MacBook Pro circa 2008 - Need Yosemite

[DJRyan920]

I got a free MacBook Pro from about 2008. I know the lineage of this computer but it came to me with no OS installed. When I try to do to Option R to recover I am told the option is temporarily unavailable. When I try to do the Command+Option+R to do a download install I am told its unavailable. I am not normally a mac guy but thats why I took this so I can start learning them.

Any suggestions?

 

[CoastalOR]

I would recommend buying a Yosemite bootable USB installer from eBay since without another Mac your options and tools are limited.

BTW, IF there is a Recovery partition on the internal drive, then the key combination at start up is command + r (not Option R). Command+Option+R is for internet Recovery and your Mac is too old to support it unless some other updates were already installed.

Additionally, the max OS your 2008 MBP will support is El Capitan (10.11.6), there is a way to download El Capitan from Apple but it takes a working Mac with an installed OS. Yosemite is no longer available for download from Apple unless you have previously downloaded it.

 

[DJRyan920]

I do have access to a new Macbook Air.

 

[CoastalOR]

I do have access to a new Macbook Air.

If "new" is not a 2017 then the MacBook Air can be used to download Yosemite (if the MacBook Air was manufactured between 2008 to 2015 then it can be used to download Yosemite from the "Purchased" tab using the "App Store" app and IF you have access to a Apple ID account that has previously downloaded Yosemite). Once the installer app is downloaded then it can be used to create a USB installer.

 

[DJRyan920]

If "new" is not a 2017 then the MacBook Air can be used to download Yosemite (if the MacBook Air was manufactured between 2008 to 2015 then it can be used to download Yosemite from the "Purchased" tab using the "App Store" app and IF you have access to a Apple ID account that has previously downloaded Yosemite). Once the installer app is downloaded then it can be used to create a USB installer.

I went and looked and there are no past OS's listed for download on that macbook air. I did find that my brother in-law can hook me up with a boot disk though so I should be good now.