Help, restored Macintosh HD to OS X Base System

Hi there, does anyone know of a way to do this without Internet System Recovery? I have had the exact same problem but on an old 2009 iMac so it only has the standard recovery process (CMD + R). I need to restore my old "Macintosh HD" to /dev/disk0 instead of only seeing the OS X Base System. Trawling through online forums, people have had this sort of problem when there's a HDD failure or a cable problem, but mine is a direct result of restoring the OS X Base System over the primary internal drive.

Thanks dave ,i surfed all day till i found you and it worked ,mine mid 2011

My 2 GB Mac OS X Base System is located under ‘Disk Images’, not under ‘Internal’ & there is no option to erase. There’s an eject button, which says “Failed to eject because it is currently in use.” Any idea what to do with that setup?

Hi to anyone else who accidentally restored the macintosh he with the OS X base System here are a few steps to follow to hopefully resolve your issues:

• enter internet System recovery be restarting your MacBook and immediately pressing control+option+R.

• wait for it to load and the macOS utilities or OX S utilities should pop up.

• then enter the driver utilies

• under internal where it says OS X base System, click erase

• rename the drive Macintosh HD

• make sure the format is Max OS Extended (Journaled)

• hit erase one more time

• Then exit driver utilities

• Enter Reinstall MacOS Sierra or Reinstall OS X

• Then Select the Macintosh HD drive

• Reinstall MacOS Sierra or Reinstall OS X

• finally your MacBook should be back to normal and good as new.

I'm trying to follow these steps but when I try to the "OSX BaseSystem" drive I can't. The fields for entering the name and format type are greyed out and the erase button is greyed out too. Any idea why this may be?

I'm wondering whether the "restore" function would allow me to put the OSX Base System back (where it belongs?) in the folder directly beneath my "Apple HDD ST....." drive?

Would that be a wise move?

I have the same problem and tried your solution but it won't let me rename the OS Base system. The erase button is greyed out. I can type in a new name and hit return. The erase button is still greyed out and when I leave disk utility and go back it has reverted to OS Base system.

I have this issue as well, except, My erase button is also grayed out and I don't know how to unlock it. Any guidance there?

What can I do if options to Erase,format, rename are all grayed out making them unable to click / change? Having the same problem as OP

Just had exactly the same problem... Turn on the computer and hold down “Cmd + Alt + R” to enter internet recovery mode. Select reinstall operating system, reinstall it to the OS X Base System and it should run.

I followed Wafflefallafle’s instructions but they wouldn’t work on my Mid 2011 iMac as it wasn’t the internet recovery mode just the Cmd + R recovery which isn’t the same thing. Mine is now restoring :-)

WaffleFallafle wrote:

• enter internet System recovery be restarting your MacBook and immediately pressing control+option+R.

That should be COMMAND, not control. You may be better served by this link:

http://osxdaily.com/2014/12/14/reinstall-os-x-mac-internet-recovery/

Ciao.

The OS X Base system should be a disk image a little over 2 GB in size. Is that all you see? Maybe indented under something called "Apple disk image Media".

So do you also see a hard disk icon identified by a brand name, such as "Apple SSD"? If so, when you highlight it, what does it say in the white box underneath in terms of partition map and capacity? Is it called "disk0" at the bottom right? Does it look like it might be your real hard drive?

If so, what happens if you try to erase it? You should get a drop down that gives you a place to enter a name (Macintosh HD), a format that says "Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and a scheme called "GUID Partition Map". If this is really your hard drive, then this step should recreate your Macintosh HD volume.

If that works, you should be able to continue with the installation of macOS.

Good luck!

I would like to thank you for this post!! I was trying to reset my MacBook that I had gotten used and I completely messed it up because I have never used a MacBook in my life and I am most familiar with Windows. I thought it was unrepairable and my fiance and I spent hours trying to fix it. We were googling for hours and had almost given up until I came across this post and gave it a shot and it worked I was able to redownload the macOS and I couldn't be more thankful! So thank you!!

• wait for it to load and the macOS utilities or OX S utilities should pop up.

• then enter the driver utilies

• under internal where it says OS X base System, click erase

• rename the drive Macintosh HD

• make sure the format is Max OS Extended (Journaled)

I get to this point and it always says failed, I can not format the drive

I didn't restore my mac with the OS X base, I just turned it on and it would not start. I have been trying everything and can't get it to do anything except with command R, it goes to the disk utility, but it gives me no options. It only shoes the OS X as a hard drive and does not let me erase it, or change its name, when I do a repair it does it very quickly and nothing happens. I can't use my time machine back up, it says it can't find it.

What else can I do? any tips?