I am trying to upgrade my MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2015 from High Sierra to Monterey. But the installer says “the recovery server could not be contacted”
When I try to reinstall High Sierra I get the same error message. I have tried to reset the time with the Terminal but that doesn’t work.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Earlier Operating Systems
How are you trying to upgrade? Are you following the instructions on this Apple Support page -> How to download and install macOS - Apple Support?
I suggest upgrading to Catalina first then after making sure all is working correctly in Catalina, upgrade to Monterey. There were very significant architectural changes in macOS from High Sierra to Mojave to Catalina including major changes/improvements in APFS and the loss of 32-bit app support. Even further changes between Catalina & Monterey.
Is the system drive in your 2015 MBP already formatted as APFS or is it still MacOS Extended Journaled?
The "Recover Server could not be contacted" error is a known bug in downloading High Sierra (and there is a workaround if you need it). If you are getting this message when trying to download later versions of macOS it may be just a temporary problem ... try again another day. BTW, if you are using WiFi to do this, don't. Use wired ethernet instead.
For what it's worth the workaround MartinR alluded to is here: High Sierra "The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted" Error. FIXED 2024 - Apple Community
Try the macOS Recovery direct upgrade option first.
No, the drive is not formatted as APFS. So I will start there and do a reformat and reinstall the High Sierra OS. I have everything backed up on an external and I also have a Time Machine backup. As for Catalina I am getting the same error message as with Monterey. It’s even saying it when I try to reinstall High Sierra. As for the internet connection the laptop doesn’t have an Ethernet connection. Also I tried to make a bootable Monterey usb and when I entered the link to the install media in the Resources fold it said in Terminal that the installer was not valid.
How do I fix 'Recovery server could not be contacted' error when upgrading or reinstalling macOS on MacBook Pro?
