How to update the recovery partition

[tywebb13]

I saw this in the other thread:

I had used a Migration, I thought the terms were interchangeable. My mistake.

Ah. Well it's beginning to make sense now. A full time machine restore would have copied back your recovery partition.

But that apparently is not what you did.

You seem to have some major issues now preventing you from creating a proper recovery partition.

So you could either

1. Boot up in internet recovery, reformat the entire drive, do a full time machine restore from the last backup of your complete system (not the corrupted one).

OR

2. Boot up in internet recovery, reformat the entire drive, do a clean install and THEN copy back data with migration assistant.

 

[jbarley]

or option 3:
You could try what has always worked for me and use CCC to create a recovery partition.
Bear in mind that you cannot clone the rec-partition of the drive you are booted from, so you'll need to boot from another drive or partition.

 

[Ben McIntyre]

This appears to not be working for 10.12.6. I didn't look at the output too closely, but it's throwing some exceptions. The partition is not updated. BTW I'm trying to update because I need to disable SIP temporarily using csrutil, but that's not on the 10.9 recovery partition that I have now. I *really* don't want to do a clean reinstall. Will try the CCC method, but that's gonna cost me $$.

Unfortunately updating to 10.12.1 via the mac app store or delta updater will not update the recovery partition.

However for many years since 10.7.2 we have been able to update it for EVERY point release using the method I describe below - and 10.12.1 is no exception.

How to update the sierra recovery partition to a 10.12.1 version:

1. Download the Lion Recovery Update from https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1464?locale=en_US . Put it into the downloads folder if it is not there already.

2. Download the full Sierra 10.12.1 installer from the mac app store and right click on the Install macOS Sierra.app file and click Show Package Contents. Go to Contents/SharedSupport/. Copy the InstallESD.dmg file into your Downloads folder.

3. Download and decompress the file recovery.sh.zip from http://4unitmaths.com/recovery.sh.zip and move recovery.sh into your Downloads folder if it's not there already.

4. Open Terminal and type the following commands:

chmod +x ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

sudo ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

5. Wait a few minutes for it to finish and return back to a prompt. Reboot with holding down the option key to test your 10.12.1 recovery partition.

Here are before and after photos:

Before:

View attachment 668971

After:

View attachment 668972

 

[tywebb13]

Well I actually think 10.12.6 should be the last system whereby this method should apply. If you can't get it to work for 10.12.6 then you can just run the full installer which should update the recovery partition without requiring a clean install.

The reason I say 10.12.6 should be the last one (although it should work for subsequent versions too) is that for high sierra there has been a recovery update for every beta update - and there is one for the 10.13.1 public release too. This has never happened before to quite that extent.

So if you update high sierra every time you will get a recovery update automatically.

As enthusiastic as I have been in the past for advocating the method in this thread, I think it has been made redundant with high sierra.

Despite my enthusiasm for the method in this thread for older systems, I have to say that one feature of high sierra I like is that it updates the recovery update every time the main system is updated.

So yes it makes my method redundant. But am I upset by that? No! Quite the opposite. If you upgrade to high sierra you will never have to concern yourself with updating the recovery partition again, by any method, because it will be updated automatically anyway every time you update your main system.

 

[Ben McIntyre]

Just for the record, did a reinstall from the Sierra 10.12.3 (just checked and it wasn't 12.6) installer downloaded from the App Store. There were no prompts for the reinstall type, but it didn't clean install (my apps and settings persisted), but didn't update the recovery partition. This is becoming a real headache. You would think it would be straightforward enough to update the recovery partition, but it seems not.

Well I actually think 10.12.6 should be the last system whereby this method should apply. If you can't get it to work for 10.12.6 then you can just run the full installer which should update the recovery partition without requiring a clean install.

The reason I say 10.12.6 should be the last one (although it should work for subsequent versions too) is that for high sierra there has been a recovery update for every beta update - and there is one for the 10.13.1 public release too. This has never happened before to quite that extent.

So if you update high sierra every time you will get a recovery update automatically.

As enthusiastic as I have been in the past for advocating the method in this thread, I think it has been made redundant with high sierra.

Despite my enthusiasm for the method in this thread for older systems, I have to say that one feature of high sierra I like is that it updates the recovery update every time the main system is updated.

So yes it makes my method redundant. But am I upset by that? No! Quite the opposite. If you upgrade to high sierra you will never have to concern yourself with updating the recovery partition again, by any method, because it will be updated automatically anyway every time you update your main system.

 

[dianeoforegon]

Will try the CCC method, but that's gonna cost me $$.

CarbonCopyCloner http://www.bombich.com/download.html (All options are available free for 30 days)

 

[jbarley]

You would think it would be straightforward enough to update the recovery partition, but it seems not.

Maybe that's because Apple does not consider updating the Recovery partition for every point release necessary.
I've used the features of my Yosemite Recovery partition to help me manage a High Sierra installation.
Disk utility, Terminal and Time Machine installs all work just fine, so having an up to date version number on my Recovery Partition doesn't really concern me as long as I can get the job done.

 

[tywebb13]

Actually with high sierra it should be a much more straightforward process to update the recovery partition because it will be automatically updated whenever the system is updated. This is a new feature in high sierra not present in older systems. And it also means you should no longer have to use other methods to update the recovery partition either.

For older systems apple occationally released recovery hd updates, but not for every system update.

