Reinstalling Lion to factory settings with no disks, reinstalling Lion to factory settings with no disks

Hi There, i have a problem where i have a macbook pro that has Lion installed on it. I wanted to reset it to factory default settings as i received it out the box, the problem is that it did not have any disks as the OS was pre installed on the drive. How can i reset this macbook pro with out any disks? as it won't boot past the grey screen now. Please help.

To install Lion hold down the command and R keys while you boot the system this will put into the Recovery partiton. You will have a small subset of OS commands that will allow you to install Lion.
See OS X: About OS X Recovery

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How do I reset MacBook pro with lion back to factory settings without disk?

Good evening everyone,
I recently purchased a MacBook pro with lion installed and I need to reset it to factory settings without a disk. anyone know how to do this?

Restart it... and hold down command+R
then choose disk utility and format your disk
then choose reinstall lion
and it's back to default.
source of info: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_boot_lion%E2%80%99s_recovery_mode
apple way is most slam.
how u like me now?
i just did this right now and my system so so fresh and pure.

I just recently bought my friend's iMac 10,1 21.5in with all of his documents in it He lost his installer disks and it has OS X Snow Leopard. How can I restore it to factory settings? Or can I buy OS X Lion online and restore it to factory settings?

?

Sooner or later, you will need to have those install disks, so you or your friend need to call Apple, give them the serial number of the machine and ask for replacement disks which should be sent out for a nominal fee. Other than that, you could also buy Snow Leopard retail disk at various resellers or Apple store online for $29.
You will need that disk because: if you want to update to Lion and you purchase it at the app store, the license for it is not transferable, so if you ever sell that Mac, you are required to uninstall Lion and reinstall the original system (which you will need the disks for). The disks also include diagnostic/repair software.
So, it's best to have the disks; and, if you do purchase and install Lion, make sure you make a complete backup - bootable clone or Time Machine just in case.

Tried unsuccessfully to restore my MBP, running the Mac OSX Lion, to factory settings. I keep getting the "can't download additional components for the Mac OSX Lion" error when reinstalling the OSX Lion. Any tips on how to resolve this problem?

Hello! Tried unsuccessfully to restore my MBP, running the Mac OSX Lion, to factory settings. I keep getting the "can't download additional components for the Mac OSX Lion" error when reinstalling the OSX Lion. Any tips on how to resolve this problem?

Hi
Given that your answer to 1. is 'pre-installed' and 3. is 'No', I think the only thing to do is to take it to an Apple store (ideally the one you bought it from) and have them reinstall it for you.
The intended solution in cases like yours is that you should be able to reboot and install even a wiped disk by using Apple's servers over the internet (you do this by restarting with 'command-r' and choosing 'reinstall Lion'). However if this isn't working for you then you need to get the store to do it. Don't let them fob you off with 'go home and try again'. Have them do it in the shop (you're still covered by Applecare warranty so it should cost you nothing save the inconvenience of the trip and possibly leaving the machine there while they fix it).
A reinstall should leave all your own personal data and programs in place.
Note for future: when you get it fixed, first thing to do is buy a cheap external drive and start keeping a backup (either Time Machine or clone with Carbon Copy Cloner).
Message was edited by: softwater

I have a '13-inch, Early 2009' MacBook. I want to restore it to its factory settings (I have the 'Mac OS X Install DVD' and 'Applications Install DVD'). At this time, I am completely up-to-date with Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3. My question is:

After I restore the computer, will I also lose Lion? If so, will it be possible to get it back? Will it be possible to catch back up to the latest software without having to spend any money? I bought and installed Snow Leopard when it came out, but no longer have a physical copy of that disc.

Hi Linux,
I was about to restore my MacBook when I came upon this screen:
Is this not an indication that it intends on reinstalling it back to its "factory settings", which means OS X Leopard?
I'm simply afraid that I will be reverted back to 'Leopard', and then be forced to either stick with what I've got, or to spend unnecessary money in order to catch back up.

I have paid and downloaded LION and want to update my IMAC, can i just run install and it keep photos settings etc from Snow Leopard or is a full reinstall with wiped hard drive, anyone have any experience of this and do i need to run a backup beforehand?

I have paid and downloaded LION and want to update my IMAC, can i just run install and it keep photos settings etc from Snow Leopard or is a full reinstall with wiped hard drive, anyone have any experience of this and do i need to run a backup beforehand?

