How to use macOS Recovery Utility.
Recently I came across a mac mini that failed an OS update. Luckily, macOS comes with a very handy, very easy to use recovery utility. This machine was updating to the latest (as of September, 2020) update to macOS Catalina 10.15.7.
The only thing this mac was doing after powering on was going into the install, encountering a problem, asking for a restart, and doing the entire process again.
The method we are going to use will reinstall the operating system but keep all user data intact. Let’s get started! Oh, and I apologize in advance for the images as I was not able to take screen shots during the process.
This error reads:
‘macOS could not be installed on your computer’
An error occurred installing macOS. To use Apple Diagnostics to check your Mac hardware, shut down, press the power button, and immediately hold the ‘D’ key until diagnostics begins. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.
Getting Started
1.) The first thing thing we want to do, is boot the mac into recovery mode. To do this we need to power off the mac, hold the command key and the R key, and then power on the mac while continuing to hold these two keys.
Command (⌘) R
The keys can be released once the Apple Logo appears, and after a short time the macOS Utilities window will be displayed.
2.) The next step is going to be clicking the ‘Reinstall macOS’ button. This step requires Internet Access, so your mac should either be plugged in with a hard wire, or connected via WiFi. There is a WiFi logo on the top right of the screen that will allow you to connect to the internet.
After selecting reinstall macOS, the initial installer screen will appear.
3.) Select ‘Continue’ on this page. The macOS Catalina license agreement is then displayed.
4.) Select ‘Agree’ to continue to the next step. Which will be choosing where to install macOS.
5.) By default the disk is named ‘Macintosh HD’
If yours is different, please make sure you select the correct drive!
After selecting the install location, the Installation will begin!
6.) This process is going to take some time, and the computer will restart multiple times. Speed will be dependent on what hardware is in your mac. After this process finishes, your mac should boot up into macOS and all your files/settings will be as they were!
I hope this how-to was helpful to you. Please check back for more posts by us here at Vulnifo. Thanks for reading!