 

[allpurposeguru]

I am not seeing that update available. If Apple thought we all needed it, it would be available to all users.

Your faith in Apple is astonishing. Let me give you a actual reason to update your partition.

I need to turn off the System Integrity Protection on my Macbook Pro, which I updated from Yosemite to El Capitan. System Integrity Protection (also called "rootless") can get in the way of some things I need to do on my Mac. This isn't something the average user will need to do, but developers frequently need this feature.

The way you turn off System Integrity Protection involves booting from the Recovery Partition and executing a command in the Terminal. This is done because you can't allow it to be done from the OS itself, or there wouldn't be much point. The command you need to do this is called "csrutils" and is ONLY available in the El Capitan (or newer) Recovery Partition.

Problem is, when I updated from Yosemite to El Capitan, my Recovery partition did NOT get updated. This can happen for a variety of reasons and is actually a bug-- there's a Radar bug report about the installer not updating the recovery partition automatically during install. It's not a high enough priority bug to get fixed, especially since people who actually NEED this feature know enough to fix it themselves.

So there. If I want to enable this feature I need an updated recovery partition. There are probably other features in the system that will require an updated recovery partition, I've just given you the one. Assuming that Apple can't have bugs or will have all bases covered is kind of unreasonable, every system has bugs.

 

[Weaselboy]

Problem is, when I updated from Yosemite to El Capitan, my Recovery partition did NOT get updated.

Obviously, as you said, you had some sort of glitch that caused the recovery volume not to update normally, but that is not at all what is being discussed in this thread.

So there. If I want to enable this feature I need an updated recovery partition. There are probably other features in the system that will require an updated recovery partition, I've just given you the one.

Nobody is saying a recovery partition is not needed, but there is no reason to update it manually within the same macOS version.

 

[jbarley]

So there. If I want to enable this feature I need an updated recovery partition. There are probably other features in the system that will require an updated recovery partition, I've just given you the one. Assuming that Apple can't have bugs or will have all bases covered is kind of unreasonable, every system has bugs.

When the time came that I felt I needed an updated Recovery partition, this is what I did...
Used Disk Utility in Terminal to locate, mount remove and merge the existing Recovery Partition free space, and then used a feature available in Carbon Copy Cloner to create a new Recovery Partition.
Sounds involved but was actually quite easy to accomplish.

 

[AeroZ]

Hi!

Can I use this method to update my Mountain Lion Recovery to Sierra 10.12.6? Or it only works for 10.12.x?

 

[tywebb13]

Hi!

Can I use this method to update my Mountain Lion Recovery to Sierra 10.12.6? Or it only works for 10.12.x?

Yeah. But it would be advisable to have a recovery partition that is the same version as your system.

So if your system is mountain lion, keep the mountain lion recovery partition.

On the other hand if you have upgraded to sierra, the recovery partition should be a sierra version.

I am curious however that if you upgraded to sierra, why the recovery partition would not have been automatically upgraded too?

Anyway it would not be advisable to run mountain lion with a sierra recovery partition. So even if the method in this thread can force it to do so, my advice is don’t do it.

 

[AeroZ]

Yeah. But it would be advisable to have a recovery partition that is the same version as your system.

So if your system is mountain lion, keep the mountain lion recovery partition.

On the other hand if you have upgraded to sierra, the recovery partition should be a sierra version.

I am curious however that if you upgraded to sierra, why the recovery partition would not have been automatically upgraded too?

Anyway it would not be advisable to run mountain lion with a sierra recovery partition. So even if the method in this thread can force it to do so, my advice is don’t do it.

I was running Sierra and did a Time Machine backup. After that I used internet recovery to install Mountain Lion (for testing purposes) which created Mountain Lion recovery. After that I restored Sierra from Time Machine backup which kept Mountain Lion recovery.
To update the recovery I did a clean install of Sierra and then I restored my Sierra installation from the Time Machine backup.
I noticed today that for some odd reason the clean Sierra install that I did from a USB stick created Mojave recovery. I downloaded the installer yesterday. Is it possible that Apple added Mojave recovery instead of Sierra recovery into the installation package? Or can I somehow check which recovery is created with the installer that I downloaded?

 

[chrfr]

I noticed today that for some odd reason the clean Sierra install that I did from a USB stick created Mojave recovery. I downloaded the installer yesterday. Is it possible that Apple added Mojave recovery instead of Sierra recovery into the installation package? Or can I somehow check which recovery is created with the installer that I downloaded?

With the release of 10.12.4, Apple changed how internet recovery works. Once you've installed 10.12.4 or later, command-option-R will always install the latest operating system compatible with your computer. Command-option-shift-R will install the original operating system that came with your computer. It sounds like you did an installation from internet recovery, not a USB stick.

 

[AeroZ]

With the release of 10.12.4, Apple changed how internet recovery works. Once you've installed 10.12.4 or later, command-option-R will always install the latest operating system compatible with your computer. Command-option-shift-R will install the original operating system that came with your computer. It sounds like you did an installation from internet recovery, not a USB stick.

Thanks for your reply but that's not the case.

 

[Michartz]

It is not a problem and there is no reason to update the recovery partition.

Of course it is. When your MacOS base is newer than the recovery, many commands in the recovery terminal don't work. Even recovering a differently stamped, newer system, out of a TimemMachine container can cause problems.

Telling people your personal needs & requirements is not asked here by the way.

@OP. Thank you ! Guys are lifesavers !