How to create a USB Installer for the 2018 MBP

[Susurs]

Anyone knows where to get the original 17G1221 now?

 

[Pati3883]

Hi Guys,

I have problem with creating USB installation for High Sierra.
I downloaded installation disc from the direction which was provided at the first post.

It appears in the section: Download on my mac pro early 2011. (I attached you screen)
I have copied the script and paste in to the Terminal which I have updated with the name of my USB and also the name of the Instalation disc.
What I received is: that command not found (attached screen)

sudo /Volumes/Install_macOS_10.13.6-17G65/Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

I don't know if I did something wrong or something is not correct. I have clean my USB and formatting it to the right format: Mac OS Extended.

Maybe somebody will help new person in the Mac world

Thx.

 

[mathewgx]

Im getting this list :


2 091-95155 10.13.6 17G66 2019-01-08 macOS High Sierra

3 091-94326 10.13.6 17G65 2018-07-11 macOS High Sierra

5 091-95774 10.13.6 17G2208 2018-07-30 macOS High Sierra


Which one is the best choice for my MBP 2018 ?

 

[chrfr]

Im getting this list :


2 091-95155 10.13.6 17G66 2019-01-08 macOS High Sierra

3 091-94326 10.13.6 17G65 2018-07-11 macOS High Sierra

5 091-95774 10.13.6 17G2208 2018-07-30 macOS High Sierra


Which one is the best choice for my MBP 2018 ?

Only 17G2208 will install on the 2018 MBP.

 

[mathewgx]

Thank you.

Can I ask an off topic question ?
My brothers macbookair late 2018 (smbios 8,1) came with Mojave installed.
Is there any compatible HS version that he could downgrade to?

 

[chrfr]

Thank you.

Can I ask an off topic question ?
My brothers macbookair late 2018 (smbios 8,1) came with Mojave installed.
Is there any compatible HS version that he could downgrade to?

No, the Air is only compatible with Mojave.

 

[Ploki]

will the 17G66 install on a 2018 mbp? i want to downgrade.

i dont get 2208 on the list. Will it work if i get it elsewhere?

 

[chrfr]

will the 17G66 install on a 2018 mbp? i want to downgrade.

i dont get 2208 on the list. Will it work if i get it elsewhere?

17G66 will not run or install on a 2018 MBP.
To get 17G2208, you need to specify the High Sierra catalog, so run this:

installinstallmacos.py --catalogurl https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

This should give you the following options:

1    091-95155    10.13.6    17G66  2019-01-08  macOS High Sierra
2    091-94326    10.13.6    17G65  2018-07-11  macOS High Sierra
3    041-69971    10.14.5  18F2058  2019-07-09  macOS Mojave
4    041-47723    10.14.4  18E2034  2019-03-25  macOS Mojave
5    041-59913    10.14.5   18F132  2019-05-13  macOS Mojave
6    041-73257    10.14.5  18F2059  2019-07-31  macOS Mojave
7    091-95774    10.13.6  17G2208  2018-07-30  macOS High Sierra
8    041-88929    10.14.6    18G84  2019-07-22  macOS Mojave

Also, don't forget that you have to run this script on the 2018 MBP, or on a virtual machine, in order to make the 17G2208 installer.

 

[Ploki]

Thanks, I'll try that if 10.14.1 wont play nice.

 

[Ploki]

17G66 will not run or install on a 2018 MBP.
To get 17G2208, you need to specify the High Sierra catalog, so run this:

installinstallmacos.py --catalogurl https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

This should give you the following options:

1    091-95155    10.13.6    17G66  2019-01-08  macOS High Sierra
2    091-94326    10.13.6    17G65  2018-07-11  macOS High Sierra
3    041-69971    10.14.5  18F2058  2019-07-09  macOS Mojave
4    041-47723    10.14.4  18E2034  2019-03-25  macOS Mojave
5    041-59913    10.14.5   18F132  2019-05-13  macOS Mojave
6    041-73257    10.14.5  18F2059  2019-07-31  macOS Mojave
7    091-95774    10.13.6  17G2208  2018-07-30  macOS High Sierra
8    041-88929    10.14.6    18G84  2019-07-22  macOS Mojave

Also, don't forget that you have to run this script on the 2018 MBP, or on a virtual machine, in order to make the 17G2208 installer.

weird, when i download it and make a bootable, it quits and defaults to a Mojave installer.

 

[chrfr]

weird, when i download it and make a bootable, it quits and defaults to a Mojave installer.

That's not the behavior I see when I try it, so I can't begin to guess what you have going on. With that said, I believe I've heard there are problems when trying to downgrade from Mojave to High Sierra, and the fix in that case is to downgrade to 10.14 (not a later revision) and then you can downgrade from there to 10.13.6.

 

[yukari]

So I followed this to get 17G2208 to show up (combination of the original post by TriBruin and a modified command by chrfr):

(1) cd ~/Downloads (or other folder where "installinstallmacos.py" is located)
(2) chmod +x ./installinstallmacos.py
(3) sudo ./installinstallmacos.py --catalogurl https://swscan.apple.com/content/ca...n-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog
(4) Type your user password (assuming you are an Administrator)

Mine showed up as option #1

 

[SamPotts]

Is there an updated method of this that actually works? I am getting the non-zero error that others have had. I've tried a few methods outlined in this post but none of them work. I'm running the script on a Mac Pro running the latest version of Catalina. I got my 2018 MacBook Pro back from Apple today after they replaced 90% of the machine just to fix the dodgy spacebar - $1700 in parts! I updated it to Big Sur Public Beta (it's my second machine), proceeded to restore my profile and files which seemed to brick it - it would just reboot on login - I know beta, blah blah but it worked fine before. I tried to install Big Sur from USB and it just ignores the USB drive so here I am. I can only get to the internet recovery which takes ages... and fails. I want to throw this machine in the bin.

