Help setting up 'new' MacBook Pro (2015)

[Apple_Glen_UK]

I have just purchased a second-hand 2015 MacBook Pro, 13". Although old now, I plan to run Mojave on it for my wife.

But I am having trouble getting it set up. It was on running on Monterey so I planned to reinstall the original operating system it shipped with - Yosemite - and then 'upgrade' to Mojave (I don't wish to go beyond that).

However, when I attempt to reinstall Yosemite there is no option of a disk drive to load it onto. And when I go to the Disk Utility screen I am not seeing the SSD there. Out of the box the MBP had a 256GB SSD, but the previous owner upgraded it to 1TB, via Apple, he tells me. There's a screenshot below. As you can probably tell, I am not great at this kind of stuff. Once I am up and running (with Mojave!), I will be fine.

Can anyone help please? (@Fishrrman perhaps?!) 🙂

 

[Bigwaff]

Select menu View > Show All Devices. Take another screenshot and post.

 

[chabig]

Select menu View > Show All Devices. Take another screenshot and post.

That would normally be the correct advice, however there is no View menu here (see the attached photo).

It looks to me that the 1TB drive supposedly in there isn't being recognized at all. Try taking it back to the seller.

 

[Andrewdavid1987]

Have you tried creating a USB boot drive of Mojave and booting from there?
As the SSD had a newer Operating system installed it may have upgraded the firmware which may not be compatible with older operating systems.

 

[Fishrrman]

Can you try to download "Mist"?
It's a free utility that can download the OS installer AND create a bootable USB flashdrive, all in one operation.
You can get it here:

Release 0.9.1 · ninxsoft/Mist

Fixed insecure HTTP URLs for certain Firmware files - thanks F1248! Fixed a bug where downloads were not being cancelled when the Escape key was being pressed - thanks F1248! Rolled back the Bootab...

github.com

(download the ".dmg" file)

See if it runs on another Mac you are using now (it's relatively "new", and requires Big Sur or later). If Mist won't work for you, say so, and I'll offer other pathways.

You'll need a 16gb flashdrive.
For Mojave, an 8gb flashdrive might work (if you don't have a 16gb), maybe yes, maybe no.

Mist will offer you the option to download Mojave (along with many other versions of the OS).

After you've created the flashdrive:
- power down, all the way off
- connect flashdrive
- press the power on button and IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears
- select the icon for the flashdrive and hit return
- mac should boot from the flashdrive

It will probably "open the installer", but DON'T run the installer yet.
- quit the installer (try command-Q)
- open disk utility
- go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices" (so you can see the physical drive)
- look at the "list on the left". The topmost item should be the drive inside. WE NEED TO ERASE IT.
- click the top line and click "erase"
- erase to APFS, GUID partition format
- when the erase is done, quit disk utility and open the OS installer.

- start clicking through. The Mac will reboot one or more times, and the screen will go dark for a minute or more without any other indication of activity. Just be patient.
- when the OS install is done, you should see the initial setup screen (choose your language)
- CONNECT YOUR BACKUP DRIVE if you have one, then start clicking through.
- I'm not sure if migration assistant is going to let you "migrate" from a backup created with Monterey -- it can be particular about such things. Worth a try.
- this is where a cloned backup created with CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper is superior. You can just "mount it in the finder" and copy stuff over "by hand".

If nothing else works, you can create an entirely NEW account for your wife, and go on from there.

Good luck.

 

[Ben J.]

Note about bootable installers; they don't have to be thumb drives, flash or such, they can be created on ssds or hd spinners, and as partitions on either. Only requirement is it's a HFS+ (mac os extended journaled).

 

[Ben J.]

I haven't tried the "Mist" thing, but it's quite easy to do it manually.
Here's Apple Support:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS​

 

[Ben J.]

MrMacintosh has links to installers back to 10.13 High Sierra.

 

[Apple_Glen_UK]

Thanks to you all for your tips/suggestions. I'll have a go some time this week and will let you know how I get on! 😬

 

[Apple_Glen_UK]

Ok, so in the end, despite all the advice (which was appreciated!) I ended up getting the bloke from the laptop shop at the road from be to do it. I'm generally not bad with computers but I'm really not very confident with the whole setting-up-from-scratch thing!

Anyway, the fella sorted it for me and I am now running Mojave 10.14.6. On my 'old' Mac I was also running the standalone version of Lightroom (6). I wanted to get that onto my new machine too. However, when I logged in on the Adobe website I discovered that the installer for that had been withdrawn at the end of December last year. I searched the web to see if I could find it anywhere else, but had no luck. I got chatting to a member of their staff on the Live Chat, someone called Pratibha, and they were exceptionally helpful in sorting it for me. They sent me a download link and even waited patiently for me and guided me through the set up. Just thought I'd give them a mention because I am quick to moan when I've had poor service or issues etc so when someone like Pratibha is as helpful and patient as they were with a novice like me, I ought to sing their praises!