Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition

The Setup Assistant

What you see depends on whether you installed Lion onto a Snow Leopard drive or an empty drive.

After Installing Over Snow Leopard

If you installed onto a Snow Leopard drive that already had stuff on it—accounts, files, settings, and so on—then after the Mac restarts, all you have to do is log in as usual. Enjoy the box that warns you about Lion’s upside-down scrolling habit (Note). Click Start Using Lion, and start using Lion.

Note

It’s possible, at this point, that Lion will display a message warning you that it found some incompatible software on your Mac during the installation. You’ll discover that this outdated software has been summarily tossed into a folder called Incompatible Software in your startup disk’s main window.

After Installing onto a Blank Drive

If you installed Lion onto an empty drive, the Setup Assistant is a little more involved.

Once again, you’re in for a click-through-the-screens experience, this time with the aim of setting up your Mac’s various options. After answering the questions on each screen, click Continue.

The number and sequence of information screens you encounter may vary, but here are some of the possibilities:

• Welcome. Click the name of the country you’re in.

• Select Your Keyboard. Different countries require different keyboard layouts. For example, if you choose the Canadian layout, pressing the ] key on a U.S. keyboard produces the ç symbol. Click Continue.

• Select a Network Connection. This is your chance to introduce the Mac to ...