Trying to reinstall Sierra on a 2014 Mini

[mcsolas]

I am stuck trying to make a bootable USB to recover a mac mini with a wiped hard drive.

It is a 2014 mini, I don't have the full specs. It was running Sierra when I started working on it.

I used Cmd R to boot into recovery mode. I have it connected via ethernet. It was able to validate the connection with Apple then starts installing. Near the very end, the amount of time remaining shifts to a negative number and then it hangs for an hour or two, doesn't seem to recover. I am currently wiping the hard drive again with a more full pass.

I was using the instructions here but it doesn't have a line that related to Sierra directly, only mentioned High Sierra. I am not sure if this mini supports it, so I was aiming to put sierra on it. Also I downloaded the OS based on a page that one links to but the file name is different and I felt like I was missing a step. The code references a file named .app and the file I download has a different file type.

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

How can I create a bootable USB to give this another shot?

 

[EugW]

Yes, the 2014 Mac mini supports Sierra. This is the command for making a Sierra USB installer:

Create a Bootable macOS Sierra Installer on a USB Flash Drive

The macOS Sierra installer has a hidden command that can create a bootable USB flash drive to simplify installing macOS Sierra.

www.lifewire.com

Why do you want Sierra anyway? Just curious. If it has an SSD, Monterey runs great on it if it has 8 GB RAM. If it doesn't have an SSD, install one! The hard-drive-only 2014 models can be adapted to use an NVMe SSD with a US$15 adapter. Or do you have a 4 GB model?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Why don't you do this THE EASY WAY:

1. Boot to INTERNET recovery (not the same as "the recovery partition"):
Command-OPTION-R
at boot

2. If you're connecting via wifi, you'll need your wifi password. The utilities take a while to load, be patient.

3. When the utilities are loaded, open disk utility.
VERY IMPORTANT: go to the view menu (if there is one) and choose "show all devices".

4. In the list on the left, select the internal physical drive (should be the top item).

5. Erase it to APFS, GUID partition format

6. Quit disk utility and open the OS installer.

7. I believe the installer will offer you Monterey. I suggest you go with that, because a booting OS that works is better than one that won't (any port in a storm).

8. Start clicking through. The Mini will restart one or more times, and the screen may go dark for a minute or longer with no other indication of activity. Be patient.

9. When the install is done, you should see the initial setup screen "choose your language". Start clicking through and either have your backup ready for setup assistant, or if a backup isn't available, create a new user account when prompted.

Good luck.

 

[mcsolas]

Thank you!!

I was not aware of the Internet recovery option. It suggested High Sierra. Currently installing.

Was trying to make bootable USB's and not having luck figuring out how to get the terminal command and a few points there.

Had also tried recovery using the included recovery image. It tried to install Lion but it got hung up after install, it wanted to login to icloud and I put in the right info but my phone would popup a code to input and the installer was built before that feature was implemented (guessing) but was completely stuck there.

Edit: Install worked, the mini is back! Thanks again!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Command-Shift-Option-R for Sierra. Command-Option-R will give you Ventura.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Had also tried recovery using the included recovery image. It tried to install Lion but it got hung up after install, it wanted to login to icloud and I put in the right info but my phone would popup a code to input and the installer was built before that feature was implemented (guessing) but was completely stuck there.

Yeah, if you have 2FA and are doing anything older than Yosemite it’s…. Not fun 🤣 There are ways, but they’re not terribly pretty.