Can't use recovery on iMac

The late 2011 iMac cannot run macOS 12 unless it has been hacked. That process violates the OS licensing agreement.

Doing so also may have eliminated or wiped the restore partition and its data and disabled the ability of the Mac to boot into Recovery. This may now require that you create a bootable installer using another Mac that can run an older Mac OS version compatible with the 2011 iMac; OS 10.7 Lion thru 10.13 High Sierra.

Please see: Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Please see: How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

Okay... regrouping. 🙂

If you have been using a wireless keyboard with the Mac, try getting it to boot into recovery using a USB keyboard. Often the Bluetooth system doesn't come online quickly enough to recognize the key presses. Borrow or buy a USB keyboard. Many of us keep one on hand for situations such as this.

There are several key combinations that may work:

1. Restart your Mac.
2. Immediately press and hold one of the following key combinations until you see the startup screen:

• • Command-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery System. Use this key combination to reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your system, or to use the other apps in macOS Recovery.
  • Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac.
  • Option-Shift-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall the version of macOS that came with your Mac or the closest version that’s still available.

Please see: Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

If you still cannot get the Mac to boot into recovery, then the option to use a bootable installer is still available. You'll need to create an installer for macOS 10.11 or newer, through macOS 12 Monterey, and I'd suggest you use Monterey only because it the latest the machine can run.

You can simply ignore the OS X Base System volume. You will do nothing with that. It's only 2GB and a repository for OS resources accessible only by the OS.

It appears that iMac is equipped with a 24GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. This will normally be configured as a "Fusion Drive" with both drives behaving as a single device in the Finder and on the desktop.

For the purpose of wiping this Mac, you will want to format the internal drive device. In the Disk Utility menu bar, click View > Show All Devices. This allows you to select the drive device rather than only volumes on a device. The device will be the top-most listed in the left pane of the Disk Utility window, not an indented volume listed below.

As this also appears to be currently formatted with APFS (required for newer macOS versions), so you might first be required to delete the APFS volumes before you can format the drive. If necessary, select each APFS volume indented below the drive and then click the minus (–) button to delete. Then proceed with formatting.

To reinstall Sierra, you must erase & format the internal drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format and use the GUID partition map. Give the drive the name Macintosh HD.

Once you have reformatted the drive, you can quit Disk Utility and return to the Mac OS Utility window and try the Reinstall Mac OS again.

Since you are preparing this Mac for sale, when the re-installation is complete and the Mac reboots, you do not need to step through the Mac OS setup. You can quit the setup or shut down the computer and call it good. When the new user first boots the computer they will be prompted to setup the Mac as if it were fresh out of the box.

Please see: Disk Utility User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

Also: Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Have you tried...

Option-⌘-R

Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac.

If it's been more than an hour or so, you can try rebooting the machine normally. Press and hold the power button until the Mac shuts down. Wait a minute or two and then press it one more time to restart the computer. With luck the machine will finish the installation of the OS and continue on.

Are you connected to the internet and your router wirelessly? If this installation fails, try again after connecting the computer to your router with an ethernet cable. Sometimes the failure can be traced to a poor wireless signal or slow wireless performance.

Let us know how it goes.

You're welcome.

Good to hear you've got it sorted out, my friend. 🙂

👏🏽👏🏽🙂

Excellent. Great to hear, my friend.