iMac back to factory state.

Joined
Oct 8, 2011
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Location
Indianapolis, IN
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 27" Late 2012
I want to do a new install of the OS on my iMac.

It came new with Lion and there are a few things (problems) going on and I would like to get it back to “factory” state so I can start over again.

I did the CMD-R at startup and picked the Reinstall Lion. When it was done a few hours later I was pretty much right back where I was before the re-install.

My Desktop, Icons and all my files were still there.

I was expecting to see the iMac, as it was when I received it new.

I am thinking I must have missed a step somewhere.

What procedure should I use to get the Mac back to a factor or out of the box state?

Thanks
 
Joined
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Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air M1 2020 Ventura 13.4.1 500Gb 8Gb. iPhone12, Watch 5, HomePods.
IndyBob,

I think that what you may have been expecting is not what you asked your Mac to do.
Within Lion Recovery is an option to erase your hard drive and reinstall Lion.
If you didn't choose this option it will keep your files on the drive.

What problems have you been having?
 

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