Macbook issue, question about OS/deleting orignal Admin account.

I am a longtime lurker first time poster, great site that I probably should have checked before I did what I did. Note: I no longer have the orginal start up disks. I lost them through a few moves.

I was/am selling my old macbook Core 2 Duo, late 2006 build Model No: A1181. If I remember correctly it came with Tiger Installed. I later used my fathers family pack to upgrade to Leopard.

Before preparing to sell I backed up everything to an external hardrive. I had never sold a computer to anyone before so I looked on some websites and saw that without the start up disks the only thing I could do, and still keep OS was create another Admin account with no password, give it all permissions and delete the original Admin account.

I securely deleted all of my pics, videos, account info etc. (This took a LONG time) to do manually. I then deleted the main admin account, it asked if I wanted to create back-up image I said no and erased everything leaving only the new admin account. I double checked, everything worked through new admin account so I thought I was good to go. Rebooted several times and left to sell the computer. An hour later we turn it on together and there is nothing but the apple. It will not boot.

Now for the question. I know I can order the original startup disks from applecare for $32 dollars but that would start the computer with Tiger again. I think my dads OS X Leopard still has two uses left, can I simply insert that disk in, hold down "C" and install it and have essentially a blank slate with a Leopard as the OS? Is there anything else I can do?

Sorry for the wall of words. I really appreciate any input I am given. Thanks.

The Leopard Family Pack has nothing to prevent you from installing it more than five times. The license allows for five concurrent users, but it's not serialized, it's not got copy protection - so they're trusting you to be honest.

I agree with your suggestion of booting to the Leopard disk, erasing the drive in Disk Utility (maybe even a secure erase, if you feel it warrants it), and installing the OS. The iLife suite won't be included, just the factory installed applications and OS.

The other option would be to purchase Snow Leopard from the store for $29. Personally, I think I'd let the buyer do that if they choose. Just let them know up front that the unit comes with no media.

EvenStranger said:

The Leopard Family Pack has nothing to prevent you from installing it more than five times. The license allows for five concurrent users, but it's not serialized, it's not got copy protection - so they're trusting you to be honest.

I agree with your suggestion of booting to the Leopard disk, erasing the drive in Disk Utility (maybe even a secure erase, if you feel it warrants it), and installing the OS. The iLife suite won't be included, just the factory installed applications and OS.

The other option would be to purchase Snow Leopard from the store for $29. Personally, I think I'd let the buyer do that if they choose. Just let them know up front that the unit comes with no media.

Click to expand...

I tried using the snow leopard upgrade disk and it did not seem to work. I should put disk in, hold C on boot up and use disk utility correct. If my father still lived in the same city this would not be an issue. I REALLY appreciate your help.

What is I go buy another regular Leopard OS X disk. Can I use that instead of the original start up disks that came with the computer? I never installed the snow leopard upgrade on that macbook only one of my new macbooks.

The Snow Leopard disk you buy off the shelf will be the full installer, not just an upgrade, and should work fine on your MacBook. I tend to hold down the Option key instead of the C key, because it gives me a little more control - I can manually choose which disk I want to boot from. Either way works though.

Thanks for you're help! I got it all sorted out and taken care of thanks to this site. Of course a day later my wife calls me and says here iMac is "broken", I checked the HD booting from OS disk and of course the HD is on its way out and cannot be repaired using DU. I asked when the last time she backed up the computer and she said, "It doesn't to that automatically?" Oh boy....

Of to the repair shop it goes