Resolved internet recovery mode to install High Sierra to external drive

[rib00]

MacBook Air 2017 (Intel, Does NOT have the T2 security chip)
running Monterey

I am booted up in internet recovery (Shift-Option-Command-R)and I am on a screen with a picture and it says "install Mac OS High Sierra."

a) I am disappointed in that because the factory install was Sierra, not high Sierra. But, oh well. (any workaround?)

Can I install Monterey from Recovery onto… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

"you might get the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available."
--misleading. Sierra is available when I checked about 2 weeks ago. it's available directly on the Apple website.

b) If I click on "install," will it let me later indicate that I want to install only to an external USB drive?

In this thread

Can I install Monterey from Recovery onto… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

jeffreythefrog says that he installed Catalina to an external drive while in recovery mode.

 

[Ben J.]

b) If I click on "install," will it let me later indicate that I want to install only to an external USB drive?

a) Just download the version you want, and create a bootable installer on a separate drive or partition. Must be HFS+. 30 or 40 GB is enough space.

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users.

support.apple.com

Boot into Recovery, and select the bootable installer disk or partition to boot from. You'll be asked which volume or drive you want the installer to install to.

 

[rib00]

before your post, all of this happened in recovery..

I clicked continue and it says,
the recovery server could not be contacted.
I then opened Terminal and ping google.com
internet worked.
I then tried again about 10 mins after previous attempt.
the recovery server could not be contacted.
again

 

[Ben J.]

With a bootable installer, you won't need an internet connection, whatever the connection problem might be.

 

[Bigwaff]

before your post, all of this happened in recovery..

I clicked continue and it says,
the recovery server could not be contacted.
I then opened Terminal and ping google.com
internet worked.
I then tried again about 10 mins after previous attempt.
the recovery server could not be contacted.
again

Excellent site -

[FIXED] High Sierra "The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted" Error. High Sierra Internet Recovery is Still Online, but Broken!

Trying to reinstall macOS High Sierra in internet recovery & are getting the error The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted HOW TO FIX!

mrmacintosh.com

 

[Fishrrman]

Is there any particular reason why you MUST have (low) Sierra on the drive and not High Sierra?

I checked and the free utility named "Mist" can download Sierra.

To create a bootable flahsdrive, you would probably need something like "DiskMaker X".

There's a similar app named "Install Disk Creator", but I'm not sure if it will "go as far back" as does DiskMaker. That is, the app may not work with an OS as old as Sierra.

 

[rib00]

With a bootable installer, you won't need an internet connection, whatever the connection problem might be.

Here is a thread where the OP is saying an internet connection was required for his install of Mac OS Sonoma

Require an internet connection to install macOS

How are you booting the mac? There are two ways, one installs the OS from production, the other installs the latest supported by your hardware. I will guess though, your issue is your ad filtering, I’ve had the same. Check your firewall logs against the IP of the mac or put it on a VLAN not...

community.spiceworks.com

I'm not sure if his statement is accurate.

Is there any particular reason why you MUST have (low) Sierra on the drive and not High Sierra?

I have more confidence that the software that I want to run will run. I am tempted to go to a more recent version of the OS. But, I think that's just getting fancy. I have gone back and forth a bit on the decision.

I checked and the free utility named "Mist" can download Sierra.

I plan to just download it directly from the Apple website as I tend to avoid 3rd party software when reasonably possible.

To create a bootable flahsdrive, you would probably need something like "DiskMaker X".

There's a similar app named "Install Disk Creator", but I'm not sure if it will "go as far back" as does DiskMaker. That is, the app may not work with an OS as old as Sierra.

I would think that a simple command in Terminal would do the trick. But, we'll see.

 

[rib00]

Excellent site -

[FIXED] High Sierra "The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted" Error. High Sierra Internet Recovery is Still Online, but Broken!

Trying to reinstall macOS High Sierra in internet recovery & are getting the error The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted HOW TO FIX!

mrmacintosh.com

I chose to go with option 3. that one involves running an nvram command in terminal so that the installer uses http instead of https. The command is
nvram IASUCatalogURL="http://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog"

That did NOT work.
The GUI gives the exact same message as it did before I tried the fix.
"the recovery server could not be contacted."

Edit:
I am now following the instructions @ mrmacintosh website that you linked to to download High Sierra from the app store and then create a High Sierra bootable USB thumb drive. The Terminal command to create the USB installer has been running for over 5 minutes so far. It's a new USB thumb drive.
Edit2:
looks like the bootable thumb drive works as intended.