[Dorian Gray]

I just sold my MacBook Pro. I'd like to set it up to appear as a new computer for the new owner, so it plays the little OS X welcome video, etc.

I have:

1. the original OS X 10.5.7 Leopard restore disc that came with the computer, which also includes iLife '09
2. a retail disc of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
3. an App Store purchase of OS X 10.7 Lion, which I seemingly can't transfer to the new owner (damn).

I advertised the computer as having Snow Leopard and iLife '09. Is there any way to install Snow Leopard and iLife '09, without creating a user account?

I can install Leopard and iLife without a problem, or Snow Leopard on its own. Snow Leopard and iLife seems more difficult.

Bonus question: can Lion technically be installed without compromising me in some way, not that I have any intention of installing it? (I didn't even advertise the laptop as having Lion, even though I've obviously been using Lion.)

Thanks!

[dmegatool]

I guess you could create an account, install, delete the account ?

Don't know about deleting the account. Maybe booting of the DVD or in single user mode.

[Eugene]

You can probably find a way to inject the iLife '09 package installer into the Snow Leopard DVD.

[FFL]

If you boot into Single User Mode and use the following commands, the next boot up will invoke the Setup Assistant for the new owner. But the account you use to install software will still remain. I usually just give new owners instructions on how to delete the old account.

mount -uw /rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDoneshutdown -h now

[Maciej]

Could you boot the sold / "target" Mac into Target Disk mode, and install software on it from another Mac? Possibly? I'm just spitballing ideas here...

[Dorian Gray]

Thanks for all your replies.

I went with FFL's method, which was simple and worked beautifully. Summary of my steps if anyone needs to do this or something similar in the future:

1. Booted from Snow Leopard disc, launched Disk Utility from there, erased hard disk, installed Snow Leopard.
2. Created temporary account called "temporary", with bare minimum of info (e.g. no name and address, no Apple ID, etc.).
3. Updated all software.
4. Installed iLife '09 from original disc, and applied all the updates.
5. Prepared the machine per FFL's instructions, in Single User Mode.

After creating their own account, the new user will need to follow these simple steps to delete the "temporary" account I created to install iLife (though leaving it there will harm nothing and be practically invisible to the new user):

1. Go to Apple menu > System Preferences… > Accounts.
2. Click the lock icon at the bottom left to enable changes.
3. Select the account called "temporary" in the panel at the left.
4. Click the minus sign below this panel to delete the "temporary" account.
5. Select "Delete the home folder" in the sheet that pops up, and click OK. This will remove all traces of the "temporary" account.

I did a full trial of this, pretending to be the new owner, and it all works perfectly. So thanks!

[AWR]

Strong karma points for FFL and DG.

[FFL]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Thanks for all your replies. I went with FFL's method, which was simple and worked beautifully. Summary of my steps if anyone needs to do this or something similar in the future: 1. Booted from Snow Leopard disc, launched Disk Utility from there, erased hard disk, installed Snow Leopard. 2. Created temporary account called "temporary", with bare minimum of info (e.g. no name and address, no Apple ID, etc.). 3. Updated all software. 4. Installed iLife '09 from original disc, and applied all the updates. 5. Prepared the machine per FFL's instructions, in Single User Mode. After creating their own account, the new user will need to follow these simple steps to delete the "temporary" account I created to install iLife (though leaving it there will harm nothing and be practically invisible to the new user): 1. Go to Apple menu > System Preferences… > Accounts. 2. Click the lock icon at the bottom left to enable changes. 3. Select the account called "temporary" in the panel at the left. 4. Click the minus sign below this panel to delete the "temporary" account. 5. Select "Delete the home folder" in the sheet that pops up, and click OK. This will remove all traces of the "temporary" account. I did a full trial of this, pretending to be the new owner, and it all works perfectly. So thanks!

One thing I really like about this method is that the new user will have icons in their Dock for all the iLife apps, automatically.