High Sierra install fail loop

Hi All,

I was able to solve my installation loop problem by doing the following:

Start from the USB installer drive.

Launch Disk Utilities and select the drive where you want to install the OS.

Select to PARTITION the drive.

Select the one existing partition and choose to format as 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'

Restart the computer and run the OS installer (the installer will re-format the partition as APFS).

For some reason the installation fails if you try to install on a volume that is already APFS, but will proceed to completion if you start with a non-APFS volume and let the installer format it as APFS as part of the installation routine.

Cheers, y'all!

Hi b54v55,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!

From your post, I understand that you are attempting to update your Mac from Sierra to High Sierra and your are receiving an “Installation failed (DiskManagement error 0)” error message. I can also see that you have tried some great troubleshooting already as well, but the issue continues. We’re here to help.

To begin troubleshooting this situation, I suggest a two prong approach. If you have any third party or additional RAM installed in your Mac, I first suggest removing that RAM and replacing it with the RAM your Mac shipped with.

Install memory in an iMac - Apple Support

Once the original RAM is back in your MacBook Pro (if different RAM was installed), boot your Mac into safe mode and try to install High Sierra once again.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support

Cheers!

Hi b54,

First, I feel that your comment on going back to the previous version is a very smart & practical one. Sierra is an excellent OS, and I see no significant changes between it & High Sierra to offer reasons to definitely upgrade. Also, it may simply work better with your Mac in particular for an array of reasons. So, that's a viable option.

Download Sierra:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202

If you would like to go forth with High Sierra, you could try to install via internet recovery mode using the following keys (press ALT + CMD + R on restarting your Mac/powering it on). Hold down the keys until you see a spinning globe.

More specific instructions are below:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Best of luck (:

I found the following procedure that worked for me

1. Enter Safe Mode [press shift after pressing on button until you see the apple]
2. Open Disk Utility and do a first First Aid on my SSD disk. I received the following Log

Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

error: snap_metadata_val object (oid 0x11dd47): invalid extentref_tree_oid (0x0)

Snapshot metadata tree is invalid.

The volume /dev/rdisk1s1 could not be verified completely.

File system check exit code is 0.

Restoring the original state found as mounted.

Operation successful.

1. Press Apple / Shutdown / Unchecked box “Reopen windows when logging back in” This seemed to be important as I tried many times without this step.
2. Press power button to restart like normal. It took longer than normal so just wait.
3. Then everything is back to normal
4. My Computer is as follows: OS High Sierra 10.13.4 Beta (17E190a) on a MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

Okay so my MacBook Pro has never had a hardware change and this problem is happening to me. No ram switch, no nothing. But its stuck in a loop of try to install/fail/restart/repeat

I can't get it to just end and it is really frustrating.

I had this issue too, fails to install (even a recent patch caused the same error). You can bust out of the loop. I think I used a combo of Option+Command keys. Then quit the installer. First time this happened, memory buffers for Copy/Paste no longer worked. Next time it was the Wireless Device failed. I had engineers from Apple downloading logs, etc. Nothing. I finally reinstalled the OS from disk. Take note, something I failed to do - BACKUP your stuff!

Once you do a reinstall of the OS watch out for the updates. I'm not convinced that Apple has a grasp on how bad this failure is, but its bad!

I will not upgrade any of my other devices to OS High Sierra. Not until a full point release.

Hi Apple Support,

95 people including me have the same question. Apparently the problem isn’t solved but since your last reply it has been awfully quiet.

Can you at least pretend you take this community serious and provide us with some more information. About possible solutions or the process to find one.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Remco

Same thing happening to me. Unfortunately, the download never stops before 4 gigs or so, so nice waste of time and bandwidth.
I used to love Apple, now I detest it with passion. First they slowed down my iPhone 6, now I cannot even update my Macbook. The company has morphed into an unethical and incompetent beast, and I will think twice before buying another product from them.

I am having the same issue on a MacBook Pro. I have nothing but a white screen after the advance bar completes the install. It now has tried to install over a dozen times and there doesn't look to be a successful conclusion in the future. Why did the APP Store suggest this change if it would not work for my computer? How do I stop this and reset without an OS?

But i don’t have an USB installer drive. Is there any way I could just “Quit” the installer and restart, since the installation has already failed?

And how do you get to the Utilities window without successfully restarting?

Lesson learned.... I will forever ignore the update reminders!!

Thanks in advance!!

You can try to reinstall from recovery mode with internet access.

Shut down your Mac, switch it on and press "option-command-r" it will display a rotating earth icon and will let you install the latest macOS version for your Mac.

Anyway I'm too having a weird problem with High Sierra on a mid-2015 iMac 5K, I can't make it properly boot from an external drive.

macbook pro mid 2012 Have 3rd Failed attemp at installing high sierra.

first update from sierra toe high sierra,got stuck on calculating time remaining about 20% from complete.

reformated drive,started from lion to mountain lion to high sierra = stucked same place on installation.

try 3 from mountain lion thru recovery mode to high sierra,stuck same place agian.

we are 5 guys with macs on boat all 5 macs crased after update over last 3 months its macbook pros and macbook airs.

dont have a usb drive to do a usb install.

any idea how to get it up and running again?

Please help

I got mine working on 5th install.

I tried even the online installation from the comd r.

in the end i made a time machine from friends macbook,deleted all his stuff,made a usb boot drive with diskmakerx 7 and a few youtube videos.

Booted from usb boot drive,after 23 hours of installion stuck on progress bar at full i gave up,turned laptop off and when i started it went back to the appel logo with progress bar and then it opened with high sierra installed.

I restarted about 10 times to be sure its working then put all my stuff back on laptop.

Great job Apple! I am wondering about how selective you are with your software engineering interviews and at the same time you are so lame. Both iOS and MacOS are terribly broken with every new release ... I am disappointed with the support as well.

Hi there.

I had the same situation (failed to upgrade to 10.13.2 and 10.13.3 with same failing loops) and I searched for a couple of months but had found no direct answer to fix it.

Finally I made it by:

1. Log in your mac with THE FIRST USER created as root, which is most probably linking the Apple ID used to purchase your mac. (You can check by Sys Preference >> Users & Groups >> Click to lock to make changes >> [THE FIRST USER] >> two-finger click to show Advanced Option >> now check the Apple ID )

2. Log in App Store using THE FIRST USER (Not sure if it helped)

3. Download the COMPLETE upgrade package from the App Store >> MacOS High Sierra.

4. Install the package.

This solution was inspired by one short note jumped out showing for 2 seconds that the Apple ID I used was not able to upgrade.

Good luck!

Cyrus