macOS installer cannot be loaded

pettycash · Dec 2, 2019

All of a sudden, I could not start my computer and got an error message saying the macOS installer could not be loaded. I did a quick fix by holding the option key and pressing restart. Then I selected to start from my mac HD and it worked.

I am using High Sierra 10.13.3 Did anyone know what has caused the problem and how can I fix it permanently?

harryb2448 · Dec 2, 2019

Fingers crossed it keeps working as you may have a failing hard drive.

Download SmartReporter which will advise on the hard drive health. Make sure you keep an up to date backup on an external drive.

pm-r · Dec 2, 2019

I am using High Sierra 10.13.3 Did anyone know what has caused the problem and how can I fix it permanently?

I don't know but I would suggest you go to your: System Preferences -> Startup Disk and select your normal boot disk.

- Patrick
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pettycash · Dec 3, 2019

Patrick, I only got one hard drive but when I used the quick fix method, i.e., option-restart, it showed two hard drive, one default and the other macOS installer. I need to switch to the default one and restart which makes it work. Don't know what the macOS installer is which is now causing me the issue.

MacInWin · Dec 3, 2019

If you KNOW you don't need macOS installer, you may be able to get rid of it in Disk Utility. It sounds like a virtual drive that was created when you installed the OS at some point in the past and which somehow got set as the default boot drive by a glitch or by accident. So boot to the correct drive, invoke DU and see if the installer is in the side bar. You can then choose to unmount it if it is mounted and then delete it. If it is a partition of the main drive, you may have a bit more trouble getting rid of it, but at least you can do as Patrick suggests and set the Startup Disk to your "real" drive.

pettycash · Dec 3, 2019

My start up ask only has one drive there, i.e., mac HD. The macOS installer was never there and I did not have such problem before yesterday without me doing anything differently. when I got the error message, I was recommended to restart and with some research, I knew the quick fix of holding the Option key when clicking the restart button. At that point, I was given two drives, the real mac HD and the virtual macOS installer and the latter is the default drive to boot. I then switched it to the real HD and could successfully boot the computer. Don't know why the macOS installer came into the way all of a sudden and how to get rid of it.

MacInWin · Dec 3, 2019

Did you look in Disk Utility as I suggested in post #5? Any virtual drive should still show in DU. If you have to, you can boot into Recovery Mode and use DU there to look at the entire drive before any boot. I would be careful, however, as getting rid of the installer may involve mucking about with partitions and that could put your default boot drive at risk. Make a complete backup and test it before messing with DU in Recovery.

pettycash · Dec 4, 2019

How do I get to the Disk Utility if not the recovery mode?

MacInWin · Dec 4, 2019

Do you have a backup? Time Machine or clone? If you boot from a clone backup, you can use DU from there to look at the internal drive. If you have a TM backup you can try booting from it into a mode where DU is available. It won't look like normal at boot, but the functions of DU will be the same.

Did you follow Patrick's suggestion in post #3 to make sure the right drive is set for boot?

IWT · Dec 4, 2019

pettycash said:
How do I get to the Disk Utility if not the recovery mode?

Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility

NB I'm answering your specific question; not offering advice on how you use it, because wiser counsel than I have already discussed the options.

Ian

pettycash · Dec 4, 2019

The Disk Utility just has the default mac HD, nothing like macOS installer.

pettycash · Dec 5, 2019

I guess the issue arose when I started to install the mac os from high sierra to Mojave and Catalina. then, I realized that Office 2011 would stop to work; thus, I stopped those installation. All of a sudden, the problem mentioned earlier arose. Now, the question is how I can remove the partial installation and revert it back to High Sierra?

MacInWin · Dec 5, 2019

Again, did you follow Patrick's suggestion in post #3 to make sure the right drive is set for boot?

pm-r · Dec 5, 2019

MacInWin said:
Again, did you follow Patrick's suggestion in post #3 to make sure the right drive is set for boot?

Say Jake, I'm curious if you'll end up posting the same question for a third time??? :Smirk:

- Patrick
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MacInWin · Dec 5, 2019

Nah, Patrick, if it doesn't get answered I'll just move on. The interrupted upgrade has changed the default boot drive, I think, and until we know what it says and that he's looked at it there just aren't any suggestions to make.

pettycash · Dec 5, 2019

I already answered, all I can see in DU, startup utility, etc. is just one drive, the mac HD, never the macOS installers and the boot drive is also set to the HD. I don't know where the virtual drive is saved. I also checked that there is no other partition except for the firefox that I installed a while ago.

MacInWin · Dec 6, 2019

The reason I asked that question twice is that the installer may well be a hidden (to you) dmg file that has been set to the default startup. It won't show in DU or Finder unless it is mounted, but the OS may well know about it and it may show in Startup Disc. If it's not there, just make sure that your internal drive IS the default boot drive. Once we know that, then we can go look for the installer. It's there somewhere because you see it when you Option-boot, but let's get your system booting normally and then we can find the culprit. So, a simple question that only needs a yes/no answer: Did you look at System Preferences/Startup Disc and set the default to your internal drive?

And can you say more about this Firefox partition? FF is an app, a browser, and doesn't need it's own partition, nor should it have a partition. In Post #11 you said there was no other partition showing in DU, so I'm confused by that.

pettycash · Dec 6, 2019

I also look at the startup disc and the installer is not there. I only saw it when I did the option-restart and did not know how to remove it and from where?

MacInWin · Dec 6, 2019

The installer is most likely a hidden .dmg file. Starting an upgrade like that changes certain parts of the OS to boot differently because installation is a bit of a trick. The system on the boot drive is normally not changeable, but for upgrades in place, it has to be made changeable. The installer changes some part of the system, then reboots to a special state where it can update the parts it could not update before, then reboots again to get the new stuff in place. That process can take multiple reboots. Most of them are hidden from the user, taking place silently during the upgrade. It's a bit like changing out the engine of a car while running down the road. When you interrupted the install because you changed your mind, you left the system in a state where it is probably partially upgraded and partially not.

About the only way to clean it up may well be to wipe the drive clean and reinstall from scratch. Make backups of your data before you start. You can make a bootable USB drive from a memory stick, boot from it, use DU to erase the entire hard drive, repartition it, reinstall the OS, then on first boot use Migration Assistant to get your data back.

One more thing was confusing to me. In post #12 you said:

I guess the issue arose when I started to install the mac os from high sierra to Mojave and Catalina.

Those two versions deal with the drive very differently. Which one were you really trying to install and interrupted?

ferrarr · Dec 6, 2019

Was it "installer", or was it "Recovery"?