While I've been able to share the DVD to install Office, etc, reinstalling osx is a different matter. I could boot from the remote disk but the wizard never appeared, and the macpro wizard was stuck at 'Waiting for macbook air to connect'. No routers or firewalls in the way, no littlesnitch, it just wouldn't get past it. This with both ethernet and wireless attempts. No big deal, I started with what I had and managed to remove a lot manually.

I am trying to do a clean install but can not get it to work. I have the install disk shared via my macbook pro, i restart the air, hold down option key, and eventually get to the point where i DO see the shared install disk up on my air screen. I select it and hit the arrow underneath it, but then nothing happens. The spinny thing just spins and spins for ever. Well, for 20 minutes or so. It never progresses to the screen where I see the various install options, the disk utility option, etc. Do I need to wait more than 20 minutes or can I assume there is some problem?

You might want to give it more time.

Also, if your WiFi network is secured (password-protected), you may want to temporarily remove the password... using your network should be faster than borrowing a neighbor's network. And check to see if the DVD drive is actually doing anything... don't eject the disk, but see if you can tell if it's actually reading the disc.

And did I mention that you might want to give it more time? Even if you are installing from a SuperDrive, the whirly "processing" thing can go for several minutes. Streaming over a network, it might take even longer.

I'm trying to do a fresh install...this is rather annoying.

do everything up to booting up and selecting the wifi and then selecting my iMac, then i just get the 'waiting for macbook air to start up...' screen on my iMac and the MBA just has the circle swirly process thing... doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Also the leopard DVD in my iMac isn't moving... so it's not actually doing anything...any help?

edit - doing it again, first i see the apple logo in the middle of the screen with the spinning earth logo underneath, then it goes to a circle with a line thought it (like a delete or cant do icon) and then the little circle swirly thing.

I'm giving my Air one more shot at not UI lagging through the "fixed" core shutdown problems, or else I'm going to sell her. Trying to do this remote install again and the problems that all of these people are having, being stuck on the "Waiting for MacBook Air to start up..." screen, is what I'm running into. For those who've run into this problem, how did you get around it? I'm installing via Ethernet, BTW.

Edit: I've tried both wirelessly (with encryption disabled) and Ethernet and the end result is now either booting back into the existing installation of OS X on the Air or hanging on the 'waiting for MacBook Air to start up...' screen. I know the Air is making a connection to the DVD drive as it does begin to spin, but a little ways into it, it will stop spinning, so I don't think it's accessing it anymore.

I've also tried clayj's trick of holding down the Option key until I see something (even past the drive selection screen), but to no avail. Grrrr!

 

[dehory]

I'm still waiting to receive my rev. B MBA, but I'm curious how this works with Boot Camp. I intend to do a clean OS X reinstall and also install TinyXP on a separate partition.

Would I create this separate partition in the same step as when I'm using Disk Utility to repartition/reformat the hard drive? Or would I do the clean reinstall first, and then use Boot Camp to create the new partition?

 

[clayj]

I'm still waiting to receive my rev. B MBA, but I'm curious how this works with Boot Camp. I intend to do a clean OS X reinstall and also install TinyXP on a separate partition.

Would I create this separate partition in the same step as when I'm using Disk Utility to repartition/reformat the hard drive? Or would I do the clean reinstall first, and then use Boot Camp to create the new partition?

I would recommend letting Boot Camp create the partition it needs at the time you start using Boot Camp, not trying to use Disk Utility to do it. Your net disk usage will pretty much be the same either way, but Boot Camp knows better what Boot Camp needs than Disk Utility does.

 

[dehory]

I would recommend letting Boot Camp create the partition it needs at the time you start using Boot Camp, not trying to use Disk Utility to do it. Your net disk usage will pretty much be the same either way, but Boot Camp knows better what Boot Camp needs than Disk Utility does.

Makes sense. Thanks for the advice.