 

[Susurs]

Is there an updated method of this that actually works? I am getting the non-zero error that others have had. I've tried a few methods outlined in this post but none of them work. I'm running the script on a Mac Pro running the latest version of Catalina. I got my 2018 MacBook Pro back from Apple today after they replaced 90% of the machine just to fix the dodgy spacebar - $1700 in parts! I updated it to Big Sur Public Beta (it's my second machine), proceeded to restore my profile and files which seemed to brick it - it would just reboot on login - I know beta, blah blah but it worked fine before. I tried to install Big Sur from USB and it just ignores the USB drive so here I am. I can only get to the internet recovery which takes ages... and fails. I want to throw this machine in the bin.

Can you boot from external drive / correct settings? https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202796

 

[SamPotts]

If someone could DM a link to the file, that'd be awesome.
[automerge]1598134932[/automerge]

Can you boot from external drive / correct settings? https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202796

I have nothing installed now. No recovery partition, nothing. Every time it boots it wants to go to internet recovery now regardless of selecting a USB to boot from. It was halfway through installing Big Sur and on the reboot, it just went to internet recovery. I'm not sure if I just have a lemon MacBook now. The whole "it just works" thing left with Steve really didn't it.

 

[SamPotts]

So I just wasted more time on this; I created a Catalina VM to follow the instructions, created the bootable USB using the 2208 build, and still, it refuses to boot from it. It will only boot from Internet Recovery; which also fails with the classic 1008F error. I'm holding Option while booting, getting the boot menu but it just ignores my choice. Has anyone ever got this method to work on a 2018 15" MacBook Pro? I'm about done with this POS.

 

[chrfr]

So I just wasted more time on this; I created a Catalina VM to follow the instructions, created the bootable USB using the 2208 build, and still, it refuses to boot from it. It will only boot from Internet Recovery; which also fails with the classic 1008F error. I'm holding Option while booting, getting the boot menu but it just ignores my choice. Has anyone ever got this method to work on a 2018 15" MacBook Pro? I'm about done with this POS.

You have to have a working installation of the OS, and an administrator user set up, in order to change startup security settings to be able to boot from an external disk. At this point, you must use internet recovery.

 

[SamPotts]

You have to have a working installation of the OS, and an administrator user set up in order to change startup security settings to be able to boot from an external disk. At this point, you must use internet recovery.

I've finally managed to get Internet Recovery to work. Holding Command + Option + R did the trick and I didn't get the 1008F error this time. What an utter ballache.

 

[SamPotts]

Any time where it has to reboot after an OS install, it reverts back to the "default" internet recovery (which throws the 1008F failure). I think it's time to take it back to Apple.

 

[SamPotts]

I finally managed to get a fresh install onto this 2018 MBP. Some tips for others suffering the pain I did with no OS installed and trying to get one installed:

- Make sure the machine is removed from iCloud devices (in iCloud settings on another device).
- Make sure it's also removed from "Find my" (on another device).
- Reset the NVRAM/PRAM - for those that don't know; hold Command + Option + P + R at boot until it reboots again.
- Boot into internet recovery using Command + Option + R (for the latest version for your machine - Catalina at present) and install the OS. If you're happy with Catalina, you can stop here.
- Once the OS is installed you can then reboot into recovery mode using Option + R and adjust the startup security settings to allow USB boot.
- Then you can boot any bootable USB installer.

Hopefully, this is useful to people. I've worked with Macs for a good 15 years and this stumped me. I know it's a positive thing if someone steals your machine but without knowing the above (and Apple support didn't help much), you can easily get stuck.

 

[chrfr]

I finally managed to get a fresh install onto this 2018 MBP. Some tips for others suffering the pain I did with no OS installed and trying to get one installed:

- Make sure the machine is removed from iCloud devices (in iCloud settings on another device).
- Make sure it's also removed from "Find my" (on another device).
- Reset the NVRAM/PRAM - for those that don't know; hold Command + Option + P + R at boot until it reboots again.
- Boot into internet recovery using Command + Option + R (for the latest version for your machine - Catalina at present) and install the OS. If you're happy with Catalina, you can stop here.
- Once the OS is installed you can then reboot into recovery mode using Option + R and adjust the startup security settings to allow USB boot.
- Then you can boot any bootable USB installer.

Hopefully, this is useful to people. I've worked with Macs for a good 15 years and this stumped me. I know it's a positive thing if someone steals your machine but without knowing the above (and Apple support didn't help much), you can easily get stuck.

Did you try command-option-shift-R at any point? That should’ve taken you back to High Sierra.

 

[SamPotts]

Did you try command-option-shift-R at any point? That should’ve taken you back to High Sierra.

I don't think the OS version was the issue. It had almost cached the activation lock so whenever an OS install rebooted, it refused to boot to the SSD to complete the installation and defaulting to internet recovery. The only way to resolve it was the good old NVRAM/PRAM reset which seemed to resolve the activation lock issue. I tried every single version of internet recovery before discovering it needed an NVRAM/PRAM reset. I wasted so much time on it so I thought I'd post it here in case it was useful to others.