Always backup your important data before upgrading to a new Mac OS X.
Lion doesn't erase the drive but better to be safe than sorry.
And run Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities). Verify and if necessary repair the startup disk before upgrading.
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
Before upgrading read here > Lion upgrade questions and answers: Apple Support Communities
And here > What applications are not compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion"? What upgrade or substitute options are available for common incompatible applications? @ EveryMac.com

Hi!I was restoring my MacBook pro to its factory setting by erasing the disk and reinstalling OS X lion via internet.but it is failing telling me that my network is very slow while I used the best network in the area.How sld I get an OS X lion to my CP?

Hi!I was restoring my MacBook pro to its factory setting by erasing the disk and reinstalling OS X lion via internet.but it is failing telling me that my network is very slow while I used the best network in my area.How should I get an OS X lion to my CP? Is it possible to get it from another MacBook pro?Or is it possible to recover the erased OS X Lion without or with external disc?
Thank you

Hi OGELTHORPE!
Thank you for your advice but I don't know where i can get it and where to get it. Also I don't know also how to use it.
Could you please keep on helping me?
Regards!

Reset factory settings on early 2008 Macbook Air - no reinstall disks

Hi,
I just purchased a January 2008 Macbook Air for a family member. The other person wiped it clean of their personal data but I want to put it back to factory settings so it's a fresh start from scratch.
I have no idea if these models came with any kind of reinstall disks or flash drives, but this wasn't included with the purchase.
I have a late 2010 Macbook Air myself which came with a Reinstall Drive for Mac OS X v10.6 + iLife '11. (model no. A1384).
All I need to know is whether my reinstall drive will work on the 2008 model before I run the disk utility and wipe everything.
I don't own an external CD drive or super drive.
Any help would be great.
Thanks

That computer came with restore discs for Leopard and iLife '08. You can purchase replacements from Apple Support:
Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
To contact product and tech support: Apple - Support - Contact Apple Support.
For Mac App Store: Apple - Support - Mac App Store.
For iTunes: Apple - Support - iTunes.
It is unlikely the discs that came with your 2010 MBA will install on the older model, but you can certainly try. It is, however, a violation of the software license to install OS X on more than one CPU at a time.
I have no idea what you mean be a "reinstall drive." Your computers came with DVDs, not drives. You can use any external drive that can read dual-layer discs and connect via USB.

Is there any way that I can get back my iPhoto? After having hard disk replaced (no backup) and the operating system has been updated to Lion (no disc) I am wondering if iPhoto can be reinstalled with my Leopard discs?

Is there any way that I can get back my iPhoto? After having hard disk replaced (no backup) and the operating system has been updated to Lion (no disc) I am wondering if iPhoto can be reinstalled with my Leopard discs?

As Niel pointed out, yes. The disk probably will look like the MBP disk (4) in this screenshot;
OT

HT4718 I had a copy of Mountain Lion on my late 2008 MacBook Pro, having replaced Lion which it came with. But the drive,crashed, so I replaced the drive and reinstalled Lion from the original disks I had. How do I get another copy of Mountain Lion?

I had a copy of Mountain Lion on my late 2008 MacBook Pro, having replaced Lion which it came with. But the drive crashed, so I replaced the drive and reinstalled Lion from the original disks I had. How do I get another copy of Mountain Lion?

A 2008 Mac won't have originally shipped with Lion. You need to install 10.6.8 on the computer, log into the Mac App Store with the Apple ID you used to purchase Mountain Lion, click on the Purchases tab, and download it.
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I installed lion from the internet, i wanted all the stuff on it erased but it didnt do it, how do i get my computer to factory settings so it is like it was new just with a fresh copy of lion on it

i installed lion from the internet, i wanted all the stuff on it erased but it didnt do it, how do i get my computer to factory settings so it is like it was new just with a fresh copy of lion on it

Music is not included in the backup (and nor are films or tv shows), only the contents of third-party apps are included. Did you not do File > Transfer Purchases when connected to your computer's iTunes to copy your iTunes purchases over, and/or have you not got a backup copy of your music somewhere e.g. on an external drive ?

Burning DVD in Lion Problems. Keep getting REGION ERRORS in SONY DVD PLAYER @ playback. Settings correct. Leopard burns fine with all media. Lion does not with TOAST. DVDSTYLER burns a readable disk.

