Reinstallin os X message "this item is temporarily unavailable"

[Deftones1c]

I got a used Imac from a friend, To my understanding the os is Mountain Lion, She never erased all her info, so I went a tried to do a fresh install, Restarting + pressing Command + option + R I got to the utilities menu, erased the hard drive then Proceed to Install Lion, I got to the part where it ask me to type in my apple credentials. I did. Then I get the error message "This Item is temporarily Unavailable, Try Again later"

Please Any suggestions, Help!!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Have you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion on your account? If not, you will not be able to install it. Tell us more about the iMac and we will tell you if it can run a newer version of OS X which is freely available on the MAS. That way, you can download the newer version of OS X, create an USB installer from it and install it on the iMac..

 

[Deftones1c]

thanks, Raz0rEdge
No I havent Purchase Any of the os. Is an Imac Mid 2011, What else would you like to Knw?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

And there's the rub. Since you haven't already purchased a version of OS X (for money or free), it can't find a version to give you. If you have access to another Mac, then you can log in to the MAS with your Apple ID. Download the El Capitan OS X installer for free and use Diskmaker X to create an USB installer from it.

The 2011 iMac can definitely run El Capitan, the latest version of OS X. How much memory does the iMac have? If it has 4GB or so, you might want to consider upgrading it. At some point, the 21.5" iMacs memory couldn't be user-upgraded, not sure if that affected the 2011 model year..

 

[Deftones1c]

Thanks for replying Raz0rEdge,

I dont have access to another MAC, I have a windows machine, Is there any way I could do this Thru Windows?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Unfortunately no, all of this has to be done on another Mac. Can't do it through Windows. Did you already erase the existing OS on the iMac or is it still there? If still present, perhaps you an use that temporarily to do what you need to get the new version of OS X.

 

[Deftones1c]

Yes I already Erased the existing OS.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Ahh then, it's time to go find a friend with a Mac.. or your closest Apple Store will happily do this for you..

 

[Deftones1c]

:'

 

[harryb2448]

Lash out $20 and purchase Snow Leopard OS X.6 from Apple Online. See if you can get a DVD version, Boot from the DVD, hold down 'C' after the chime, erase and format the hard drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and do the install, update to OS X.6.8 and from there if you have an Apple ID you can download operating systems from the App Store. With a 2011 iMac with say 8GB of memory go for the latest version, El Capitan..


http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

 

[bobtomay]

$20 - free shipping - The U.S. link

 

[pm-r]

If that mid 2011 iMac was purchased/released before July 20, 2011 when OS X Lion was released, the original/owner/friend should have the OS X 10.6.6(min) SL Install disk.

Those models released after that date like mine, did not include the SL install disk.

PS: Apple did supply the SL disk after I called them, and actually sent it free as three techs couldn't guarantee it would work. It did finally but not the cleanest/easiest of OS X installs I've done. But it did finally work and still does.

Or maybe "friend" could log into the Apple site and access the Lion download or whatever later version was on it.

BTW: I thought that the Start up from OS X Recovery over the Internet using Command-Option-R was still supposed to work. Was that tried??

EDIT:
Try reading this:
The difference between standard Recovery and Internet Recovery
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/02/25/how-to-start-up-your-mac-in-internet-recovery-mode/

"By contrast, Internet Recovery Mode permits you to reinstall the OS X version that was factory-preloaded on your Mac at the time of purchase. You should use Internet Recovery if your Mac’s internal disk is damaged or you’ve replaced it with a faster, more capacious model …"



- Patrick
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