Installing Operating System on Blank Drive - MacBook Pro 2011

[alfarom]

I'm getting a MacBook Pro 2011 in soon and apparently the customer wants me to install High Sierra on it. I hardly ever deal with Apple so don't have much experience with this type of installation. As I understand it he was running Mojave but that ran very slow so he wants to go back to an earlier version. As I understand it he tried to install Lion but something went wrong. I am unsure if it is booting into the OS or if the hard drive has been wiped.
Any idea on how to install a later OS either as an upgrade or as a clean installation would be very helpful.

 

[MacInWin]

If yo have a Mac that works, download DiskmakerX and the installer files for the system you want to install. Insert an 8GB thumb drive to use as a bootable installer, launch DiskmakerX and point to the thumb drive. It will be erased, formatted, have the boot files installed and finally the installation files will be put on it. When the non-functional Mac comes in, put the thumb drive in the USB socket, hold down Option key while powering it on, keep holding Option until the screen shows the USB drive as a potential boot source and then let it boot from there. Just follow the directions to format the internal drive and install whatever version of macOS you downloaded.

 

[pigoo3]

I'm getting a MacBook Pro 2011 in soon and apparently the customer wants me to install High Sierra on it. I hardly ever deal with Apple so don't have much experience with this type of installation. As I understand it he was running Mojave but that ran very slow so he wants to go back to an earlier version.

Just a head's up in case you didn't know. Mojave is macOS version 10.14...High Sierra is macOS version 10.13.

Maximum/newest macOS than can be installed (officially) on a 2011 MacBook Pro is High Sierra (10.13)...but there are unofficial methods to install Mojave.

If this 2011 MacBook Pro was the same computer that the customer had Mojave running on...it's very possible the slowness was due to it "officially from Apple" only supposed to run up to High Sierra.

- Nick

 

[chscag]

Also, since Mojave formats the hard drive to APFS, that may have made matters worse and causing an even greater slow down. It's likely the 2011 had a spinner drive and not an SSD.

 

[alfarom]

I haven't got access to another mac so that makes it a bit harder. Currently it boots to a folder with a question mark in it and goes no further.

 

[IWT]

Currently it boots to a folder with a question mark in it and goes no further.

If your Mac starts up to a Mac folder with a question mark, it could mean:

1. The startup disk is no longer working because you previously started your Mac from a different disk

2. Your hard drive has failed.

3. There’s no working operating system installed

Here are two similar articles which suggest what you might try next:

How to fix a Mac that won't start

We show you how to fix a Mac that won't start, from that dreaded folder that taunts you with a question mark to a completely blank screen that hangs

www.techradar.com

If your Mac starts up to a question mark – Apple Support (UK)

A folder with a flashing question mark means that your computer's startup disk is no longer available or doesn't contain a working Mac operating system.

support.apple.com

Ian

 

[alfarom]

I have managed to connect to the internet and it said it was going to download Lion 10.7. However after a few seconds it comes up with a new message about not being able to download the additional components needed for the installation.

 

[alfarom]

Success.. Managed to download Lion on Windows and load it onto a USB drive then install it from that. All seems to be working well now.
Here's the YouTube video I followed..

Thanks for the help.. How do I mark the question as solved