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"You may not install this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition.

I was trying to install MacOS High Sierra onto my Early 2015 13" Macbook Pro and it said this.


These are the specs to the computer.


When I go to software updates in the app store it just shows the incompatible app updates but no firmware updates. I don't have access to an external drive.

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.12

Posted on Apr 27, 2020 2:51 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 30, 2020 6:23 PM

BDAqua wrote:

You can Install High Sierra to an external drive.

Since macOS 10.13+ include a system firmware updater, the macOS installer/firmware updater requires a working properly formatted internal drive to work (at least if the system firmware needs updating). I don't know if the same error happens when the system firmware is already updated (never had the time to test it). @ky151 confirmed the internal drive is not working so that is why @ky151 is getting the "missing firmware partition" error message when installing macOS 10.13+.


However, looking closer at @ky151's last post with the screenshot I see @ky151 is also having trouble creating the macOS 10.13 USB installer probably because of an issue with the USB drive.

10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 30, 2020 6:23 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua wrote:

You can Install High Sierra to an external drive.

Since macOS 10.13+ include a system firmware updater, the macOS installer/firmware updater requires a working properly formatted internal drive to work (at least if the system firmware needs updating). I don't know if the same error happens when the system firmware is already updated (never had the time to test it). @ky151 confirmed the internal drive is not working so that is why @ky151 is getting the "missing firmware partition" error message when installing macOS 10.13+.


However, looking closer at @ky151's last post with the screenshot I see @ky151 is also having trouble creating the macOS 10.13 USB installer probably because of an issue with the USB drive.

May 29, 2020 9:26 AM in response to ky151

Do you have a working internal drive properly partitioned and formatted for use by macOS? If not, then you cannot install macOS 10.13+ because the bundled system firmware updater will fail because the macOS installer/system firmware updater requires a properly partitioned and formatted internal drive.

May 28, 2020 6:31 PM in response to ky151

ky151 wrote:

I have a 2-partitioned drive of 500GB each, both are formatted with MacOS Extended (Journaled). My iMAC is Model 11,2 (2010) and currently runs under Serria version 10.12.6 on one of the partition.

I have also received the same error "You may not install to this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition" when I tried to install MacOS High Serria version 10.13.x. Pls advice.

The only time I've seen this error is when an internal drive is missing or not properly partitioned or formatted for macOS or when a third party PCIe SSD is used internally. Make sure the internal drive has a GUID partition and at least one MacOS Extended (Journaled) volume. If it does, then run Disk Utility First Aid on the drive and the volume to make sure there are no errors reported. Even if First Aid reports no problems, then maybe there is still an issue due to the two volumes. You may need to backup both partitions and erase the whole drive and recreate the two partitions and restore from your backup. Then see if you can perform the OS upgrade.


Or maybe you have some third party software which is interfering. You may want to try booting from Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) or by creating a bootable macOS 10.13 USB installer.

May 28, 2020 8:04 PM in response to HWTech

Yes, my current MacOS (Serria 10.12.6) was booted from an external drive. I have erased my entire drive (external) without partition and used MacOS recovery. Everything is well back on Serria, but I still failed to install H-Serria with the same "missing a firmware partition" msg. Believe it was due to my boot disk is being external drive.


I have followed your above link to create a bootable macOS 10.13 SB installer so that the H-Serria installer can installed from the Application folder. However, I got the disk format error as below.. what shall I do from here ?

May 28, 2020 12:01 AM in response to Mattk31

I have a 2-partitioned drive of 500GB each, both are formatted with MacOS Extended (Journaled). My iMAC is Model 11,2 (2010) and currently runs under Serria version 10.12.6 on one of the partition.


I have also received the same error "You may not install to this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition" when I tried to install MacOS High Serria version 10.13.x. Pls advice.

"You may not install this volume because the computer is missing a firmware partition.

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