Clean install without disks

I'm sure this has been covered before but I can seem to find the answer. I need to do a clean "factory reset" install on my macbook pro, but I don't have the install disks. I suspect there's a way to do this without the disks. How's it done?

nonunderling wrote:
I'm sure this has been covered before but I can seem to find the answer. I need to do a clean "factory reset" install on my macbook pro, but I don't have the install disks. I suspect there's a way to do this without the disks. How's it done?
I don't believe you can reinstall without reinstall media. You need the DVD or CDs that came with your machine.

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How to do a clean install without loosing anything

Hi all,
I (foolishly) installed Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as an update to my existing 10.5.8 Leopard install last year. Ever since I've had a host of small but annoying problems, that no one else seems to be complaining about. (For example in the finder half the time when I right click on a file the pop-up menu disappears after half a second and I have to click and hold to keep it open so I can make a selection.)
I'm starting to wonder if some of the problems I'm having are caused by the upgrade install, instead of a fresh install.
So I'd like to do a clean install of the OS, but it's been so long since I've done that I've forgotten how that works. How can I do a clean install without loosing all my data? Do I have to pull all my data off the hard drive, wipe it clean and start from scratch like you do on a PC, or is there an easier way? (I hope there is an easier way.) If someone could point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

I'm starting to wonder if some of the problems I'm having are caused by the upgrade install, instead of a fresh install.
I did an upgrade install on my old MacBook Pro, and it worked just fine. The key is that the system has to be in good working order when the update is applied... if there are minor problems, those problems can be magnified by an upgrade.
Of course, this may not be your problem... have you checked all your software and hardware for compatibility with Snow Leopard? One site that you can use, though it's by no means comprehensive, is:
http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/
So I'd like to do a clean install of the OS, but it's been so long since I've done that I've forgotten how that works. How can I do a clean install without loosing all my data?
Unfortunately, there's no easy way to do a true clean reinstall. In a nutshell, here's what you need to do:
1) Back up all your data. Make sure you've got application serial numbers stored somewhere!
2) Now back up all your data in another place. If you don't have two copies, you won't have any backups after the next step... the backup from step 1 becomes the original, and a poorly-timed drive failure would ruin you.
3) Reboot from the Mac OS X install disk (SL disk in this case)
4) Erase the hard drive with Disk Utility
5) Install the system
6) Update everything to the current version via Software Update
7) Install any apps you need
8) Update those apps if necessary
9) Reconfigure anything that needs it (network settings, appearance preferences, etc)
10) Copy +only documents+, no settings files, from your backup, preferably manually rather than with Migration Assistant (which can sometimes copy more than you might want it to).
That's about it! For assistance with any of those items, just say the word.

Clean install without losing everything

I need to upgrade to Tiger in order to run MSOffice2008.
I've been told by several people that stepping up to a new OS generally goes better with a 'clean install' which I understand to mean completely wiping out my hard drive -- starting over from scratch basically.
So I'm trying to figure out how to do this without losing all my stuff.
My plan/My questions
1.) Back up everything to an external hard drive (Any suggestions for a good 250-500GB drive? Is there any software that can be used to 'manage' this kind of back up?)
2.) Format the drive. (How exactly do I do this?)
3.) Bring all my documents and apps back. (The documents are easy enough to bring back, but I'm worried about the applications. For example how do I get all my emails back for the Mail app? What about my different Quicken records? Aren't applications kind of split into pieces and spread over different locations (like librarys and stuff?). If so, how do I get them back? I can reinstall them (like Quicken) from their disks, but how to I get my data?)
Hoping someone can point me in the right direction to get started.
Peter

Any suggestions for a good 250-500GB drive?
250GB...
http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_XLR8YourMac.cfm?ID=6383&Item=OWCNPFW7250GB
500GB...
http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_XLR8YourMac.cfm?ID=8750&Item=NWTMS2F7500G16
Format the drive. (How exactly do I do this?
Actually, on the two I linked to, they are already formatted for Macs & pretested, but should you ever need to, or just want to partition it...
Either open Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities from your Hard Drive, or...
" 1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility."
Highlight the new drive, select erase, and btw, check install OS9 Driveers if you think you might ever need to read or write to the OSX volume from OS9.

Clean Install without apple account password?

I have a 2011 Macbook Pro. I am trying to sell it and want to do a clean reinstall of OSX. I have erased the drive as per instructed on the apple website and then followed the instructions for the reinstall of OS X. In the process it asked me for a password for the app store.
My question is this: Will that password and account information be attached to the clean install? If so, how can I reinstall without attaching my account to it? I do not have any disks from which to install.
Thanks for your help.

