MacBook Pro 2016 MacOS Catalina install after disk erase failing,

If my SSD drive is APFS formatted will that cause the reinstall to fail with “Permission Denied.”

I saw a thread that seems to imply this. So I reformatted the drive to HFS+ (MacOS journaled) and that worked. Can someone confirm this? Thank you.

Earlier Mac models

Posted on May 26, 2023 08:51 PM

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Posted on May 27, 2023 11:36 AM

No. Most likely you are selecting a destination for the macOS installation which is not permitted. Now if you are trying to reinstall macOS 10.12.x Sierra, then the internal drive will definitely need to be erased as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) since the Sierra installer (perhaps even the High Sierra installer) does not understand the APFS file system so it cannot be used as a destination. I have no idea what error message would be given.


If this is regards to creating a bootable macOS USB installer, then here is an Apple article with details:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


You have not provided any details for us to assist you further with whatever problem you have encountered.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 27, 2023 11:36 AM in response to AMangaser

No. Most likely you are selecting a destination for the macOS installation which is not permitted. Now if you are trying to reinstall macOS 10.12.x Sierra, then the internal drive will definitely need to be erased as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) since the Sierra installer (perhaps even the High Sierra installer) does not understand the APFS file system so it cannot be used as a destination. I have no idea what error message would be given.


If this is regards to creating a bootable macOS USB installer, then here is an Apple article with details:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


You have not provided any details for us to assist you further with whatever problem you have encountered.


May 27, 2023 08:12 AM in response to AMangaser

AMangaser wrote:

If my SSD drive is APFS formatted will that cause the reinstall to fail with “Permission Denied.”
I saw a thread that seems to imply this. So I reformatted the drive to HFS+ (MacOS journaled) and that worked. Can someone confirm this? Thank you.


Confirm that your Mac is working...(?) No I can not, but I'll take your word for it.



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or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/


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Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support



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MacBook Pro 2016 MacOS Catalina install after disk erase failing,

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