Will Reinstalling Mountain Lion Erase My data ?

Please Help,
I am haivng issues with FACETIME and MESSAGES, both are not letting me log in. I have tried several accounts but no luck.
I tried Keychain Unknown Certificate deletion as well, still no luck. I still cannot log in to both.
Now i believe only solution is Reinstalling Mountain Lion.
My questions :-
1) Will it re download the entire setup of moutain lion from server ??
2) Will it Delete my Data ??
3) Will it resolve my certification issue and FIX my "Messages" and "Facetime" ??
Please help me asap.
Thanks in Advance.

Boot up holding command-r keys into your Recovery Volume.
The screen should give you these choices...
Restore from TM backup
Reinstall Mac OS X
Get help online
Disk Utility
First run Disk Utility Repair Disk, if you get errors run until no errors reported or reports "the disk cannot be fixed". Then, choose Reinstall OS X. This will be an install "in place" and shouldn't effect any of your own data or settings.

Similar Messages

Will reinstalling mountain lion fix image retention

After installing mavericks i started getting image retention so i was wondering if reinstalling mountain lion will fix my problem.

It's unlikely that has a thing to do with OS version. But it you wish to reinstall Mountain Lion:
Erase the drive.
Reinstall Mountain Lion from a backup.
Since your computer can run Mavericks you will no longer be able to re-download Mountain Lion. However, if Mountain Lion was pre-installed on your computer, then you may be able to reinstall it by going through an Internet Recovery:
Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
This may restore the version of OS X originally pre-installed on the computer.

Will buying mountain lion erase all my data?

I am quite interested in updating to Mountain Lion, as I have a very outdated Mac. However, I am worried that doing so will erase all my data. Also, will updating make my mac run faster? It has been working much slower recently. Its only three years old, 10.6.8. Please help!

In addition to BT's comments:
The OS X update process will stomp on your /Applications, but not on the content in /Users, which is where your login directory resides. Good backup habits are sound advice.
Even if your three-year old Mac complies with the minimum supported hardware specs, it is very unlikely that a larger, more resource hungry Mountain Lion will give you more features and run faster on your hardware.
If you wish to stay current with OS X releases, at some point, you will need to step up to a new or refurbished hardware purchase decision.

Does a reinstall on mountain lion erase all data?

Hi, i just found out that there's a thing called OS X Recovery that lets you reinstall OS X, and as I recently upgraded from SL to ML, i wanted to know if a reinstallation would reset my mac as SL or ML, and also if this reinstallation would erase all of my data (because that's want i really want), so that then i could put my old data back from a time machine backup (if it is feasible to do so, as the time machine backup contains a backup from when i had SL) Thanks!

It will re-download and re-install from the Internet:
OS X: About OS X Recovery

Will my MacbookPro still be under warranty if i format and reinstall mountain lion from scratch?

Hello everyone,
as in title, will my MacbookPro still be under warranty if i format and reinstall mountain lion from scratch? After the release of mountain lion, bought it and reinstalled it on the previous version,but the system looks slightly slower.So my thought was to format and install it from scratch.But being my computer 1 month old,will this influence my warranty?Thank you for answers.Cheers.M

Reinstall doesn't broke the warranty, so you can reinstall OS X Mountain Lion

My ex girlfriend wiped my 6yo daughters imac and will not give me the 4 digit passcode pin. How do i get past this to reinstall mountain lion ? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Could anybody offer me advice on what I can do to reinstall mountain lion on my daughters imac as my ex wiped the whole computer via find my iphone and will not give me the 4 digit passcode ? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated..

Take it to an Apple Store, have proof of purchase with you.

