Hello! recently I was given an old Macbook pro a1286. It had a corrupt version of Yosemite installed, upon discovering this, I wiped the hard drive and booted into internet recovery to install MacOS Lion. Though when I hit reinstall MaOS and selected the Macintosh HD drive, I was told to input an Apple ID. I looked online and found out that I needed to either input the apple id that was first inputed into this macbook, or one that is linked to a mac os. I have no linked apple id to a mac os, and the person who originally owned this laptop has passed away. Im not sure what to do. I also read up on 2 solutions, one is to go on the internet in recovery mode and sign into icloud from there (the icloud site doesnt work on recovery for whatever reason), and the other option is to boot into a mac os sierra install, which i cant do because ive never had sierra installed on this macbook. I also created a bootable usb with sierra setup, and it did not show on startup menu. I used transmac to create the usb. If anyone could help me out I would grealty appreciate it. Thanks!
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Help with MacOS installation and bootable usb?
- Thread starter Drakexists
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I haven't backed up any data. Is there a way I can somehow remove the iCloud prompt within the lion installation with terminal?
It may be asking you to sign in because the previous owner signed into iCloud on the system. I know of no way to sign out of iCloud with terminal commands.
Even though the MacBook has never had Sierra, this doesn't automatically mean that Sierra can't be installed.
The USB installer may not be working because TransMac may not have created a bootable drive that is usable on the MacBook.
Are you able to use another Mac to create a Sierra installer?
Do you have a spare 2.5" drive? If yes, you could install the spare drive, install the OS, install the current drive into a USB enclosure, copy off your data, wipe the original drive, and install Sierra.
Even though the MacBook has never had Sierra, this doesn't automatically mean that Sierra can't be installed.
The USB installer may not be working because TransMac may not have created a bootable drive that is usable on the MacBook.
Are you able to use another Mac to create a Sierra installer?
Do you have a spare 2.5" drive? If yes, you could install the spare drive, install the OS, install the current drive into a USB enclosure, copy off your data, wipe the original drive, and install Sierra.
I do not have a spare mac or a spare 2.5 drive. I have no idea what to do at this point.
If you wiped the drive in disk utility, all of data is gone unless your data is on a separate partition.
I just thought of something. I have a mac os Sierra usb that isn't recognized in startup menu. If I copy my usb files to my blank hdd then I could create a bootable usb from within the terminal using the files from my hdd. What should I type in terminal to copy these files to my hdd? Sorry but I'm not very skilled with terminal
The problem is that you may not have the correct or all of the necessary installation files.
The terminal commands that are run the create an installer assume that the install files have been downloaded from the App Store.
www.macworld.com
The terminal commands that are run the create an installer assume that the install files have been downloaded from the App Store.
How to create a bootable USB masOS installer
Make a macOS installer with createinstallmedia and install Monterey or another macOS on multiple Macs, do a clean install, or access a faulty Mac.
www.macworld.com
The dmg I burned to my usb is from the apple website. Does it have to be from the app store itself or can it be from the website as wellThe problem is that you may not have the correct or all of the necessary installation files.
The terminal commands that are run the create an installer assume that the install files have been downloaded from the App Store.
How to create a bootable USB masOS installer
Make a macOS installer with createinstallmedia and install Monterey or another macOS on multiple Macs, do a clean install, or access a faulty Mac.
Yes, the file needs to come from the app store.
A DMG file is the Mac version of an ISO file.
Try this to convert the DMG to an ISO and burn the iso to a dvd: https://www.tweaking4all.com/cd-dvd-blu-ray-disc-burning/burning-for-macosx/convert-dmg-to-iso/
I assume you have a working dvd drive.
A DMG file is the Mac version of an ISO file.
Try this to convert the DMG to an ISO and burn the iso to a dvd: https://www.tweaking4all.com/cd-dvd-blu-ray-disc-burning/burning-for-macosx/convert-dmg-to-iso/
I assume you have a working dvd drive.
Well I have a working DVD drive but no actual blank dvd to burn this on. All I have are non rewritable DVDs with windows installations on them.
I just tried getting the Sierra full installer and it downloaded directly without going through the Mac App Store: Download macOS Sierra.
To create a bootable Sierra USB installer: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-installer-for-macos-sierra/
To create a bootable Sierra USB installer: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-installer-for-macos-sierra/
Hi Drakexists 🤟 I am new to the forum so please forgive me if I am doing this wrong 😳
I too have a very similar issue.
During 'Lockdown' I bought a cheap Macbook Pro (a1286) to learn more about. I installed new RAM & SSD and created a bootable USB (this one with Yosemite) that is not being recognised on bootup. I just get the options to choose 'Macintosh HD' and 'Recovery'. I downloaded Yosemite from the 'App Store' and followed the guide to partition the USB thumb drive (mac os {extended journal} + GUID Partition). From the APPLE website copied the file command for Terminal to create a bootable drive...but to no avail.
I have a iMac (MID 2011) which is running High Sierra 10.13.6. If I hold 'ALT' on startup on the iMac it does recognise it frustratingly. So the issue does lay with the Macbook Pro.
Firstly apart from the Macbook you was given, do you own your own Mac or have access to another?
Secondly have you tried using Disk Maker Pro? This issue did work for me around 6 months ago for another issue?
The link https://diskmakerx.com/pro/