LION vs HIGH SIERRA vs CATALINA

[mrk123]

What is the best and easiest way to get High Sierra or Catalina on my 2011 Mac.
I just erased my SSD for a clean start after a very buggy mac.
It appears to be forcing me to add LION OS now I want High Sierra or Catalina. Yesterday it was offering me High Sierra but now when I start in boot mode (CMD R) it only offers me LION. I am Not sure why now the day after it is only giving me LION. Do o have to add lion and then later upgrade to HS or CAT?

Any help welcome.

 

[Bigwaff]

Cmd+R is Recovery and will allow you to install version of macOS originally shipped with your Mac. Cmd+Option+R is Internet Recovery and will allow you to install the latest supported version of macOS for your Mac's hardware. Take note, Internet Recovery is very fickle and takes a significant amount of time depending on how fast your internet connection is. Be patient.

Alternative to above is to create a macOS USB install media. Less error prone but obviously requires you to use a working Mac to download macOS installer and create the USB install media. You can install Catalina directly with USB install media.

 

[Fishrrman]

For Catalina, I'd try dosdude1's "Catalina Patcher".
Find out more here (download as well):

macOS Catalina Patcher

For High Sierra, you should be able to boot directly to INTERNET recovery (as mentioned above):
Command-OPTION-R
at boot.

One other thing...
You said "2011" Mac, but you didn't tell us more.
Is it a MacBook Pro, by any chance?
If so, is it 15" or 17", by any chance?

 

[mrk123]

Thanks all.
That CMD OPT R is the one.
Will try now.

 

[mrk123]

Damn. Server cannot be contacted?

 

[mrk123]

Just found this on a forum…

“I had the same issue after I wiped the drive on my MacBook Pro. When you wiped the drive you selected the wrong format. All you need to do is simply go to disk utilities and erase the drive again, but this time select APFS (Encrypted) rather than just APFS. You may now click Reinstall macOS High Sierra. Side note, make sure you have internet connection in your status bar.”

Legit?

 

[mrk123]

Just tried this erase encrypted and not worked. Still same pop up whej I press continue.

 

[mrk123]

I have checked the date in terminal and it is correct for todays date. 26th May 2024. Is this correct. ??

 

[Fishrrman]

Is this a laptop or a desktop?
If it's a laptop -- like a MacBook Pro -- does it have an ethernet port?
If so, have you tried an ethernet connection (instead of wifi)?

 

[mrk123]

No. On wifi. I don’t have an Ethernet cable. And ids MacBook Pro. 2011
Is the issue these servers are not supported any more?
I just want to add high Sierra. How hard can this be.

 

[JustAnExpat]

No. On wifi. I don’t have an Ethernet cable. And ids MacBook Pro. 2011
Is the issue these servers are not supported any more?
I just want to add high Sierra. How hard can this be.

I would install Lion, and then upgrade to HS after that.

 

[mrk123]

I would install Lion, and then upgrade to HS after that.

Will that work ? Isn’t the issue ‘servers not supported’ ?

 

[mrk123]

Look. I tired to install Lion.
And it gets as far as here. I press install and that’s it. Nothing happens.
There’s no functionality after this. ??

 

[Slix]

Make sure you're connected to WiFi for this. Try changing the system date to 2018 for High Sierra in the terminal:

date {month}{day}{hour}{minute}{year}

You'll replace each of the brackets above with the a two-digit number that represents the month, day, hour, minute, and year in that order. Don't include spaces.

For example:
date 0412121018

 

[mrk123]

Will this work? If I change to 2018? Really?

 

[mrk123]

So if I put this in

date 0412121018

It might work?

 

[Siliconguy]

If you are going to install Lion you need to format the SSD as HFS+ Journaled. Nothing before Sierra knows anything about APFS.

I ran into a similar problem on a 2014 mini. The internet installer installed El Capitan, but the Monterey installer would not run from inside El Capitan. (Too big a jump for direct upgrade?) So I made a USB installer instead and that worked. That installer booted up into Recovery, then I could format the SSD as APFS (not encrypted in my case) and after that I could install Monterey.

Unless you have a particular reason to install Catalina I'd stop at Mohave. Catalina doesn't seem to offer much extra other than bugs.

 

[mrk123]

What hell am I doing wrong here ?
Jesus I just want to install OS. Why is this so hard.

 

[eilavid]

spacebar

 

[mrk123]

If you are going to install Lion you need to format the SSD as HFS+ Journaled. Nothing before Sierra knows anything about APFS.

I ran into a similar problem on a 2014 mini. The internet installer installed El Capitan, but the Monterey installer would not run from inside El Capitan. (Too big a jump for direct upgrade?) So I made a USB installer instead and that worked. That installer booted up into Recovery, then I could format the SSD as APFS (not encrypted in my case) and after that I could install Monterey.

Unless you have a particular reason to install Catalina I'd stop at Mohave. Catalina doesn't seem to offer much extra other than bugs.

I want to install High Sierra. But can’t. Someone said I need to add lion. Then upgrade the os from there.
I tried to change the date but not sure how.

 

[AlixSPQR]

I want to install High Sierra. But can’t. Someone said I need to add lion. Then upgrade the os from there.
I tried to change the date but not sure how.

As been said: First, ”you need to format the SSD as HFS+ Journaled”, then install Lion.

 

[mrk123]

As been said: First, ”you need to format the SSD as HFS+ Journaled”, then install Lion.

From Disc Utility?

 

[mrk123]

As been said: First, ”you need to format the SSD as HFS+ Journaled”, then install Lion.

Which one ?
Can’t find HFS+ Journaled

 

[mrk123]

Ok so I erased the first option.
May be working now. Installing lion. I wanted high Sierra.
So if lion installs now. Can I upgrade to high Sierra or Mojave from ???

 

[tonmischa]

Damn. Server cannot be contacted?

[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