Help reinstalling

[candle_86]

So I was given an older MAC with OSX Lion installed, I know its outdated but I'm opening my own shop and will be selling newer macs and need to at least understand OSX hence why I grabbed this free MAC. Issue is I can't restore it I tried and got an unavailible error, and of course a quick google search said I need to get the installer from the app store. So any options here.

Its a 2008 White 2.4ghz Model, so I see that Lion is also the newest i can run

 

[Fishrrman]

First off, it's not a "2008" that you have.
The last "white" iMacs were the 2006-design models, sold until summer of 2007.
Go to system information (or system profiler, they kept changing the name).
What's the Model Identifier?
It should read something like "iMac7,1" (or something like that).

With that info you can go to everymac.com and get more info on it.

Having said that...
I don't think you can download a digital copy of Lion from Apple.
It may still be available to BUY in DVD format (not sure).
If there's no other way, you could use (cough, choke) "alternative, non-authorized" sources to find it. It IS "out there", if you know where to look.

 

[CoastalOR]

Lion download can be purchased from Apple online.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106/os-x-lion

Information about installing Lion
https://www.macworld.com/article/1161065/os-x/installing-lion-what-you-need-to-know.html

Reinstalling the full Lion should restore the Recovery partition.