Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

mgmtm3

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 12, 2016
35
14
I'm unfortunately selling my Mac Pro 5.1. It current has a MacVidCards GTX 1080 in it so I want to keep it on High Sierra for the new buyer. Is there a way I can fresh install High Sierra without going to Mojave where there is no Nvidia driver out yet?
 
Are you intending to install on the same disk you're running from now? If so, what type of disk, and if SSD is it formatted as APFS? I may be overthinking things here, but if it is APFS and you're trying to fresh install the same, this might work:

1. Create a new volume w/in the APFS container.
2. Download the full macOS 10.13 HS installer from here.
3. Install to the new volume.
4. Reboot onto your old volume and install the Nvidia driver to the new install (not sure if it will let you choose a different volume or not tho...)
5. After you're all done, boot into Recovery mode and delete your non-fresh boot volume (but I don't believe this will work unless you swap in a different video card...somebody else chime in?)

Again, I've probably overthought it, and I'm not 100% on that process, but it may be a starting point that would work. If you can slap in a temporary disk to run from and wipe the one you're selling with it, that might help too.
 
So the 1080 is flashed so I do have boot screens and all. So booting into recovery should not be a problem. I have two hard drives, one is for MacOS on APFS and the other is a bootcamp volume. Could I possibly format the windows copy and install it on that disk and then just format the original MacOS volume and make it extra storage?
 
make a USB installer. then wipe the drive and install HS via the USB installer
[doublepost=1541796554][/doublepost]
So the 1080 is flashed so I do have boot screens and all. So booting into recovery should not be a problem. I have two hard drives, one is for MacOS on APFS and the other is a bootcamp volume. Could I possibly format the windows copy and install it on that disk and then just format the original MacOS volume and make it extra storage?

Yes, this is a good route to take to do what you are looking to do
 
So the 1080 is flashed so I do have boot screens and all. So booting into recovery should not be a problem. I have two hard drives, one is for MacOS on APFS and the other is a bootcamp volume. Could I possibly format the windows copy and install it on that disk and then just format the original MacOS volume and make it extra storage?

Yeah, I was considering that you would have the boot screen, but I believe the Recovery Mode uses actual OS drivers, so I'd worry about not being able to see that w/ the 1080. A quick check would prove me wrong or confirm tho.

Yes, your plan should work. Once you get the Windows volume wiped and HS installed, boot back into your current partition to try to install those Nvidia Web drivers, then boot to Recovery Mode if you can to wipe the current drive out.

make a USB installer. then wipe the drive and install HS via the USB installer

Or just wipe, partition, and use the much faster internal disks instead...
 
I also don't think USB install works with the 5.1. Could be wrong though. Ill try out the disk swap method tonight.

edit: Thanks for the quick replies!
 
For flashed GTX1080, boot to recovery mode, format all partitons, and re-install MacOS should be very simple.

If your current OS is High Sierra, it will only re-install High Sierra for you.
 
USB install works fine, always has been doing it since well since iv had a cmp3.1.

GL
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.