Errors after erase and reinstall macOS

Question

Level 1

15 points

Errors after erase and reinstall macOS

I followed the directions on c/net (https://tinyurl.com/sy7xe6dn) to eras my MacBook Air because I plan to give it to a relative. Everything was working fine up until the very last paragraph,

“..... From the macOS Utilities window, select Reinstall macOS and follow the instructions to install the operating system. After macOS has been reinstalled, you'll be greeted by the Setup Assistant, which you can then quit out of and shut down your Mac. It's now ready for a fresh start with its next owner.”

After trying to reinstall macOS I receive the message “No users available for authorization’ Um, I just erased my HD so how can there be users?!

Now what am I supposed to do? It only reboots into recovery mode with “There was an error starting up your Mac, Reinstall macOS to resolve this issue.” um, I would if I could. How can I fix this?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Jul 5, 2021 6:15 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jul 8, 2021 7:54 AM in response to 2roombas

There is 1 more thing you can try on your M1 in Recovery OS. Open Disk Utility and change the View to Show All Devices. Then, click on the Container that has your Macintosh HD underneath. Click Erase to erase the Container. This will remove the Volume Group. Try the install again. I'm assuming when you did the initial erase you only erased Macintosh HD and left the Macintosh Data volume.

If you still can't get macOS installed, then you will need to take it into an Apple Store so they can run Apple Configurator 2 and do a RESTORE to Big Sur 11.4. See this video for reference IF you have a 2nd Mac and want to do the RESTORE yourself. I've done this several times successfully.

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Answer 2

karina184

Community Specialist

Jul 6, 2021 12:45 PM in response to 2roombas

Hello 2roombas,

We appreciate the time you've spent to explain the situation and share the link you followed instructions from.

How to reinstall macOS will go over the steps to reinstall macOS so it's ready for the next user to use.

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac goes over best practices.

We hope this helps.

Cheers.

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Answer 3

KMB_12

Community Specialist

Jul 6, 2021 7:19 PM in response to 2roombas

Hello 2roombas,

Thanks for confirming what Mac hardware you have. This helps us go over more specific steps to your situation.

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon and try the following steps:

"Start up your computer in safe mode"

"Repair your internal storage device"

"View the recovery log"

Let us know if the steps in the article we've shared above helps.

Cheers.

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Answer 4

2roombas Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 6, 2021 5:50 PM in response to karina184

I looked at these above links before I followed the c/net one. They are basically the same! But the c\net one helped me figure out why I couldn't reach recovery mode via commańd-R. (my system is M1....hold power button). Everything was going smoothly UNTIL it was time to reinstall macOS. It won't let me do that and when I just shut down,it reboots into recovery. I'm stuck bc I can't give it to my brother like this. Is there anything I can do? is my only option to take it to an Apple Store?

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Answer 5

2roombas Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 7, 2021 3:04 PM in response to KMB_12

They do not. Again...I followed the step by step process to erase, everything was fine, then when i tried to reinstall Mac OS I received two “agree to the terms” messages (made no sense to me,but it says you have to agree to continue ) then up p error message : No users available for authorization. I don't understand how they can even expect any úser to be available when I just erased my hard drive?!?!

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