I am stuck in a loop with Disk Utility on a 2009 MacBook Pro and attempts at reinstalling a working macOS
I am stuck in a loop with Disk Utility and attempts at reinstalling a working macOS.
I have an older MacBook Pro from mid 2009 that has worked fine, but I am currently unable to reinstall my macOS (there was El Capitan on it). Perhaps I should just update to a new SSD already?
When I try to reformat my main drive, it says it “Couldn’t Unmount Disk.” I have tried going to the terminal and manually unmounting the disk, but the terminal is basically broken and does not recognize a lot of commands. You could say, you need to point directly to the commands because the PATH is broken, but certain keys like the : cannot be used, so it is a pain to fix this PATH. I have had trouble even finding it on the system or accessing it to no avail.
If you know how to access superuser with a broken path I would love to hear it.
My end goal is to install Windows 7 (required for my particular model / year) as required for my work.
Question:
- Any ways to fix my main drive?
- Any way to get macOS version back on my MacBook Pro without paying for it since I am just simply going to install Windows anyways?
windows macos macbook-pro disk-utility
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
add a comment |
I am stuck in a loop with Disk Utility and attempts at reinstalling a working macOS.
I have an older MacBook Pro from mid 2009 that has worked fine, but I am currently unable to reinstall my macOS (there was El Capitan on it). Perhaps I should just update to a new SSD already?
When I try to reformat my main drive, it says it “Couldn’t Unmount Disk.” I have tried going to the terminal and manually unmounting the disk, but the terminal is basically broken and does not recognize a lot of commands. You could say, you need to point directly to the commands because the PATH is broken, but certain keys like the : cannot be used, so it is a pain to fix this PATH. I have had trouble even finding it on the system or accessing it to no avail.
If you know how to access superuser with a broken path I would love to hear it.
My end goal is to install Windows 7 (required for my particular model / year) as required for my work.
Question:
- Any ways to fix my main drive?
- Any way to get macOS version back on my MacBook Pro without paying for it since I am just simply going to install Windows anyways?
windows macos macbook-pro disk-utility
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
Try booting Ubuntu on a live cd. I would start with whatever version came out in 2009 maybe 2010.
– William
Oct 2 '18 at 16:53
add a comment |
I am stuck in a loop with Disk Utility and attempts at reinstalling a working macOS.
I have an older MacBook Pro from mid 2009 that has worked fine, but I am currently unable to reinstall my macOS (there was El Capitan on it). Perhaps I should just update to a new SSD already?
When I try to reformat my main drive, it says it “Couldn’t Unmount Disk.” I have tried going to the terminal and manually unmounting the disk, but the terminal is basically broken and does not recognize a lot of commands. You could say, you need to point directly to the commands because the PATH is broken, but certain keys like the : cannot be used, so it is a pain to fix this PATH. I have had trouble even finding it on the system or accessing it to no avail.
If you know how to access superuser with a broken path I would love to hear it.
My end goal is to install Windows 7 (required for my particular model / year) as required for my work.
Question:
- Any ways to fix my main drive?
- Any way to get macOS version back on my MacBook Pro without paying for it since I am just simply going to install Windows anyways?
windows macos macbook-pro disk-utility
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
I am stuck in a loop with Disk Utility and attempts at reinstalling a working macOS.
I have an older MacBook Pro from mid 2009 that has worked fine, but I am currently unable to reinstall my macOS (there was El Capitan on it). Perhaps I should just update to a new SSD already?
When I try to reformat my main drive, it says it “Couldn’t Unmount Disk.” I have tried going to the terminal and manually unmounting the disk, but the terminal is basically broken and does not recognize a lot of commands. You could say, you need to point directly to the commands because the PATH is broken, but certain keys like the : cannot be used, so it is a pain to fix this PATH. I have had trouble even finding it on the system or accessing it to no avail.
If you know how to access superuser with a broken path I would love to hear it.
My end goal is to install Windows 7 (required for my particular model / year) as required for my work.
Question:
- Any ways to fix my main drive?
- Any way to get macOS version back on my MacBook Pro without paying for it since I am just simply going to install Windows anyways?
windows macos macbook-pro disk-utility
windows macos macbook-pro disk-utility
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
edited Sep 22 '18 at 15:13
Burgi
3,84992542
3,84992542
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
asked Sep 20 '18 at 13:58
jjBobbyjjBobby
61
61
Try booting Ubuntu on a live cd. I would start with whatever version came out in 2009 maybe 2010.
– William
Oct 2 '18 at 16:53
add a comment |
Try booting Ubuntu on a live cd. I would start with whatever version came out in 2009 maybe 2010.
– William
Oct 2 '18 at 16:53
Try booting Ubuntu on a live cd. I would start with whatever version came out in 2009 maybe 2010.
– William
Oct 2 '18 at 16:53
Try booting Ubuntu on a live cd. I would start with whatever version came out in 2009 maybe 2010.
– William
Oct 2 '18 at 16:53
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Step 1: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart.
As the system restarts,
hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.
Step 2: Erase Mac hard drive
- Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
- Click on the Continue button.
- Choose your startup disk.
- Click Erase from the buttons at the top of the Disk Utilities window.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the menu.
- Click Erase.
When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 3: Reinstall your operating system
- Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.
Hopefully this will work for you...It's called a master reset...Good luck.
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Step 1: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart.
As the system restarts,
hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.
Step 2: Erase Mac hard drive
- Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
- Click on the Continue button.
- Choose your startup disk.
- Click Erase from the buttons at the top of the Disk Utilities window.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the menu.
- Click Erase.
When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 3: Reinstall your operating system
- Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.
Hopefully this will work for you...It's called a master reset...Good luck.
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
add a comment |
Step 1: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart.
As the system restarts,
hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.
Step 2: Erase Mac hard drive
- Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
- Click on the Continue button.
- Choose your startup disk.
- Click Erase from the buttons at the top of the Disk Utilities window.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the menu.
- Click Erase.
When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 3: Reinstall your operating system
- Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.
Hopefully this will work for you...It's called a master reset...Good luck.
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
add a comment |
Step 1: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart.
As the system restarts,
hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.
Step 2: Erase Mac hard drive
- Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
- Click on the Continue button.
- Choose your startup disk.
- Click Erase from the buttons at the top of the Disk Utilities window.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the menu.
- Click Erase.
When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 3: Reinstall your operating system
- Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.
Hopefully this will work for you...It's called a master reset...Good luck.
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
Step 1: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode
This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart.
As the system restarts,
hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.
Step 2: Erase Mac hard drive
- Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.
- Click on the Continue button.
- Choose your startup disk.
- Click Erase from the buttons at the top of the Disk Utilities window.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the menu.
- Click Erase.
When the process is complete, go the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of your screen and select Quit Disk Utility.
Step 3: Reinstall your operating system
- Simply click Reinstall macOS or Reinstall OS X. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.
Hopefully this will work for you...It's called a master reset...Good luck.
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
edited Jan 5 at 3:13
Scott
15.7k113890
15.7k113890
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
answered Jan 5 at 2:26
gerard1021gerard1021
12
12
add a comment |
add a comment |
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Try booting Ubuntu on a live cd. I would start with whatever version came out in 2009 maybe 2010.
– William
Oct 2 '18 at 16:53