Reinstall mac os x 10.10 yosemite; never had mac os license assigned to my icloud account

Recently I found an old MacBook, probably from 2009 at my company's storage place. My boss allowed me to take it and I really want to try it out.

The thing is, when I try to reinstall mac os with Recovery boot (command + R) I have to login into my iCloud account. After I do it, it says that the service is currently unavailable. The thing to mention is that I never had any mac os assigned to my iCloud account. I've read some forums, but I want to be sure.

Should I buy a license for some Mac OS on apple's site and then try to login again and then it would work?

Thank you.

Solution 1:

It may be asking you for the iCloud account that was originally used on the machine. Try to get the iCloud account/password that was originally used on the machine, if it was a company machine, and de-register it with that iCloud account so you can register it on yours.

There may be no need to buy a license. If the current OS is Mavericks or higher, upgrading is free. If it is older than you should buy a license.