Hi jaredspaulding,
I understand that you want to sell your Mac and would like some information about how to best prepare for this. Here is an article that will help you:
What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
Take care, and thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Braden

Is there a way to perform a clean install without the Internet on the computer that my iPhone is backed up on?

I don't have Internet on my PC that my iPhone is backed up to. Without connecting it to the Internet, how can I perform a clean install? Since iOS 7 my battery life has been crap, I've tried everything except a clean install, so this is my last resort but I wanna make sure I can do it before I wipe my phone.

Installing iOS requires an Internet connection, there is no way around this.

Clean Install needs Disk Permissions Repaired?

I have just performed a clean install of ML 10.8.2 and performed a Disk Verify which reported back OK. Then I did a Verify Disk Permissions and it found several items that needed repair. I rebooted and ran it again but the same items came back. So I repaired the permissions.
I also had this same problem when I did a clean install of 10.8.1 and both times that was all that was on the disk.
Is this normal? Should I have to do a permissions repair after installing a new OS?

Should I have to do a permissions repair after installing a new OS?
No, and you don't have to. You never need to repair permissions unless you have an indication of a permission error involving system files, which you probably never will unless you do something very unusual. The warning messages are spurious.
Permission repair is an immensely popular, time-wasting ritual that is rarely, if ever, necessary. The one time you can be absolutely sure you don't need to do it is right after installing or reinstalling OS X.

Clean Install without ilife 06

I am having some problems with my imac running tiger and I was planning on doing a clean install but I do not want ilife 06 to install from the system disk because I own ilife 08. Is it possible to keep it from installing when I reinstall Tiger?

I believe you just do a custom install and uncheck the stuff you don't want.
Oh well, I decided to get off my buff and look at the disks.
Disk one is the system stuff, Disk two is the ilife stuff. Disk three is developer tools.
Just use disk one, but go ahead and do a custom install to eliminate stuff you don't want.
Message was edited by: Donald Palmer

How do I do a clean install without an OS install disk?

This may be a dumb question. I've just moved over from Windows. My 27in iMac came pre-installed with Lion and no install disks. In the event of a drive failure how would I re-install the operation system? In windows with a fresh drive I would have to load up Windows, then reload my backup software and then load up my backup. I'm backing up with Time Machine to an external drive but can that restore direct to a clean drive? Am I missing something, surely I should have been given an OS-X install disk?

Hello:
This article explains, in detail, all about Lion recovery - a new feature built into OS X 10.7:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
In my own case, I also have external drives that I use for backups. I have both Time Machine and a bootable clone (made with SuperDuper!) on one drive and a bootable clone on the other. I am paranoid about backups, I admit.
Since you indicate you just moved over from the "dark side" (welcome ), you may not have heard that there are NO viruses that affect a Mac running OS X - none. A/V software is unnecessary. At a minimum, A/V software on a Mac wastes resources and frequently causes serious harm to software.
While I am on a roll, there are basically no "regular" maintenance activities required on a Mac under OS X. The operating system performs them in the background. For example, files of less than 20 MB are "defragged" on the fly.
Barry
P.S. There are no dumb questions...annswers, yes, but not questions.
Message was edited by: Barry Hemphill

I have formatted my SSD and hard drive.... I am running a clean install from disk of 8.1 pro. I cannot determine if it is a compatibility

issue or hardware issue. I had run a memory test and scan disk for bad sectors from the bios. As administrator, I enabled automount in diskpart to allow windows to assign a drive name.
From the bios, I can see both drives and only the ssd. I have not pinpointed when the harddisk is unmounted. It is formatted as NTFS. I can hear it unmount either during boot or upon waking from sleep mode. The bios sees no bad sectors nor does windows.
However, when I had the intel compatibility software installed, my hard drive never mounted. I did a restart and inorder for windows to see my hard drive. I disabled the intel software for the 4th gen i7 processor. This problem is happening less often. I do
not think I have solved the problem. Intel or Windows... I think a bit of both.
If there is a software patch, please guide me to it. I am in school and use my laptop ALL the time. I believe it is a compatibility issue. I have attached this from searching intel's site for downloads and windows is up to date.
I am quite concerned because I can hear my harddrive unmount. It is labeled as healthy NTFS partition. I have checked for hidden volumes and done everything I know to do to check the integrity of the hardware as administrator. I have searched microsofts
libraries and forums and have done everything I can find as suggestions.
I have checked for malware, viruses, etc. My only clue this is going to happen is the hard disk spins up and I hear the fan, then I hear it unmount the drive. Of course, after unmounted there are other issues which I have ruled out as the cause of the problem.
Basically, I am experiencing a lack of swap space after my hard drive unmounts.
Any suggestions, are welcome! I would really like to know if this is a known windows issue. I should not have to disable intel's processor software. I paid for the features of the i7 and would like to utilise the processor.

