High Sierra won't install. Error message "an error occurred while verifying firmware"

@rust.kurchenko,

I had the same issues with MacOS 10.12.6 > 10.13/10.13.1 and tried every install option Google and I could come up with...Recovery/USB/App Store install attempts which failed. Apple Support lead me down the road to disk repair.

The firmware can't be verified because the EFI partition is corrupt. And DiskUtil will not fix unless run from Recovery Mode.

Ultimately, I had issues with the EFI partition on my main drive Volume (third party SSD).

I solved it by running diskutil from command line in Recovery mode against my main startup Volume.

Caution using diskutil from command line (create a backup first).

Boot from OS X recovery by holding CMD + R at the time of startup.

Once booted from OS X recovery, from MacOS Utilities app, choose Utilities > Terminal

From here, there are four steps to enter/run from Terminal's command line. I've listed the commands to execute below each step, below:

-Step 1 (from this list, find the name of your main start up drive (e.g. /dev/disk0)):

diskutil list

-Step 2 (feedback will show errors)

diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk0

-Step 3 (which should fix the errors)

diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0

-Step 4 (verify repair worked):

diskutil verifyVolume disk0

From here, I booted back to my Start Up drive (running Sierra 10.12.6) and launched the 10.13.1 installer file in my /Application folder. Upgrade from 10.12.6 to 10.13.1 took ~45 minutes.

I had the same issues with MacOS 10.13/10.13.1 and tried every install option Google and I could come up with...Recovery/USB/App Store install attempts which failed. Apple Support lead me down the road to disk repair.

Ultimately, I had issues with the EFI partition on my main drive Volume (third party SSD).

I solved it by running diskutil from command line in Recovery mode against my main startup Volume.

Caution using diskutil from command line (create a backup first).

Boot from OS X recovery by holding CMD + R at the time of startup.

Once booted from OS X recovery, from MacOS Utilities app, choose Utilities > Terminal

From here, there are four steps to enter/run from Terminal's command line. I've listed the commands to execute below each step, below:

-Step 1 (from this list, find the name of your main start up drive (e.g. /dev/disk0)):

diskutil list

-Step 2 (feedback will show errors)

diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk0

-Step 3 (which should fix the errors)

diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0

-Step 4 (verify repair worked):

diskutil verifyVolume disk0

From here, I booted back to my Start Up drive (running Sierra 10.12.6) and launched the 10.13.1 installer file in my /Application folder. Upgrade from 10.12.6 to 10.13.1 took ~45 minutes.

I had to _delete/erase_ the EFI partition on my HD (SSD, internal, Apple) to get around this, none of the suggested repair fixes worked, diskutil couldn't repair it just told me it was damaged and it wouldn't delete it either. I managed to get iPartition to do the dirty work. Once I'd managed to do that and re-installed the original OS via Internet Recovery (which will create a new EFI partition) the install went ahead just fine.

Yeah, Apple's diskutil won't touch the EFI partition.

I created a bootable clone of my internal HD using Carbon Copy Cloner on an external USB drive, then booted from the external USB drive and used iPartition to delete the EFI partition on the internal drive (in fact I deleted everything on the internal drive, every partition, make sure they are all gone). Then I rebooted the Mac into Internet Recovery and let it reinstall the OS over the net (this will partition the drive and create a new undamaged EFI partition) and set up my account with my Apple ID. Then I ran the High Sierra upgrade from the App Store. It worked. I then restored my data from the USB drive using Carbon Copy Cloner set not to update newer versions of files.

So far so good...

Ron9911 wrote:

I have the same issue and this is my info. I have also tried to download and update at less 4 times. I have been running my Mac on this external SSD drive for the last 3 years and have never had any issue with upgrading my Mac OS tell now.

FWIW, I had been running my iMac the same as you with an

external SSD (late 2013, 27") and for 4 iterations of High Sierra

betas and the Gold Master, it would refuse to install and would

get the exact same error. I had posted in the developer 10.13

beta forum (as did others) but never got any manner of a response

or even clues as to how to even trouble shoot.

I decided a couple weeks ago that I would bite the bullet, get the OWC

upgrade kit and install it internal, which I was planning to do for a while

and just didn't have the courage to do it.

Well the result was, High Sierra installed with no issue and am using that

iMac now as I type.

I think there may be an issue with installing on an external SSD with in internal

HDD (especially if it is dead like mine was).

