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I bought Lion a year ago, but I downgraded to Snow Leopard because I wanted to play Starcraft, which is not supported on Lion. After Mountain Lion was released, I can no longer find Lion anymore. Does it mean that I can't get the Lion installer anymore?

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@Lri This isn't about downloading it from Mountain Lion - they're downloading it from Snow Leopard. – CajunLuke Aug 21 '12 at 22:53
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You should be aware that you wont be able to play the original starcraft or its expansions on ML either. – latusaki Aug 21 '12 at 23:52
@latusaki I know, but I wanted xcode more than starcraft – AliBZ Aug 23 '12 at 22:15
@Lri this part is my problem: "Open the Mac App Store and click download for "OS X Lion" in your purchases.". When I even search Lion in app store, no Lion comes up. – AliBZ Aug 23 '12 at 22:22
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@AliBZ Don't search for it with the search function. Instead open the Purchased "tab" and look for Lion there. – patrix♦ Aug 24 '12 at 11:24
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4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote
  • Update OS X Snow Leopard to 10.6.6 or later such that it has a Mac App Store.
  • Open the "App Store" application
  • Connect with the same account (Apple ID) that you used to purchase Lion
  • Click on the "Purchased" button on the top bar (picture 1, between Categories and Updates)
  • Find "OS X Lion" in the list (picture 2)
  • Click on the "Download" button

Et voilà!

the _Purchased_ button _OS X Lion_ in the purchased list

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Thanks, but its not there! Lion is not there anymore. – AliBZ Aug 23 '12 at 22:13
@AliBZ Are you connected with the same Apple ID? – Pascal Qyy Aug 24 '12 at 11:10
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It WILL be there if you used the same Apple ID. – EGHDK Aug 24 '12 at 13:44
@PascalQyy yes I am. – AliBZ Aug 24 '12 at 19:28
@EGHDK I see what you are saying, but its not there. – AliBZ Aug 24 '12 at 19:28
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up vote 2 down vote

Correct me of I'm wrong but if you open the App Store in Snow Leopard, and log in with the AppleID that you purchased Lion with and look at the purchase history from the toolbar at the top, you should be able to see Lion and download it again. This works for me.

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In snow leopard and mountain lion, I checked the app store, but there is no Lion there. – AliBZ Aug 23 '12 at 22:14
That is odd, when I go to my purchase history it's there – hellothere Aug 23 '12 at 22:19
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Both of you could be correct. There are three paths to getting Lion. 1) You purchased the upgrade. You can see it in your purchase history -> you can download it as long as it's not hidden, so unhide if needed, and download from purchases. 2) You purchased a Mac that shipped with Lion. It doesn't show up in purchases, but if you boot to recovery and try to install Lion, it will download again if needed. 3) Someone gifted you Lion. Follow the steps for #1. – bmike♦ Feb 9 at 16:15
up vote 1 down vote

Yes, indeed, you can no longer access the Lion installer. If you have a friend with a copy laying around, you can use that to upgrade (you purchased it, so you have a license to use it, even if you don't have the installer anymore).

Or, just buy Mountain Lion and upgrade straight to that.

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Thanx, I purchased mountain lion, but without lion first its like wasting 30$, then maybe I will have the same problem I had with Lion with the mountain lion. So its good to at least have the setup file. – AliBZ Aug 21 '12 at 22:47
There's instructions around here and on Ars Technica on how to back up the installer so you have it around. – CajunLuke Aug 21 '12 at 22:51
@AliBZ Here's the Ars article I was referring to. Remember to do this before you install Mountain Lion! arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/… – CajunLuke Aug 21 '12 at 22:52
Shoot, I've already installed it ! – AliBZ Aug 21 '12 at 23:06
Oh, well, then you want this: Apple's Recovery Disk Assistant. Should copy the recovery partition to an external USB disk. – CajunLuke Aug 21 '12 at 23:20
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up vote 0 down vote

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4928 Also you can check here to unhide Mac OS Lion. ;)

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Welcome to the site. We strongly discourage one link / one line answers. In general, if the answer is that simple was either rules out and the question needs to be edited or the asker needs more guidance than "hey - do this". You can see the answer with the most upvotes describes this, so would you edit the KB into that answer to make it more complete? – bmike♦ Feb 9 at 16:11

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