Macbook pro late 2011 OS install

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Captain

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Hi all,

My old late 2011 MBP came with lion installed which i did upgrade to high sierra.

Today i have formatted the drive and the laptop is only giving me the option to install lion again from the utility menu.

When i try this, it gives me an error stating files are missing.

Is it a simple case of creating a bootable USB with high sierra on it and formatting the mac that way?

I have no other mac software so i have had to download the DMG of HS and i'm currently creating a bootable USB drive using Transmac on my Windows 10 machine.

If that doesn't work, what are my options?

I have also formatted the usb stick and converted it to GPT.

This is the error.

cp6XIMPh.jpg
Cheers
 
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Yeah. :)

searched for ages for a fix and stumbled upon 1 old forum post.

What fixed it was resetting the PRAM by pressing (Command+Alt+P+R) together while booting the machine up until you see internet recovery.

Power the system down and cycle through 2 boot sequences.

Then press Command+R to get into the utility boot option, the MacBook should then give you the option to reinstall MacOS rather than lion.

As lion is no longer supported, Apple can’t verify the install on their servers so you get stuck in a boot loop.
 
Omg I’m having this exact issue and it’s on the first page of this section. What are the chances! I am trying to help my girlfriend with it but I’m so used to using PCs.

It’s a 2010 MBP and I’m trying to install Lion over the internet and getting the same error message. I have no bootable USB or DVD. Will I be able to get it to work?

Edit: I made a bit of a schoolboy error thinking that the OS would simply install without a hitch and erased the original OS installation. I know I should probably have backed that up, but the thing would not boot at all and disk repair reported it could not repair. So kind of at last chance saloon now.

I pressed the power button and then held down command+alt+p+r. It then played the apple boot sound and rebooted maybe 4 times. I did not see internet repair. Then when booted up I still only see OSX Lion. Rebooted twice and still only Lion. Am I doing it wrong?

Edit 2: I see internet recovery now by pressing command+alt+r.
 
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Hold down Command+Alt+P+R and boot up, once it takes you to the internet recovery window, shut it down and power cycle twice.

Then hold Command+R and you should boot into the utility menu where it’ll allow you to install the last version of macOS you had rather than lion.

I also used the buttons on the right hand side of the keyboard rather than the left, probably doesn’t make a difference but it just seemed quicker to act that way. :)
 
Thanks. I’ll give it a go on the right. Command+r on the left is not working. It just takes me to mac os x utilities and only shows lion.

Edit: Ah I have just read that you said the latest version I had rather than Lion. I don’t know what version this was running but it’s a near impossibility that my gf updated it from Lion. Does this mean I’m screwed?

Edit: Right hand command+r not working either as far as I can tell. It just boots up into osx utilities rather than into recovery.

Edit: I don’t know what’s happening here but command+alt+p+r doesn’t take me to internet recovery. That cycles the power over and over which I think is the PRAM reset function. Command+alt+r does take me to internet recovery though.
 
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I have no access to another mac here, but could ask a friend with one to create me a bootable USB. Would that work?

Edit: Progress (maybe). I connected with ethernet and went into internet recovery. It is loading something! Aaaand dumped back into osx utilities where my only option is Lion. Time for bed - too tired to look up more options :)
 
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Feek said:
cmd-alt-p-r is the PRAM reset, it won’t take you into anything and the system will continue to reboot for as long as you hold that combo down.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes, this was my experience as well (hence confusion above). Command+alt+r is internet recovery. So yet to find a fix for this issue (on my machine). Looking around online people claim that changing the system clock works, but it doesn’t currently. Maybe it did in the past.
 
If the MacBook was never updated from lion then I think your only option is to make a bootable usb drive.

I think the above worked for me because I was running high Sierra before I formatted my drive.
 
Yeah could well be the case. I asked a friend to download the oldest version available from the app store for me (currently not sure what that is). Going to post him a flash drive and he’ll post it back. Thank you for the assistance and sorry if this has ruined the thread.
 
Feek said:
If you try and install that, you'll almost certainly have to do the clock thing.
Click to expand...

Would it be better to make a bootable of the latest then? (I think it’s big sur). Though I don’t mind doing the clock change in terminal either. Did it a few times last night.
 
Thanks. I really appreciate this help! The only way I’m able to identify the age is from 2010 being printed on the underside amongst the copyright info. Hopefully that’s correct. My friends macbook runs big sur so I’m hoping the app store allows downloading of older versions but I’m not holding my breath.
 
MSTRBKR said:
Thanks. I really appreciate this help! The only way I’m able to identify the age is from 2010 being printed on the underside amongst the copyright info. Hopefully that’s correct. My friends macbook runs big sur so I’m hoping the app store allows downloading of older versions but I’m not holding my breath.
Click to expand...
They can be found here, forward this on to your friend. :)

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211683
 
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