A few questions before proceeding to uninstall/reinstall Mountain Lion

Since I'm new to this forum I inadvertently closed the discussion that I initiated myself without it being resolved, so I'll copy what I had asked in the previous discussion over to a new thread:
23-Oct-2012 16:08 (in response to ds store)
Since yesterday I've done this:
Safe boot
smc reset
pram reset
hardware test looped 5 times off of original discs: no trouble
check battery: good condition
reinstalled flash with click for flash in Safari, updated Firefox to 16
Startup Manager: Volumes are Mac hd and recovery 10.8.1: did repair disk and permissions repair
Onyx: did everything and rebooted. There was trouble with epson permissions that was fixed and still recurred, went to users and deleted printers and then went to epson and downloaded uninstall from July 2012 and removed with that anything that was there
Still crashes though, so I thought I would do this, I'm nervous about it though:
command r boot off Recovery HD partition and Disk Utility Erase with Security Option: Zero the OS X drive/partition. Check under Partition: Options: GUID and Format: OS X Extended Journaled and apply if not already set.
Quit and install 10.6 or 107+ from Apple's servers.
Reboot, use the same user name as before (different password advised)
quit and install 10.6 or 107, what is 107? does this mean 10.8? I'm confused by that
so I must write down the user name, not the owner name, both of which I changed
I also before had created a new user and deleted my friends user accounts, so that was done already but didn't help.
when you say different password advised, you mean change that later in users?
When adobe asks for id are they asking for my id that I created to get to this forum or my user name and computer password or the computer name and password?
I'm ready to do this once I get things ironed out.....I'm afraid something awful will happen....but I guess I've done what I can for the most part otherwise.
Thank you for your help, it's been great!
23-Oct-2012 16:28 (in response to ds store)
I also did try to command r and reinstall mountain lion but when I entered my adobe id they said that it has not been used in the app store.....
so I'm not sure where that leads, whether entering my friends id and password might have lead to a free reinstall or even how to get any reinstall,
however I'm happier with the idea of a fresh restart...but worried I won''t be allowed to or run into a message like that ....or it will cost a huge amount
but you say I believe that it is quite simple and free?
23-Oct-2012 16:31 (in response to ds store)
"quit and install from apple servers"
is this something that happens within the program without rebooting? Is the "install from apple servers"given as a prompt after you select the "quit" button?
23-Oct-2012 16:42 (in response to ds store)
Do I need to download and install this?
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1492
I have noticed that somethings have improved with all these changes, I continue to delete programs that seem outdated and unneccesary, however there still seems to be lots of crashes, and a clean install deleting everything and starting again with mountain lion is what I'd like to do once I get these final things sorted out.
Thank you

No, please don't do that. Here's how you do one or the other:
Downgrade Lion/Mountain Lion to Snow Leopard
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer
      loads select your language and click on the Continue
      button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the
      Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the
      mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status
      of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then
      the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART
      info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on
      the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions
      from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS
      Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the
      partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on
      the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner.
If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click on
      the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero
        Data option to one-pass. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Reinstalling Mountain Lion with a Bootcamp partition present

My OSX10.8 partition has failed, not even allowing the Recovery function to reinstall Mountain Lion, or to restore from my Time Machine. So I assume I will need to reformat the drive using Disk Utility, then reinstall the OSX. BUT - I have an old Bootcamp partition running Windows XP. I need the partition for running some older software. Question: Can I erase the OSX partition, reinstall Mountain Lion and leave the Bootcamp untouched? Will the new OSX10.8 install see the previous Bootcamp drive?

Assuming your drive hasn't failed:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

I recently purchased an iMac from a friend who factory reset it, and now I can't reinstall Mountain Lion?

