Downgrading High Sierra to Sierra (2017 MBPtb) urgent

[cudifying]

So I am trying to downgrade from High Sierra to Sierra. All the guides tell me to either go to Recovery or Internet Recovery.

When I select to erase the drive in Recovery I can only select APFS.

When I tried using Internet Recovery to revert to Sierra it downloaded but ended in an error.

Now when I try to boot from a Sierra USB Stick that won't work either, resulting in a circle with a dash through it.

I have NO idea how I can revert back to Sierra. This is somewhat urgent, if anyone has any idea please let me know. I know its a dev beta.

Another user is having the same problem, however using internet recovery results in an error for me as mentioned before.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/issues-with-downgrade-2017-macs.2052432/

 

[4268256]

Did you try to create a new partition? See if you can format the new partition in HFS+ instead of APFS.

Also it would be great if you could share the error you received here so we know what’s going on.

 

[cudifying]

Did you try to create a new partition? See if you can format the new partition in HFS+ instead of APFS.

Also it would be great if you could share the error you received here so we know what’s going on.

Error simply said something wrong and I should restart the application and try again I tried partitioning, however it wouldn't let me as it said the Recovery partition is in use by 'kernel' I believe. im at a loss, no idea what to do

 

[4268256]

Error simply said something wrong and I should restart the application and try again I tried partitioning, however it wouldn't let me as it said the Recovery partition is in use by 'kernel' I believe. im at a loss, no idea what to do

Did you select the correct volume? Sounds to me like you selected the Recovery partition. Make sure you select APPLE SSD or APPLE HDD.

 

[bopajuice]

Great example as to why I avoid betas. Hope someone can help.

 

[cudifying]

Did you select the correct volume? Sounds to me like you selected the Recovery partition. Make sure you select APPLE SSD or APPLE HDD.

I just tried again to make sure. This is the error message im receiving. Selected Macintosh HD

 

[4268256]

I just tried again to make sure. This is the error message im receiving. Selected Macintosh HD

Looks like it’s trying to unmount the recovery volume which is in use (given the fact that it’s in recovery mode it isn’t a surprise). Does the Macintosh HD still have an installation of macOS on it?

 

[cudifying]

Looks like it’s trying to unmount the recovery volume which is in use (given the fact that it’s in recovery mode it isn’t a surprise). Does the Macintosh HD still have an installation of macOS on it?

Wiped the drive with 'erase' so I don't think it should? It's only showing OS X Base System in the side bar under my Macintosh HD.

By the way, no matter the outcome I really appreciate you taking the time helping.

 

[4268256]

Wiped the drive with 'erase' so I don't think it should? It's only showing OS X Base System in the side bar under my Macintosh HD.

By the way, no matter the outcome I really appreciate you taking the time helping.

Hmm does the size of the ‘Macintosh HD’ shown match your hard drive’s size?
If it does you may want to reinstall High Sierra, then try booting from the Sierra USB stick.

 

[cudifying]

Hmm does the size of the ‘Macintosh HD’ shown match your hard drive’s size?
If it does you may want to reinstall High Sierra, then try booting from the Sierra USB stick.

Yes, show 247 of 250 as free I believe, right after I erased it. When I tried booting from the Sierra USB without High Sierra installed it just gave me the circle with the line through it as soon as I selected it. I just now started the Internet Recovery again and I will see if I get another error at the end. If so I will post a picture here. The only reasoning I could come up with is that it is unable to revert APFS back to Mac OS Extended Journaled (I have no specific knowledge if this is a possibility)
[doublepost=1498433714][/doublepost]

Hmm does the size of the ‘Macintosh HD’ shown match your hard drive’s size?
If it does you may want to reinstall High Sierra, then try booting from the Sierra USB stick.

Just went through the same process. Same error: An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again. I went to disk utility and tried to format, partition, erase any of the disks to Mac OS Extended, but to no avail.

 

[4268256]

According to this thread, you apparently can't downgrade, but I'm not too sure. Do you have an installer for an older version of macOS?

 

[cudifying]

According to this thread, you apparently can't downgrade, but I'm not too sure. Do you have an installer for an older version of macOS?

Saw that thread and commented in it. I do have an installer for Sierra that I created on another Mac, but it won't let me boot from it.

