MacBook Pro drive not partitioned, cannot reinstall OSX

I have an upgraded MacBook Pro that was used in my former office until it "aged out" and could not be connected to the network for security reasons. It has the maximum size hard drive installed and worked perfectly. Now that all of the company information has been cleaned and it is ready for private use, I have the file window with the question mark. I have already read all of the solutions to this problem previously listed here. I cannot reach the drive option to "Partition 1" so that I can reinstall OSX. I can see the drive, etc, but there is no partition drop down option.

iPhone SE, iOS 16

Posted on Sep 14, 2023 5:42 PM

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3 replies

Sep 15, 2023 10:17 AM in response to unpolire

You don't need to partition a drive to install the OS. The full drive is used in most instances; it does need to be properly formatted.


If you're getting this: If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

This article is the definitive fix per Apple.


Note the last line to contact Apple support if the fix fails.


If you wiped the drive, you do this: Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


You'll need a working Mac for this procedure.

Sep 15, 2023 11:35 AM in response to ku4hx

"You'll need a working Mac for this procedure."


There is only the MacBook Pro and three iPhones available. I was able to follow all of the procedures and steps outlined in other replies to the "file folder with question mark" issue. Others were sucxessful in restoring their OSX. I got to the final step and was unable to proceed because I had no drop down options to select from. The partition setting was in journaled mode. I am at my beach house outside of the US and was hoping to fix the problem without a trip back to the USA for this sole reason. Any additional help, of any kind, would be appreciated. Apple Support options are not available to me here. I will be at the mercy of any local Apple iPhone repair person who may or may not have more knowledge than this forum regarding a MacBook Pro.

Sep 15, 2023 7:23 PM in response to unpolire

It really helps to know the exact model of the Mac since some Macs may have slightly different options & procedures available to them. You can get the exact model by entering the system serial number here:

Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support


For an Intel Mac you will want to use Disk Utility to erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option) if you are reinstalling macOS 10.14+. Otherwise you want to erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). You may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. The physical drive is usually shown by its make & model.....something like "Apple SSD A0256....". Don't worry about the "partition" tab, since it is not what you need here.


If you are booting to a macOS 10.10 or earlier installer, then you would need to use Disk Utility to partition & format the drive, but it doesn't sound like this is the case here. So if you are installing macOS 10.11+, you need to use the "Erase" tab within Disk Utility instead of the "Partition" tab.


Here is an Apple article with instructions for reinstalling macOS:

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


If this is a 2018+ Mac, then a bootable USB installer is not an option if the internal SSD has already been wiped since there is no way now to authenticate with the T2 security chip in order to modify the security settings to allow booting from USB (even if it was previously enabled, I don't think it is possible to boot to USB after the internal SSD has been erased, but you could try).




MacBook Pro drive not partitioned, cannot reinstall OSX

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