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Resolved I somehow deleted the container/MacintoshHD, how do I get it back? Response

lJoSquaredl

lJoSquaredl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2012
522
227
I erased my Mac from the “Activate Mac” screen and it seems to have deleted the container/MacintoshHD from my SSD rather than just wipe it. Nothing seems to work now, can’t partition/erase/restore anything to get it back now, the options are either greyed out or I get an error/fail message. Anyone know how to fix this short of just going in and having the store figure it out?
 
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singularity0993

macrumors regular
Oct 15, 2020
161
794
Please open Disk Utility and attach the screenshot. You can hold Cmd+R to enter recovery OS in case your computer won’t boot and access Disk Utility there.
 
lJoSquaredl

lJoSquaredl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2012
522
227

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DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,758
4,583
Delaware
Go to your Disk Utility again, and click the View icon, then select "Show All Devices"
That may already be selected, but just to be sure...
You want to see if there are ANY volumes under that device.
(The Apple Disk Image... lines don't count, as that is listing the recovery system that you are booted to)
If that doesn't make a difference, then likely that whatever you did, in fact, remove the container, and you will probably have no choice but to do a full restore.

Apple_Robert has a good link to get started with that...
 
lJoSquaredl

lJoSquaredl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2012
522
227
DeltaMac said:
Go to your Disk Utility again, and click the View icon, then select "Show All Devices"
That may already be selected, but just to be sure...
You want to see if there are ANY volumes under that device.
(The Apple Disk Image... lines don't count, as that is listing the recovery system that you are booted to)
If that doesn't make a difference, then likely that whatever you did, in fact, remove the container, and you will probably have no choice but to do a full restore.

Apple_Robert has a good link to get started with that...
Click to expand...

Yeah that was the first thing Apple Support suggested, everything is just completely gone and it won’t let me do anything with that media thing at all. They suggested a bootable drive or take it in but the bootable drive didn’t help since I just have nothing to install it to internally. Could try the cable thing but may just take it in at that point, bout as quick and easy as going to get a cable I suppose. (and the only other Mac is a relatives from 2012 that hasn’t been updated so doesn’t have updated combinator anyways)
 
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chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,450
9,321
Random_Matt said:
Really? Because my M1 Mini wouldn't install without an internet connection.
Click to expand...
We're probably just confusing terms. An internet connection is required to download the installer. But that's not Internet Recovery, which was a way for Intel Macs to actually boot themselves from the network.
 
lJoSquaredl

lJoSquaredl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2012
522
227
chabig said:
But he should be able to boot to recovery and reinstall the operating system.
Click to expand...

That’s the issue tho. I can load into recovery but there’s no volumes to recover, no volumes to restore, no way to create a new volume, i’ve tried clicking everything or at least everything I can think of. I tried the “reinstall monterey” and even did it from an external boot drive but the only place I can install it is on the boot drive i’m using to install from. I just need to somehow create a new container/MacintoshHD volume to even install stuff on but I can’t seem to find anyway of doing that, or it’s greyed out. (like the create volume buttons in the photos)

This seems like a rare issue too, can’t seem to find much about it online at all and support seemed to be confused what the issue was as well.
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,758
4,583
Delaware
Find out what is really there....
From recovery, go to the Terminal (in the Utilities menu)
Then type "diskutil list" (without the quotes) and press enter.
Post the result...
 
lJoSquaredl

lJoSquaredl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2012
522
227
DeltaMac said:
Find out what is really there....
From recovery, go to the Terminal (in the Utilities menu)
Then type "diskutil list" (without the quotes) and press enter.
Post the result...
Click to expand...

Here’s what I get. It does show that 250gbs just like it shows under capacity in the utility window, but I just can’t seem to access it.

Edit: Should note I can make a volume on the MacOS Base System under Disk Images, but just not on the internal SSD.
 

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chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,450
9,321
lJoSquaredl said:
I tried the “reinstall monterey” and even did it from an external boot drive but the only place I can install it is on the boot drive i’m using to install from. I just need to somehow create a new container/MacintoshHD volume to even install stuff
Click to expand...
Don’t overthink it. You don’t have to create anything. Just follow Apple’s instructions in the support document I linked.
 
lJoSquaredl

lJoSquaredl

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2012
522
227
chabig said:
Don’t overthink it. You don’t have to create anything. Just follow Apple’s instructions in the support document I linked.
Click to expand...

I feel like I did everything in there and nothing worked, and I can’t reinstall anything if a volume or disk is never made available to choose as a place to install or boot into for recovery mode. I don’t think i’m overthinking this, i’ve run into many issues reinstalling dozens of times in the past but I always had a volume to work with…I just don’t have anything available now. I’ll give what you posted another read thru tho.
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,248
13,322
Sounds like it's time for a visit to the nearest Apple Store genius bar...
 
NoBoMac

NoBoMac

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 1, 2014
6,289
4,989
chabig said:
You don’t have to create anything.
Click to expand...
Sure about that? I think they need to go into Disk Utility and "erase"/format the drive to get an APFS volume to install to. Linked to instructions sorta mentions that (it's not well written, imo, as not provided as step-by-step instruction).
 
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chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,450
9,321
NoBoMac said:
Sure about that? I think they need to go into Disk Utility and "erase"/format the drive to get an APFS volume to install to. Linked to instructions sorta mentions that (it's not well written, imo, as not provided as step-by-step instruction).
Click to expand...
No. I’m not sure. I think, though, that you only need to run the installer and everything is taken care of. I may very well be wrong. I just don’t think Apple expects users to manually build their volumes before the installer will run. The installer should do it. Apple’s instructions to which I linked says to run the installer. Nothing else is required.
 
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iStorm

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2012
2,035
2,442
chabig said:
No. I’m not sure. I think, though, that you only need to run the installer and everything is taken care of. I may very well be wrong. I just don’t think Apple expects users to manually build their volumes before the installer will run. The installer should do it. Apple’s instructions to which I linked says to run the installer. Nothing else is required.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you need to manually erase the disk (which creates a volume) before you can install macOS. This step is always listed in Apple's instructions though. The installer will then do the rest to create the system and data volumes. The macOS installer doesn't work if you just have a completely blank disk with no volume or partitions. (At least it didn't when I tried several versions ago.)

This part can be confusing to some users, especially when coming from Windows. With Windows, we can just wipe the disk and leave it blank, without any partitions, and the installer will create them automatically. I wish the macOS installer was the same way if the disk is completely blank, rather than having us erase the disk and label it "Macintosh HD" manually.
 
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