How to reinstall OS X Mavericks after Wiped Hard Drive

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How to reinstall OS X Mavericks after Wiped Hard Drive

So I wanted to erase everything on my Mac, I did so successfully. I also made a new Apple ID because I forgot the password to my old one and the recovery email is linked to one I am no longer able to access, so my only choice was to make a new Apple ID. Now when I try reinstalling OS X Mavericks, it says that an error has occurred while preparing installation. I don't know what else to do. Before it would at least let me input my Apple ID and then it would tell me the application was not available at the time, but now nothing. Could it have been because it was a new Apple ID? Is there anything I could do?

Thank you.

Posted on Jun 20, 2017 11:51 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Jun 21, 2017 12:33 PM in response to narcos_

Are you booted into the Recovery Partition? When you erased the disk, did you reformat the disk as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with option GUID?

Try booting into Internet Recovery (command - option/alt - R on a restart). It is a slow process. This will install the OS that the computer shipped with. You can then try to upgrade from there.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Aug 19, 2017 7:36 AM in response to debira

Are you erasing the hard drive or the Macintosh partition? The hard drive is the top entry (not indented)?

Do you have access to another Mac computer? If so, try logging into the App Store using your old Apple ID and go to the Purchases tab. Download the installer for the OS you would like to have installed. When the download completes, quit the installer. You can make a bootable USB stick to install using this free program which will do all the work for you. Try booting the computer from that. Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair Disk and Repair Permissions (or First Aid if installing El Capitan) until you get no errors. Reformat the drive using Disk Utility/Erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then click the Option button and select GUID. Then re-install the OS.

Bootable USB Flash Drive – Diskmaker X oruse Apple’s method Create a bootable installer for OS

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Answer 3

narcos_ Author

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8 points

Jun 21, 2017 8:45 PM in response to Eric Root

I don't know much about computers, so all I know is that I did a hard reset on my disk. I didn't think about reformatting the disk to extended, and I don't know what a GIUD is. Every time I start up my computer, it brings me to OS X Utilities with the options of Restore from Time Machine Backup, Reinstall OS X, Get help online & disk utility. Every time I try installing a new copy of OS X a little page pops up and says that in order to download and restore OS X, your computer's eligibility will be verified with Apple. But then it says an error has occurred while preparing the installation. I really don't know what to do. But anything would help.

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Answer 4

narcos_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 21, 2017 8:50 PM in response to Eric Root

Update: When going through disk utilities, I found something that reads, OS X Base System. The format of it is Mac OS Extended. ((Still don't know what that means)) Also, on the Macintosh HD, the format on that one is Mac OS X Extended (journaled) ((don't know what that means either))

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Jun 22, 2017 9:53 AM in response to narcos_

It sounds like it is formatted correctly. If you can't get the OS to successfully install, try booting into Internet Recovery (command - option/alt - R on a restart). It is a slow process. This will install the OS that the computer shipped with. You can then try to upgrade from there.

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Answer 6

debira

Level 1

4 points

Aug 17, 2017 12:30 PM in response to Eric Root

I am having the same issue. When I follow your instructions, I get this error, "macOS could not be installed on your computer

Volume contains macOS or OS X Installation Media.

Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again."

And it it gives me the restart button.

What can can I Do?

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Answer 7

debira

Level 1

4 points

Aug 18, 2017 9:14 AM in response to Eric Root

First of all, I had El Capitan before I erased. I don't know if that matters. How do you format the drive with GUID? Is it too late to do that? I have gotten as far as the computer looking like it is installing Sierra. It looks all very hopeful like it actually installed and then I get the error message. I have tried many times now. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Thanks for your help.

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Answer 8

pal96

Level 1

4 points

Oct 3, 2017 4:57 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric,

I too erased my MacBook Pro using the Extended (Journaled) and GUID options, however when booting back up and pressing the “command-option/alt-R” keys, the screen stays on a white screen that has a circle with a line through it. No other screens pop-up and no indicatin that the OS is being installed. Any clues?

Pete

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Answer 9

narcos_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 21, 2017 12:22 AM in response to narcos_

Update: I was able to recover my old Apple ID, but still cannot reinstall Mavericks.

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Answer 10

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Aug 17, 2017 2:46 PM in response to debira

Where are you booted into when you get this message? Have you erased/reformatted the hard drive?

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Answer 11

debira

Level 1

4 points

Aug 17, 2017 6:05 PM in response to Eric Root

I erased my whole hard drive. Then I press command alt r

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Answer 12

Eric Root

Level 10

684,033 points

Aug 18, 2017 7:19 AM in response to debira

How did you boot when you erased the drive? You are in Internet Recovery? Did you format the drive Mac OS Extended (Journal) with option GUID? Have you tried the installation again?

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Answer 13

debira

Level 1

4 points

Aug 21, 2017 8:44 PM in response to narcos_

I had to do a few things to tweak the hard drive but I did get it to work. Thanks for the help!

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