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Reinstalling macOS after erasing - getting error

I am wiping my iMac for trade in. I followed the instructions on What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support and I copied all data to my new computer, signed out of all iCloud apps, iCloud itself, erased the drive and am now attempting to reinstall macOS (booted in recovery, used disk utility to erase HD, used installer to install macOS - it only gave me the option to install Monterey). Every time I do I get “an error has occurred” and it won’t finish the install. I rebooted and now the recovery menu appears like an older version and is now trying to install Mojave. The last attempt said the installer file was truncated or corrupted and couldn’t be installed. I’m not sure where to go from here.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Dec 12, 2022 5:34 AM

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Posted on Dec 13, 2022 4:38 PM

Sounds like you plan to keep the Mac? When setting up the Mac to sell you only want to get to the point of the OS being installed then when it asks for user name you stop and turn off the Mac. That way the new user will enter their name and start as a new machine. If it gives you the OS as Monterey then use that level.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


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9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 13, 2022 4:38 PM in response to apinchofhope

Sounds like you plan to keep the Mac? When setting up the Mac to sell you only want to get to the point of the OS being installed then when it asks for user name you stop and turn off the Mac. That way the new user will enter their name and start as a new machine. If it gives you the OS as Monterey then use that level.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


Dec 14, 2022 6:05 AM in response to apinchofhope

Scorched Earth Method 


This method will WIPE ALL Data and there is No Recovery - Period.


>> Only works on Intel Based Apple Computer <<


To perform this action will require booting from a Bootable Installer


The Bootable Installer can Only be performed on an Apple Computer 


This will have to be performed from a Qualifying Computer to run the version of macOS to be made on the Bootable Installer. Example : Bootable Installer of Big Sur would have to be done on a computer that Qualifies to run Big Sur.


Notation: If the computer being used to perform this action is Too New or Too Old to qualify to run the version of macOS - this computer can not be used.


Alternative is, to gain access to a Qualifying Apple Computer from a family member, friend or associate.


Extra Special Notation regarding the Touch ID equipped Apple Computer.


 About Startup Security Utility and Must Enable from Recovery Mode the ability to boot from External Drive Before Attempting 



1 - Shutdown computer and disconnect all external drive Except the newly created Bootable Installer.


2- Restart and immediately hold the OPTION key until the Startup Manager appears and choose the USB Drive. 


3 - It will present options >> Disk Utilities >> View >> View ALL attached Drives. 


4 - Choose the Upper Most Drive ( not the volumes indented and list below ).


5 - The drive normally is called Apple Media or Apple SSD - that is the drive to Erase and format as APFS with the GUID Partition Map. This applies to macOS 10.14 Mojave and above. 


5A - Formatting for macOS 10.13 High Sierra and below requires HFS Journaled with the GUID Partition Map


6 - Once that is done >> backup out of Disk Utilities and choose install macOS. 


7 - Follow the prompts and it may automatically reboot several time. 


8 - Upon a final reboot - Setup Assist will present with the newer version of macOS.


9 - Once the reboot is done an setup Assist is presented - Power Down via Power Button. The next time it is started up - it will be like " Out Of the Box " experience for the next owner of this machine

Dec 23, 2022 7:12 AM in response to apinchofhope

If you attempted the " Scorched Earth Method " and this " Volume MisMatch" error occurred ?


Any After Market RAM installed on this machine ?


Failing or Failed RAM Modules can present this type of MisMatch error.


If After Market RAM is involved this is a tedious exercise to remove one Module and Test. The remove another Module and Test again


Basically a trial and error to confirm which Module(s) is / are the cause.


Now, have a few links I have collected on RAM Module " Volume Mismatch "


Perhaps from there you can see if their issue lines up with your machine issue


Please help - Terminal.app keeps crashing upon reopening - macoS Monterey version 12.4


Volume hash mismatch, cannot reinstall MacOS


Monterey rev 12.4 - Hash mismatch


Volume Hash mismatch


Strange Disk Space Issue

Dec 14, 2022 5:24 AM in response to tbirdvet

I can try that again but those are the settings I used. The error was happening during the macOS install process so to me that indicated the error was with the installer files. That doesn’t make much sense to me to be honest as I’m using internet recovery, so my understanding is that it’s connected to Apple to download macOS installer files.


When I first started the process it was the newer recovery UI and it was installing Monterey but somewhere after the 3rd or 4th error I rebooted and started over and it then showed me an older version of recovery menu and the only OS install option was for Mojave.

Dec 23, 2022 6:50 AM in response to PRP_53

Thanks for your reply. I followed all these steps and I am still getting an error with the installer.


Is it possible that the issue is the Volume Hash Mismatch error? I was getting that before I started this whole process but I honestly just forgot about it. Though, the instructions for that are essentially to do a clean install, so I don't think that's the problem, but I can't come up with any other reason why this isn't working.

Reinstalling macOS after erasing - getting error

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