     As the title says, I can't reinstall Mountain Lion. When I turn on the iMac, it send me straight to OX X Utilities. When I click on Reinstall Mountain Lion, it asks for my ID, but then states I did not purchase Mountain Lion. How do I fix this issue? I've tried asking Apple Support, but to no avail. I don't think the guy I spoke with understood what was going on.
I cannot get around OS X Utilities. There are only four options for me.
Reinstall Mountain Lion
Back Up (tried, nothing comes up)
Get Help Online (which is what I'm doing here)
Erase or Restore Utilities (I've checked this, it says my disks are not malfunctioning)
     My friend suggested signing into his ID to reinstall but when we did, it also said this ID has not purchased Mountain Lion. We logged into Apple Support went to registed devices and there was nothing there. I think he may have used another ID which is he searching for the info for. If we get the right ID, then maybe it will let us sign in on his name and reinstall Mountain Lion. But if he can't, or Apple won't take his ID, then I'm at a loss for options.
     So now I'm here, hoping someone else who bought a used iMac from a friend who factory reset it and needs info on how to reinstall Mountain Lion can help me. I don't know what else to do. If I can't get this thing sorted out, I'll have to drive to the apple store. The closest one is 60 miles away, so I'm not looking forward to that. Is that my only option now? What can I do?
tl;dr I bought a used iMac from a friend who factory reset it, and now I don't know how to reinstall Mountain Lion. What are my options?

If the system didn't ship with Mountain Lion originally and you didn't purchase Mountain Lion yourself, then you will need to purchase. A purchase by the system's original owner cannot be transferred to you.
Unless you have another system on which you have purchased Mountain Lion, you will need to first install Mac OS X 10.6.8 on the iMac, for which you'll need either the original installation disks, if the iMac came with 10.6, or a retail copy of 10.6. Install 10.6 and upgrade to at least 10.6.6, and then you can buy Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store, presuming of course that the imac can support Mountain Lion. See:
http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/
Regards.

Can't restore iLife after reinstalling Mountain Lion

After I erase the internal disk and reinstall Mountain Lion, I followed this instruction which Apple provides officially to restore my iLife:
Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion
If you erase install OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion on a new Mac that shipped with OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion installed, you can download iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand from the Mac App Store.
After installation, start (up) from OS X.
Double-click the App Store icon in the dock.
Enter your Apple ID and password.
Click Purchases.
If you haven't previously accepted your bundled iLife applications within the Mac App Store, you should see your iLife applications appear in the Accept portion of the screen. Click Accept.
You may be asked for your Apple ID and password once again. Your iLife applications now move to the Purchased section. These applications are part of the software that came with your Lion based computer. Your account will not be charged for them. Click Install to complete installation of your applications.
However, when I finish #5, I can't find my iLife apps are listed in that "Purchases" tab. Can anyone help me solve this problem?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
Yes, that is what is supposed to happen.
I'd contact MAS support

How do I reinstall Mountain Lion in English on a system that was originally in Chinese?

I'm trying to help a friend who was given a used 13" MacBook Air (A1369) by the Chinese exchange student staying with him. It needed a screen repair, which was done, and we were able to change the display menus to English which is fine for general use. BUT... The previous owner had all kinds of Chinese games and programs as well as a partitioned HD. The plan was to just erase and reinstall Mountain Lion (which it came with, we THINK) and he'd have a fresh start.
Using the Recovery system would be great, except that since the comp was from China, and the ID associated with it is in Chinese, all of the instructions, menus and EVERYTHING are in Chinese. We can get online fine, and tried booting from a USB drive but everything is still in Chinese. We got as far as making a bootable USB and it looked like everything was OK, and started the erase/restore process but it got stuck in Chinese instructions and menus!!!
Is there a way to buy new copy of Mountain Lion with a new Apple ID that will be in English and then install it on a computer that was already running Mountain Lion? It seems I should be able to DL the OS to a USB drive and then just boot and install from that. But I'd have to DL on another Mac with its own ID running Lion. (Or use a Linux PC which seems like an even worse option.)
Any ideas? Suggestions? Laughter?

