Error during install of Sierra on Macbook pro Touch bar Model A1706

Unless you are familiar with the command line the easiest way to access your data is by installing macOS to an external USB drive and booting from the external drive. After you recover your data, then perform a clean install of macOS by first erasing the whole physical drive. This Apple article shows how to select the physical drive in Disk Utility:

https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/mac

You could try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R and running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. To see the hidden Container within Disk Utility you will need to click on "View" and select "Show All Devices". Even if First Aid reports everything as "Ok" click on "Show Details" to see if there are any unfixed errors or warnings which would indicate a file system issue that can only be resolved by erasing the whole physical drive. If First Aid fixes any file system issues, then you can try reinstalling Big Sur again.

guillaume265 wrote:

To make the bootable macOS on a external hard drive, I used this page https://www.macworld.com/article/3284378/how-to-create-a-bootable-macos-mojave-installer-drive.html?page=2

I'm trying with Mojave, since Sierra is not available anymore (except in internet recovery of the macbook but it doesn't work)

But now whenever I am trying to do so I have this message on terminal...

"MBPdeGuillaume:~ guillaumemontant$ sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled -- /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app

Password:

Sorry, try again.

Password:

Ready to start.

To continue we need to erase the volume at /Volumes/Untitled.

If you wish to continue type (Y) then press return: Y

APFS disks may not be used as bootable install media.

An error occurred erasing the disk."

The error message tells you exactly what is wrong. You need to erase your USB stick as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) before running the Terminal command to create the bootable macOS USB installer. Here is the official Apple instructions:

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

If you have problems after properly erasing the USB stick, then when you post the Terminal output please use the "Code Insertion" tool which looks like "<>" so it will be easier to read the output.

Before this problem happened, when I was trying to install Big Sur or Mojave and an error message appeared in the middle of the installation : "The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permission."

Do you think this is due that the FireVault is on ? Is there a way to disable it using terminal in recovery mode ?

Filevault doesn't interfere with creating a bootable USB drive. I highly doubt you will be able to create the USB installer from Recovery Mode since most of the macOS frameworks & utilities are not available in Recovery Mode. Recovery Mode is an extremely limited subset of macOS.

I didn't get it, what do you mean by that ? : "Sometimes when installing to the external drive you will need to Option Boot the system to select the external drive so the install process on the external drive will finish when it reboots after the first phase of the install process."

Once the first phase of the install process finishes copying the installation files to the destination drive the installer reboots the Mac. This should boot the Mac back into the installer now located on the destination drive, but sometimes it instead just boots the Mac normally. If the Mac happens to boot normally, then you need to Option Boot the Mac to attempt to resume the macOS installer so it can finish phase two of the installation & setup.

If you don't recall the password you used or if it does not work, then you will need to take the laptop to an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider along with valid proof of purchase and valid identity of the owner so that Apple can remove the firmware lock. I recommend contacting the Apple Store or the AASP first to confirm exactly what documentation you need to provide to them as proof of purchase & identity. Try the password with the Caps lock key enabled & disabled in case the Caps Lock was accidentally activated when you set the password.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455

What happens when you attempt to install macOS to an external drive? Sometimes when installing to the external drive you will need to Option Boot the system to select the external drive so the install process on the external drive will finish when it reboots after the first phase of the install process.

Make sure to first erase the external drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option).

Looks like the system is still booting an old version of macOS which unfortunately sometimes happens regardless of the keys used to access Internet Recovery Mode. Older versions of Disk Utility defaulted to showing everything so there is no "View" option.

At this point I would create a bootable macOS 11.1 Big Sur USB installer if you want to install Big Sur. If your Big Sur installer was downloaded around or before mid-December, then I would delete it (and empty the Trash) and download another copy to ensure you have the most recent version since the older installer had issues. The newer v11.1 version was released around the last week of December.

There is a small chance that you may need to first install macOS 10.13 High Sierra before being able to upgrade to Big Sur, but I would think this is not necessary if installing using the bootable USB installer.

Whenever First Aid is unable to repair the file system, then you need to erase the whole drive in order to create a fresh new file system and restore from a backup.