I had same issue with OWC Aura 480gb SSD that I brought from MacSales, so I called them and they told me to put original SSD (128gb) back in my MacBook Air upgrade it to High Sierra take it out put back in the Aura 480gb SSD run the High Sierra upgrade and it worked perfect.

I had the same problem.

If you have more than one HD, just detach the others.

Upgrade ok for me.

I believe the installer package is defective. Apple need to fix this.

I booted from an external drive, wiped the internal Apple SSD, reformated as MacOS Extended (Journalled), did an Internet Recovery, let it reinstall El Capitain and set up, checked it was working and bootable. Then I downloaded the High Sierra installer from the App Store and tried to intall. Same error: Firmware (the log says: ROM does not support APFS). It never gave me any option on the install to either use APFS or keep the exisitng format and according to Apple my MBP is compatible with High Sierra. Conclusion: the installer package is defective. My MBP does not need a firmware upgrade according to Apple.

This is not with a 3rd party SSD this is the internal Apple SSD that shipped with the MBP.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,5

Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 16 GB

Boot ROM Version: MBP114.0172.B23

SMC Version (system): 2.30f2

Serial Number (system): C2QS5040GQCT

Hardware UUID: FA2108C9-7F9C-5A33-A0C5-50F8756B5032

Apple SSD Controller:

Vendor: Apple

Product: SSD Controller

Physical Interconnect: PCI

Link Width: x4

Link Speed: 8.0 GT/s

Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported

APPLE SSD SM1024G:

Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,555,581,440 bytes)

Model: APPLE SSD SM1024G

Revision: BXW1SA0Q

Serial Number: S299NYAGC07115

Native Command Queuing: Yes

Queue Depth: 32

Removable Media: No

Detachable Drive: No

BSD Name: disk0

Medium Type: Solid State

TRIM Support: Yes

Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

I conducted an investigation. Reason: does not update the EFI.

My current EFI is MBP121.88Z.0167.B15, but on disk0s1 is /EFI/APPLE/FIRMWARE/MBP121_0171_B00.fd. In nvram is string: efi-apple-recovery <array><dict><key>IOMatch</key><dict><key>IOProviderClass</key><string>IOMedia< /string><key>IOPropertyMatch</key><dict><key>UUID</key><string>CE4CC329-D22F-464 8-B1D0-B4B343893F3B</string></dict></dict><key>BLLastBSDName</key><string>disk0s 1</string></dict><dict><key>IOEFIDevicePathType</key><string>MediaFilePath</stri ng><key>Path</key><string>\EFI\APPLE\FIRMWARE\MBP121_0171_B00.fd</string></dict> </array>

I think it must be autoupdated on restart, but nothin happens. May be need some additional flag for EFI recovery in nvram.

Exact same problem - before attempt at install I get this message first.

In order to continue installing macOS High Sierra, you need to log in as an administrator. Install MacOS High Sierra is trying to add a new helper.

Enter your password to allow this.

'

As I suspected, the problem was with the installer software. I simply waited a few weeks until Apple engineers figured out what was going wrong. I triggered a fresh download and guess what - it installed seamlessly. No silly disc errors.

Follow your gut feelings, they are generally correct.

I told you, blame the old version of EFI. Check your version EFI. It can't update for some reason...

Dear Rusty,

As I may have said, I just waited for the latest installer and ran it twice on two computers and it worked flawlessly. The one on which I had install problems just ran smoothly but I had in the meanwhile deleted a redundant partition I had created earlier in trying to get a Windows installation to run. Back then with version 0.1 of the High Sierra installer, the fault still occurred.

You say "big dollars" for your computer, you surely can't be real. I bought my first "commercial" mac around 1987 and for $12,000 I got a dual floppy disc drive computer, a 15" dot matrix printer and an external 20 Mb hard disc drive. That was expensive. Everything lately has been incredibly cheap. It's all relative I suppose.

How much do you pay for your OS upgrades these days? Nothing.

Back for the last 30 years, you had to pay for each copy of each OS upgrade. That was expensive. Today it is as cheap as you can get - free. Don't complain. I wouldn't.

Cheers.

Hi Rust,

I exactly had the same issue with my new iMac 5k 27" mid-2017 (core i5 3.5, 1Tb SSD, 8Gb RAM, Radeon 575).

I tried many possible solutions which I was able to find.

But any lucks.

So I just contacted the seller and he replaced iMac by new one.

Now everything is OK and I was able to install High Sierra via Apple Store.

What sort of Mac are you installing on?