[Solved] "Still waiting for root device" during direct update

[nnst]

I'm trying to do a direct upgrade from Sierra to High Sierra (no APFS). Boot into the installer fails with "Still waiting for root device" error.

I've searched around the forum and usually this error is linked with USB 3 support, but I do not use a flash drive and my mb does not even have USB 3. Disks are set to ACHI in BIOS, no extra devices plugged in, only kexts I load are FakeSMC and RealtekRTL8111.kext.

I have also tried (and failed) to do a Unibeast installation. In this case installer loads fine and the installation completes successfully, but after reboot (when starting High Sierra for the first time) I get the same error. I then rolled back to Sierra with Time Machine backup.

At a loss on what to try next. Ideas?

 

[Middleman]

I'm trying to do a direct upgrade from Sierra to High Sierra (no APFS). Boot into the installer fails with "Still waiting for root device" error.

I've searched around the forum and usually this error is linked with USB 3 support, but I do not use a flash drive and my mb does not even have USB 3. Disks are set to ACHI in BIOS, no extra devices plugged in, only kexts I load are FakeSMC and RealtekRTL8111.kext.

I have also tried (and failed) to do a Unibeast installation. In this case installer loads fine and the installation completes successfully, but after reboot (when starting High Sierra for the first time) I get the same error. I then rolled back to Sierra with Time Machine backup.

At a loss on what to try next. Ideas?

Hi NNST,

If you've managed to get this far, it means that the install worked. However there is an issue with the Unibeast 8.2 ejection during creation, which is covered here > https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/unibeast-8-2-and-macos-10-13-4-workaround.249081/. You may need to recreate your Unibeast and try the installation again.

Whilst I assume APFS would be installed with your current setup, my suggestion would be to run the HFS 10.13.4 install if possible first as it seems more stable. This is achieved by going into Terminal with the Unibeast installer and running

/Volumes/Image\  Volume/No-Convert

If you still have trouble seeing the installer volume, you could try pressing F8 and booting in with the Unibeast stick and then select the install at Clover menu.

 

[nnst]

Thanks Middleman!

Unfortunately, before I could try your suggestion my system drive failed. After restoring from backup to a new drive, I was able to update using

/Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --converttoapfs NO

So successful update at a price of a new SSD I guess...

Still no idea what caused the original issue. Maybe my Clover installation was somehow corrupted. Anyway, no need to worry until next year!