How to download and create a bootable installer for High Sierra 10.13 on Mac Studio?

The High Sierra installer is only available through the App Store.

In order to download it, run it, or use it to create a bootable installer, you will need an older Mac that is compatible with it, and that is currently running some version of Mac OS X / macOS. A Mac Studio is too new to be able to do any of these jobs.

Your best bet may be trying to get back to High Sierra using the old Mac itself. (But, in places where you need to log in with an Apple ID, having the church log in with their own Apple ID.)

• What was the model of the iMac that you donated? (E.g., "iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)")
• Is it running some version of Mac OS X / macOS now, and if so, which version? Even if you use the Mac Studio to help download a .DMG data file containing an installer for, say, El Capitan or Sierra, you still would need to have a working OS on the old Mac to open that file (mount that disk image) and run the installer application inside.
• If it is from Mid 2011 or earlier, do you have the optical recovery discs that originally came with it, and that should accompany it from cradle to grave?

As @Servant of Cats has mentioned, the only reliable method of creating a bootable macOS USB installer is using a working Mac compatible & qualified to run the OS installer you are creating using the instructions in the following Apple article:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Generally to create a bootable macOS USB installer for:

• macOS 10.13 -- need a Mac model from Late-2009 to 2018
• macOS 10.11 -- need a Mac model from 2007 to 2015

You can use the information in the following article to confirm the other Mac's compatibility with the OS (that other Mac can currently be running any version of macOS 10.6+):

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

You can also try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to attempt to access the online High Sierra installer, although you may need to use Fix #3 in the following article since Apple is breaking the online installers & not fixing them (at least in a timely manner):

https://mrmacintosh.com/how-to-fix-the-recovery-server-could-not-be-contacted-error-high-sierra-recovery-is-still-online-but-broken/

jjcaprio wrote:

So somehow they wiped the OS, I tried the Command + Option + R and Command + Option + Shift +R and after selecting the wifi, it comes up with an error apple.com/support -2100F

That is some sort of network related issue. Unfortunately Apple doesn't give us any clues so we can focus on any particular issue or even know exactly where to look.

Try connecting the iMac directly to the router using an Ethernet cable for a faster more reliable connection that bypasses the difficult to troubleshoot WiFi issues.

You can also try power cycling the router. Make sure to wait at least five minutes for the router to finish booting before trying Internet Recovery Mode again.

You can also try Command + R to attempt to access the local recovery mode from the internal drive, but if the local recovery mode partition/volume still exists. If it does not exist, then it will automatically boot into Internet Recovery Mode instead.

You can try taking the iMac to another location so you will be on a different network & possibly a different ISP where you may have a better connection.

Edit: Do you know who will be using this iMac & how it will be used? macOS 10.13 High Sierra is very old at this point so it will have a difficult time accessing online services. There is another non-Apple OS (no not Windows) that can be installed & will allow an up to date OS as well as access to the current versions of popular web browsers. It also has the free open source LibreOffice suite installed by default as well as access to lots of free open source software. You won't have access to too many closed source proprietary apps (no MS Office except the web version, no Adobe products, etc.).

In Internet Recovery, these low negative thousands error messages indicate that your provided Wi-Fi Network is inadequate in some fashion, and cannot be used (for this purpose) in its current state.

Common problems include:

Hidden Network-name

required use of a proxy server to get Internet access

required use of a login page to get Internet access

Use of a login server or certificate to get Internet access

Use of PPPoE in the Mac to get Internet access (typically only applies to DSL)

Use of Fixed IP address rather than good old DHCP

Variance of the time by more than five minutes

Failure of Router to provide workable DNS server addresses, or providing 0.0.0.0 [may produce -2002f]

If you have an Ethernet port, you may in some cases be able to move your Mac close to the Router and connect to the Router using Ethernet.

The higher the number, the more obscure the problem.

jjcaprio wrote:

I have tried everything in this thread and it doesnt work, is there somewhere to get the install CD for High Sierra?

There never was one for High Sierra. The last version of Mac OS X that Apple shipped on optical media (CD or DVD) was Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). The last version of Mac OS X that Apple shipped on physical media was Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion).

Everything from Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), on, only came pre-installed on a Mac; as a download from the App Store; or as a download via Internet Recovery.

As I recall, you could purchase USB flash drives from Apple that contained the Lion or Mountain Lion installers. Few people did so because those flash drives cost something like $80 or $90, as opposed to $20 for a key you could use in combination with a Lion or Mountain Lion installer downloaded from the App Store. Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) was the first version of Mac OS X to be distributed via the App Store.