Mac Pro 1,1 and Lion 10.7 "The OS X Installation couldn't be completed"

[MortenMoulder]

So I bought an old Mac Pro 1,1 from 2006 and I have been trying to install any OS on it for the past 12 hours. I'm about to give up and flip it.

I aquired a retail version of Lion 10.7 which has the InstallESD.dmg inside the Install Mac OS X Lion.app file. I formatted my USB drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and Master Boot Record, then I hit Restore on the new partition, and I selected the "Mac OS X Install ESD" (the InstallESD.dmg which I mounted). I proceeded and everything went well.

I plugged the drive into my Mac Pro, held down <OPTION> and I selected the drive. After a minute or two, I got yet another "The OS X Installation couldn't be completed" followed by a really, really large log file.

Am I doing this wrong? Do I need to patch some files to install a legit OS on a legit Mac Pro machine? I would argue this should work, but for some reason it does not work. Any help is greatly appreciated! I'm so close to calling this a dead project.

Thanks a lot.

 

[usna92]

So I bought an old Mac Pro 1,1 from 2006 and I have been trying to install any OS on it for the past 12 hours. I'm about to give up and flip it.

I aquired a retail version of Lion 10.7 which has the InstallESD.dmg inside the Install Mac OS X Lion.app file. I formatted my USB drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and Master Boot Record, then I hit Restore on the new partition, and I selected the "Mac OS X Install ESD" (the InstallESD.dmg which I mounted). I proceeded and everything went well.

I plugged the drive into my Mac Pro, held down <OPTION> and I selected the drive. After a minute or two, I got yet another "The OS X Installation couldn't be completed" followed by a really, really large log file.

Am I doing this wrong? Do I need to patch some files to install a legit OS on a legit Mac Pro machine? I would argue this should work, but for some reason it does not work. Any help is greatly appreciated! I'm so close to calling this a dead project.

Thanks a lot.

The best option for making a bootable USB drive is a program called diskmaker X. There are two versions, one that will do lion and older installation drives and a version for newer OSs. It is probably fastest way to make a bootable USB. I used it for making bootable drives for all my old machines.

 

[MortenMoulder]

The best option for making a bootable USB drive is a program called diskmaker X. There are two versions, one that will do lion and older installation drives and a version for newer OSs. It is probably fastest way to make a bootable USB. I used it for making bootable drives for all my old machines.

Oh. The one I have only makes for Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra. I'll see if I can grab a copy that does older versions as well. But to be honest, I don't think that's the issue. It boots up fine into the "installation", yet gives me the error. I can load terminal, disk utility, and so on.

 

[owbp]

You didn't download some old hack distribution?
Format the drive as GUID (GPT).
Are you connected to the internet? Can't remember (have to google) but you might have to copy Packages folder from .dmg to your installation USB if you're offline... Again I could be wrong about that.

No need to use 3rd party app to make USB. Just google it and check if you're doing anything wrong.

 

[MortenMoulder]

You didn't download some old hack distribution?
Format the drive as GUID (GPT).
Are you connected to the internet? Can't remember (have to google) but you might have to copy Packages folder from .dmg to your installation USB if you're offline... Again I could be wrong about that.

No need to use 3rd party app to make USB. Just google it and check if you're doing anything wrong.

I got a retail version from an old Macbook through USB. Should work right?

I do have it plugged in with ethernet, but whether it's downloading anything or not is unknown to me.

I have seen 3 guides for preparing an USB drive with 10.7 Lion, and all of them failed me with the same error. I tried, just for fun, to download one from a pirate website (trusted don't worry), but it didn't have the InstallESD.dmg on it. I did get the exact same error though.

 

[G4DPII]

Had trouble doing it through Disk Utility as well. The best and most successful method I have found is -

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372.

Never had an issue when doing the process through Terminal.

 

[Draeconis]

So I bought an old Mac Pro 1,1 from 2006 and I have been trying to install any OS on it for the past 12 hours. I'm about to give up and flip it.

I aquired a retail version of Lion 10.7 which has the InstallESD.dmg inside the Install Mac OS X Lion.app file. I formatted my USB drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and Master Boot Record, then I hit Restore on the new partition, and I selected the "Mac OS X Install ESD" (the InstallESD.dmg which I mounted). I proceeded and everything went well.

I plugged the drive into my Mac Pro, held down <OPTION> and I selected the drive. After a minute or two, I got yet another "The OS X Installation couldn't be completed" followed by a really, really large log file.

Am I doing this wrong? Do I need to patch some files to install a legit OS on a legit Mac Pro machine? I would argue this should work, but for some reason it does not work. Any help is greatly appreciated! I'm so close to calling this a dead project.

Thanks a lot.

You might have more luck formatting the disk as GPT rather than MBR.

 

[MortenMoulder]

Had trouble doing it through Disk Utility as well. The best and most successful method I have found is -

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372.

Never had an issue when doing the process through Terminal.

Did you get as far as me? It loads the GUI of the installer and so on, which I assume means, it actually got the files transfered and so on.

You might have more luck formatting the disk as GPT rather than MBR.

Last time I formatted as GPT instead of MBR, I couldn't find my USB drive under the boot selection screen (after holding down <OPTION>). I assume it should be GPT and not MBR, as that's what it looks like everyone else does.

 

[owbp]

I got a retail version from an old Macbook through USB. Should work right?

That should work, I was just asking to eliminate the possibility that you downloaded some pre-patched Hackintosh version.

The best and most successful method I have found is -

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372.

Never had an issue when doing the process through Terminal.

First appearance of createinstallmedia is in Mavericks, not before.

Last time I formatted as GPT instead of MBR, I couldn't find my USB drive under the boot selection screen (after holding down <OPTION>).

Don't think that is the problem with it not showing, since apple is using GPT for a very long time.

Just a wild guess, but you could try restoring BaseSystem.dmg instead of InstallESD.dmg and see how it goes.
Or even better could you try followin guide on link below, only 2.0 and 2.1 paragraphs (before patching for PC) and see how it goes?
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/to...leon-dsdt-for-beginners-updated-for-yosemite/

 

[MortenMoulder]

Just a wild guess, but you could try restoring BaseSystem.dmg instead of InstallESD.dmg and see how it goes.
Or even better could you try followin guide on link below, only 2.0 and 2.1 paragraphs (before patching for PC) and see how it goes?
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/to...leon-dsdt-for-beginners-updated-for-yosemite/

HORY SHEET, it actually worked! I only followed a few of the steps, as I realised some of the files inside the pgkg files weren't there.

1) Formatted USB as GUID
2) Followed step 2.1 and on to 7 (I did copy mach_kernel into root)

Booted it up and now it's installing! Woohoo! Thanks a lot, dude.

 

[owbp]

HORY SHEET, it actually worked!

Great news, glad I could help!