2015 Macbook Air - drive not showing in "Choose Startup Disk" in recovery mode

daniellyubchik wrote:

thank you for responding to my question. Sadly, I'm not booting from the USB installer. It's only able to load into internet recovery - the "option" startup key as well as any variation of cmd+R all send it to the same internet recovery screen.

When the internal boot drive is not working and the "bootable" macOS USB installer is not recognized, then the Mac will then boot into Internet Recovery Mode.

Thanks for sending that chart - I'll try to load 10.11 or 10.12 onto the drive instead if nothing else works. Sadly, I don't have a Mac available to me, but if TransMac is the issue I can borrow a family member's. I do believe it's loaded correctly given the computer recognizes it as a volume of the right size and format in the disk utility.

I have not seen any successful reports of anyone using TransMac to make a bootable working macOS USB installer for many years (at least on the Apple forums). You are just wasting time & money using TransMac.

The only reliable way of creating a bootable macOS USB installer is by using a compatible Qualifying Mac. Avoid trying to make a bootable macOS 10.12 USB installer since like I said that particular installer has been broken for years and requires modification before a bootable 10.12 USB installer can be made...much better to go with macOS 10.13 or even better the latest supported OS which is 11.x Monterey.

I just need to get the computer to realize it's a bootable drive and boot off it.

You have already shown you can boot into Internet Recovery Mode (or local Recovery Mode) in that screenshot if that was not your USB stick. So why not install macOS from there? You may need to first use Disk Utility to properly prepare the internal SSD so it has the correct partition type & file system for the OS like I mentioned in my previous post. You just got side tracked by the Startup Disk option which is irrelevant for your issue.

If you actually clicked "Reinstall macOS" while booted to the installer (online or USB) and encounter an error, the please post the exact error message here plus the version of macOS being installed. Many times the older installers have expired certificates and will require changing the date on the computer so the certificate will think it is still valid.

(so, so far, the only two paths I've been able to go down are:

pressing alt or cmd+r while starting --> internet recovery, where installing macOS Sierra online leads to an error

Use Command + Option + R to see if the laptop will boot into the macOS Monterey online installer as that is your best option here since it is the most recent OS supported by Apple for this laptop. If you never had macOS 10.12.6+ installed on this laptop before, then you will only be able to boot to the installer for the OS which originally shipped with this laptop from the factory. Sometimes even if macOS 10.12.6+ was previous installed, the computer may still only boot to the online installer for the older OS (no idea why, but it does happen quite often unfortunately).

What is the highest version of macOS ever installed to this laptop? This is important as it may affect which OS installer you should use since the laptop may need a system firmware update before some later versions of macOS can be installed.

For a 2015 laptop, generally the best options for a bootable macOS USB installer are 11.x, 10.15, 10.13, or 10.11 in that order assuming macOS 10.13+ was previously installed at some point in the past. These versions of macOS cover the highest version of macOS available for most Qualifying Macs.

Very important questions here as they affect our recommendations on the OS installer that may be needed :

• What is the highest version of macOS ever installed onto this laptop in the past?
• Does this laptop contain the original Apple OEM SSD or was the internal SSD replaced with a third party SSD?

You are not seeing any available Startup Disks in that screenshot for two reasons.

1. You erased the internal SSD
2. The macOS USB installer won't show up there

I'm not sure why you care about seeing a Startup Disk option in that screenshot since you know the internal SSD has been erased and you are already booted from your macOS installer. There is no need to even be in that Startup Disk System Preference area.

You need to reinstall macOS. If you are booted from macOS 10.10, 10.11, or 10.12, then you would need to use Disk Utility erase the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) since these older versions of macOS cannot recognize the newer drive layouts or file systems utilized by later versions of macOS. If you are using a macOS 10.10 installer, then you may instead need to partition & format the SSD using the information in this article:

https://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/formatting/Mac_Formatting_6-10_R3.pdf

Another very important item we need to consider is whether this laptop is using a third party internal NVMe SSD. If so, then you won't be able to see the third party NVMe SSD using older versions of macOS. You would need to use a macOS 10.13+ installer.

