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# Thank a Nerd: 2011 iMac Edition
- URL: https://chrisenns.com/2024/04/thank-a-nerd-2011-imac-edition/
- Published: 2024-04-22T15:10:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-04-22T15:25:43.000Z
- Description: Fixing a 13 year old iMac with a 8 year old operating system.
- Author: Chris Enns
- Tags: Apple, macos, iMac

I've had a 2011 iMac sitting on the floor of my home office waiting to be sold / recycled for years now. It had worked fine up until I erased it to prepare for resale, and then when I tried to reinstall macOS the installer would always fail with this error message:

![Photo of an iMac with "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again." error on screen](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/50/6750cf9b-787e-4b61-ae0a-04a8492a2ece/content/images/2024/04/IMG_0632.jpeg)

"An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."

Would you believe that when I tried running it again, it did the same thing? 😄

I'd googled for possible fixes in the past, but nothing had worked each time I tried. Then this weekend I was motivated to try one more time before sending it off to be recycled and stumbled on [this YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9pK75VPJC0&ref=chrisenns.com) which lead me [to this page](https://mrmacintosh.com/fixed-an-error-occurred-while-preparing-the-installation-macos-sierra-recovery-error/?ref=chrisenns.com) that had the actual fix I needed:

> In late December of 2023, I started an investigation as to why macOS High Sierra Internet recovery was broken. That’s not all, now macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Recovery & Internet Recovery are also broken! Keep in mind, the is NOT the date and time issue. This is different issue that can be reproduced every single time.

## Thank Mr. Macintosh for Spending His Xmas Troubleshooting macOS Sierra

When I saw the published date on the blog post as being from January 14, 2024—**this year!**—I was very curious because most of the other fixes I'd tried were from 4+ years ago.

I elected to start with fix #3, "Download the ONLY working version of macOS Sierra from Apple to recovery and use it to install Sierra!", since it seemed the easiest to try.

I had to repeat the steps because I accidentally closed the Terminal window, killing the whole process half way through. But after the second walk through of the instructions, it worked and I had a successfully booting fresh install of macOS Sierra again.

![An iMac on a table with a login screen for an admin account.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/50/6750cf9b-787e-4b61-ae0a-04a8492a2ece/content/images/2024/04/IMG_0649.jpeg)

Hooray! Booted up fresh macOS Sierra on a 2011 iMac

As a result, I was able to sell it on Facebook Marketplace and send it off to a new home where someone else could use it for however long it lasts for them.

I really can't imagine a 2011 Windows PC still looking as good and running as well as this machine did. This was a 27" 2011 iMac with 2.7GHz i5, 16GB of 1333MHz RAM, and a Radeon 6770M with 512MB so not an entry level machine for it's time, but still.

So thank you [Mr. Macintosh](https://mrmacintosh.com/fixed-an-error-occurred-while-preparing-the-installation-macos-sierra-recovery-error/?ref=chrisenns.com) for wondering why an 8 year old operating system wasn't installing properly for people and taking the time to find 3 possible fixes! Nerds are awesome.