Searched the forums and couldn't find the correct answer; I'm going to sell my 2012 mac mini but how do I prep the machine to factory condition without any startup disks (since they didn't come with any). I guess I could take it to Apple Store, but that would be last option. Appreciate any assistance.
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Prep 2012 Mac Mini for selling
- Thread starter Loonzilla
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Turn on FileVault2, let it finish, then create a new Admin Account in Users & Groups. Login into the new Admin Account and delete the normal User.
Give the new Admin User Account Name and Password to new owner, that's it.
The files from your old Account can NOT be recovered.
Edit:If you are really paranoid delete the following Contents of the following Folders.
Library/Caches
/private/var/folders
Another option is just kick off OS recovery & give it a fresh factory install:
http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
Boot your system holding down Command-R for Internet Recovery. Use Disk Utility from they to erase your hard drive.
After it's erased, install OS X. Note do not give it your Apple ID, let it just use the default software for the system.
This lets the new person just turn on the system and go through the setup steps. This also insures you didn't miss any data that OS X puts in funny places. (And there's more of this than people realize.)
Me too
I'm in the same boat. I bought a base model 2011 and after a few months realized I wanted more speed/power, so this week picked up a Mid level 2012 Mini with a SSD and put 16GB RAM in it. Yes, it's fast.
But now am selling my base model to a friend. So need to re install the OS.
I have already done the command - r and done the recover re install the OS. I took forever to download over night and the next day, I've still got (or it re installed the OS keeping my settings, apps, bookmarks, etc.) the same OS installed.
It looks like there's a recovery partition, isn't there a way to reinstall the OS without the whole download thing and just install it from the 1+GB partition on the drive? I do have a 16GB thumb drive if there's no other way.
I'm in the same boat. I bought a base model 2011 and after a few months realized I wanted more speed/power, so this week picked up a Mid level 2012 Mini with a SSD and put 16GB RAM in it. Yes, it's fast.
But now am selling my base model to a friend. So need to re install the OS.
I have already done the command - r and done the recover re install the OS. I took forever to download over night and the next day, I've still got (or it re installed the OS keeping my settings, apps, bookmarks, etc.) the same OS installed.
It looks like there's a recovery partition, isn't there a way to reinstall the OS without the whole download thing and just install it from the 1+GB partition on the drive? I do have a 16GB thumb drive if there's no other way.
Mine is sold.
Think I figured it out. Booted to the recovery partition and then erase the HD using the Disk Tools. Then went back to the OS recovery options and selected the install Mac OS. It downloaded again, and it took hours. But now if prompting to set the system up, so should be good for my friend to register and finish the install.
Think I figured it out. Booted to the recovery partition and then erase the HD using the Disk Tools. Then went back to the OS recovery options and selected the install Mac OS. It downloaded again, and it took hours. But now if prompting to set the system up, so should be good for my friend to register and finish the install.