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Macbook Air Catch-22

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macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 24, 2011
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All I want to do is reinstall OSX on my Macbook Air. That's it, nothing fancy. Apple has made this simple task impossible however.

Here's my deal.

- My MBA has no OS whatsoever.
- USB on my MBA is fine, but MBA's do not boot from USB unless you specify the device from within the OS, which I can't do.
- Remote Install would definitely work, except I stupidly installed Lion on my iMac. So no more Remote Install.
- That leaves booting in Target Disk Mode, but MBA's don't support that either.

Am I missing something? Why is this so hard? How did they get an OS on there in the first place?
 
So... booting an MBA while holding option doesn't give you your boot device list?

Am I missing something?
 
MrCheeto said:
So... booting an MBA while holding option doesn't give you your boot device list?

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

It does, just no USB devices.

edit:
I don't have any Apple-brand devices perhaps that's why?

edit2: 'c' didn't work either.
 
Last edited:
If your MBA is a 2011 model, it can only be restored with the online utility...at least as far as Apple wants.
 
Try Command+option+r. That will make it boot from Apple's servers to their recovery partition, let you redownload that, and them redownload Lion.
 
If yours is 2011 MBA with backlight keyboard, the only thing you can do now is head to nearest Apple store/reseller/service provider and seek for help, they should be able to reinstall Lion for you by using offline method such as USB key containing Lion installations.
 
Are you really sure your USB drive is a bootable one?

I created a bootable Lion USB drive and then used it to fresh install lion on my MBA 2010.

Same would work for 2011.

Snow Leopard will not install on a 2011 MBA.
 
my friend changed his ssd with the bigger one from OWC. he pressed option while turning on the mba and the bootable usb worked just fine. r u sure u properly made the bootable lion usb?
 
50 said:
Sadly, nothing :(
Click to expand...

sorry to hear that!
An Apple store with a genius would be handy if it is nearby.

Ive had the 2011 11" and FUBARed the migration. I stopped it twice half way (I know, don't flame me :D ) and it went a bit wonky.
I just pushed the left "alt" key (aka option) while booting and got into a menu that gave me a choice to boot from disk or go online via wifi and download OS-X Lion 10.7.0.
Maaaan, that took quite a while and it isn't my favorite way. But it did work for me.
 
ZipZap said:
Are you really sure your USB drive is a bootable one?

I created a bootable Lion USB drive and then used it to fresh install lion on my MBA 2010.

Same would work for 2011.

Snow Leopard will not install on a 2011 MBA.
Click to expand...

I should have said, mine is from 2009 and came with Leopard installed.
I didn't realize the models were so different.
 
:mad:

:D

In order to install Lion, I believe you had to have SNOW Leopard prior. Or a new machine that comes with Lion.

That is your problem, you only had Leopard. :eek:
 
50 said:
I should have said, mine is from 2009 and came with Leopard installed.
I didn't realize the models were so different.
Click to expand...

That's why the CMD-R function won't work. If you have access to another Mac, you can download Lion from the App Store and create a bootable USB following directions on Macworld's web site.
 
Easy steps:

1) Download Lion from AppStore.
2) Use Disk Utility to "restore" InstallESD.dmg to USB.
3) Turn off MBA.
4) Turn on MBA. Immediately press and hold left-ALT key.
5) Select USB Lion Install as boot device.

How hard can it be?

Holding down the left-ALT key has worked for me since 2007 MBP, over 2008 Mac Mini, over 2008 MBP, over 2010 MBP to 2011 MBA. It's crazy if your computer doesn't show a list of boot options when holding it down.

My best guess is that you perhaps copied the InstallESD file instead of restoring it?
 
racketeer71 said:
Easy steps:

1) Download Lion from AppStore.
2) Use Disk Utility to "restore" InstallESD.dmg to USB.
3) Turn off MBA.
4) Turn on MBA. Immediately press and hold left-ALT key.
5) Select USB Lion Install as boot device.

How hard can it be?

Holding down the left-ALT key has worked for me since 2007 MBP, over 2008 Mac Mini, over 2008 MBP, over 2010 MBP to 2011 MBA. It's crazy if your computer doesn't show a list of boot options when holding it down.

My best guess is that you perhaps copied the InstallESD file instead of restoring it?
Click to expand...

It can be hard if like the OP you don't have a machine with SL where you can download Lion, i guess he could pirate it and install it like that :S, it sucks that it's the best option besides spending 69$ on the lion usb he could use
 
IngerMan said:
:mad:

:D

In order to install Lion, I believe you had to have SNOW Leopard prior. Or a new machine that comes with Lion.

That is your problem, you only had Leopard. :eek:
Click to expand...

I have a MBA 2010. Put in a new SSD and installed Lion without installing SL first.

----------
jsolares said:
It can be hard if like the OP you don't have a machine with SL where you can download Lion, i guess he could pirate it and install it like that :S, it sucks that it's the best option besides spending 69$ on the lion usb he could use
Click to expand...

Drop into an apple store and let them recover it.
 
ZipZap said:
I have a MBA 2010. Put in a new SSD and installed Lion without installing SL first.
Click to expand...

I must be wrong then. I thought I read the requirements for Lion was a previous version of Snow Leopard or unless you purchase with a new machine lion installed. But again, sorry for the wrong information :eek:
 
IngerMan said:
I must be wrong then. I thought I read the requirements for Lion was a previous version of Snow Leopard or unless you purchase with a new machine lion installed. But again, sorry for the wrong information :eek:
Click to expand...

It's a requirement in that you need to download it from Snow Leopard, but if you download and make a usb/dvd with the InstallESD.dmg you can then use that usb/dvd to install over anything you want, even a true clean install.
 
You might find some ideas from these two recent MacWorld articles:

Hands on with Lion Recovery Disk Assistant:
http://www.macworld.com/article/161664/2011/08/hands_on_with_lion_recovery_disk_assistant.html

Bugs & Fixes: How best to restore an OS X Lion drive:
http://www.macworld.com/article/161837/2011/08/restore_lion.html#lsrc.nl_mwweek_h_cbintro




-howard

----------
IngerMan said:
I must be wrong then. I thought I read the requirements for Lion was a previous version of Snow Leopard or unless you purchase with a new machine lion installed. But again, sorry for the wrong information :eek:
Click to expand...

I believe that requirement is for downloading Lion from the App Store, you must have Snow Leopard upgraded to where the "App Store" app is available to you. You can't get there without the app.


Concerning USB drives:

I have both a Snow Leopard and a Lion USB installation flash drive created from information widely available here and via Google. They both work fine for booting and installing on previous Macs and Airs. However, the new Airs and Mac Minis require some special handling which I believe is covered in the above links to some recent MacWorld articles.


-howard
 
Got it sorted. Ran Leopard's network installer through Windows. Thanks everyone for all the help.

Still though it really shouldn't be this hard, should it? :mad:
 
50 said:
Got it sorted. Ran Leopard's network installer through Windows. Thanks everyone for all the help.

Still though it really shouldn't be this hard, should it? :mad:
Click to expand...

No it shouldn't, which is why the new Airs have the internet reinstall :D, you could've gotten a usb cd/dvd for cheap as well.
 
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