I Can't Do A Clean Install

[Heat_Fan89]

I own two Mac mini's, 2012 and 2018 and I disabled the T2 security and on boot I can try to get the USB installer to boot but then it immediately switches to Internet recovery. I updated my 2012 and 2018 Mini's to Catalina. Can someone tell me if this has something to do with the new Bootrom update? My 2012 Mini has Bootrom version 283.0.0.0.0

I have both Mini's password protected and that's the first thing that comes up on the screen. Afterwards I see the USB installer flashing but then it quickly switches to Internet Recovery. Is there a way around this? I thought I saw a thread about this but when I did a search I couldn't find it.

Anyways, TIA !

 

[Fishrrman]

Which one do you want to do a clean install ON?
(you didn't really tell us)

If you want to do a really clean install on the 2018, I'd do this:
- make sure any data on it is backed up BEFORE you do anything else
- boot to internet recovery
- open disk utility and choose "show all devices" (view menu - VERY IMPORTANT that you do this)
- select top line on left (disk utility) and then ERASE internal drive to APFS, GUID partition format
- close disk utility and open OS installer
- install OS (will reboot one or more times, black screen for a while, one or more progress bars).
- setup new install and restore from backup when prompted by setup assistant.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Which one do you want to do a clean install ON?
(you didn't really tell us)

If you want to do a really clean install on the 2018, I'd do this:
- make sure any data on it is backed up BEFORE you do anything else
- boot to internet recovery
- open disk utility and choose "show all devices" (view menu - VERY IMPORTANT that you do this)
- select top line on left (disk utility) and then ERASE internal drive to APFS, GUID partition format
- close disk utility and open OS installer
- install OS (will reboot one or more times, black screen for a while, one or more progress bars).
- setup new install and restore from backup when prompted by setup assistant.

Thanks for the info but when I tried using the USB installer on my 2012 Mini it wants to install Mountain Lion. Disk Utility doesn't give me an option to show all devices. With the USB installer plugged in, if I try Startup Disk, it doesn't recognize the Mojave USB installer so there are NO disks displayed in the Startup Disk box.

I reinstalled Catalina (blech) on the 2018 Mini, waiting for 10.16 later this year.

 

[Fishrrman]

"With the USB installer plugged in, if I try Startup Disk, it doesn't recognize the Mojave USB installer so there are NO disks displayed in the Startup Disk box."

That would suggest that something is wrong with the USB installer.

"I have both Mini's password protected and that's the first thing that comes up on the screen."

Are you saying that you set a firmware password?
Try UNsetting it.

I would not set a firmware password on ANY Mac that I owned.
Too dangerous if something goes wrong -- you could get permanently locked out of your own Mac. But perhaps that's just me.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

"With the USB installer plugged in, if I try Startup Disk, it doesn't recognize the Mojave USB installer so there are NO disks displayed in the Startup Disk box."

"That would suggest that something is wrong with the USB installer."

"I have both Mini's password protected and that's the first thing that comes up on the screen."

Are you saying that you set a firmware password?
Try UNsetting it.

I would not set a firmware password on ANY Mac that I owned.
Too dangerous if something goes wrong -- you could get permanently locked out of your own Mac. But perhaps that's just me.

You would think, right? I have tried making a USB installer with the Diskmaker X utility and via the Terminal. I get the same results regardless whether it's a Mojave or Catalina USB. Maybe I have both defective USB Flash drives. They are only used as macOS USB installers.

BUT here's where things get wacky. So I did an internet recovery on my 2012 mini and it downloaded Mountain Lion. I wish it gave me an OS option like Mojave but it doesn't give me an option. It installed Mountain Lion, I did the updates (I tried it without any updates). So I went to the App Store and downloaded El Capitan. It went to restart and it all looked good then it failed and gave me the message "OS X could not be installed on your Computer, Restart or call your software provider.

It then gave me another message below: "No packages were eligible for install"...Restart

If I then try to restart it goes thru the entire cycle and I get the same messages.

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you have a firmware password set?
Do you have drive encryption on?

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Do you have a firmware password set?
Do you have drive encryption on?

Yes to FW Password, No to encryption.

But I finally made progress, albeit my 2012 mini is back on Catalina. So here's how wacky things have gotten. If I boot from the Catalina USB installer the installation fails. This is after making sure the drive is formatted to APFS. If I boot with no USB installer and proceed to the Internet Recovery phase (Mountain Lion) I can successfully install Catalina. How?

Once I booted up into Internet Recovery mode, I inserted the Catalina USB installer. I then selected Startup Disk. I selected the Catalina USB installer disk, rebooted and the installation proceeded without a hitch. Why did it require that step and booting directly from the Catalina USB installer, not work? I don't know.

The only thing that could have been a problem regarding the Mojave USB installer and I'm not even sure about that is the Mojave download; I got that from DosDude1's link so I don't know if I downloaded a corrupted copy of Mojave?

 

[Fishrrman]

I've never used a firmware password, but I'll bet it has something to do with not being able to see the USB installer UNTIL you've entered the password...?

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I've never used a firmware password, but I'll bet it has something to do with not being able to see the USB installer UNTIL you've entered the password...?

It's possible EXCEPT i've been using a FW password since 2013 with multiple macOS upgrades. I've noticed this has become an issue on both my 2012 and 2018 mini's since they were upgraded to Catalina. I don't know if the updated BootRom has changed something where just installing macOS from a USB installer has made it a royal pain in the butt.