How to I reinstall Lion from USB

[iqwertyi]

Long Story:
My iMac was replaced with a new one. I tried to migrate my old data and it created a second user. The second user is also me and it seems like a mess right now.

I have Lion on a USB stick.
I want to wipe everything, reinstall Lion from the USB and use the Setup Assistant when you first get the computer to restore my time machine backup. Apparently doing a Migration Assistant was what created that second user.

So, I found that hitting Command + R while booting up takes me to the restore screen. If I click "Install Lion" it seems it wants to redownload lion and install. But I already have it on a USB. What should I select so I can install Lion from the USB I have.

As you can tell, I'm very new to Mac. I apologize if these are basic questions.
Thanks.

 

[Sc00tr]

1) Insert USB stick.
2) Turn on MAC
3) Hold Option key untill u get a screen where you can select drive to boor from
4) Select the USB key
5)before doing the install go to disk utilities and erase the MAC hard drive, otherwise you will not get a clean install.
6) Install OS


Command +R is to boot off the recovery partition.

 

[iqwertyi]

Thank you!

And just to make sure, I "can" reinstall from the USB I created from the App Store correct?
I just want to make sure, since I've seen some posts saying a clean install can only be done on a DVD?

This is a quote from one of the tutorials on making the USB

"You'll not only be able to install Lion from this drive, but you'll also be able to use Disk Utiltiy, recover from a Time Machine backup, and do everything else you could do with the old installation DVDs. Note that when you install Lion, it'll create a recovery partition with all these features anyway, so you don't need the DVD unless you're doing a clean install. "

Thanks

 

[RolandNights]

Also for clarification purposes, people like the OP and I could also use the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant to clean install, correct? (sorry to hijack a little bit)

 

[AFPoster]

Thank you!

And just to make sure, I "can" reinstall from the USB I created from the App Store correct?
I just want to make sure, since I've seen some posts saying a clean install can only be done on a DVD?

This is a quote from one of the tutorials on making the USB

"You'll not only be able to install Lion from this drive, but you'll also be able to use Disk Utiltiy, recover from a Time Machine backup, and do everything else you could do with the old installation DVDs. Note that when you install Lion, it'll create a recovery partition with all these features anyway, so you don't need the DVD unless you're doing a clean install. "

Thanks

Yes you "do not" need the disc to do a Clean Install. You can do this from a USB (make sure it's not a recovery copy, but the full disc image). I'm sure you have the full disc image one if you did this from the app store.

Also for clarification purposes, people like the OP and I could also use the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant to clean install, correct? (sorry to hijack a little bit)

No! It's a recovery not a clean install. You need to delete the OS on the drive and then reinstall to do a clean install.

 

[iqwertyi]

Great! Thanks for the info.

One more question, just to make sure.
I heard that in order to install Lion, you need to have Snow Leopard first installed. Will this be a problem?
I mean, I will be deleting the drive completely and installing Lion from the USB.
Will I be able to? Will it check if I have Snow Leopard (from a disc or something?).

Just making sure I have all these questions answered before I wipe out the drive.

Thanks,

 

[Sc00tr]

Great! Thanks for the info.

One more question, just to make sure.
I heard that in order to install Lion, you need to have Snow Leopard first installed. Will this be a problem?
I mean, I will be deleting the drive completely and installing Lion from the USB.
Will I be able to? Will it check if I have Snow Leopard (from a disc or something?).

Just making sure I have all these questions answered before I wipe out the drive.

Thanks,

No you don't need Snow Leop for the install. This comes up because Snow Leop is where the MAC App store gets installed and Apple initially stated that they were only going to release Lion in the MAC App store. So to buy Lion you needed Snow Leop installed, but now you can just go down to Apple and get Lion. It has nothing to do with the install.

 

[iqwertyi]

Just wanted to report back and say thanks for all the info.
Re-install went smoothly.
Booted from USB, deleted the "Macintosh HD" partition, and installed Lion on the Macintosh HD partition.

Thanks again for the help!