I have tried several types of media in a brand new (less than 2 months old) 27" iMac running the latest version of Lion. It will not burn a standalone DVD player readable disk. I am in North America and buring in NTSC format. Settings are set properly. Buring at BEST speed - states its burning at 3x. I have tested SONY printable DVD's +R and Verbatim non printable -R disks in Lion with Roxio Toast 8 & 10. No luck. DVDSTYLER burns a readable disk, but not realy happy about the look and functionality.
I am getting REGION LIMITATION errors in the SONY and other stand alone DVD Players.
Disk plays in XBox 360 and laptop PC also.
I am set to region 1.
AS I stated, DVDSTYLER does burn a readable disk, the problem seems to be with TOAST and LION ?
My old 21" iMac running Leopard 10.5.8 has no problems with burning. Any media, Toast 8, disks perform just fine.
Any suggestions ?
My only solution is to do the editing of movies I need to do on the 27" and transfer them to the 21" for burning.
lame
Or use the sub par DVDSTYLER program.
acceptable but disappointing.
ideas ?

SONY DVD player is brand spankin new.
Have not tried Imation disks.
Its just puzzling that Leopard and Toast 8 produces a DVD where as Lion and Toast 8 produces a coaster.
I tried not printiable Verbatims. Same result.
Need printables for the projects that I do.
Appreciate the suggetsions.
Will be methodically dilligent and post any results here.
any help from any others would be appreciated.

HT3777 if i restore my macbook back to its factory settings with the grey install disk that came with my macbook, will this wipe out the bootcamp partition? (i don't want it to)

i have asked this question a few times now, but i have not got the answer i was looking for:
my macbook is currently on v10.6.8 (a snow leopard version)
the factory settings of my macbook is v10.5.6 (a leopard version; i know that using the grey install disk that came with my macbook will restore my macbook back to this version)
i know that by restoring my macbook to the factory settings, some apps will go (e.g. flash player 12, app store) and other apps will be downgraded (like itunes)
but i am talking about BOOTCAMP. it isn't an app, it's a partition of my hard drive.
my question is, will i still have the BOOTCAMP partition after i restore my macbook back to its factory settings? if so, will all the folders and files in BOOTCAMP still be there?

Hello there, Timmayy24.
The following Knowledge Base article provides the information you're looking for:
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3910
Important: This procedure will completely erase your hard drive. If you have installed Microsoft Windows using Boot Camp, or have multiple partitions, this procedure will erase the partition you select.
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Is there any way to restore it to factory settings with out the disk?

I got a macbook off of a friend with all the proper disks, did the installation and set up and did all the updates. Now after having restarted the computer with the new updates I'm trying to install iworks(it always asks for the admin. name and password), but it keeps saying that I have the incorrect administrator name or password yet I can log on and off just fine. Is there any way I can fix this or reset it to the factory settings with out having to use the disk?

OK, then you can try this instead:
I lost my admin user (OS X 10.5)
If you are unfortunate enough to delete your only admin user, or remove his admin capability, then as long as you have another user with login capability, you can give that user admin rights as shown below. Print this post out in a mono-spaced font, and type carefully, paying attention to spaces and punctuation, since you cannot copy/paste in Single User mode. Caution: in single user mode you have root privileges. Be careful!
Substitute the name of 'youruser' below.
Boot into single-user mode which will eventually get you to a shell prompt (ending in #). Then type the following (Press RETURN after each command):
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat the above until it says your disk is OK. Then continue with
/sbin/mount -uw /
/usr/bin/dscl . -merge /groups/admin users youruser
If you get a message saying "invalid path", then type these two commands first:
/usr/bin/dscl . -create /groups/admin gid 80
/usr/bin/dscl . -create /groups/admin passwd '*'
and then repeat the "dscl ... -merge" command.
Then:
reboot
You will now be able to login as 'youruser' and have administrative privileges. Membership of the 'admin' group is the only thing that distinguishes administrative users from ordinary users.

Bought a new Mac Pro and it didn't come with Lion disk, how can I reinstall OS?

I screwed up font book and reset it to restore to defaults but then it asked me to reinstall Lion... but I didn't not receive a disk with the Mac
How can I get the disk or reinstall it?

There is no disk. Restart with the Option key held down and use the recovery partition.
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Reinstalling Lion to factory settings with no disks, reinstalling Lion to factory settings with no disks

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