 

[4268256]

Saw that thread and commented in it. I do have an installer for Sierra that I created on another Mac, but it won't let me boot from it.

Does it boot on that other Mac? I'm not too sure what version of macOS ships with the 2017 MacBooks, as the first release of Sierra may be too old for your MacBook.

 

[cudifying]

Does it boot on that other Mac? I'm not too sure what version of macOS ships with the 2017 MacBooks, as the first release of Sierra may be too old for your MacBook.

It does on the other one. I honestly didn't think about the App Store one not being the most recent one yet. I think my 2017 shipped with 10.12.5.

 

[4268256]

It does on the other one. I honestly didn't think about the App Store one not being the most recent one yet. I think my 2017 shipped with 10.12.5.

If it shipped with 10.12.5, then the installer from the App Store could be outdated (i.e. A copy of 10.12). Apple being Apple would most likely not allow an installation of a version of macOS older than the one that shipped with the device.
If the 2017 MacBooks shipped with a different version of 10.12.5 that's from the App Store, you'd have to wait for 10.12.6 to downgrade (that is providing that you possess the 10.12.6 installer, which I'm not sure the App Store version holds). If you have a Time Machine backup, you may be able to restore to it, though I'm not sure it'll work with the current situation.

By the way, is there any reason you're downgrading? If you have any issues with High Sierra the community may be able to help you out.

 

[cudifying]

If it shipped with 10.12.5, then the installer from the App Store could be outdated (i.e. A copy of 10.12). Apple being Apple would most likely not allow an installation of a version of macOS older than the one that shipped with the device.
If the 2017 MacBooks shipped with a different version of 10.12.5 that's from the App Store, you'd have to wait for 10.12.6 to downgrade (that is providing that you possess the 10.12.6 installer, which I'm not sure the App Store version holds). If you have a Time Machine backup, you may be able to restore to it, though I'm not sure it'll work with the current situation.

By the way, is there any reason you're downgrading? If you have any issues with High Sierra the community may be able to help you out.

Sadly my battery life is horrendous and the OS overall is somewhat unstable in a few ways for me. The problem is also I am not even able to restore to high Sierra right now as I get an error saying the recovery servers can't be contacted. Do you think visiting an Apple Store would be an option?

 

[4268256]

Sadly my battery life is horrendous and the OS overall is somewhat unstable in a few ways for me. The problem is also I am not even able to restore to high Sierra right now as I get an error saying the recovery servers can't be contacted. Do you think visiting an Apple Store would be an option?

Did you try the reinstall option? If I'm not wrong, there's an option for offline reinstallation of macOS.
If you do want to make a trip to an Apple Store, they may refuse service due to the fact that you're running beta software. I once had Apple Support refuse to help me (albeit informing me nicely, thanks for that) due to me running beta software. But it's worth a try anyway.

 

[cudifying]

Did you try the reinstall option? If I'm not wrong, there's an option for offline reinstallation of macOS.
If you do want to make a trip to an Apple Store, they may refuse service due to the fact that you're running beta software. I once had Apple Support refuse to help me (albeit informing me nicely, thanks for that) due to me running beta software. But it's worth a try anyway.

I haven't heard of the reinstall option yet. Though I am not sure that'll work, as I wiped the drive several times already. I have no idea what to do anymore, I can't reinstall the latest beta due to being unable to reach the recovery servers for High Sierra and neither can I roll back to Sierra in any way I tried so far

 

[4268256]

I haven't heard of the reinstall option yet. Though I am not sure that'll work, as I wiped the drive several times already. I have no idea what to do anymore, I can't reinstall the latest beta due to being unable to reach the recovery servers for High Sierra and neither can I roll back to Sierra in any way I tried so far

Your best bet would be to talk to Apple Support. Tell them you wiped your hard drive accidentally and need to reinstall Sierra, that'll most likely help.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I haven't heard of the reinstall option yet. Though I am not sure that'll work, as I wiped the drive several times already. I have no idea what to do anymore, I can't reinstall the latest beta due to being unable to reach the recovery servers for High Sierra and neither can I roll back to Sierra in any way I tried so far

Time to take into a Apple Store and have the genius guys help restore the machine.

EDIT: My suggestion going forward after the computer is restored, create a new partition on your internal hard drive and install High Sierra on the new partition to use.

