How do I get ML downloaded to do a clean install?

[EttVenter]

Hey guys.

So here's the deal: I bought my MacBook Pro with Lion. It's a 2012 rMBP. Apple had a thing going after the release of Mountain Lion that anyone who had bought a Mac recently would get the upgrade to ML for free. So I submitted my serial number and DID get it free. I'm running it now.

Now, with Mavericks on the horizon, I really want to just format and do a fresh install of ML so that the upgrade to Mavericks, but I can't seem to figure out how to get the ML ISO for my machine, and it's not in my list of App Store purchases. In fact, when I search for it it in the App Store, it show's up with a price.

So what do I do now?

 

[benwiggy]

1. You don't need to do a clean install of ML to upgrade to Mavericks. The default installation is simply to replace the old OS with the new, leaving all your other files intact.
There are very few benefits for doing a clean install, unless you have completely hosed your system or installed something Unixy that leaves files in all sorts of places.

2. To reinstall your system, reboot to the Recovery Partition.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

 

[EttVenter]

Does that recovery partition have Lion or ML on it? Did the ML installation replace the recovery with ML?

And thanks!

 

[Weaselboy]

Does that recovery partition have Lion or ML on it? Did the ML installation replace the recovery with ML?

And thanks!

When you installed ML, that updated the recovery partition to the ML recovery version. Just to be clear though, that is just a 650MB partition with some utilities to allow you to DL the entire 4.7GB OS installer from Apple. The full OS is not actually on the recovery partition like you might be used to on a Windows system.

If you redeemed that coupon code from Apple for ML, it should be listed in your purchases. Are sure you are logged in to the App Store under the exact same AppleID you used to redeem to coupon code?

Just to echo what benwiggy said, there really is no reason to wipe and do a fresh install on ML in preparation for Mavericks. Just install Mavs right over top of ML.