A required firmware update could not be installed. Compatible internal storage is required in order to update

NorthernDarks wrote:

I've been reading about this problem here and in Reddit and elsewhere and I understand about 1 word in 10.

I bought this MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) second-hand/used and have no idea what previous owner did or how to tell whether HD was replaced.

It seems like a lot of hassle. I want to know whether it's worth upgrading to Monterey, what problems I get if I stay with Big Sur 11.6.1. And if I have to do the upgrade, is it possible without professional help?

Thanks

The current stable release of your Big Sur is macOS 11.6.7 (20G630) (June 9, 2022)

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

it is a known issue third party drives,

What does it say from

>(Option key) System Information>Hardware>Storage

there are some known work arounds depending on your current drive....

Here is an article with instructions on a way to upgrade the system firmware even with a third party SSD installed. After which you should be able to install macOS normally. You do need to read the instructions carefully. IIRC, in order for this to work the system firmware must already be at a certain version which I believe is 195.x.x.x.x.

https://tinyapps.org/blog/202110270700_monterey-third-party-ssd.html

I've never used these instructions myself, but they are what I would have used if I had tried to figure out a way of manually updating the system firmware. Basically they are pointing the computer's firmware to the firmware updater and telling it to run which is bypassing the restriction within the Monterey installer. Of course with any unofficial methods you will be assuming the risk if something goes wrong since there usually is no way to recover from a firmware mishap (Apple even corrupted the system firmware of MBPro 2014s a couple years ago even through a normal fully publicly released OS upgrade installation of Big Sur which Apple had to pull for several months in order to prevent it from bricking more laptops). You definitely want to make sure to select the correct firmware to use.

To follow @leroydouglas suggestion

There are reports appearing on the ASC Forums regarding failed installation of Monterey on older Qualifying Apple Computers. In most cases this is related to having a NON Apple Original Internal Drive ?  

The EFI Boot ROM included in Monterey is verifying for Original Apple Drive and if not found , may Balk or fail to upgrade to Monterey. 

Reports indicate the EFI BOOT ROM is Required to Flash the Computer and is a  requirement for a Successful Monterey Installation.

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