Sold new 2011 Mac Mini - reinstall iLife following Lion Internet Recovery

[whiskycycle]

Evenin' all,

I've just sold my 2011 Mac Mini and before I did, I ran Lion Internet Recovery to reimage it to clear everything out.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise they've trimmed down the recovery image so much as to remove bundled apps, including iLife mainly. The joys of disc-less installations eh?

Now this Apple article details Lion Recovery and reinstalling iLife afterwards, but can anyone clear up whether the buyer should be able to follow the instructions on this page and reinstall?

I'm keen to help the buyer resolve the issue, so any help/confirmation would be good.

 

[MagicBoy]

The way I understand it, if you already tagged the Mac mini iLife license to your Mac App Store account I think you're out of luck. The new owner will need to repurchase iLife.

Lion Internet Recovery doesn't need an account for preloaded machines as it checks the serial number, therefore it travels with the Mac. Lion doesn't include iLife.

 

[whiskycycle]

This gets better.... The guy that bought the Mini can't even buy the apps through the App Store - it just won't let him! He's bought the DVD version of iLife instead, which I'm paying for.... It was the best way to resolve the problem without me resorting to a full refund and him returning it (he's still got a bargain overall though).

Can understand why this has happened, but it's definitely a case of seller AND buyer beware, as I was expecting the buyer to be able to download it and he was expecting it to be included!

 

[slinxy]

Are all purchases tagged to the serial number and not the apple id?

We have several machines and if we ever buy any app, it seems tied in with that users apple id, and no other user can use that program on that purchased system.

 

[whiskycycle]

Possibly for preinstalled iLife only, on new machines with no recovery discs.

We might be wrong, but the buyer comes across as genuine and doesn't seem like he's pulling one.

 

[slinxy]

From what I've experience, Lion is tied to the serial number of the machine as that's the only real way that they have to check that the machine has the rights to use lion.

But when its to software purchased at the apps store, that's tied into the user apple id. As we had major issues getting logic to work for all our users, and had to wait for a ftp download from apple to get the install dmgs.

did you enter an apple id at time of setting up the machine for the first time? the pre-install version of iLife may be tied to that.

Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X Lion

If you reinstall Lion on a new Mac that shipped with OS X Lion installed, on an erased or replaced hard drive, you can download iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand from the Mac App Store.

After installation, start from Lion.
Double-click the App Store icon in the dock.
Enter your Apple ID and password.
Click Purchases.
If you haven't previously accepted your bundled iLife applications within the Mac App Store, you should see your iLife applications appear in the Accept portion of the screen. Click Accept.
You may be asked for your Apple ID and password once again. Your iLife applications now move to the Purchased section. These applications are part of the software that came with your Lion based computer. Your account will not be charged for them. Click Install to compete installation of your applications.

It might be worth checking what apple id he's using, if they purchased iLife on that account before.

 

[whiskycycle]

Suspect you're correct on it being my Apple ID that it's tied to now, as that's what I used the first time I switched the Mini on and registered it.... he's using a new one, so no existing iLife purchase.

Spoke to someone in the Newcastle Apple Store and they weren't that helpful beyond what I've already gone through and, in fact, it was one of their Genuis bods who recommended Lion Recovery!