Update: The image was uploaded to Apple's servers on the Monday following this post. Everyone is free and clear to restore as necessary.
TLDR: Apple has yet to update their recovery download servers with the specific build of 10.13.6 to allow for reinstallation of macOS on the 2018 MBP.
Full explanation:
I purchased a 2018 13 MBP today at Apple Retail. I setup a dummy user account just to play around with the computer, and was planning on (as I have done in the past) to do a wipe and reinstall once I was sure everything with the computer was ok, ie keyboard, screen, etc.
I rebooted the computer using command-r, went to disk utility, erased the SSD and then when to reinstall and got this error: “Installation of macOS could not continue. Installation requires downloading important content. That content can’t be downloaded at this time. Try again later.”
It didn’t matter if I was on wifi, hardwired via a Belkin USB-C to Ethernet, or even my iPhone’s hotspot, so it’s not a network issue on my end.
Next, I tried to boot from a USB installer I created on another computer from the 10.13.6 installer. The default settings on the T2 chip prevent booting from an external device. When attempting to use the Startup Security Utility (which will turn off this restriction) available in command-r, it says to enter the macOS password to authenticate, which there is none because the SSD is erased, you get error “Recovery is trying to change system settings, No administrator found”
There is an apple support document about using another mac and apple configurator to revive a hosed iMac Pro (the only other mac with T2) and unfortunately those steps don’t work with the MBP.
Last step was to try a restore from Time Machine backup (from the 2017 MBP this is replacing and going to another employee) and that doesn’t work either because it says “You can’t restore this backup because it was created by a different model of Mac.”
So basically, I painted myself into a corner because my suspicion is that Apple hasn’t yet pushed out this specific build of 10.13.6 to their recovery servers yet.
Tier 2 Apple support was stumped, I was her first 2018 MBP call. She’s sending this up to engineering and in the meantime, I’ll probably just return it tomorrow, get a replacement and NOT attempt this again.
TLDR: Apple has yet to update their recovery download servers with the specific build of 10.13.6 to allow for reinstallation of macOS on the 2018 MBP.
Full explanation:
I purchased a 2018 13 MBP today at Apple Retail. I setup a dummy user account just to play around with the computer, and was planning on (as I have done in the past) to do a wipe and reinstall once I was sure everything with the computer was ok, ie keyboard, screen, etc.
I rebooted the computer using command-r, went to disk utility, erased the SSD and then when to reinstall and got this error: “Installation of macOS could not continue. Installation requires downloading important content. That content can’t be downloaded at this time. Try again later.”
It didn’t matter if I was on wifi, hardwired via a Belkin USB-C to Ethernet, or even my iPhone’s hotspot, so it’s not a network issue on my end.
Next, I tried to boot from a USB installer I created on another computer from the 10.13.6 installer. The default settings on the T2 chip prevent booting from an external device. When attempting to use the Startup Security Utility (which will turn off this restriction) available in command-r, it says to enter the macOS password to authenticate, which there is none because the SSD is erased, you get error “Recovery is trying to change system settings, No administrator found”
There is an apple support document about using another mac and apple configurator to revive a hosed iMac Pro (the only other mac with T2) and unfortunately those steps don’t work with the MBP.
Last step was to try a restore from Time Machine backup (from the 2017 MBP this is replacing and going to another employee) and that doesn’t work either because it says “You can’t restore this backup because it was created by a different model of Mac.”
So basically, I painted myself into a corner because my suspicion is that Apple hasn’t yet pushed out this specific build of 10.13.6 to their recovery servers yet.
Tier 2 Apple support was stumped, I was her first 2018 MBP call. She’s sending this up to engineering and in the meantime, I’ll probably just return it tomorrow, get a replacement and NOT attempt this again.
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