I have a dual-boot macOS Sierra 10.12.6 /Ubuntu 17.10 MacBook Pro (mid 2012). When I had problems updating to macOS Mojave last week I uninstalled rEFInd from Ubuntu using the instructions. Now # ls /boot/efi/EFI returns APPLE BOOT tools ubuntu, # ls /boot|grep -i refind returns nothing, # ls /etc|grep -i refind returns nothing and
From the macOS Disk Utility, it's clear that /dev/sda2 is the Macintosh HD and /dev/sda3 is the Recovery HD.
When I boot, it launches grub2 which boots Ubuntu normally. If rEFInd is truly expunged, why is that?
When I boot with the Option key depressed, it presents only the Recovery HD to boot from and boots Sierra normally. Why doesn't it present the Macintosh HD? System Preferences -> Startup Disk shows only the Macintosh HD as a choice.
When I run the Install macOS Mojave.app it presents both the Macintosh HD and Recovery HD as disks where I could install Mojave but both have a pop-up "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer."
When I boot with Option-Command-R to "Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac" Internet Recovery starts. I choose "Reinstall macOS" from the macOS Utilities menu and the Mojave install begins. But this time it terminates quickly with "The recovery server could not be contacted."
My goal is a working dual-boot macOS Mojave 10.14/Ubuntu 17.10 box. Any hints toward achieving this goal will be gratefully received.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
First, rEFInd and GRUB are two entirely different boot programs. Deleting rEFInd will leave GRUB fully installed, and depending on a variety of other factors, GRUB might then take over the boot process. Thus, GRUB appearing after you delete rEFInd is perfectly understandable. If you want to delete GRUB, you can do so, but then if you have a Linux system installed, you will no longer be able to boot it -- at least, not easily. (You could boot your Linux kernel directly if it were on a FAT or HFS+ partition, but then you'd need to use Apple's built-in boot manager to pick between it and macOS, and that's not easy to set up.) GRUB and rEFInd are the two most flexible boot managers out there for multi-booting on a Mac or any other EFI-based computer.
As to why Apple's boot manager (that you access via the Option key) isn't showing a non-Recovery macOS option, I'm not sure. It could be that a partition type code is wrong or a partition is otherwise damaged; or it could be that Apple's boot options have become damaged or lost. Quite honestly, I've never really understood how Apple's boot manager stores information on its boot options, and I've never delved very far into fixing problems with it. You might be able to do something with the Startup Disk tool in the System Preferences panel, but I'm afraid I can't offer much guidance. Asking on a Mac forum might get you some better help.
An inability to (re-)install macOS to a volume with an error message of "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer" sounds like a problem with partition spacing. MacOS is pretty insistent about having a 128MiB gap between partitions, as described here. It looks like that space doesn't exist after your /dev/sda3, which is probably causing the problem. Shrinking /dev/sda3 by 128MiB (or shrinking /dev/sda4 by the same amount and then moving it so the gap is between those two partitions) should fix the problem.
If the recovery tool says it can't contact a recovery server, then that sounds like a network access problem.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I have a dual-boot macOS Sierra 10.12.6 /Ubuntu 17.10 MacBook Pro (mid 2012). When I had problems updating to macOS Mojave last week I uninstalled rEFInd from Ubuntu using the instructions. Now
# ls /boot/efi/EFIreturnsAPPLE BOOT tools ubuntu,# ls /boot|grep -i refindreturns nothing,# ls /etc|grep -i refindreturns nothing andThus it appears that rEFInd has been expunged. Here's a partition map:
From the macOS Disk Utility, it's clear that /dev/sda2 is the Macintosh HD and /dev/sda3 is the Recovery HD.
When I boot, it launches grub2 which boots Ubuntu normally. If rEFInd is truly expunged, why is that?
When I boot with the Option key depressed, it presents only the Recovery HD to boot from and boots Sierra normally. Why doesn't it present the Macintosh HD? System Preferences -> Startup Disk shows only the Macintosh HD as a choice.
When I run the Install macOS Mojave.app it presents both the Macintosh HD and Recovery HD as disks where I could install Mojave but both have a pop-up "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer."
When I boot with Option-Command-R to "Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac" Internet Recovery starts. I choose "Reinstall macOS" from the macOS Utilities menu and the Mojave install begins. But this time it terminates quickly with "The recovery server could not be contacted."
My goal is a working dual-boot macOS Mojave 10.14/Ubuntu 17.10 box. Any hints toward achieving this goal will be gratefully received.
First, rEFInd and GRUB are two entirely different boot programs. Deleting rEFInd will leave GRUB fully installed, and depending on a variety of other factors, GRUB might then take over the boot process. Thus, GRUB appearing after you delete rEFInd is perfectly understandable. If you want to delete GRUB, you can do so, but then if you have a Linux system installed, you will no longer be able to boot it -- at least, not easily. (You could boot your Linux kernel directly if it were on a FAT or HFS+ partition, but then you'd need to use Apple's built-in boot manager to pick between it and macOS, and that's not easy to set up.) GRUB and rEFInd are the two most flexible boot managers out there for multi-booting on a Mac or any other EFI-based computer.
As to why Apple's boot manager (that you access via the Option key) isn't showing a non-Recovery macOS option, I'm not sure. It could be that a partition type code is wrong or a partition is otherwise damaged; or it could be that Apple's boot options have become damaged or lost. Quite honestly, I've never really understood how Apple's boot manager stores information on its boot options, and I've never delved very far into fixing problems with it. You might be able to do something with the Startup Disk tool in the System Preferences panel, but I'm afraid I can't offer much guidance. Asking on a Mac forum might get you some better help.
An inability to (re-)install macOS to a volume with an error message of "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer" sounds like a problem with partition spacing. MacOS is pretty insistent about having a 128MiB gap between partitions, as described here. It looks like that space doesn't exist after your
/dev/sda3, which is probably causing the problem. Shrinking/dev/sda3by 128MiB (or shrinking/dev/sda4by the same amount and then moving it so the gap is between those two partitions) should fix the problem.If the recovery tool says it can't contact a recovery server, then that sounds like a network access problem.
I deleted the Ubuntu partition, installed Mojave, and re-installed rEFInd and Ubuntu. Details are at StackExchange.