Resolved Restoring Early 2011 MBP without original Snow Leopard DVD

[MacDevil7334]

Hi all,

So I have gotten myself into a bit of a jam and was hoping to get some help from you fine folks. I recently bought a new 15 inch rMBP and decided to give my old laptop to my mother as a Christmas present (she just needs something basic for email and word processing when she travels). It is an early 2011 model so it came with Snow Leopard (though it is currently running Yosemite). I have done some research and know I need to restore it to the OS it shipped with and then have my mother upgrade it from there to avoid causing problems with later OS installations being tied to my Apple ID. Here's the problem: I am currently sitting in the airport waiting to fly to visit her and I just realized I forgot to find the system restore DVD before I left.

I am looking for alternatives to get this computer wiped and set up fresh before Christmas day. From poking around on the web, it sounds like I have at least a few options.

• Buy another 10.6 disk from Apple and restore, upgrade it to 10.6.8 and then install a later OS from the App Store using my mother's Apple ID.
• Buy a Lion (or possibly later?) installation on a thumb drive, install and then upgrade.
• Do an internet restore to Yosemite. I think this would be tied to my Apple ID still so I'm not wild about this approach. Though, I wouldn't be 100% opposed if this is my only option since I am giving it to a family member.

Are there other solutions I haven't thought of? I don't mind paying for a new copy of Snow Leopard or Lion if it will get the job done. Is there any difference between restoring from the system DVD and a retail copy of Snow Leopard? Is there any way to restore to do an internet restore to one of the more modern versions of OS X (Lion or later) and not have it tied to my Apple ID? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[rapicell]

You can restore it and have it DL 10.10 via the internet, but have it DL from an account made for her.

 

[MacDevil7334]

You can restore it and have it DL 10.10 via the internet, but have it DL from an account made for her.

I know that's an option. But I think if I do a restore to 10.10 it will still be tied to my account. From what I've read, it sounds like I either have to get it back down to 10.6.x and upgrade or buy a new copy of 10.7 and upgrade to disassociate it from my account.

Anyone else have a thought on this?

 

[sevoneone]

If you use the Internet Recovery, it will install the version of the OS that came with the computer, you will not be asked to login to the App Store:

If you use Internet Recovery to reinstall OS X, it installs the version of OS X that originally came with your computer. After installation is finished, use the Mac App Store to install related updates or later versions of OS X that you have previously purchased.

Source: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4718


Also, if you make a bootable USB installer it does not tie anything to your account. It will prompt her to sign-in to her Apple ID after the install is completed.

 

[MacDevil7334]

Will that work if my machine came with Snow Leopard? That was before the days of Internet Recovery (you had to restore using the system disc).

 

[yjchua95]

I know that's an option. But I think if I do a restore to 10.10 it will still be tied to my account. From what I've read, it sounds like I either have to get it back down to 10.6.x and upgrade or buy a new copy of 10.7 and upgrade to disassociate it from my account.

Anyone else have a thought on this?

If you make a bootable OS X 10.10.1 disk and clean install it on your old Mac, it will NOT be tied to your account.

Any form of clean install, regardless of the source, will not be tied to the original account it was purchased from.

 

[MacDevil7334]

If you make a bootable OS X 10.10.1 disk and clean install it on your old Mac, it will NOT be tied to your account.

Any form of clean install, regardless of the source, will not be tied to the original account it was purchased from.

This suggestion worked perfectly. Created a 10.10 restore USB stick and was able to easily wipe the computer and install a fresh copy of Yosemite. Thanks for the help!

 

[yjchua95]

This suggestion worked perfectly. Created a 10.10 restore USB stick and was able to easily wipe the computer and install a fresh copy of Yosemite. Thanks for the help!

Glad it worked

I always keep an external SSD with two partitions (bootable Yosemite partition and an installer partition). In case I need to work on someone else's Mac, I just boot up from my external SSD and use the Mac as if it's my own (something like Windows to Go), and if I need to reinstall OS X on someone's Mac, I also just use that external SSD.

 

[chrfr]

Will that work if my machine came with Snow Leopard? That was before the days of Internet Recovery (you had to restore using the system disc).

A late reply, but the 2011 MacBook Pros support Internet recovery so you could do a full reinstall that way.