Fixed: Can't Reinstall macOS after Erasing in Recovery Mode

It's the right decision to erase your MacBook before selling it or giving it away. Or, your Mac machine has some issues that have to be reset. However, you can't install macOS Big Sur, Catalina, High Sierra, Sierra, or Sonoma after completely erasing your Mac.

Here's a real case from the Apple Community:

I am unable to install macOS Sierra after erasing my Mac's internal hard drive. Every time after I click Reinstall macOS, the error "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again" keeps popping up. I have no Time Machine Backup. What should I do? Any help would be much appreciated.

"Reinstall macOS" not working is a tricky issue but we still have solutions. This post will help you out if you are unable to install macOS after erasing the internal hard drive with step-by-step workarounds.

Can't reinstall macOS after erasing your Mac hard drive, follow these quick ways:

Can you recover data from your Mac after erasing it?

Yes, if you forget to back up some of your irreplaceable files before erasing your Mac but regret now, you have the chance to recover them with a professional data recovery tool before reinstalling macOS.

iBoysoft Mac Recovery Mode is such a tool. It allows you to quickly recover data from an inaccessible, unbootable, or erased Mac.

Go to tell more people about this advanced tool to recover data from an erased Mac.

Can't install macOS after erasing, what to do?

In this part, we will consider all the possible scenarios you may encounter to give you corresponding solutions to fix your Mac that can't reinstall macOS after erasing.

Solution 1: Make sure you've erased the whole internal disk correctly

Ensure you have erased your whole internal hard drive or the Macintosh HD (or macOS) and Macintosh HD - Data (or macOS - Data) volumes together rather than only one of the two or any other self-created volumes.

From macOS Catalina (10.15), the startup drive is split into two volumes. The Macintosh HD volume is the bootable volume that stores the operating system, while the Macintosh HD - Data volume stores the user data. In earlier versions, there is only Macintosh HD that stores both the OS and user data.

Moreover, please note that if your Mac runs macOS 10.13 or later, ensure you've chosen APFS as the format and GUID Partition Map as the partition map when erasing your Mac hard drive. If it runs macOS 10.12 or earlier, the format should be Mac OS Extended.

To erase the whole Mac hard drive, follow these steps:

After erasing, exit Disk Utility and then click Reinstall macOS to check if you can reinstall macOS at this time.

Solution 2: Change the key combination you use to enter macOS Recovery

If you can't install macOS from Recovery Mode, pay attention to the Recovery Mode you are in. Different key combinations can help you start up an Intel-based Mac into Recovery Mode, but the Recovery Mode that they bring you into is slightly different.

If you press Command + R, "Reinstall macOS" not working may be due to the corruption or loss of the local recovery partition. You can press Option + Command + R to enter Internet Recovery Mode and then reinstall macOS again.

If you've already used Command + Option + R or Command + Shift + Option + R to enter the Internet Recovery Mode, the failed installation on your Mac is probably due to the unstable or interrupted internet. You may receive a message saying "The recovery server could not be contacted." on your MacBook. You can check your Wi-Fi status and reconnect your Wi-Fi or the router if necessary.

Solution 3: Check the Mac hard drive with Disk Utility First Aid

Normally, after erasing your Mac's internal hard drive, all the possible errors on it are cleared up. However, during erasing your Mac drive, if you do any other operations on your Mac or your Mac suddenly powered off, the erasing process may be interfered with.

Then, you may get a corrupted Mac hard drive. Therefore, macOS Sierra or another version will not be reinstalled after erasing. In that case, you can run First Aid to check if there are errors on your Mac hard disk. First Aid also can fix certain errors on the drive.

Here's how to run First Aid to check the Mac hard drive:

Solution 4: Reformat the drive and reinstall macOS again

If First Aid finds some errors on the Mac hard drive but fails to fix them, or First Aid detects no errors, try reformatting your internal disk. You can refer to the detailed steps in Solution 1.

After reformatting your Mac hard drive, reinstall macOS again to see if you can succeed this time.

Solution 5: Reinstall macOS from Time Machine backup

If you still can't install macOS after erasing your Mac with the Reinstall macOS utility in Recovery Mode, it seems that the Reinstall macOS feature not working. Alternatively, you can reinstall macOS from your Time Machine backup that contains the macOS installer, if you have.

Solution 6: Contact with Genius Bar

If the above ways can't help install macOS in Recovery Mode, your Mac hard drive may have some hardware issues. You can go to the Apple official website and make an appointment with the Genius Bar.

Share the above ways to help more people fix the macOS reinstallation trouble after erasing Mac.

Why won't your Mac let you reinstall macOS?

Many reasons can lead to Mac OS not installing after erasing. Here, we list the common ones: