How to abort a macOS installation loop

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Level 1

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How to abort a macOS installation loop

I noticed a lot of people having trouble with this so thought I'd post.

If you've downloaded Mac OS Sierra on your MacBook but either the file is corrupted or you've run out of disk space, it's near impossible to get out of the loop when restarting your computer.

When you reboot, a dialogue box saying 'Mac OS cannot be installed' will pop up. Click anywhere on the box and the top bar menu will appear. Go to Disk Utility and select the greyed out Macintosh HD then press 'Mount' - this will take a few moments. If you want to hedge your bets click on Mac OS Sierra and select 'First Aid', to try and repair any issues with it.

Once Macintosh HD appears as a mounted drive, go back into the top menu, click the Apple logo and select 'Startup Disk'. Mac HD will appear, select it and then you can click 'Restart' on the installation box.

A nightmarish problem with a fairly simple solution. I learned the hard way. I hope this helps.

Posted on Mar 7, 2018 8:01 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,849 points

Mar 7, 2018 8:20 PM in response to danbeacs

If you have run out of disk space there isn't anything that will help but to erase the drive and start over. Your discovery would be of no help at all, I'm afraid.

If an installation becomes corrupt at the wrong time when it has only partially completed and left the drive with only a partially completed OS then it wouldn't help to mount the disk nor try to restart.

I either of the above the only way to abort the installation is a forced shutdown.

I'm just saying...

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Answer 2

danbeacs Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 7, 2018 8:33 PM in response to Kappy

Forced Shut Down doesn't work.

If you've read posts on this matter you'd know that people were getting caught in a partial installation loop where 'Restart' would just arrive them back in Start Up limbo, and Shutting Down would have the exact same effect.

Some people don't want to erase their entire disc - your comment isn't a solution.

This was a way of getting back to the previous OS/Drive without losing anything. It worked for me and I'm sure it will work for others, which is why I've shared. How is that not an adequate result?

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,849 points

Mar 7, 2018 8:46 PM in response to danbeacs

Sorry, but you don't know what you are talking about. One must force a shutdown in order to boot from the Recovery HD. It is not the same as a restart. People may not want to erase the disk but sometimes they have no other option. My comment is a solution for some like those who have no disk space or where the old system is no longer working. Yours is a solution for a particular problem under particular circumstances. If you lead people to believe it is the only solution, but it doesn't work, then what will they do?

I've been around here nearly 20 years. I've likely read more posts about more problems than you have.

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How to abort a macOS installation loop

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