ML 10.8 Clean install behind proxy

[Miguel Cunha]

Hello everyone.

My company recently acquired an iMac 21.5" with ML 10.8.
I can only connect to internet through our proxy server.

If I want (and I will) to make a clean install, through recovery partition, it allows me to choose the network, but not to configure my proxy settings, so I'm unable to connect to the internet and therefore, to Apple's servers in order to download the OS.

Since 10.8 came with the machine I can't download it to be at hand.
Or can I?
Not in the Mac App Store, at least.

Is there anyway to solve this problem?

Thank you in advance, for your time.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

What happens if you go here or the Purchases tab? Can you not re-download OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion via this method?

 

[Weaselboy]

Hello everyone.

My company recently acquired an iMac 21.5" with ML 10.8.
I can only connect to internet through our proxy server.

If I want (and I will) to make a clean install, through recovery partition, it allows me to choose the network, but not to configure my proxy settings, so I'm unable to connect to the internet and therefore, to Apple's servers in order to download the OS.

Since 10.8 came with the machine I can't download it to be at hand.
Or can I?
Not in the Mac App Store, at least.

Is there anyway to solve this problem?

Thank you in advance, for your time.

There is no way I know of to directly use a proxy connection through recovery.

Is there another Mac in the office you can access? You could connect that Mac to ethernet then use this process to share that Mac's connection wirelessly. Now fire up recovery on your Mac and join the shared wifi connection and off you go.

What happens if you go here or the Purchases tab? Can you not re-download OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion via this method?

If the machine came with Mountain Lion, it won't show in the App Store since Mountain Lion was not ever purchased there.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If the machine came with Mountain Lion, it won't show in the App Store since Mountain Lion was not ever purchased there.

Really? That is bummer, even if it came with 10.8.2 and one updated to 10.8.4 and wants to download the complete OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion installer?

 

[Miguel Cunha]

What happens if you go here or the Purchases tab? Can you not re-download OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion via this method?

If the machine came with Mountain Lion, it won't show in the App Store since Mountain Lion was not ever purchased there.

Weaselboy is right. That's one of my first guesses. unfortunatly It doesn't work.

There is no way I know of to directly use a proxy connection through recovery.

Is there another Mac in the office you can access? You could connect that Mac to ethernet then use this process to share that Mac's connection wirelessly. Now fire up recovery on your Mac and join the shared wifi connection and off you go.

Good suggestion.
I've seen the process and makes sense.
I'll try it in the followinh Moday, when I get back to work.

If it works, is it possible for me to save the OS in the other machine when the download is finished while the OS is being installed?
Does it only work with a Mac or will it work with a Windows machine?

 

[Weaselboy]

Really? That is bummer, even if it came with 10.8.2 and one updated to 10.8.4 and wants to download the complete OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion installer?

Nope... won't be there. If you go to the Apple Store today and buy a new machine with Mt. Lion on it, it won't show in your App Store purchases list. Only way to snag yourself a copy is a recovery DL direct from Apple's servers. They will recognize your serial number and give you Mt. Lion free with no AppleID.

If you really want to snag a copy to keep for "fresh" installs, you can use this convoluted process to capture a copy of the installer.

This full install DMG gets changed/updated shortly after the point releases. So normally a day or two after say 10.8.5, if you grab the full installer this way you will get a full install of 10.8.5.

 

[Nermal]

Really? That is bummer, even if it came with 10.8.2 and one updated to 10.8.4 and wants to download the complete OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion installer?

There's a trick that lets you download the "OEM" restore image... but you need to be able to use Recovery so it's not going to work in this case [Edit: Weaselboy posted a different one above that does not require the reboot]

I think the only solution here would be to download it elsewhere.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I think the only solution here would be to download it elsewhere.

**** (excrement), but then again, I have two Apple IDs and I bought OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion with the former one, but also used that other method. Hmm.

 

[Weaselboy]

If it works, is it possible for me to save the OS in the other machine when the download is finished while the OS is being installed?

You can start your machine from recovery then intercept the Mt. Lion DMG installer using this process and save it to an external drive if you like, although I don't see how that really benefits you.

I would just connect to the shared wifi and let the installer DL and run on your machine and be done with it. Before you do all this, make sure you start Disk Util from that recovery screen and erase Macintosh HD so you get a true clean install.

Does it only work with a Mac or will it work with a Windows machine?

No, you will need to be booted to the target Mac's recovery partition for this to work. Apple will see the serial number of the machine and serve up Mt. Lion to you free since the machine came with it.

If you are asking if you can use a shared wifi connection from a Windows machine, yes that would work. As long as the recovery process can login to either an open or WPA (not WEP) wifi connection, it should work.

 

[Miguel Cunha]

You can start your machine from recovery then intercept the Mt. Lion DMG installer using this process and save it to an external drive if you like, although I don't see how that really benefits you.

The benefit is not to have to do this tricky stuff again.
With the DMG I can make a thumb drive or store it in a partition and install from there.

I'm going to wait for 10.8.5 though.

If I find myself in trouble I'll recurr to this thread again.