Reinstalling OS on 2007 imac

Long story short. I wiped a 2007 iMac completely last night so I could recycle it. I booted from an external hard drive that I think had a bootable version of High Sierra on it. I then wiped the hard drive using Disk Utility.

When I booted it up, it just showed a missing computer symbol. I then wiped the external hard drive because I wanted to create a Super Duper clone of my new laptop.

As I’m taking the computer out the door, a friend wanted the computer. So now I’m wondering how I can install whatever the most recent OS that machine can take. It doesn’t have to be the latest but I’m assuming that that may be the easiest.

I’m assuming since it booted up to the High Sierra external drive, it could take that.

I have no idea where to go next. I don’t have any install discs.

Yes you can.
If it doesn’t want run the installer from a USB drive. You have to create a bootable image on a external firewire drive.
If all else fails use the old school optical media :wink:

Thanks. I’m in the midst of making an El Cap usb installer. Hopefully, this works.