Imac

rockchick113

I have a 2009 imac which used to belong to a school and was networked to their own servers, now is there anyway I can reinstall the os to factory,I don't have any discs.it also as Xp installed.
The reason I want to do this is,some of the setting are set for a school and even though I have the admin passwords I still can't change so things back.

Hoseman

I think it may be hard to factory reset it without the disks but perhaps someone else can advise further.

rockchick113

Hoseman wrote: »

I think it may be hard to factory reset it without the disks but perhaps someone else can advise further.

I was thinking it may be possible to buy the discs and reinstall,I think it's os is leopard.I'm not to bothered about latest os as I mostly use my iPad but will be using the mac for the programs and the odd internet work.

Mr_Toad

2009, would that be OS X Snow Leopard?

If so you can buy the disc for £14

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Or you could borrow a copy if you know anyone else with a mac, it doesn't even have to be Snow Leopard, any OS X version would do. There's no serial number or activation code like there is with Windows.

You could download a copy.

Once you've done your factory reset install you can upgrade to the latest version 10.9 free via the App Store. Previous versions were £20 but Apple made the latest one free.

hthecraftyelf

You need to use Internet Recovery to restore the original version of OS X. This will access Apple's servers and download the installation tools for the correct version that came with your system. To do this, ensure you have an appropriate internet connection for use with Internet Recovery, and then reboot with the Option-Command-R keys held to force loading to Internet Recovery. Again, use Disk Utility to fully partition the internal boot drive, and then quit Disk Utility.

Mr_Toad

hthecraftyelf wrote: »

You need to use Internet Recovery to restore the original version of OS X. This will access Apple's servers and download the installation tools for the correct version that came with your system. To do this, ensure you have an appropriate internet connection for use with Internet Recovery, and then reboot with the Option-Command-R keys held to force loading to Internet Recovery. Again, use Disk Utility to fully partition the internal boot drive, and then quit Disk Utility.

Noted for future if needed.

Been a Mac user for years and didn't know you could do this.

Mind you, I have the discs for mine but have never needed to use them.

Thanks.

Stratus

Only recent Macs support internet recovery so this is not an option here. Some older models can be updated to take advantage in internet recovery see here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4904

Mr_Toad offers the best advice.

rockchick113

Thanks for replies,I may have to take it 2 someone who can do it.