Help "Choosing startup disk"

[raintoad]

Hi,

Because I want to make sure that Monterey works on my system before committing to upgrading the install on my NVMe (Mojave) I decided to install Monterey on a spare SATA drive I have for this purpose.

Monterey installed fine on SATA, and gave me an option to boot from "macOS installer" after it had done installing. I chose that, and got a message stating "A required firmware update could not be installed." which I assume is safe to ignore.

After this step, I am prompted to "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer" and my SATA drive is not there. I connected the NVMe (which I disconnected since I'm paranoid) and that shows up as option to use to startup.

Do SATA drives not work properly to use as a main drive for Monterey? Am I Missing something?

Thank you in advance,

- Your favorite toad

 

[JBX]

SATA should be fine with Monterey. You don't state which boot loader you are using. Clover or OpenCore?

Are you not seeing Monterey as an option? During the install process you should see Macintosh when it is rebooting and working on the install.

If you have completely finished installing Monterey, and you are seeing the "macOS Installer" as an option in the boot loader screen. This means your installer (a thumb drive, I assume) is still plugged in and you are booting from it's EFI. Put your boot loader (OpenCore EFI folder) or install your Clover boot loader EFI onto the SATA drives EFI partition and boot from that (eject the thumb drive installer before you boot).

 

[raintoad]

Thank you, I appreciate your response.

I'm using OpenCore.

So after booting from the thumb drive, and completing the install, I should not see "macOS Installer" ? That's what the partition is named after the install, and I thought I had to boot that first. The guide doesn't explain the steps, so I'm a bit of a loss here.

 

[JBX]

Which guide are you referring to?
Also, your OpenCore version (the one you will use for Monterey)... is it the same as what you are using currently for Mojave?

 

[raintoad]

By guide I mean How to Create a macOS Monterey Public Beta Installation USB (12.0 Installation). And Mojave is using an old version of Clover, so not the same

 

[raintoad]

So is part the install process that I install via "macOS install"? but I need to create EFI content on this drive first? according to the guide, the /EFI is installed on the USB only and doesn't say anything about elsewhere.

I'm still wondering why my drive doesn't show up as an option to install for "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer"

 

[raintoad]

btw, I added the opencore /EFI files on the drive, but still only the NVMe drive shows up in "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer". Is there any other reason that drive wouldn't show up there?

 

[JBX]

OK. So for Mojave you are using Clover and that is installed on your NVMe's EFI partition. You will want to keep that untouched for now.

Important: I will stop here and note to you. If you are not seeing your internal SATA drive at all while your NVMe is also installed. Check your motherboards manual. there are limitations of which SATA ports are usable (plugged into) on the motherboard in conjunction with installed NVMe's. So you may have to pick a different SATA port.

I think you have this next part done already but I will post it here anyway...

In that OS install guide follow from step #2 to build your thumb drive installer for macOS Monterey. After the usb installer is created you should see it mount on your desktop and it is called "Install macOS Monterey".

Now you need to mount the that thumb drives EFI partition.

1. I use the Hackintool app download the zip file here.
2. Un-zip and launch Hackintool. At the top of the application you will see a toolbar, click on Disks.
3. Then in the lower section look for your Thumb Drive. Directly under it you should see its EFI partition.
4. Right-click on that EFI and select "Mount". You will be prompted for your PW.
5. The EFI should mount and show up on your desktop.
6. Open the EFI partition and copy your OpenCore folder to it.
7. Your installer is now ready and when you boot up your Asus... I think it is F8 you press to access the system boot screen. Choose to boot from the Thumb Drive. And then you should see the OpenCore picker. Then choose "Install macOS Monterey".
8. You install Monterey from here and let it run.
9. After it is installed and you are at the desktop, you use hackintool again but this time mount your SATA drives EFI partition and copy your OpenCore folder to that. Then eject your Thumb Drive and now you should be able to restart and boot from the SATA (Monterey). You would have to use the Asus F8 boot menu to tell the system that you want to use the SATA drive/OpenCore to boot from and not your NVMe with Clover.

 

[raintoad]

I'm past point 9 in my case. It installed on the drive but when I boot from the drive it installed from, I'm faced with a prompt to "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer" but the drive I installed to isn't present.

The drive is present, since I could install to it. I just can't select it as a system to start from. This is where I'm puzzled.

 

[raintoad]

Just to be clear, this is what happens. Maybe the install doesn't finish correctly?

1. create USB drive to install macos
2. add appropriate /EFI files to USB drive
3. boot from USB drive and install macos to osx-monterey (at around 12 minutes to go, it quits and reboots)
4. boot from target drive (osx-monterey)
5. "macOS Update Assistant" prompts "A required firmware update could not be installed." which just press "OK"
6. "macOS Update Assistant" prompts "Select the system you want to use to start up your computer"

Here At the last step, I expect to see my target drive, osx-monterey, but it's not there. Just an empty list.

So, the question is, did the install fail? Is this what I should expect to see when the install is done?

- rt