Unable to reinstall High Sierra

[ArtySin]

I went and wiped my hard drive to reinstall High Sierra and give the mid 2010 iMac to a young lad next door. However, as is probably well know, the message comes up when connected to Apple "The recovery server could not be contacted."

I downloaded a High Sierra installer app and as per instructions placed the installer app in the Applications folder. I then tried creating a bootable USB named "MyVolume" running the command sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volume/MyVolume However, it comes back with the message "zsh: killed sudo --volume /Volume/MyVolume."

Any ideas all what to do next?

 

[CoastalOR]

I went and wiped my hard drive to reinstall High Sierra and give the mid 2010 iMac to a young lad next door. However, as is probably well know, the message comes up when connected to Apple "The recovery server could not be contacted."

I downloaded a High Sierra installer app and as per instructions placed the installer app in the Applications folder. I then tried creating a bootable USB named "MyVolume" running the command sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volume/MyVolume However, it comes back with the message "zsh: killed sudo --volume /Volume/MyVolume."

Any ideas all what to do next?

Your Terminal command has an error, Volume should be Volumes. Use (Copy & Paste of the below to Terminal):

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

 

[ArtySin]

Thanks for the tip, twas a typo error missing out the S but putting it in, as per your correction, I still get:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
result: zsh: killed     sudo  --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

 

[Grumpus]

You didn't mention any details as to what kind of Mac and macOS on which you're trying to run createinstallmedia. If it's an M-series Mac, the problem could be that the signature of createintallmedia has expired. You can remove the signature with codesign:

sudo codesign --remove-signature /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

Also, creatinstallmedia is an Intel binary, and you may need to install Rosetta before it can run on an M-series Mac. This should happen automatically if Rosetta hasn't been installed previously.

 

[Grumpus]

Also, you may need to give Terminal.app full disk access in System Settings -> Privacy & Security.

 

[ArtySin]

Thanks for your help, all is up and running now, though compared to all my other assorted Macs, it is rather s l o w 😆

 

[sdfox7]

Thanks for your help, all is up and running now, though compared to all my other assorted Macs, it is rather s l o w 😆

Are you using HDD (hard disk drive) or SSD (solid state drive)? Most of the software today is so bloated that HDD are too slow in 2025. I don't have any machines using HDD any more. I even have an old ThinkPad with an IDE/PATA SSD.

 

[UKTechSupport]

I went and wiped my hard drive to reinstall High Sierra and give the mid 2010 iMac to a young lad next door. However, as is probably well know, the message comes up when connected to Apple "The recovery server could not be contacted."

I downloaded a High Sierra installer app and as per instructions placed the installer app in the Applications folder. I then tried creating a bootable USB named "MyVolume" running the command sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volume/MyVolume However, it comes back with the message "zsh: killed sudo --volume /Volume/MyVolume."

Any ideas all what to do next?

Hi there — I’ve helped a few people with the exact same issue recently.

That “zsh: killed” error usually means the Mac ran out of memory or something else interrupted the process. But honestly, trying to create the installer yourself from a High Sierra app in 2025 can be a real pain — especially since the installer is often incomplete or expired.

A bootable USB usually does the trick, but it has to be built from a verified working image. If you’re still stuck, feel free to DM me — I’ve got a method that works well for older Macs and I’m in the UK too.

Hope you get it sorted either way!