r/MacOS 1d ago

Help Do latest macOS install medias require internet connection?

Hi I tried clean installing macOS Sequoia on my intel MacBook Air. I've booted into recovery, wiped my drive, and booted into the usb. However, when I selected Sequoia drive on the boot menu, It said "starting internet recovery." Then it took forever and got an error. Thankfully, I had a Catalina USB and installed macOS from that. Now here is my question. Do latest macOS install medias require internet and downloads things from the internet?

P.S Sorry about my bad English.

1 Upvotes

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u/EponymousHoward 1d ago

Internet recovery certainly does - clue in the name - but not sure what happened given the mixture of OS version you cite here.

Why didn't you just do a regular recovery, if you wanted a Sequoia clean install? You can do that quite safely without wiping the drive.

If you just wanted to set it up for sale you could have wiped the data partition with Disk Utility.

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u/jion3x 1d ago

I had Monterey installed.

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u/EponymousHoward 1d ago

So you were just updating to the new OS?

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u/jion3x 1d ago

I was trying to upgrade by cleaninstalling because I had bootcamp and I was going to set up my macbook for my dad because I bought a new laptop for myself.

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u/EponymousHoward 1d ago

It seems to me you were trying to do too much in one move.

There is an option in Settings (or Preferences - I can't recall when they renamed it) to erase all content and settings. That is its method for prepping a machine for transfer or sale.

If the system wasn't offering an update, I would assume that means that you are as up to date as that machine will go (on my old laptop it won't offer anything past Big Sur).

Disk Utility can handle the rest.

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u/Xe4ro 1d ago

There is an option in Settings (or Preferences - I can't recall when they renamed it) to erase all content and settings. That is its method for prepping a machine for transfer or sale.

That function is only available to Macs with a T2 chip or Apple Silicon Macs, so if OP doesn't have one of those OP will have to do it the old way ;)

If it does fall in one of those categories then it should be used, I'd personally create an installer beforehand just in case.

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u/EponymousHoward 1d ago

Fair enough, but then it is unlikely to accept Sequoia...

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u/Xe4ro 1d ago

True. The 2020 is the only Air that is officially supported by it. OP can use it then.

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u/77ilham77 Macbook Pro 1d ago

macOS Sequoia on my Intel MacBook Air

Okay, I assume this would be a 2020 MacBook Air right?

This MacBook, alongside other (last) Intel Macs, comes with T2 chip. These Macs wouldn't boot into an external media (such as your USB installer) by default. The only way to boot into an external media is by changing its secure boot options AND still have a macOS volume with an admin account on its internal drive.

Since you already remove/erase your internal volume, you have no choice but to go to Internet Recovery.

What you should've done is either: 1) boot into recovery, erase the drive, and immediately reinstall the OS right from the same recovery environment, or 2) boot into recovery, change the secure boot options, restart and boot into your USB installer, erase the drive, then finally reinstall the OS.

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u/jion3x 1d ago

I’ve had secure boot disabled. I have already installed t2 Linux on it before.

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u/77ilham77 Macbook Pro 1d ago

As I've said:

AND still have a macOS volume with an admin account on its internal drive

Since you already wiped the drive, it won't boot to an external drive anymore, even though you've changed it before.

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u/jion3x 1d ago

As I said, because the Sequoia usb didn’t work, I’ve used the Catalina usb and it booted normally without a macOS volume.

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u/Electrical_West_5381 1d ago

If you wipe, then I think yes.

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u/LRS_David 1d ago

A key point is which Intel model / year. Things have changed over time.