Try posting again in the forum for ML, since it hardly seems to have anything to do with your hardware.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mountain_lion

I lost iLife after reinstalling Mountain Lion

I bought my iMac in April last year, it is the 21.5 inch mid/late 2011 iMac (if I'm not wrong), the thing is I used to install lots of things in here until I decided it was worth to erase all the unimportant content, but to make myselfe sure I decided to back up in an external hard drive everything I thought it was important and then I proceded to reboot the system and enter in restore mode while startup (using cmd + r, as you may know).. Once in there I went to disk utilities and erased my HDD and after that I proceeded to reinstall Mountain Lion. Everything went OK, I entered my Apple ID and Password and the installation went through without any further problems. When I started to reconfigure everything I noticed iPhoto was missing, so I inmediately checked if iMovie and GarageBand were there, but they were not. So I logged in the Mac AppStore but there said I should bought them (which actually makes sense, because I got iLife with my iMac) but I honestly don't know what to do. I used to use a lot these softwares, and it would be nice to have them back.. Do you have any idea of what should I do?
I also would like to add that my iMac came with OS X Lion, I bought Mountain Lion personally.. if that has something to do with..
Thanks for your attention,
PD: Please bear in mind that I'm from Argentina, any mistake you can found wasn't intencionally, sorry if you happen to find many

Thank you very much for your help and your time, this problem was in deed very simple to solve, I tried to click the buy app button just to see what happens and it turned out that was the right thing to do.
If any one has this problem here is a screenshot that will more or less tell you what you got to do:

Need help reinstalling Mountain Lion

I was trying to reset my MacBook Air to its factory settings. I was following a YouTube video and I got as far as erasing something. Then I went to reinstall Mountain Lion and it told me my itunes account didn't have Mountain Lion purchased (I bought it from someone a month ago). SO I purchased it and have the PDF with the code. However, I cannot access the Mac App Store to redeem the code. What do I do now? My MBA is stuck in the utilities mode.!

If it is a late 2010, it probably came with Snow Leopard installed, which means you will have to have the install DVD that came with the machine. There is a retail version of Snow Leopard available from the Apple on-line store for $20, but that is version 10.6.3. The 2010 machines came with 10.6.6 and will not install from the retail DVD. If you do not have the original install disk, you can call Apple Customer Service and they will send you a disk for a fee of something like $20, you need the machine serial number to get the correct installer version.
Once you have that disk you can install the 10.6.6 version from the disk and then go to Software Update to on-line update to 10.6.8. From there, you an go to Mountain Lion or Mavericks if your model meets the specs in http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5842

Reinstalling Mountain Lion issue.

Reinstalling Mountain Lion issue. After I erased my HD and reinstalled OS (w/o file transfer from other Mac option) - opened Safari and saw my old bookmarks there already. Does that mean that reinstall didn't go correctly?

Thanks for the reply, I will try that tonight.
I'm working on this thory I found on google....
'Booting a new MacBook Pro (Late 2011) from a retail 10.6.3 disc resulted in a black screen and a repeating 3 beep pattern. This is due to missing Sandy Bridge drivers. Apple will ship a 10.6.6 (iMac) or 10.6.7 (MacBook Pro) installer disc'
My OS was the 10.6.3 that came with my iMac. I phoned Apple, they wanted me to pay £18 for 10.6.6
Hmmmmmm!

Reinstalling Mountain Lion after update to 10.8.1

Hello
I got a problem,
i got a Mac Mini and a MacBook unibody.
On both pc's i have the same problem i bought Mountain Lion, installed it, and updated it to 10.8.1
Now after a while my Macbook doenst startup anymore, and today my Mac Mini doesn't startup anymore,
i have to reinstall Mountain Lion again..
What the ****?? what's up? bad update??? or bad system with many bugs??

The problem isn't with the OS, it's with your system.
Boot up holding command-r keys into your Recovery Volume.
The screen should give you these choices...
Restore from TM backup
Reinstall Mac OS X
Get help online
Disk Utility
First run Disk Utility Repair Disk, if you get errors run until no errors reported or reports "the disk cannot be fixed". Then, choose Reinstall OS X. This will be an install "in place" and shouldn't effect any of your own data or settings.

Will Reinstalling Mountain Lion Erase My data ?

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