Macbook Pro Late 2013 Will Not Install Mojave

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Macbook Pro Late 2013 Will Not Install Mojave

I have a Macbook Pro 13" Retina (Late 2013), here is the Apple Device Spec page, but have not been able to install Mojave.

Whether I start the update from the OS's "you have an update available" notice, or if I start the update manually from the app Store, I always get "cannot be installed on this computer" after the update starts to install.

I've double checked every spec, there is no custom hardware (i.e. AuraSSD), and the device is listed as a supported device.

What else could prevent the install? The error message is not helpful, is there a log file I can check? Could it be disk space or domain policy rule?

Posted on Nov 9, 2018 5:11 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

133,231 points

Nov 12, 2018 10:22 AM in response to LancelotSoftware

The bootable Installer will do whichever you like, AND it contains an appropriate version of the other Recovery Utilities, including Disk Utility.

There is no requirement to Erase the drive, and only System directories (to which you do not have general access) are the only ones "bulk-erased". By design, it should install over your existing system of the same or lower version without removing any of your files or added Applications.

Of course it is always Prudent to have a Trusted Backup, in case writing the over 350,000 files of MacOS creates a drive problem or goes astray. If you do not already have one, this juncture should be used as an ideal time to create such a backup. You do not need to store an additional copy of MacOS unless you want to, as it can generally be re-created, as a perfect replica, in a few hours.

The bootable USB-stick Installer will also install on a blank drive if you prefer.

You could also install on an external drive, and use that to boot and run your Mac.

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Answer 2

rose_10

Community Specialist

Nov 11, 2018 7:52 AM in response to LancelotSoftware

Good morning LancelotSoftware!

Thanks for reaching out about the trouble you're having with installing macOS Mojave. I'd like to help out.

You've done some great steps already. Have you tried installing under a new test user account? Sometimes creating a new user account and installing macOS under this account can help with issues like the one you're describing. Here's how to create a test user account: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

One created and upgraded to macOS Mojave, you can use the same steps in the article to remove the test user account.

Let us know how this works for you. Take care.

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Answer 3

Nov 12, 2018 9:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks Grant,

I've been trying to stay up to date as much as possible (I use this Mac for iOS and MacOS app compilation).

About This Mac shows the following:

MacOS: High Sierra 10.13.6

Hardware Specifications: MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) - Technical Specifications

I tried both the Store-downloaded installer, as well as the a different looking installer that popped up from a system notification.

The only other thing I can say about this machine is that it used to be under domain policy (one of the user accounts), but my company released all admin rights to me because of the dev tooling I need to run on it.

I deleted the old corp admin user account and created a new user account like Sarah suggested. I had not issues installing OS updates prior to this, so I don't think it's a lingering domain policy rule.

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Answer 4

Nov 12, 2018 9:23 AM in response to LancelotSoftware

Consider using a working MacOS system to create a bootable USB-stick Installer drive. 8GB or larger USB-stick required, which will be completely erased.

Once created successfully, you BOOT from the Installer USB-stick and generally do not need the Mac App Store to proceed. Note: if you name the device exactly "MyVolume" before you start, you can copy and paste the complex Terminal commands from this article:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

.

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Answer 5

Nov 12, 2018 6:46 AM in response to rose_10

@sarah_s1 I was not successful with that attempt. I created a new admin user, and with full apple account identity enabled, but still get the same:

Alert:

macOS Mojave cannot be installed on this computer.

Here's the full spec of this machine:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Boot ROM Version: 149.0.0.0.0

SMC Version (system): 2.16f68

Serial Number (system): [REDACTED]

Hardware UUID: [REDACTED]

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Answer 6

Nov 12, 2018 8:40 AM in response to LancelotSoftware

What version of MacOS is currently installed?

On some models, you may be required to run 10.13 High Sierra first, to fully update the firmware for Apple File System (APFS) Boot support, in order to use the Update version of the Installer.

It is possible that if you "purchase" Mojave (on sale for $0) rather than attempt to Update -- the UPGRADE installer would include all required firmware updates.

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Answer 7

Nov 12, 2018 9:41 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

This looks like a good option, I've updated 2 of my machines to Mojave already. However, I don't see any indication if the bootable option does a clean install or just upgrades the existing system.

My experience with a bootable installer is that it's usually a device recovery option (clean install).

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Answer 8

Nov 12, 2018 7:06 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

The bootable drive didn't work because Startup Disk couldn't detect it. However, it gave me the idea to use the Internet Recovery mode (Command+Option+R over restart), because that essentially mounts a downloaded Mojave image if you select the middle option.

This was indeed a success, which not only updated to Mojave, but also maintained user account and data.

Thank you for the guidance, since you got me 90% of the way there, I would consider this the answer and will mark it as such.

Much appreciated!

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Answer 9

Nov 12, 2018 7:10 PM in response to LancelotSoftware

The bootable drive didn't work because Startup Disk couldn't detect it.

if it got made correctly, you may still be able to hold Alt/Option key at Startup and get an Icon for each potentially-bootable device. If the USB-stick comes up there, it may be worth having on hand for a Re-install or for its Utilities.

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Answer 10

Nov 11, 2018 8:00 AM in response to rose_10

Thank you for the suggestion. I won't be able to attempt it until tomorrow, but will come back here to report the result.

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Macbook Pro Late 2013 Will Not Install Mojave

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