Assuming your local network & Internet connect are up to the task, try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the online macOS 12.x Monterey installer. The older macOS 10.11 installer may have an expired certificate which may result in one of several error messages since Apple appears to love cryptic & confusing error messages.

Otherwise you will need access to another compatible Qualifying Mac in order to create a bootable macOS USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

While @sunny_mike did provide proper instructions for creating a bootable macOS 10.12 USB installer, unfortunately AFAIK, that version of the macOS installer is still broken when it comes to creating a bootable USB installer. The instructions are a bit different for some of the other macOS installer so please reference the Apple article I linked.

A Qualifying Mac to create a bootable macOS 10.13 USB installer is generally one from Late-2009 to 2018, while a Qualifying Mac for 12.x is generally one from 2015 to 2021, although there are some exceptions. To confirm whether you have a compatible Qualifying Mac for a macOS 10.13 to 11.x installer, you can use the information in this article:

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

If your laptop has an original Apple SSD, then you could install macOS 10.11 which would require a Qualifying Mac generally from 2008 to 2015 (again check the chart in the article I just linked to confirm).

If Disk Utility does not see a physical internal SSD when booted to macOS 10.13+, then it means you have some sort of hardware failure....most likely with the SSD, but if using a third party SSD the problem could be with the internal SSD adapter. The Logic Board could also be bad, but unlikely unless there has been liquid damage. While booted to macOS 10.13+, within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility.

If the laptop is using an original Apple OEM SSD, then you should see the SSD in Disk Utility even when booted to an older OS.

If your MacBook Air's internal drive is not showing up as a bootable option in the "Choose Startup Disk" menu, and you're unable to install macOS Sierra through the recovery mode, you can try the following steps to create a bootable USB drive using the Yosemite disk image:

Please note that creating a bootable USB drive will require another computer with a working macOS system. If you don't have access to a working Mac, you can try borrowing one from a friend or visiting an Apple Store or authorized service provider for assistance.

Here's what you can do:

1. Obtain a USB drive: Get a USB drive with at least 8GB of storage capacity. Make sure it's empty, as the process will erase all existing data.

2. Download the macOS Sierra installer: Although you mentioned having a disk image of macOS Yosemite, it's recommended to use the installer for the same version of macOS that was originally installed on your MacBook Air. If possible, download the macOS Sierra installer on the working Mac from the Mac App Store.

3. Prepare the USB drive: Connect the USB drive to the working Mac. Launch the Disk Utility application (you can find it in the Applications/Utilities folder).

4. Erase the USB drive: In Disk Utility, select the USB drive from the left sidebar. Click on the "Erase" tab and choose a suitable name, format (Mac OS Extended Journaled), and scheme (GUID Partition Map). Then click "Erase" to format the drive.

5. Create a bootable USB drive: Once the USB drive is formatted, open Terminal (you can find it in the Applications/Utilities folder) and run the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/[USB Drive Name] --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app

Replace `[USB Drive Name]` with the actual name you assigned to the USB drive in Disk Utility.

This command creates a bootable macOS Sierra installer on the USB drive. It may take some time to complete.

6. Eject the USB drive: Once the process is finished, you can eject the USB drive using Disk Utility or by right-clicking on the drive icon on the desktop and selecting "Eject."

Now that you have a bootable USB drive with macOS Sierra, you can try booting your MacBook Air from it by following these steps:

1. Turn off your MacBook Air.

2. Connect the bootable USB drive to one of the USB ports on your MacBook Air.

3. Turn on your MacBook Air while holding down the "Option" key.

4. You should see a list of bootable drives. Select the USB drive with macOS Sierra on it.

5. The installation process should start. Follow the on-screen instructions to install macOS Sierra on your MacBook Air.

If you encounter any errors during the installation process, it's possible that there are underlying hardware issues with your MacBook Air or compatibility problems between macOS Sierra and your specific model. In such cases, it's advisable to reach out to Apple Support or visit an authorized service provider for further assistance.