Fresh Lion install on a MacBook Air (Late 2010) without Recovery Key

[menazord]

Hi there!

As the title says, I have an MacBook Air (Late 2010 - MC505LL/A*), with preinstalled OSX Lion. Also it shipped with an USB key called "Recovery Key", and afaik, I'm supposed to use this key if I restore/format my Mac

The problem is that I can't find the USB key, and I'd like to know if I can do a fresh install of Lion without it. I have an ISO image of Lion (to use with an external reader)... and I've read that there's an Internet process, where I can press CMD + R while booting, to perform a fresh install with a internet downloaded image, but it's not avalaible on all models.

Will this work ? I'll try it this weekend, but I'd like to know if anyone has experience in something like this.

Thank you all !

 

[Weaselboy]

Just do a command-r boot to recovery and start Disk Utility then erase Macintosh HD. Quit Disk Util and then click install OS. This will DL and install the 4.7GB OS, so it will take some time.

Apple's servers will see that your machine came with Lion and give it to you again as a free DL.

Of course, make sure you have backup as this will wipe all your data.

I am also assuming here that the USB key you are talking about is the one Apple provided with these machines and not one somebody made themselves.