Cannot upgrade formatted Mac Mini 2012 after software recovery

Question

Cannot upgrade formatted Mac Mini 2012 after software recovery

I formatted the hard drive by mistake - the mac mini i7 was on Catalina

After software recovery, I reinstalled but am now on 10.8.5

When I try to upgrade all versions of MacOS require I first go to 10.9, but I can't get it to run the 10.8.5 upgrade rollup. From update in the store it updates everything except itunes (error 102) but I cannot get it to upgrade to Mavericks. It doesn't exist anymore.

Sadly my complete set of macos install images were on the mac when formatted.

Do I have to buy another semi recent mac just to install Catalina or upgrade to Mavericks (which then let's me upgrade to Catalina again) ???

note this has to do with changes in the store since Mojave and nothing to do with paying OS upgrades etc etc etc

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 20, 2020 9:15 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

60,332 points

Mar 21, 2020 9:45 AM in response to brianlmerritt

brianlmerritt wrote:

I booted into recovery mode but remember this is a 2012 mac mini. Recovery installed Mountain Lion 10.8.5, and when in the Apple store I click install Catalina it says I must be at least on Mavericks to install Catalina (or anything else for that matter).

Re-read my previous post as I did address this issue.

Try forcing Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to see if it will boot the Catalina installer. I know that sometimes Internet Recovery Mode doesn't always work properly. If this key combination does not work, then try the next step.

You should be able to download macOS 10.11 El Capitan outside of the App Store. I don't know if you can run the actual El Capitan installer or whether you will need to create a bootable macOS USB drive. If you are unable to extract the installer to the Applications folder, then let me know and I can provide some other instructions to do so.

macOS 10.11 El Capitan download link:

http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-41424-20191024-218af9ec-cf50-4516-9011-228c78eda3d2/InstallMacOSX.dmg

Instructions for extracting and installing El Capitan:

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT206886

Instructions for creating a bootable USB installer:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

60,332 points

Mar 20, 2020 11:42 AM in response to brianlmerritt

Can you boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R? This should allow you to install Catalina.

If you need a pre-Catalina OS, then you can download the actual macOS installers for macOS 10.11 to 10.14 (even 10.15) and create a bootable macOS USB installer (link also contains other links to the actual downloads). At the very least you should be able to download macOS 10.11 El Capitan since the download is no longer tied to the App Store. Even if you cannot run the .pkg file included in the download, it is possible to extract the contents using command line utilities so that you can follow Apple's instructions for creating a USB installer.

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Answer 3

Mar 22, 2020 8:33 AM in response to HWTech

Hi and thanks

It would be good to get these final full instructions out on the web, as worked like a charm!

Boot with command r and go into recovery mode
If your mac installs an old (pre 10.9) OS, do the install but then go to http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-41424-20191024-218af9ec-cf50-4516-9011-228c78eda3d2/InstallMacOSX.dmg and upgrade to High Sierra
Once you are there, the Catalina upgrade is available via the store and works well
Remember to set up time machine so you don't have to do this again!

Thanks!

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Answer 4

Mar 21, 2020 2:15 AM in response to HWTech

I booted into recovery mode but remember this is a 2012 mac mini. Recovery installed Mountain Lion 10.8.5, and when in the Apple store I click install Catalina it says I must be at least on Mavericks to install Catalina (or anything else for that matter).

If I can download an upgrade to Mavericks image that might just get me the 1 step forward I need.

Alternatively, if I can get it to download Catalina and burn to USB I just do a fresh install.

Is there a link where I can get Mavericks? I can't find it in the store.

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Answer 5

Mar 21, 2020 2:39 AM in response to HWTech

ps - slightly complicated by the fact that I have 2FA turned on. My iPad gets a someone is trying to login as you is that OK, but the Apple store on Mountain Lion doesn't support the new 2FA. So I can't go to "Purchased" on the apple store and find an old Mac OS I have downloaded from before.

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