MacOS – Failed upgrade from macOS Sierra to High Sierra on late 2010 MacBook Pro 15″

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I attempted to upgrade from macOS Sierra to High Sierra on my late 2010 MacBook Pro and it failed part way through the installation. On restarting it flashes a folder with a question mark on a white screen.

I boot into recovery with Command + r, go to Disk Utility, perform First Aid and both the internal hard disk and the disk image titled "OS Base System" checks out fine with no issues. I tried unmounting and mounting the hard disk. It still doesn't show any option to choose the disk as the startup disk.

I tried reinstalling macOS from the utility menu and after a long pause it brings up Terms and Conditions. After accepting them, it says it has begun and shows 8 minutes remaining. After staying at 8 minutes remaining for a few minutes it goes to 14h 22m and stays there and has been so for a few hours.

No errors are popping up, and while I don't know much about this stuff, it appears from the installer log it's having some troubles, various errors finding/creating information. I've restarted several times in between all of this stuff and nothing has worked.

I don't believe I have a backup less than two years old and none are showing up as options. How do I resolve this issue?

Best Answer

I have faced the same issue with the same MacBook. What worked for me was to restart and immediately press Option key. The computer asked me which start up disk to select. Avoid the updater and select your hard disk. Right now I am trying to figure out how to fix the High Sierra damaged installer. If anyone knows, let us know.