Fresh install Yosemite without USB now that El Capitan is default OSX?

[KimPaerson]

Hey! Im using a Macbook Pro with the latest version of Yosemite installed on it. Now I want to do a fresh install of my OSX Yosemite. Without USB Flash. And not upgrade to El Capitan since my sound card doesnt support it.

I searched the web for answers and found this:

"Without a USB thumb drive? Yes, if you already have OS X Yosemite installed restart into the Recovery HD by pressing
Command+R at start up. Then from the OS X Utilities menu select Disk Utility to erase your Macintosh HD then go back to the menu and select Reinstall OS X".

Now this answer was given before El Capitan was out. And I have a hunch that when I try this method and do the last step of "go back to the menu and select Reinstall OS X" the only alternative given will be El Capitan. But I don't know of course. So I wonder if anyone have tried this out recently and got it to work?

Best,
Kim

 

[Fishrrman]

My suggestion (will involve USB):
1. Get ahold of a clean copy of the Yosemite installer
2. Use this to build a "bootable" USB flash drive with Yosemite on it.
3. You can now boot from USB, and use that to install a completely fresh and clean copy of the OS.

Of course, finding that original Yosemite installer -might- be a problem.
But if you can't get it from Apple, be aware that there are... (cough) "other sources".

Sometimes one has to do.... what one has to do.

Final thought:
This is why I keep a separate drive that has "historical copies" of all the software that I use -- OS's, apps, etc.
I don't have to go to Apple to find software when I need it, because I already HAVE it…

 

[Weaselboy]

Now this answer was given before El Capitan was out. And I have a hunch that when I try this method and do the last step of "go back to the menu and select Reinstall OS X" the only alternative given will be El Capitan. But I don't know of course. So I wonder if anyone have tried this out recently and got it to work?

Since you are on Yosemite and have a Yosemite recovery partition, you will get Yosemite again and not El Capitan.

When you command-r boot to the recovery partition (which is different than Internet recovery) you will always get the version associated with the recovery partition version. The only issue is you need to make sure, in your example, you have a Yosemite in the purchases list in the App Store under your AppleID. Otherwise when you go to do recovery, it will ask you to enter an AppleID. If your AppleID does not have a Yosemite purchase associated with it you will be stuck.

 

[Tarek]

I would suggest using Internet Recovery for that if you want the latest version of El Capitan as a fresh install. I did not have a tremendous experience with it in terms of download speed, but it always got the job done.

 

[Weaselboy]

I would suggest using Internet Recovery for that if you want the latest version of El Capitan as a fresh install. I did not have a tremendous experience with it in terms of download speed, but it always got the job done.

Internet recovery will get you the OS X version that came from the factory, so in OP's case that won't be El Capitan.

If one does a command-r boot to the recovery partition then erases the drive and reinstalls the OS, that will be a clean install.

 

[Tarek]

Internet recovery will get you the OS X version that came from the factory, so in OP's case that won't be El Capitan.

If one does a command-r boot to the recovery partition then erases the drive and reinstalls the OS, that will be a clean install.

I assumed it would download the latest version, seeing as the latest versions are actually free. Thanks for the information, I certainly did not know that!

 

[Weaselboy]

I assumed it would download the latest version, seeing as the latest versions are actually free. Thanks for the information, I certainly did not know that!

No problem. The whole thing is very confusing.

 

[KimPaerson]

Thank you very much for your awesome knowledge!