Reinstall macOS Ventura after blank screen, damaged laptop display, external display connected on MacBook Pro 15" late 2017

Situation:

So my operating system running Ventura 13.6.6 was not booting up. yikes. All I saw was a blank screen with no icons, no imagery, just a cursory floating in the abyss of an external display. My mbp laptop 15" late 2017 with the intel chip and touchbar seemed caput.

Preparatory notes:

My step by step solution will benefit people whose screen on the laptop is not operable and when the operating system is not booting up and you are connected to an external monitor through an HDMI cable. You will need a external harddrive to plug into the usb-c port. You will need wifi enabled, which you can connect to by following my sequence listed here. You will also need to be diligent and focused. A tricky situation; though, there is always a workaround!

Stepwise process flow:

Step 1. Turn off macbook pro. Wait 10 seconds.

Step 2. Turn it on

Step 3. Immediately, press Command-R at the same time

Step 4. Hold Command-R until the screen dims a few levels. You will see dimming on the backlight of the display. Once the screen dims, then let go of the two buttons.

Step 5. Navigate to Startup disk on the top-left of the screen. Even if it is not visible. You can "invisibly" find the menu item "Startup disk" from the top-left of the screen.

Step 6. Click on "unlock" for your harddisk.

Step 7. Enter your password for the harddisk / user

Step 8. Click on Restart

Step 9. As soon as the screen turns blank, press Command-R at the sametime once again.

Step 10. Hold Command-R until the computer restarts.

Step 11. Once the computer power cycles on you will see the screen dim from a bright level to a dimmer level that is discernable and noticable. As soon as you see it dim, let go immediately of both the Command-R buttons/keys. Note, another way is to let go of both the keys, when you see the external display indicate "No Signal." That is simply an option. The "dimming cue" is also okay.

Step 12. You will be presented with four options: 1) Time Machine icon 2) Reinstall orangish/yellowish/rusty flower color icon 3) Safari browser 4) Disk Utility app

Step 13. Go with Reinstall

Step 14. Choose your external hard drive to reinstall the operating system onto. In my case I went with a Glyph 1TB SSD and it runs fast and installed in less than 30 minutes.

Step 15. The laptop will reboot and the external displays may turn off for minutes at a time. That is totally normal. Let it run for 20-45 minutes. Sometimes, it will go off and a simple mouse movement or mouse movement and click of the left button on the mouse will turn the screen back on. Make sure to click on the perimeter of the screen and not by accident cancel the reinstall located in the center of the screen.

Step 16. After several automated reboots, you may close the lid of the laptop, and the external display will mirror the laptop.

Step 17. Then you can finish the login process, you are ready to go!

Step 18. Observations like note-taking and posting your findings for others, may somehow increase the likelihood that your machine is reinstall-able and revive-able; take notes along the way.

Understand:

I had put the machine away for several weeks thinking it may cost 1 to 2k to reinstall and recover my data stored over many years. Then, after some reflection; I thought I might as well try a few things for a few days. Remember, there is always a way. Shift from problem solving to other activities when you feel stuck or can't figure it out. Time is with you.

That's it for the time-being!