 

[cudifying]

Your best bet would be to talk to Apple Support. Tell them you wiped your hard drive accidentally and need to reinstall Sierra, that'll most likely help.

Time to take into a Apple Store and have the genius guys help restore the machine.

Currently trying one more way a user on reddit suggested that worked on his 2016 machine. If that won't work I will take it to the Apple Store as soon as theres an appointment available (unless someone else can come up with more ideas)
[doublepost=1498440650][/doublepost]

Your best bet would be to talk to Apple Support. Tell them you wiped your hard drive accidentally and need to reinstall Sierra, that'll most likely help.

Time to take into a Apple Store and have the genius guys help restore the machine.

EDIT: My suggestion going forward after the computer is restored, create a new partition on your internal hard drive and install High Sierra on the new partition to use.

I WAS ABLE TO DO IT. 3:30 in the morning and I just booted into Sierra. I will update this post in a few hours, all credit however goes to reaperx321 on reddit. He had the same issue on his 2016 MB and walked me through it all step by step.

 

[Rooftops]

Currently trying one more way a user on reddit suggested that worked on his 2016 machine. If that won't work I will take it to the Apple Store as soon as theres an appointment available (unless someone else can come up with more ideas)
[doublepost=1498440650][/doublepost]


I WAS ABLE TO DO IT. 3:30 in the morning and I just booted into Sierra. I will update this post in a few hours, all credit however goes to reaperx321 on reddit. He had the same issue on his 2016 MB and walked me through it all step by step.

Please update when you can I have the same issue.

 

[greg624]

Currently trying one more way a user on reddit suggested that worked on his 2016 machine. If that won't work I will take it to the Apple Store as soon as theres an appointment available (unless someone else can come up with more ideas)
[doublepost=1498440650][/doublepost]


I WAS ABLE TO DO IT. 3:30 in the morning and I just booted into Sierra. I will update this post in a few hours, all credit however goes to reaperx321 on reddit. He had the same issue on his 2016 MB and walked me through it all step by step.

Please post your update. I am having this problem on my 2017 as well and cannot boot into the Sierra USB Drive.

 

[cudifying]

Please post your update. I am having this problem on my 2017 as well and cannot boot into the Sierra USB Drive.

Hey sorry life got in the way.

this is how you proceed:

1. boot into internet recovery (cmd + option + R)
2. go to disk utility, format your drive (MacOS journaled extended, the default one)
3. close disk utility, install Sierra onto the drive
4. let it do its thing, it will result in the circle with the dash through it and it will look like it failed
(it won't show a time and installing indicator underneath the progress bar)
5. hold the power button until the laptop shuts down
6. once again boot into internet recovery
7. go back to disk utility and again, format the main drive (MacOS journaled extended, the default one)
8. close disk utility and let the installer download and install Sierra one more time
9. this time it should say installing with a time indicator and should finish the installation without a problem


TL;DR

Do two internet recoveries in a row whilst formatting your drive each time
[doublepost=1499833748][/doublepost]

Please update when you can I have the same issue.

Please check my post, forgot to reply to you

 

[benthewraith]

Hey sorry life got in the way.

this is how you proceed:

1. boot into internet recovery (cmd + option + R)
2. go to disk utility, format your drive (MacOS journaled extended, the default one)
3. close disk utility, install Sierra onto the drive
4. let it do its thing, it will result in the circle with the dash through it and it will look like it failed
(it won't show a time and installing indicator underneath the progress bar)
5. hold the power button until the laptop shuts down
6. once again boot into internet recovery
7. go back to disk utility and again, format the main drive (MacOS journaled extended, the default one)
8. close disk utility and let the installer download and install Sierra one more time
9. this time it should say installing with a time indicator and should finish the installation without a problem


TL;DR

Do two internet recoveries in a row whilst formatting your drive each time
[doublepost=1499833748][/doublepost]

Please check my post, forgot to reply to you

Yup, this was my exact experience downgrading via Internet Recovery. Was worried I'd have to take a trip to the Apple Store. Had to wipe it twice. I didn't really have any issues at all with High Sierra, ran nice and smooth, other than an app I was using was crashing and I needed it for school. I've since re-upgraded to the beta and still have no issues with High Sierra.