Hi,
According to your descriptioin, I don't think this is system problem, it should be Intel driver problem. It would be contact Intel to confirm this issue whether this is their driver problem.
Roger Lu
TechNet Community Support

CS4 install without disk

I have CS4 installed on a dead laptop and can't find my install disk. How can I get it to install on a new computer? I have serial number...

Direct Download Links for Adobe Software
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Erase and Install without Disk?

Is it possible to reinstall the OS X without the CD? You see, my father lost it before he gave me the laptop.
And if it is not possible, is there any way that I can get another copy of the CD? Perhaps if I had proof of purchase?
Thanks

Only if you have a retail installer disc that can install a version of OS X compatible with the hardware. Otherwise you will either need the original software discs that came with the computer or purchase a retail copy of OS X. If the the computer is not a Late 2008 MacBook then you can install Leopard by purchasing a retail copy from an Apple Store or Apple retailer.
You can purchase replacement discs for the computer by calling AppleCare.

Install without Disks

Hello
I have a 13" macbook (intel) and I want to install lepoard (probably snow leopard) but I have a problem. The cd/dvd drive is broken and will not work.
I really dont want to purchase a new one as I only ever use cd/dvd drives these days when I change OS whether it be Mac or PC.
Is there an upgrade option that I can use to install leopard if I purchase a licence etc.
Help!!!!

If you mean a downloadable version of the full installer for either Leopard or Snow Leopard, no, there is not and will never be one available since the Mac OS X installer must be able to boot from the disk to install.
You have some options:
1) If you have an external hard drive and a friend with a Mac, buy the retail Leopard or Snow Leopard disk, connect your hard drive to your friend's Mac and use Disk Utility to restore the Leopard/Snow Leopard disk to the external hard drive. You can then boot your MacBook from the external drive and install that way.
2) If your MacBook has Firewire, you can put it into Target Disk Mode and connect it to another Mac from which you can install Leopard/Snow Leopard on the MacBook. I don't recommend this method since it's not always reliable (the installer will attempt to install drivers based on the hardware in the Mac you're using and so you may not get the correct drivers for the MacBook), but people have found that it works for them.
3) Buy an external USB DVD drive. Many people have had success booting the Mac OS X installer DVD in external drives.

Premiere Elements 9, install without disk

I lost the Windows disk to my copy of Premiere Elements 9, but need to reinstall it. I have the serial number, but where can I retrieve the download link?

Download the setup file from here. Ensure you follow the Important instruction mentioned on the page in order to start the download.
Thanks
Nikhil

How can I do a clean install of Leopard without the DVD?

My macbook pro is running very slowly and keeps popping up with a notification that the startup disk is full. I'd like to do a clean install but do not have the DVD. Is there a way for me to do a clean install without this disk? If not, is there an easy way to wipe the HD to speed things up?

You can call Apple Customer Support 1-800-767-2775, provide the Serial Number and specifications of the Mac, and for a small fee, a replacement set of system discs (if available), can be ordered.
However, the discs will be for the original version of OS, that was pre-installed, when the Mac was manufactured.
 Cheers, Tom

After clean install of Mountain Lion 10.8.5 no Gate Keeper and a ton a long list of differences in verify disk permissions after updating to Itunes 12.1

HI everybody.
I have a MacBopok Prop 15" from mid 2012, 2.6Ghz, Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM 1 TB SSD.
As my Mac was running as fast as possible it was getting slower down during start and shutdown, from 2 secopnds to 15 secconds during start and shutdown . Apps were crashing sometimes a freeze, total crash which made me go directly to Recovery HD and not my log in page after all the tricks I know I took it to service center where they zeroed my SSD HD and reinstalled Mountain Lion 10.8.5. Strangly enough Gate keeper was not in my preferences and a old version of Itunes 10.4 if I recall. The Mac is still slow while I reinstall all apps from App store and one for one documents and folders from my latest TM back up.
Updated the Security update, and other updates had the same problem as many updating Iphoto 9.4.3 error 102, still have not been able.
But running verify disk permissions there is a massive list of Itunes differences while I have not even added one song. At least 60 to 70 differences. I know a lot of these differences are nothing to worry about but a clean install without Gate keeper and an old Itunes which after update to 12.1 has so many disk differences, this can not as it should be also as I have not added anything from my Itunes library. Any feedback or advice would be very much appreciated.
Greetings
Matt

Do a backup. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Then re-install the OS.
OS X Recovery
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Clean install without disks

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