Getting a MacBook Pro ready to sell. What do I do?

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Hey guys and gals,

I've got a 2012 MacBook Pro that I'm going to be selling because unfortunately I bought without really having a real reason to have it. I use my iMac at home and have a Mac Mini at the church office so my MB became quickly redundant. The thing is practically new as it only has like 14 cycles on the battery.

Anyway, I would like to get it back to factory condition (software wise) if that is possible?? Meaning, is there any way to get it to a place where when you turn it on, it will turn on just like it would when I first bought it?

Thanks a bunch!

Steve
 

Raz0rEdge

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The way to get the MBP back to the new Mac experience is to do a clean re-install of OS X. Since you have Mountain Lion installed on here, hold down CMD+r while powering up the Mac. This will put you into the recovery console, from here you can use Disk Utility to erase the contents of the HD (avoid the recovery partition) and do a re-install over the Internet.

Once the installation finishes, power off the Mac and leave it alone. Once sold and turned on, the new owner will get the welcome video and will be able to set it up as their own..
 

chscag

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@MacPastor

Read the following article on How to prepare your Mac for resale. LINK
 
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Quick clarification question.

I did a fresh install of Mountain Lion when I did it. I basically downloaded the file and saved the file to a USB drive the way the instructions said to do it.

I still have that USB drive with the Mountain Lion files on it.

Is there a way for me to do this without redownloading the files and simply use the USB drive to do the fresh install?

Sorry for the questions but I don't mess with this stuff much so I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

And then, if possible...a step by step would be appreciated. I selling this thing and want to make sure I'm handing over a product that works.

Thanks everyone!
 

Raz0rEdge

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Did you just copy the installer to the USB flash or did you follow some instructions to make it a proper bootable install USB? If the latter, then yes you can use it to do a fresh install..if the former, you will want to go through the steps of making the USB stick properly and then use it.
 
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Thank you for the reply Razor,

Yes, I do believe I did it properly because I did use it when I first installed Mountain Lion as a fresh install. And I used it on both my iMac and Macbook Pro.

So is there any way you might be able to give me a real quick step by step? If not, I understand, I just want to make sure I do this properly.

Thank you again.
 

Raz0rEdge

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OK, excellent, if this USB drive worked before..no reason it wouldn't work now..

So power down the MBP, plug the USB drive in and when you power it up immediately hit the Option key which will bring up the Startup Manager.

Once you get there, you should see the USB drive if it was properly recognized, if so, choose it to boot into the installer. Once you get to the installer, go to Utilities->Disk Utility and that should show you the hard drive. Have it re-partition the drive with the current scheme (1 partition usually) which will erase the HD and now you can go through the installation..
 
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Wonderful help Razor!! I think I got her ready to go. Thank you so very much!
 

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