Need to reinstall High Sierra on 2010 Mac mini, but nowhere to be found

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Need to reinstall High Sierra on 2010 Mac mini, but nowhere to be found

I have a 2010 Mac mini that I wanted to wipe and reinstall High Sierra (10.13), the highest macOS version supported by the hardware. After wiping the internal HDD and booting into internet recovery mode, I find that I can't actually use the 10.13 option offered by the recovery utility. It claim there was something "wrong" (sorry I don't have the exact words). Also, it appears the High Sierra installer is not available from the App Store, so creating a bootable install flash drive is also not an option. And though I have a saved copy of the Install macOS High Sierra.app downloaded a while back, if I try to use that, it says that something is wrong and it can't be used. I'm starting to think that there's some external factor blocking all these paths to installation. Have I just bricked my 2010 Mac mini?

Posted on May 16, 2021 2:47 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 16, 2021 4:37 PM in response to stevebert

You can set the Date in Terminal, may need to disconnect from the Internet, not sure on that.

https://techaeris.com/2016/07/11/change-system-date-os-x-terminal/#:~:text=Type%20date%20into%20Terminal%20and,date%200711141516%20then%20press%20enter.

Be sure to use Safari for the AppStore links, I mean Brave works fine hear, but Firefox & Waterfox will end up with crazy errors.

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 16, 2021 3:19 PM in response to stevebert

If you get a corrupted message...

Naw, not damaged, it's just that you have an old copy already in Applications, there are 2 cures...

Disconnect from the Internet & set the Date back to 2014, then you can run the Install MacsOS High Sierra App in Applications, so expired Certificates are not expired.

Or... trash the Install MacsOS High Sierra.app in Applications, empty trash & restart, then a new copy of a more recent version can be downloaded…

Don't use FireFox for this link, it’ll offer strange erroneous errors…

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12

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Answer 3

stevebert Author

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31 points

May 16, 2021 4:37 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the advice, but a couple of wrinkles: Install macOS High Sierra.app isn't in my Applications folder. As I mentioned, the 2010 Mac mini boot volume was wiped clean, recovery partition and all. I created the installer flash drive on a Catalina system using the createinstallmedia tool located in an archived copy saved on a non-boot data volume (where I keep a copy of every macOS installer back to Snow Leopard). I'll look again, but I'm sure there's no provision for changing the date on the 2010 mini from the installer. Your second suggestion to trash the copy I have downloaded I don't believe will have any affect. The only case where the App Store will offer to download High Sierra is from the booted 2010 mini running an older High Sierra or some earlier version of the OS. Not a scenario that I can reproduce. And from any newer Intel Mac mini running Catalina or Big Sur, App Store says "No Results for macOS High Sierra" (even though it offers it as a suggestion in the search field). Even Apple's own support article on getting older macOS versions (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683) just takes you to the App Store, where those downloads are nowhere to be found. So I continue to scratch my head. I fear Apple's penchant for "forward looking" has left a big old hole for owners of older hardware to fall into.

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Need to reinstall High Sierra on 2010 Mac mini, but nowhere to be found

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