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How to Recover High Sierra on Early 2011 MacPro

T

TechDestroyer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2021
20
2
I wanted to wipe and reinstall High Sierra on this macpro. Little did I know the installer requires downloading most the os from the apple servers, and it appears that they are not longer active. So know I have a pile of junk unless I can find a way to recover that OS right? I was getting the Message:
"the recovery server could not be contacted"
I'm sure I'm connected via Ethernet and Wifi. The drive is formatted correctly.

I tried a recovery from the Disk Utility app but that failed. I was trying to use TestDisk but I'm not familiar enough with it to do this type of operation and don't know if it is even possible?

Someone please help me use this mac again. Even though it is old I can still use it for some stuff.
 
Bigwaff said:
Mr Macintosh is a great resource for finding installers for older Mac system software.
mrmacintosh.com

How to Download macOS Sequoia, Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina & Mojave Full Installers

How to download macOS Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion & Lion 7 ways!
mrmacintosh.com mrmacintosh.com
Click to expand...
Thanks Bigwaff, I was also curious as to weahter or not I could install Monteray as one youtube video said. But I don't have a mac to do it on, and all the tutorials are doing so with mac?

Also, I have the HighSierra installer but it is a web installer, and as I said the servers no longer have this os up.
 
Yeah, as Bigwaff says, you need to download the installer from another site since there is no more the option to install through Internet Recovery.

Remember that you won't be able to update High Sierra through App Store anymore. You need to install first Security Update 2020-4 and then 2020-5 to update your system and then, you will be allow to install the other available updates and access to your App Store purchases.

You can find those updates here in the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_High_Sierra

Navigate nearly to the end of the page
 
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aespana said:
Yeah, as Bigwaff says, you need to download the installer from another site since there is no more the option to install through Internet Recovery.

Remember that you won't be able to update High Sierra through App Store anymore. You need to install first Security Update 2020-4 and then 2020-5 to update your system and then, you will be allow to install the other available updates and access to your App Store purchases.

You can find those updates here in the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_High_Sierra

Navigate nearly to the end of the page
Click to expand...
Little did I know the installer requires downloading most the os from the apple servers, and it appears that they are not longer active. I already downloaded and tried the installer, if you would google the message below you would have seen what I'm talking about. There is no fix for this, I tried them all, there is no OS on the servers anymore!!!!!

I was getting the Message:
"the recovery server could not be contacted"
 
I'm on Ventura (MBP 2019 16"). Using the MIST app, I just downloaded High Sierra 10.13.6 Full Install installer app. MIST will also create a bootable USB installer. Just installed High Sierra in a Parallels VM. Worked like a champ. Use the Mr Macintosh link I provided, scroll down, and review the MIST app.
 
Last edited:
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DCBassman said:
I did it this way.
First, get from Internet Archive an iso of El Capitan. If possible, torrent the download, it's much faster. On your other mac, download balena etcher.
Use that to make your USB installer.
Boot to it in your 'new' mac. Use disk utility to completely erase, not restore.
Close disk utility and go to Install macOS and away you go.
Click to expand...
Assuming you have another computer of some sort, try as above, substituting High Sierra for El Capitan.
 
I don't have a mac to do that on!

I was wondering, are you able to use FaceTime or Skype on your Mid-2011 iMac 12? One of the purposes I would like to use this mac for is FaceTime or Skype.

I wonder if LibreOffice will install too! I think I looked it up and one of the older installers will work?
 
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