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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Installing Sierra on late 2018 model MacBook Pro

Installing Sierra on late 2018 model MacBook Pro
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phkc070408
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Mar 26, 2019, 09:35 AM
 
When High Sierra launched, Apple disabled a feature that I enjoyed, the ability to create thumbnail icons of my picture files using the automator. While I found a third party app that I can do them one at a time, it is very time consuming to do several hundred or even a thousand files at once (I take a lot of puctures). I’ve research the topic for a year and a half now, since High Sierra was introduced. I also reported the issue to Apple, but no luck.

Without going into why I am so worried about my icons or why I can’t just use the finder to show an thumbnail of the image, because that’s not what I want to do, I figured out the only way to do what I want is to keep a small partition on my disk (50 GB) and keep a Sierra OS on it.

When my 2015 MacBook Pro died, I bought a late 2018 MacBook Pro. I have a Sierra Boot Disk and would love to create a small 50 GB Sierra partition, but the disk format is AFPS, and Sierra used the old Mac Journaled. I noticed under the Partition tab of the disk utility that I can create a new partition with a Journaled format.

That said, will I be able to install Sierra on a Journaled partition on my 2018 MacBook Pri, or will some other factor prohibit this, such as Apple’s desire to prevent one from using an older OS because it’s not the newest thing on the block?
     
reader50
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Mar 26, 2019, 12:36 PM
 
In general, you can only use an earlier OS that once shipped with your Mac model. ie - the earliest OS that will boot it, is the one that model first shipped with. There are exceptions, especially if Apply only spec-bumped a logic board.

The 2018 MBPs first shipped with High Sierra. The 2017 MBPs first shipped with Sierra. You may be a year too late for Sierra compatibility.

To test it, you need a bootable Sierra install on a USB flash drive. (or other external drive) You'll need access to an older Mac to create that install. Got one, or know a friend with a 2010-2017 Mac?
     
phkc070408  (op)
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Mar 27, 2019, 01:18 PM
 
I do have a USB boot disk for Sierra. I created two of them when High Sierra launched without the preferred feature. I formatted my partition to Journaled. I'll report back with results in a few days.
     
turtle777
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Mar 27, 2019, 06:12 PM
 
Or use Parallels.

I have a Lion Parallels VM that I occasionally use.

-t
     
reader50
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Mar 27, 2019, 07:26 PM
 
I thought Parallels blocked macOS installs. That it was only good for Windows or Linux. Or is my info outdated?
     
turtle777
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Mar 27, 2019, 07:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
I thought Parallels blocked macOS installs. That it was only good for Windows or Linux. Or is my info outdated?
It might only block the current Mac OS, but not older versions.

-t
     
phkc070408  (op)
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Mar 31, 2019, 07:46 PM
 
I have a copy of Sierra on VMWare Fusion. For some reason, the virtual PC behaves differently than the "real" PC.

As for installing anything, I was unable to get my computer to boot to any of my flash drives. I have 2 copies of 10.12 and 2 copies of 10.13 (in case one becomes corrupt). When I would insert the sticks into the computer, the Finder saw them and all looked good, but when I option-boot, none of them showed up.

I did some research and booted into recovery mode and made the changes in the security startup utility (or whatever it is called). I enabled booting from an external drive. No dice.

So I spent an hour at the Apple Store Genius Bar. We spent half of the hour trying to get the computer to boot off of the USB, but when the rep asked someone else for help, he said that Apple disabled that altogether. We then spent the second half of the hour working on my original problem, the feature that no longer works. He documented the problem and sent it off to Apple.

So, the best I can do is use the virtual for what it will do, and I'll have to do the other half of my task using brute force (1 at a time vs. doing 500 at once).

Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it.
     
reader50
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Mar 31, 2019, 09:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by phkc070408 View Post
We spent half of the hour trying to get the computer to boot off of the USB, but when the rep asked someone else for help, he said that Apple disabled that altogether.
That sounds wrong. I'm guessing your T2 chip had locked out external booting, which is odd. Assuming you bought your 2018 new, no one should have locked out external booting. Anyway, they probably booted into recovery mode -> Startup Security Utility -> External Boot -> Allow booting from external media.

If that didn't work, reset NVRAM for the change to take. Afterwards, you should be able to boot from externals. Apple did not remove that ability.
     
P
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Apr 1, 2019, 11:18 AM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
I thought Parallels blocked macOS installs. That it was only good for Windows or Linux. Or is my info outdated?
I think that information is outdated. Apple's license for MacOS used to disallow installing into a VM, and both Parallels and VMware enforced that for a while, but they appear to have stopped. Parallels even promotes that usage now.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
   
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