Sold machine with Mountain Lion new owner can't use it

[macmyworld]

I sold a 27" iMac that had Mountain Lion on it.

Specifically:

1. Purchased machine with Lion
2. Upgraded to Mountain Lion
3. Erased machine
4. Reinstalled OS using Command-R
5. Machine reinstalled Mountain Lion (didn't give me Lion as an option)

Now the new person has the machine and Mountain Lion will not work since his new Apple ID does not show it as purchased.

How can the new person get around this?

Thanks

 

[aquaboy]

Open App Store
Log out your account
Log into his account with his appleID
Buy Mountain Lion
Reboot, hold down option button
recovery mode
Format mac
Connect to wifi
Install ML using his appleID

 

[iVoid]

How exactly does ML not work or is it that he can't download ML from the Mac App Store?

I've installed ML on several Macs and it never required me to login with the Apple ID the ML download is associated with to use ML after the install.

But he won't be able to download ML again, since the download is tied to your ID.

 

[macmyworld]

How exactly does ML not work or is it that he can't download ML from the Mac App Store?

I've installed ML on several Macs and it never required me to login with the Apple ID the ML download is associated with to use ML after the install.

But he won't be able to download ML again, since the download is tied to your ID.

Great question and I wish I had an answer. The guy is in Arizona and I am in Minnesota. He obviously has never owned a Mac before, so I can't get great info from him.

When I sell a machine, I just make sure that the OS gets to the startup screen, never had this issue before, but never sold a machine using the restore feature.

I know an install from a flash drive will not have this problem since it isn't tied to a App store account.

 

[iVoid]

Well, the only question I'd ask him is:

What exactly does the computer not do for him?

If it doesn't boot or allow him to setup the first user account for the first time, then that's an issue.

If it boots and he can login, but it doesn't allow him to download ML from the app store (or the recovery partition), then he has to buy ML himself.

 

[Weaselboy]

Great question and I wish I had an answer. The guy is in Arizona and I am in Minnesota. He obviously has never owned a Mac before, so I can't get great info from him.

When I sell a machine, I just make sure that the OS gets to the startup screen, never had this issue before, but never sold a machine using the restore feature.

I know an install from a flash drive will not have this problem since it isn't tied to a App store account.

Sounds like maybe he is trying to reinstall the OS? He could boot from a 1GB USB key made with Apple recovery utility and use that to format the entire drive (not just Macintosh HD) and then a reboot would get him Lion that is tied to the serial number. I suppose if you advertised it as including Mountain Lion he has a legit beef and you could just refund him $20 to buy himself Mountain Lion.

 

[talmy]

If the purchaser is near an Apple store, they should take it in. The store can reinstall Lion and should willingly do so since legally(?) the system cannot be sold with other than its original OS. This is a mess Apple got themselves into with their new "diskless" and Mac App Store OS distribution, so let them fix it!

 

[oneMadRssn]

Sounds like maybe he is trying to reinstall the OS? He could boot from a 1GB USB key made with Apple recovery utility and use that to format the entire drive (not just Macintosh HD) and then a reboot would get him Lion that is tied to the serial number. I suppose if you advertised it as including Mountain Lion he has a legit beef and you could just refund him $20 to buy himself Mountain Lion.

I agree with the guy above.

It does sound like he's trying to reinstall ML himself. I am 100% sure you can use ML fully without logging into your app store account, or logging in with an account other than the one it was purchased with.

 

[macmyworld]

If the purchaser is near an Apple store, they should take it in. The store can reinstall Lion and should willingly do so since legally(?) the system cannot be sold with other than its original OS. This is a mess Apple got themselves into with their new "diskless" and Mac App Store OS distribution, so let them fix it!

Agreed and I learned my lesson to burn a DVD with the OS for machines I own (and potentially sell in the future).

Thanks everyone for the replies!

 

[scarred]

If the purchaser is near an Apple store, they should take it in. The store can reinstall Lion and should willingly do so since legally(?) the system cannot be sold with other than its original OS. This is a mess Apple got themselves into with their new "diskless" and Mac App Store OS distribution, so let them fix it!

Agreed.

Apple has sucked hard here, and it pissed me off quite good. Their support has been useless on the matter. In the end, thankfully I sold my last mac to my brother who lives near by, so he is lucky and gets to have all the Apps I buy. I honestly only wanted to transfer Mountain Lion and iLife to him, but I guess he gets everything. He won't be able to update the apps (needs my password), but whatever. He can buy his own apps with his apple id, and gets all of mine. Every so often I'll visit him and update the apps.

 

[Jim L]

I agree with those here who say "Let Apple fix it". This situation is the result of their new soft-copy only policy.

I am preparing to sell my old 24" 2008 iMac (still works perfectly, but the 2011 is so much faster!)

I will follow macmyworld's lead and just burn a disc of OS X Mountain Lion. Unfortunately it takes a more expensive DVD to put it on. I was all ready to burn it last night and Disk Utility said my blank doesn't have enough room. I had to order one that has "DL" on the package. So if my buyer wants to erase the iMac and reload Mtn Lion it will be easy.