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up vote 2 down vote favorite

This is a pretty simple question.

I removed the Mail.App app early on on my Macbook Air, and now I want to take a look at using Mail.

It's not in my time-machine backups, and looking at the files on the restore thumbdrive, I can't see where it could be. Apparently it's not part of iLife, so short of reinstalling the entire OS, I'm not sure how to get it back.

Also, *Doh*

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4 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

It's there, just hidden from casual viewing via the Finder. Open a Terminal and type

$ open /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ DVD/System/Installation/Packages

(Tip: typing "/Volumes/Mac" and the Tab key should autocomplete the DVD name.)

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This, but not quite. First you insert the thumbdrive. Then you mount /Volumes/Mac OS X Install/MacOSX.dmg. Then, on the dmg, you open /Volumes/Mac OS X Install Image/System/Installation/Packages/Mail.pkg – Fake Name Mar 17 '11 at 8:42
Oh, wait. Crap. You can’t use this version of Mail with this version of Mac OS X You have Mail version 4.3 (1081/1082). It can’t be used on Mac OS X Version 10.6.6 (Build 10J567). For more information, click the Help button. – Fake Name Mar 17 '11 at 8:44
And in the * wonderfully* helpful help dialog: If other solutions don’t work, then it’s possible Mail wasn’t correctly updated during a software update. In this case, try reinstalling Mail. I just did that – Fake Name Mar 17 '11 at 8:45
1  
I think I need to reinstall the 10.6.6 Combo Update. Downloading it now. System update is not finding the outdated files. – Fake Name Mar 17 '11 at 9:01
Yep, Combo update fixed it. – Fake Name Mar 17 '11 at 9:26
up vote 0 down vote

CharlesSoft's Pacifist can open and browse inside .pkg files on the install disk. I presume you could do the same with an install stick. This could work if Mail has its own installer; but it's fairly tightly tied into iCal, Address Book, and who-knows-what else, so it may not. I've only done this with more self-contained applications.

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Well, I removed those too, so reinstalling them wouldn't be too much of a problem. – Fake Name Mar 16 '11 at 20:11
up vote 3 down vote

The official word from Apple on this is that you need to reinstall the OS.

If I remove one of the bundled applications, such as Safari or Mail, how can I get them back?
You must reinstall Mac OS X from the MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive to restore bundled applications. To bring your computer up to date, use Software Update after Mac OS X finishes installing.

Another Mac - Before reinstalling the OS, I'd check with a friend that has a Mac and see if you can copy the app from another Mac.

Reinstall to Another Drive - Rather than reinstalling the OS to your main MacBook Air drive, you could try reinstalling to another drive (e.g. external USB drive). Then you could simply copy the app to your main MacBook Air drive.

Standard Reinstall - If you have to reinstall the OS over your current system, it isn't as painful as on Windows if that is what you are used to. You can keep your user accounts and settings so it may not be too painful.

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up vote 0 down vote

If one of your friends has a MacBook at the same version of OS, Simply copy Mail.app from his/her machine.

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