Install/Reinstall OS X - How does licensing work?

[mraikes]

A newb question regarding OS X licensing compared to Windows Licensing. I have an imac that came in with a wiped hard drive that needed OS X re-installed on it. I think it originally had version 10.5.

I happen to have a retail copy of 10.6.3 that I purchased a while back for another project - so for the learning experience (and to see if this imac is physically/mechanically OK other than the missing OS) I decided to install it and see how it went. It seems to have worked perfectly.

IIRC, my 10.6.3 disk WAS used previously. So I expected at some point to get some kind of validation error, and perhaps an opportunity to purchase a key (or something), just as I would if reusing a windows key. It never happened. And this imac now seems perfectly happy. But is it?

I won't return this computer to the customer unless I'm confident it's 100% legal/legit. So how does OS X licensing work in a situation like this?

 

[Mike McCall]

Is the software currently licensed on another machine? If so, then you should purchase another copy. (I think OS X is still $29) If not, then you're good. Here's the details:

http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx107.pdf

 

[Markverhyden]

The only time Apple had licensing that was even close to how M$ operates is with the OS servers. They had a long license key to enter and validate to be able to use the product. That went away after Apple basically stopped what little big business IT activities they had. As far as I know they have never had any post installation validation, only pre-installation.

At a practical level there are no license keys for client OS's and recent server OS's. They do have the OS's locked down so that they will not install on just any Intel box. And their EULA specifically states that the OS's can only bee installed on Apple branded hardware, including VM. So, while it is possible to install recent versions of OS X on ESXi, etc it is a violation.

In the OP's situation, like any other computer repair, the responsibility of the OS lies with the EU's not with the technician. Technically if you have a copy of the original OS you could install that. But anything beyond that you really should have proof of ownership. Anything prior to OS X 10.6 requires the disks. 10.7 and beyond you can log into their app store account and see if they have bought.

In a drive replacement environment I'll check their App store account. As long as they have a valid 10.7+ version I just use my installation media. I try to stay legit on all software stuff. If they do not have a modern version I'll have them log in on their app store account and get what is needed.

Another note about the app store. One of the mechanisms used to combat piracy in app store purchases is the use of _masreceipt. This is a file that contains encrypted information about the purchase and what app store account was used. Unlike M$ *nix apps can just be copied form one machine to another if the library support is there, including OS X. If you try to move a App store purchase to another machine it will not run unless current app store credentials

 

[mraikes]

That's very interesting. I really didn't expect it to be that straightforward and simple. Thanks!

 

[newton]

To add to Mark's thorough reply, if you install OS X 10.7 upwards (any version that's distributed through the App Store) when booting from an external drive as opposed to using installation app, then it shouldn't ask for an Apple ID to check for a purchase. If you're doing the odd Mac job then I'd recommend putting together a Mac formatted ext drive with install and boot partitions of a few common versions of OS X as this makes installation a bit easier and is handy for troubleshooting (you'd need a Mac to create this, but you can pick up an older but modern enough mini or MacBook cheap enough if you don't have one).

EDIT: Forgot to say you need a free app called DiskMaker X to do this.

As mentioned above, there's no licence key or activation, but just bear in mind that installing a version of OS X that didn't come with the Mac, wasn't purchased by the user, or isn't available as a free upgrade (e.g. Yosemite) would technically be a breach of licence agreement. For example, the Mac shipped with 10.6 and the user hadn't purchased 10.7. If necessary, you can still buy download codes for older versions of OS X like 10.7 - some of the older Intel Macs won't run anything newer. Only the current version can be purchased from the App Store.

 

[Ashton Craig-Parlier]

I've been working with Apple machines for years. Basically from Snow Leopard and up, there's no real licensing at all. Best practice is to always use a new disk (read license) with each new install, but with the way that apple is doing free upgrades, there's nothing to worry about. I have a few USB drives that I keep various OSX versions on in case I can't get one to boot from the recovery sector.