Downloading and installing OS X Lion - visual aids

Question

Back up your system before you start this, or any download.
Go to App Store (located on your Dock or in your Appplications folder) - once in the store locate the OS X Lion in the Top Charts catagory.
Click on it and go through the pay process, when that is done you will see the Lion icon on your dock and below it is a download progress bar.
If you have not installed Lion it will show a price of 29.99 - rather than INSTALLED (you see this word after payment and installation)
What you're not told is that to monitor the download process you need to click on the Purchases Button in your App Store
BUT HERE'S WHAT REALLY FRUSTRATED ME - Nowhere does it say that the download time is "Network Specific". What this means to us not so tech savvy folks is the download time can range from as little as 45 minutes to as long as over 12 hours.That's right - over 12 hours.
You need to select a time of day when the internet connectivity in your area is relatively low.
For example - do this overnight - and wake up refreshed and with Lion waiting to be installed.
HOWEVER - for the few of us that like seeing the process the download time can be very frustrating.
ONCE THE DOWNLOAD IS DONE (MINE TOOK 10 1/2 HOURS) I RECEIVED A RED ERROR MESSAGE TELLING ME MY DOWNLOAD WAS UNSUCCESSFUL AND I WOULD NEED TO RETRY.
DON'T PANIC - THIS MESSAGE, IN MY PERSONAL OPINION, IS AN ERROR ITSELF!
Because it actually did say "INSTALLED" - even though nothing appeared in my Downloads Folder.
Here's what I did, when I got this ERROR MESSAGE: I went to Apple's Discussion site (which we are in now).
In the search bar I typed "install lion".
A large square overlay appeared with the same Lion picture as above and a button to Install - I just clicked it.
An installation progress bar (below) showed up telling me the approximate time for the install - again, here I recommend doing this at a time when your internet service is not at too busy. My installation took 25 minutes, but then it was already after 10pm and internet service was good.
Once you have successfully installed Lion you will be prompted to let you computer restart - be patient it does take a few minutes.
I hope this visual tutorial is helpful. Good luck!

Answer 1

Interesting point you make.
In fact, since there was absolutely no help whatsoever with this very frustrating download, I was left to fend for myself.
You think they (the folks at Mac) would have anticipated this download being done by individuals that may not know all the tricks!
I hadn't thought of looking for the Install Mac OS X Lion.app in the application folder.
During the download process I accessed this very site and was shocked at the number of Mac users, trying to download and install Lion that were receiving the "installation error" message - I may not have gone about it the technically correct way, as you point out...but hey, it worked.