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I purchased Lion from the App Store, installed it, etc. Now that I'm selling my Mac Mini, I'd like to keep Lion on there since: 1) I have no need for the purchase anymore since any new mac buys will have it preinstalled, and 2) it'll make my mac mini for sale that much more desirable of a buy.

What I've done so far is boot into Recovery Console (maybe I have the name wrong? -- Cmd+R mode during booting), and I've done the Secure Formatting of the hard disk, and when I go to reinstall Lion, it wants me to put my Apple ID in to download Lion.

Unfortunately, I didn't save the dmg file when I downloaded Lion, and I have been unable to find it on the computer (i.e. to create an installer disk as I've read about online). I don't even know if this bypasses the need for an Apple ID.

Any suggestions is appreciated.

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There are two types of Lion licenses.

  • licenses tied to one mac (hardware linked license)
  • licenses tied to one Apple ID (person linked license)

The former transfers, the latter does not.

You can of course hold option when clicking Purchased in the App Store to download another copy of your Lion installer (or download Lion again onto your mac using recovery). The installer would not have asked for your Apple ID if it determined that mac deserved lion due to a hardware linked lion. You could of course install lion the first time on your soon to be sold mac, but the person buying the mac would be "without a paddle" if you hadn't prepared them that they might need to pay to reinstall their OS if their mac ever crashes or gets a new hard drive.

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  • Thanks for following up. Do you know if me entering my Apple ID to trigger the download in Recovery Console will store that ID with the system (i.e. should I change my password after triggering the install)?
    – Dolan Antenucci
    Aug 27 '11 at 19:40
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    Your store password is almost never cached - certainly not in the recovery boot. Changing your password after using it in recovery is highly unlikely to be more secure.
    – bmike ♦
    Aug 27 '11 at 20:31
  • Following your advice, I was able to download the installer again. I then followed this guide to create a Lion Install DVD: reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20080989-263/… (which then didn't require me to enter an Apple ID to install). Thanks again
    – Dolan Antenucci
    Aug 27 '11 at 21:24

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