Monterey Installer app fails preparing installation

Use the original SSD.

I confirm the following worked great for me on my 2015 MacBook Pro 15".

1. Installed original SSD.
2. Installed fresh copy of Monterey via the USB stick onto the original SSD (it rebooted a bunch of times, indicating a firmware update).
3. Put the new SSD back in.
4. Booted off USB stick and upgraded to Monterey without a hitch.

It sucks if you don't have your original SSD but maybe you can get a cheap one off of the interwebs. Doesn't have to be big. Likely doesn't even have to be the same one that came with your unit. Most likely just *any* genuine Apple SSD.

Good luck.

Well this thread is helpful but incomplete. As of this past week, OWC is offering a "rental" Apple Branded SSD if you do not have the original as in an upgraded 2013-2019 MacPro bought directly from OWC. However, getting Monterey onto even that SSD can be a challenge. Go to https://support.apple.com › en-us › HT201372

This gives excellent instruction on installing Monterey on a bootable disk (any drive) via terminal command.

Type "sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume" and the terminal will install the Monterey Install image onto a bootable disk. Now you can install onto the apple drive, replace with the upgraded OWC disk and install Monterey there.

@georgeapplefan @joshuapinter

I have a couple of questions about this internal SSD thing. I have a Mac Pro 2013 and replaced the Apple with the OWC Aura 2TB SSD a couple of years ago. I do still have my original Apple SSD and it is in a little enclosure that I can attach via USB.

1. Can I use the Apple SSD as the boot disc and update that way?
2. Or what about restart using Ctrl+Shift+R and install Monetary that way?

Thanks for the input!

@moguySTL

Hello! I am a little slow on the draw with your explanation, please tell me if what I am thinking is correct.

HARDWARE: Mac Pro 2013 w/ OWC Aura X2 2TB internal, 36 GB RAM

• I have my original Apple SSD drive already in an enclosure, I kept after the upgrade in case of disaster.
• Are you saying that I can connect my Apple SSD via USB and boot from it, install Monterey on the Apple, then reboot from the Aura X2 internal and it will be ready for Monterey?

I appreciate the help! Thank you!

Lisa Atlanta

To continue....The other thing I did after turning off the firewall when the initial two attempts of downloading and installing Monterey through software update failed: I downloaded macOS Monterey from the App Store. Took over an hour l. So far so good. I have agreed to terms, entered my admin password and selected my hard drive for the installation.

As I write this, installation is at midpoint and went from 15 minutes remaining to 1 minute very quickly (you can hear fans running at this point). It sat on 1 minute remaining for a while, perhaps three minutes, restarted, proceeded with an Apple logo and progress bar, reaching about 20%, restarted again, and continued until completion. Restarted again, progress bar running again from about 20% fairly quickly and restarted again at about 75% completion. Progress bar is running again. Near mid point heard a notification beep, keyboard lit up, touchpad cursor arrow appeared and it now says 9 minutes remaining, once again with a progress bar. Down to 2 minutes remaining, although dragging out a bit. One minute, less than a minute remaining, all good. Purple desktop appeared with prompt for my password.

Checks iCloud status then shows macOS Monterey 12.0.1

(Note) noticeably speedier response.

Turned Firewall back on, restarted, all good.

I upgraded from latest version of Big Sur on a mid 2019 (July) 13" Touchbar MacBook Pro, faster processor and graphics model.

What SSD is installed? Is it an Apple SSD?

A while ago I replace the internal Apple SSD with an NVMe drive with adapter in my late 2013 MP. I successfully updated to Big Sur with no problem but could not update to Monterey. Could not even install Monterey on a blank external drive. Then I Googled and it appeared that an Apple internal SSD has to be installed in order to update the firmware and OS boot loader. I installed the original Apple SSD which had Mojave and updated successfully to Monterey. I then booted from my Big Sur NVMe SSD and successfully updated to Monterey. I am typing this from that OS now.

At least you got messages. My one year Mac Book died and doesn’t switch on and the same happened to another aquaintance. It’s incredible they release an update that downgrades and kills laptops. If I bought Mac is because I trusted in quality. I am quite deceived

I have the same problem, with a Mac Pro 2013 and a third party internal SSD that I installed a few years ago. Frustrating as all previous OS upgrades have worked fine. Anyone know if there is a fix coming, or if this is Apple sending a message about using third party upgrades?

