Can’t reinstall macOS

[ThisBougieLife]

I’ve reinstalled macOS a number of times before and never had a problem.

I use Command + Shift + R to access Disk Utility, erase the Macintosh HD, then Reinstall macOS. It always works. I’ve never had a problem.

But I’m trying it now on a friend’s 2017 13” MBP with High Sierra and it isn’t working. It’s spending a long time trying to reinstall then says “can’t create APFS preboot” and fails. I tried it twice and got the same message. I feel like I’ve ruined my friend’s computer. What is going on here?

I will advise him to take it to the Apple Store tomorrow but I was hoping I could fix this today.

 

[Phil in ocala]

Good suggestion....High Sierra is nothing but problems...

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Maybe for you - Certainly not for me!

Lou

 

[ThisBougieLife]

High Sierra certainly seems to have some issues, especially with the APFS.

Here's how I solved the issue:

I used Internet Recovery (Command + R), erased the SSD and reformatted it using the old file system, Mac OS Extended or whatever it's called, then I reinstalled 10.12 Sierra. It was successful and I was able to start up the computer and then update to High Sierra.

Right now, for some reason, a clean install will not work with High Sierra.

 

[Weaselboy]

Right now, for some reason, a clean install will not work with High Sierra.

When you first erased and tried to do the clean install, did you format in APFS? If so, that is likely the issue. You need to format to HPS+ then let the installer convert to APFS after the included firmware updates are applied.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Well when I did the recovery with Command + Shift + R there was no option to format it in HPS+, APFS was all I could select.

 

[Weaselboy]

Well when I did the recovery with Command + Shift + R there was no option to format it in HPS+, APFS was all I could select.

It is there and I'm thinking you just missed it in the drop down. But if you formatted to APFS, that is what went wrong.

You would have wanted that Mac OS Extended (Journaled) choice in my screenshot. That is HFS+.

 

[amcferrin90]

It is there and I'm thinking you just missed it in the drop down. But if you formatted to APFS, that is what went wrong.

You would have wanted that Mac OS Extended (Journaled) choice in my screenshot. That is HFS+.

View attachment 738233

I've run into this trying to format my Intel SSD. I was only given the choice of APFS, MSDOS or ExFAT. I had to use TransMac in Windows to format my SSD. Then from Recovery I was able to format as HPS using the DiskUtil GUI. Lots of quirks! I've found if I can't format to HPS, format as something else then I can format to HPS. I never tried using the Terminal from Recovery and using diskutil command line though, that may work.

The installation of High Sierra from scratch is pretty much impossible? I'm having a problem doing that very thing. I'll create another thread if I need to.

Really I'd be willing to install from command line if it was possible.

 

[Weaselboy]

The installation of High Sierra from scratch is pretty much impossible?

I have not tested this, but I have a theory. When you first install HS, it applies a firmware update to your Mac. My theory is until that firmware update is applied the HS installer will fail if the system is formatted APFS because the old firmware does not recognize APFS. This would explain why if you leave the format at HFS+, then install HS and let it convert to APFS after the auto-firmware update, everything works fine. So what I am thinking is once you have done a successful HS install with the firmware applied, you should then be able to clean install to a SPFS formatted drive.

 

[amcferrin90]

I consistently get to where the various images are mounted and I assume installed. Always about 2% remaining and error. The logs says that it couldn't mount BaseSystem.dmg. I have two HS app installers one on a virtual Mac, the other on a real Mac both downloaded from the app store. I've used different USB drives, all at least 16 GB. I'm using a 128 GB portable SSD now. All give the same error. This MBP had Mountain Lion but the internet recovery doesn't get past downloading the chunks because of an error and restarts. I have a 100 Mb downstream internet connection. I format the disk as Mac Journalled in GUID format. I tried a new disk that works fine in Windows, tried my 512 MB SSD. Swapped memory around and got a diagnostic to say no hardware problems. Original problem was a failed disk and confirmed it doesn't work in anything too. Considering using a good MB disk and cloning with DD in Linux. Thoughts?