PSA: DO NOT RESTORE YOUR M1 MacBook Pro/air

[RyanFlynn]

Hey friends,

I just received my M1 MacBook Pro and Macbook Air. Because I don’t need any of the included software, it is always my procedure to restore the operating system without things like garage band and iMovie.

during the install process, an error occurs relating to “customizing the system update“

after a couple hours on the phone with Apple care, they told me that 75 other people have called in with this issue, and They have no work around. I was instructed to return my systems, or wait for a fix. Without having an operating system running, there is no way for me to install any future updates, so these computers are effectively bricked.

luckily, the Apple store down the street has a couple in stock, so I’m just going to buy those and manually uninstall the programs I don’t need.

just a heads up!
Ryan

 

[rulymammoth]

Sorry, could you clarify what you mean by restore the operating system?

 

[CheesePuff]

Was this using internet restore?

 

[SlCKB0Y]

It would be helpful to know the exact type of restore, as in the steps you took.

But thanks for the warning as I was considering doing this to de-bloat but ended up jus uninstalling iMovie, Garageband etc.

 

[arn]

Try fix listed here

M1 Mini - An error occurred preparing the update

So received M1 Mini today, all installed okay, including Big Sur latest update. Then realised I had put wrong login short name, so decided to do a reinstall rather than mess around renaming accounts. Restarted in 'new' recovery mode, removed existing partition and created APFS new one...

forums.macrumors.com

Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived or restored.

support.apple.com

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Try fix listed here

M1 Mini - An error occurred preparing the update

So received M1 Mini today, all installed okay, including Big Sur latest update. Then realised I had put wrong login short name, so decided to do a reinstall rather than mess around renaming accounts. Restarted in 'new' recovery mode, removed existing partition and created APFS new one...

forums.macrumors.com

Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived or restored.

support.apple.com

? God? is that you? ?

 

[MrMacintoshBlog]

? God? is that you? ?

No but it was me

 

[Tech198]

lol

well.. that bites..

 

[thecarrot]

Can confirm.

 

[RyanFlynn]

Sorry, could you clarify what you mean by restore the operating system?

Yes, I was using an internet restore by holding the power button while booting and selecting options.

 

[RyanFlynn]

? God? is that you? ?

Doesn't work as this is my only mac. haha

 

[Kung gu]

can we pin this until its fixed? mods??

 

[DeanL]

This has been an issue forever. Never restore your Mac on day one of the launch because Apple never uploads the image on day one.

 

[trifero]

Hey friends,

I just received my M1 MacBook Pro and Macbook Air. Because I don’t need any of the included software, it is always my procedure to restore the operating system without things like garage band and iMovie.

during the install process, an error occurs relating to “customizing the system update“

after a couple hours on the phone with Apple care, they told me that 75 other people have called in with this issue, and They have no work around. I was instructed to return my systems, or wait for a fix. Without having an operating system running, there is no way for me to install any future updates, so these computers are effectively bricked.

luckily, the Apple store down the street has a couple in stock, so I’m just going to buy those and manually uninstall the programs I don’t need.

just a heads up!
Ryan

I really don´t understand the comments about critizicing Why you have restored. You do it because you wan to, and you can, I suppose. There should no no problem at all doing that. It´s an Apple problem, not yours.

 

[Kung gu]

I really don´t understand the comments about critizicing Why you have restored. You do it because you wan to, and you can, I suppose. There should no no problem at all doing that. It´s an Apple problem, not yours.

yeah, there is no M1 code apparently to restore from thats why it bricks

 

[Boost2]

Hey friends,

I just received my M1 MacBook Pro and Macbook Air. Because I don’t need any of the included software, it is always my procedure to restore the operating system without things like garage band and iMovie.

during the install process, an error occurs relating to “customizing the system update“

after a couple hours on the phone with Apple care, they told me that 75 other people have called in with this issue, and They have no work around. I was instructed to return my systems, or wait for a fix. Without having an operating system running, there is no way for me to install any future updates, so these computers are effectively bricked.

luckily, the Apple store down the street has a couple in stock, so I’m just going to buy those and manually uninstall the programs I don’t need.

just a heads up!
Ryan

Not sure I understand. When my M1 arrives I will have to migrate my data from a Time Machine backup of my old MacBookPro. Are you talking about migrating? Is that the same as "restoring"? Thanks.

 

[RyanFlynn]

Not sure I understand. When my M1 arrives I will have to migrate my data from a Time Machine backup of my old MacBookPro. Are you talking about migrating? Is that the same as "restoring"? Thanks.

No, this is a full system reset from the restore image downloaded from apple servers when booting to the restore partition.

 

[gautampw]

I really don´t understand the comments about critizicing Why you have restored. You do it because you wan to, and you can, I suppose. There should no no problem at all doing that. It´s an Apple problem, not yours.

Where are those comments? I can’t see any in this thread

 

[rafark]

Well that sucks.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

No, this is a full system reset from the restore image downloaded from apple servers when booting to the restore partition.

Do you have another Mac? Maybe you could download the installer from the App Store and use createinstallmedia to make a bootable USB drive to try and install from. Might be worth a shot.

 

[AAPLGeek]

Try fix listed here

M1 Mini - An error occurred preparing the update

So received M1 Mini today, all installed okay, including Big Sur latest update. Then realised I had put wrong login short name, so decided to do a reinstall rather than mess around renaming accounts. Restarted in 'new' recovery mode, removed existing partition and created APFS new one...

forums.macrumors.com

Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived or restored.

support.apple.com

Absolutely ridiculous that you not only need to go through that convoluted process for a fresh install, but you also need a SECOND Mac to do it.

Apple truly needs to rethink this approach. These aren’t iDevices.

 

[gautampw]

Absolutely ridiculous that you not only need to go through that convoluted process for a fresh install, but you also need a SECOND Mac to do it.

Apple truly needs to rethink this approach. These aren’t iDevices.

Rethink this approach? It’s a bug.

 

[h123456]

Try fix listed here

M1 Mini - An error occurred preparing the update

So received M1 Mini today, all installed okay, including Big Sur latest update. Then realised I had put wrong login short name, so decided to do a reinstall rather than mess around renaming accounts. Restarted in 'new' recovery mode, removed existing partition and created APFS new one...

forums.macrumors.com

Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived or restored.

support.apple.com

thanks. i went through the steps, the thing seemed to stall at step 4, so i re-did it, and now i've got this error:

Failed to restore device in recovery mode, libusbrestore error:21 [com.apple.MobileDevice.MobileRestore – 0x15 (21)]

fml what do i do.

 

[h123456]

thanks. i went through the steps, the thing seemed to stall at step 4, so i re-did it, and now i've got this error:

Failed to restore device in recovery mode, libusbrestore error:21 [com.apple.MobileDevice.MobileRestore – 0x15 (21)]

fml what do i do.

ok now it won't boot at all. blinking amber light. no recovery mode. returning. purchasing anew. i definitely agree, do not restore OS on the new machines, yet.

 

[nistromo]

There is this support guide, sounds like the issue is to do with not have 11.0.1 installed before resetting. But should be ok after. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211983

If you erased your Mac with Apple M1 chip before updating to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, you might be unable to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery. A message might say “An error occurred while preparing the update. Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again.”

Use either of these solutions to reinstall macOS. You should then be able to use macOS Recovery as expected when reinstalling macOS in the future.