Hi! What do you mean by "waiting for a 12.0.1 release of the installer"? The currently available update is 12.0.1 and the issue is still present. Is there an other installer that you can get from somewhere? I have the same issue (Mid 2015 Macbook Pro, with a Samsung SSD installed and I bought it this way, I don't have access to an original Apple drive) and I have no idea what to do now. You think it it will be patched in later versions or I must get an original drive?

I did everything you did on my 2019 iMac and keep getting the same error with less than one minute remaining on the install. All my parts are original from Apple and I have tried safe mode as well. Tried every solution out there short of doing a clean install. Anyone have any luck with this issue. The nearest Apple store is 2 hours from me so I am at a loss at this point. Very frustrated and disappointed. I could see if this iMac was really old but 2 years and can't upgrade? Not the customer experience I am used to with Apple.

I also confirm that I had to reinstall the original SSD on a mid 2015 MBP. I downloaded Monterey on an OWC Aurax1 several times. Always hung up with restart and kept getting an error to redownload. When I put the original Apple SSD in (thank goodness I still had it), I updated to Monterey. Reopened MBP and reinstalled to the OWC Aura x1, and the Monterey picked up instantly with start up.

I think Apple may be in violation of some sort of legal ruling similar to when you buy a car and using other than original parts. I believe it's called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. I guess we will see what happens. Maybe OWC, Samsung, Crucial and other drive manufacturers will approach Apple on this or may the California State Attorney General or FTC. Who knows. At least there is a solution, if you can get an Apple drive.

There seems to be some belief that ONLY systems with after-market drives fail to install. This is INCORRECT. My 2017 Model 18,3 iMac, with all original equipment fails to install with the "... can't install required firmware..." popup. I've also tried to install from USB. Finally, I installed the OS onto an external SSD using a 2015 MacBook Pro (on which Monterey successfully installed), and plugged that into the iMac. I rebooted the iMac using the SSD into Monterey, and then attempted to install using the Monterey installer onto the iMac internal drive. Unfortunately, the installer successfully overwrote the Big Sur 11.6.1 OS on the internal drive to OS 12.0.1, but failed to complete the installation (no encrypted OS snapshot) and will no longer boot from the internal drive at all. Because the Big Sur installer finds OS 12 already installed, it is unable to overwrite and reinstall Big Sur on the internal drive. The iMac runs Monterey fine from the SSD, but will no longer boot from the internal drive at all. I migrated my user profile to the SSD, and am still able to access my data, and use the system that way. Bottom line, the Monterey 12.0.1 installer clearly has some pretty fundamental flaws, does not function with even baseline Apple configuration, and should presumably have not been released. Beta testing that failed to reveal even this most basic shortcoming was clearly inadequate. I guess I'll wait a couple months to see if Apple bothers to release a patch. Failing that, the only way to install Monterey on my 2017 Model 18,3 iMac system is to use the external SSD, migrate what programs I can to that, and do a complete clean install on the internal drive(s). That's cumbersome, and pretty inconvenient.

My own experience was a bit different. In fact, the external SSD that I successfully installed Monterey on (a clean install, not an upgrade), was an OWC 128G SSD. My iMac runs fine off that drive, but it's of course inconvenient to boot off a small external SSD all the time, when I have an Apple original equipment 2T Fusion drive sitting essentially unused, inside the iMac. I've attempted to install from Recovery mode (my iMac still boots from the Big Sur 11.6.1 Recovery partition), but the install still fails with the "unable to install required firmware" popup. I'm not a computer "hobbyist" and so don't claim to have any idea what is going on, but my own experience certainly suggests the problem is at least not limited to after-market drives. Further, I'm successfully running Monterey from an external OWC drive, and it installed fine. I contacted Apple Support, and they seemed unaware that there was a systemic problem, and utterly baffled by the details of my own experience (they couldn't seem to understand how I was able to boot Monterey from an external SSD at all...). I plan on doing nothing (I'm still working, if only in casualty mode), until Apple figures out that there is a problem with the installer, and releases at least .2 installer.