Selling my MacBook, how to reinstall OS X?

[Nero Wolfe]

I (hope to be) selling my MacBook on eBay soon and I obviously need to wipe the hard drive and reinstall OS X but I don't know when to stop the install. That is, I obviously want it to finish but don't want to set up the account, etc so the buyer can do that.

Anyone done this / know how to do this?

 

[mad jew]

Boot from the restore discs holding C, reformat the drive with Disk Utility and then perform the clean reinstall. Pull the power once it gets to the OSX introduction video.

 

[aethelbert]

Once it finishes installing, the welcome video will start playing. Just shut it off during the video. When it is powered on again, it will be just like opening it out of the box as brand new.

 

[Nero Wolfe]

Thanks guys! You're the best.

 

[DCJ001]

You don't need to shut it off. You can just type Command-Q to quit the registration like any other program.

 

[Nero Wolfe]

Doing this again but this time I need to Install OS X, then create a user account to install iLife (it's separate because they are all uprades) then delete the user account so when buyer receives it it's like a 'new' mac.

I know this can be done. I *think* you would boot into single user mode, use rm to delete the user folder... but isn't there a file that needs to be deleted that tells OS X that the first time setup has never been run?

Thanks.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

When you are reformatting do at least a "zero out" format otherwise its infinitely easier for the the new buyer could harvest your info off the drive, especially personal data like passwords.

 

[davidjearly]

argh, double post.

Sorry mods.

 

[davidjearly]

After installing all the software and updates, boot into single user mode by holding command + s at startup.

Then, enter the following at the command line:

$ mount -uw /
$ rm -R /Library/Preferences/
$ rm -R /Users/USERNAME/

$ /bin/launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist & (mind the space after 'load')
$ dscl . -delete /Users/USERNAME (mind the space after '-delete')

$ rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

$ shutdown -h now

USERNAME = the name assigned to the user account you used to install all the software.

Afterwards, your Mac will be ready for the new customer and you just need to pack it and ship it.

I recently done this when upgrading my iMac to a new MBP.

HTH, David

 

[Nero Wolfe]

.

Thanks for your help that was exactly what I needed!

 

[tnaseem]

After installing all the software and updates, boot into single user mode by holding command + s at startup.

Then, enter the following at the command line:

$ mount -uw /
$ rm -R /Library/Preferences/
$ rm -R /Users/USERNAME/

$ /bin/launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist & (mind the space after 'load')
$ dscl . -delete /Users/USERNAME (mind the space after '-delete')

$ rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

$ shutdown -h now

USERNAME = the name assigned to the user account you used to install all the software.

Afterwards, your Mac will be ready for the new customer and you just need to pack it and ship it.

I recently done this when upgrading my iMac to a new MBP.

HTH, David

Worked great on Snow Leopard too. Thanks for your help!

Anyone want to buy a MBP?