Stuck inside single user mode !

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Level 1

11 points

Stuck inside single user mode !

Hello! It looks like I really need your help. 🙏 I use a mid 2012 MB Pro with 16 G of RAM. OS X Mojave installation got stuck halfway (to the Apple logo I think), but I then couldn’t reboot on High Sierra! I still had access to OS Recovery tools and Internet. Disk Utility would show my Macintosh HD, but First Aid would fail. Reinstalling OS X only lead again to halfway Mojave installation. I tried Terminal to copy some critical file, but only “diskutil list” would work; “man”, “find” or “cp” were not recognized. With Command + S, I booted in single user mode, waited until scrolling was done and typed “fsck -y”. Although I did not realize that the prompt was different from “localhost#”. The console then checked the disk image [OS X Base System, OK] instead of the main Macintosh HD partition on my disk. And now... “exit” did not exit the console ! Neither did “shutdown -h now”. Should I do a hard shutdown with the on/off button ?? What else can / should I do ? Many thanks for reading all this !! Gerard

MacBook Pro 13", 10.13

Posted on Feb 6, 2019 7:22 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,244 points

Feb 6, 2019 8:50 AM in response to Lao Bo

Boot into single-user mode by holding down the S key. This will scroll a bunch of stuff and stop at the # prompt. Run fsck -fy and hope that it can recover your boot filesystem. If it completes without giving up, press control-d to exit and continue boot to the GUI.

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Answer 2

Lao Bo Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 7, 2019 1:33 AM in response to VikingOSX

@Vicking : Thanks for the suggestion ! I did a hard shutdown. Then rebooted with Command + S into single user mode. Looks like I am back at the same point. Before proceeding, may I ask you two questions : A) it looks like I might not be in the right place, as the prompt is different from root #. That would explain why fsck did check the disk image [OS X Base System, OK] instead of the drive Macintosh HD. Before performing fsck, should I move from here (change drive?) and how ? Please see enclosed pic.

B) I found a support.apple.com post about single user mode, dated Sept 25, 2018, that says one should rather use Unix commands from Terminal within the Recovery screen, because “These steps replace the Command-S method, which doesn't work with the recommended settings on current Mac computers” !? Sorry, but I am not a superuser at all and this is quite confusing...

I am just trying to get into my Mac HD and retrieve a few critical files, then I could try restoring my HD from my TM backup.

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Answer 3

Lao Bo Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 7, 2019 6:28 AM in response to VikingOSX

Hi again !

I tried the apple support suggestion and used fsck -fy in Terminal (from within Recovery mode). Got the same result : « the volume OS X Base System appears to be OK « ... Then I tried but failed to direct fsck towards my Macintosh HD physical disk which is /dev/disk0s2. Please see the enclosed pic.

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Answer 4

Lao Bo Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 7, 2019 7:03 AM in response to VikingOSX

Well, I did it again, this time in single user mode (accessed with Command + S). And I keep getting the same result: fsck -fy checks the wrong partition, the disk image « OS X Base System » instead of « Macintosh HD » (see my previous message). Could you please guide me for the next step ?

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Answer 5

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Feb 7, 2019 10:08 AM in response to Lao Bo

Didn't you make a (bootable) clone before starting the upgrade?

I do that always, so that when the result is "halfway" between the old and new OS, I can boot from the external clone and clone back (but I never had to do that).

Also if you have a complete up-to-date TM disk, you could contemplate to use it to restore the TM to your disk.

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Answer 6

Lao Bo Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 9, 2019 8:01 PM in response to VikingOSX

Dear Vicking,

to make a long story short, I made a stupid mistake by losing the pw of my external backup HD. However, I know where to find a copy on an encrypted file on my Mac HD, the one which cannot boot correctely because of an uncomplete installation of OS X Mojave....

So my current problem is : when trying to fix my Mac HD, whether in Terminal or in Console mode, I am NOT on the right disk (Macintosh HD) but instead I am on /var/root of the diisk image [OS X Base System] !

Which doesn’t let me fix my disk nor find and copy the file I am looking for...

Hence my question : what is the Unix command to change disk or move to Macintosh HD ? If there is no such command, is there another way to solve my problem ? ;-)

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Answer 7

Lao Bo Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 7, 2019 6:30 AM in response to Lao Bo

Here is the pic :

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Answer 8

Lao Bo Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 7, 2019 6:37 AM in response to Lao Bo

Sorry : impossible to get that pic through. It was to show that fsck -fy did work but only check the disk image [OS X Base System].

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Answer 9

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,244 points

Feb 7, 2019 6:16 AM in response to Lao Bo

You do not have a T2 security chip in your 2012 Mac, so booting into Single User mode with ⌘-S is the correct procedure for you. This is not rocket science and on that vintage of Mac, it will spew a bunch of boot sequence trivia and eventually land at the # prompt. If the boot fails however, then you may never reach that # prompt, and will not be able to run fsck.

Start up your Mac in single-user mode or verbose…

About the T2 Security Chip

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Answer 10

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Feb 9, 2019 9:30 PM in response to Lao Bo

The disk is mount read only. You may be able to cd to where ever the files you need are.

see:

backing up from the command line via single user mode.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/32357328#32357328

You may try to recover your data by booting up in recover mode command+r then using the terminal.

You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you placed

the flash drive the USB port before powering on your machine.

1) you best have the flash drive formatted for the Mac. See

disk utility. It's on the pull down.

2) Power off the the machine. Hold down the command+r keys then power on your

machine.

3) After you specify the language you will come to the installation

panel.

4) Do not install.

5) Go to the top of the screen and click on the tools menu item.

6) Click on Terminal to use the command line interface.

7) You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you

placed the flash drive in a USB port before powering on your

machine.

ditto -X -rsrc /SSD/users/rastefatah/Desktop/Outlook Festival 2017 RAW files/* /Volumes/thumb

You will note that the path contains spaces. You need to escape all

spaces.You need to put quotes around all file names with a space in

them. I'm not so sure about the asterisk [ * ]. I think you need to

do:

ditto -X -rsrc "/SSD/users/rastefatah/Desktop/Outlook Festival 2017 RAW files" /Volumes/thumb

the ditto command copies over a directory / folder at a time

You should verify that the files have been copied correctly by

trying them in another Mac before it the deleting the original.

Here is an overview of the commands.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-11071

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