mid2011 mac mini restore help

[namethisfile]

hi,

i am getting my mid2011 mac mini ready for sale and i am restoring it to its "factory default setting." basically, i want it so when the new user turns on the mini, the "apple welcome screen" appears. the one with the word "welcome" in different languages greeting the new user. you guys know what i am talking about. anyway, the new user will then set it up just like i did when i first bought it.

so, i reformatted the drive and reinstalled/restore the OS. it prompted me to ask for my apple online ID to install Mountain Lion, which I know, this computer didn't come with. it came with plain lion or OSX 10.7. anyhoo, i did that since i couldn't figure out how to make it install lion. so, the OS is installed after i came back from an errand. the screen now is asking me what country i should select and then further down, the name of the computer. i don't want to set this up any further when i am selling it, so that is why i am here to ask if this is how i should leave it so the buyer can set it up themselves.

what should i do?

 

[philipma1957]

hi,

i am getting my mid2011 mac mini ready for sale and i am restoring it to its "factory default setting." basically, i want it so when the new user turns on the mini, the "apple welcome screen" appears. the one with the word "welcome" in different languages greeting the new user. you guys know what i am talking about. anyway, the new user will then set it up just like i did when i first bought it.

so, i reformatted the drive and reinstalled/restore the OS. it prompted me to ask for my apple online ID to install Mountain Lion, which I know, this computer didn't come with. it came with plain lion or OSX 10.7. anyhoo, i did that since i couldn't figure out how to make it install lion. so, the OS is installed after i came back from an errand. the screen now is asking me what country i should select and then further down, the name of the computer. i don't want to set this up any further when i am selling it, so that is why i am here to ask if this is how i should leave it so the buyer can set it up themselves.

what should i do?

turn the power off. Having the mini plugged into a power strip and turn off the power strip is ideal.



If you can't do that then do below


Pulling the plug out of the wall works.


If you want to see if it works plug it back in an hour later and boot you should be in the spot you want.


Then just turn off the power strip or pull the plug. This time pack it up and ship it.


Do not power up to see if it works with out waiting at least 10 or 15 minutes. An hour is better.

 

[namethisfile]

turn the power off. Having the mini plugged into a power strip and turn off the power strip is ideal.



If you can't do that then do below


Pulling the plug out of the wall works.


If you want to see if it works plug it back in an hour later and boot you should be in the spot you want.


Then just turn off the power strip or pull the plug. This time pack it up and ship it.


Do not power up to see if it works with out waiting at least 10 or 15 minutes. An hour is better.

i'll try to do this.

i also figured out how to restore it to lion by pressing cmd+opt+r, so i re-restored it again and this time it didn't ask for my apple ID, so i think it is good to go.

i will turn off the mini now. can't i just press and hold the power button to power down the mini, instead of pulling the cord out?

 

[philipma1957]

i'll try to do this.

i also figured out how to restore it to lion by pressing cmd+opt+r, so i re-restored it again and this time it didn't ask for my apple ID, so i think it is good to go.

i will turn off the mini now. can't i just press and hold the power button to power down the mini, instead of pulling the cord out?

yes but it sometimes jumps to sleep and does not power off fully.

 

[Nermal]

Don't just pull the plug!

Press Cmd-Q and select Shut Down.

 

[namethisfile]

yes but it sometimes jumps to sleep and does not power off fully.

just do it again and hold and press the power button longer until it does power off.

----------

Don't just pull the plug!

Press Cmd-Q and select Shut Down.

the cmd-Q one I didn't know can be used to shutdown a mac. but, I will keep that in mind. thanks.

yeah. I never pull the plug out of a computer. that is just asking for trouble. sensitive these computers are, a guru once said.

anyway, for future reference, press* cmd+opt+r, if one has a discless mac to restore it to its factory setting and install the OS that came with the system. this is after the disc has been formatted and then it will continue to install the OS from the internet without prompting an appleID.

apparently, cmd+r will only restore the mac to the most current OS, which might be a newer one from the "factory," thus prompting an appleID to continue installation. for me, I didn't wanna do this since I was selling it.

thread close.

thanks.

*during chime after restart of computer

 

[philipma1957]

just do it again and hold and press the power button longer until it does.

Yeah that can work. Some times I just can't handle waiting. So I do the plug/power strip trick. I will post the switch I use in the morning.


The plug/power strip trick works. Just wait to power it back up.

In theory the plug trick could damage stuff, but I have done it a few hundred times on different machines and I have not broken anything yet.

Holding the power switch on a mini can break it under certain circumstances and I have broken a mini doing it that way. I think it was a 2008 model or maybe a 2009. If you look back at some of the older minis there are instructions that say do not do it that way. ( not sure but maybe a 2008/2009 model)

 

[namethisfile]

Yeah that can work. Some times I just can't handle waiting. So I do the plug/power strip trick. I will post the switch I use in the morning.


The plug/power strip trick works. Just wait to power it back up.

In theory the plug trick could damage stuff, but I have done it a few hundred times on different machines and I have not broken anything yet.

Holding the power switch on a mini can break it under certain circumstances and I have broken a mini doing it that way. I think it was a 2008 model or maybe a 2009. If you look back at some of the older minis there are instructions that say do not do it that way. ( not sure but maybe a 2008/2009 model)

yeah. pressing the power button is not recommended, either. but, sometimes, there are no other alternatives.

so, that makes pulling the plug really really really not recommended.

 

[Yebubbleman]

hi,

i am getting my mid2011 mac mini ready for sale and i am restoring it to its "factory default setting." basically, i want it so when the new user turns on the mini, the "apple welcome screen" appears. the one with the word "welcome" in different languages greeting the new user. you guys know what i am talking about. anyway, the new user will then set it up just like i did when i first bought it.

so, i reformatted the drive and reinstalled/restore the OS. it prompted me to ask for my apple online ID to install Mountain Lion, which I know, this computer didn't come with. it came with plain lion or OSX 10.7. anyhoo, i did that since i couldn't figure out how to make it install lion. so, the OS is installed after i came back from an errand. the screen now is asking me what country i should select and then further down, the name of the computer. i don't want to set this up any further when i am selling it, so that is why i am here to ask if this is how i should leave it so the buyer can set it up themselves.

what should i do?

Reboot the computer, hold down command-option-r to invoke Internet Recovery (as opposed to the standard recovery-partition-based recovery method), after a while of loading, this will get you connected to the Lion version of recovery (as Lion shipped with your computer) and from there you can wipe and reinstall the OS. In this case, it'll take you a good long while to download and re-install the OS. Once that finishes and reboots, it'll boot to your freshly minted OS and it will prompt you with picking what language keyboard you want. At that point, hit command-q and when it prompts you to shut down or cancel, shut down and you're done, that sucker is ready to roll.

 

[namethisfile]

Reboot the computer, hold down command-option-r to invoke Internet Recovery (as opposed to the standard recovery-partition-based recovery method), after a while of loading, this will get you connected to the Lion version of recovery (as Lion shipped with your computer) and from there you can wipe and reinstall the OS. In this case, it'll take you a good long while to download and re-install the OS. Once that finishes and reboots, it'll boot to your freshly minted OS and it will prompt you with picking what language keyboard you want. At that point, hit command-q and when it prompts you to shut down or cancel, shut down and you're done, that sucker is ready to roll.

yes, thanks.