why is internet recovery installing monterey?

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Level 1

4 points

why is internet recovery installing monterey?

Hi folks. Oldish Macbook Pro. I just had the battery replaced through the genius bar and it came back with an apparently fatal keychain error... argh. Anyway.

Trying to reinstall from backup. Erased the hard drive, fine. But going through internet recovery only gives me the option to install Monterey, not - as I expected/wanted - the OS that it shipped with (which I think was Mavericks). What I *want*/need is High Sierra, which I could get to by upgrading from there. That's the OS that my backup has, but that is not installing.

Ideas/help? Thanks!

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Jan 11, 2023 8:23 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

245,165 points

Jan 11, 2023 8:44 PM in response to ewanmcnay

Is this the reason?

Command (⌘)-R

Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.

Option-⌘-R

Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac.

Shift-Option-⌘-R

Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.

To get back to original or even Mojave, you'll have to Erase the whole drive, as Catalina & up split the drive in two & also use APFS format instead f MacOS Extended.

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Answer 2

ewanmcnay Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 11, 2023 8:26 PM in response to ewanmcnay

[When I pick the option to 'reinstall from backup' it goes to the 'Preparing to restore "Macintosh HD" screen and then just sits doing nothing for at least 12 hours.]

This has been several days of frustration; once I did (somehow) get it to install the backup but then got the same keychain vanishing, all files and user ID vanish, issue. I plan to immediately make a keychain copy if I can get back to that stage.

Oddly, I have - thankfully - a backup machine that I'm using, same vintage, and the backup installed there no problem... I wish I had never tried to replace the &$^( battery!

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Answer 3

Mo_1357

Level 2

161 points

Jan 11, 2023 8:33 PM in response to ewanmcnay

Hi ewanmcnay,

I recommend you try to recover the laptop by not starting it up using the back up. There may be a fault in the backup drive, which might be the reason the laptop has been having issues. Have you tried installing a fresh copy of macOS Montenery? Also, would you know the MacBook Pro's generation?

Thanks,

~Mo

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Answer 4

ewanmcnay Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 11, 2023 8:37 PM in response to Mo_1357

Late 2014 I think (it's trying again to restore right now so I cannot check, but this one is 2013 and it was shortly after that, same model).

Installing fresh Monterey worked fine BUT means I can't use many of my apps (and runs really REALLY slowly) so not useful. Downloading the High Sierra installer while running Monterey got an error that it wasn't compatible.

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