Help doing an reinstall on mac mini

dx052

I have a Mac Mini that I bought second hand, looking at it I would say its a couple of years old or their about. I believe it used have Mavericks on it originally although I think it had Yosemite on it when I purchased it. I am looking to sell it with the original factory settings. I have gone into reboot mode and gone through the stages to that process and entered in my Apple ID details and I get the message "this item is temporarily unavailable" does this mean I am not eligible for a Mavericks reinstall with my Apple ID??

Can I download Yosemite like I am doing on another mac laptop and install on my Mac Mini via a USB stick?

almillar

Can I download Yosemite like I am doing on another mac laptop and install on my Mac Mini via a USB stick?

Yes. If you've got the download on another Mac, and you know how to make the USB stick (a bit involved, and it changed slightly with Yosemite), then it will install on the Mac Mini, or any Mac that is up to spec. This is different from the DVDs that you would get with your computer, that would be specific to that model i.e, you can't install OSX on a MacBook from MacMini discs.

pmartin86

Why would you want to roll it back from Yosemite? Seems a bit odd!

But yes, you can create a bootable USB installer with Mavericks if you chose.

dx052

Sorry it had Mavericks originally, I made a usb boot installer from Macbook Air. Downloaded Yosemite from my App store, watched a few Youtube videos on the installer and got it to work first time within a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. What I did learn through this process is that some people especially on Mac forums talk a lot of crap!

Mr_Toad

Another alternative is to do an internet install.

When booting hold down Cmd + R and follow the prompts for WiFi password if not using Ethernet. Once you enter your Apple ID details it will do a clean install of the latest OS that your Mac will support.