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Cannot select an install device for Mac OS Monterey

there is some previous discussion about adding a volume under Apple SSD using Disk Utilities, but that instruction relies upon being able to select an “Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Format”. That’s not a format option available to me. I only have APFS formats available. Any help for this?

Posted on Jan 10, 2022 9:39 AM

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Posted on Jan 10, 2022 10:21 AM

You need more free space

If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, your Mac needs 26GB of available storage to upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, your Mac needs up to 44GB of available storage.


Delete/move items from your startup disk. Go to About This Mac>Storage>Manage and see what you can do

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Jan 10, 2022 10:21 AM in response to kcshem

You need more free space

If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, your Mac needs 26GB of available storage to upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, your Mac needs up to 44GB of available storage.


Delete/move items from your startup disk. Go to About This Mac>Storage>Manage and see what you can do

Jan 10, 2022 10:05 AM in response to kcshem

kcshem wrote:

Thank you for the response. I’m just trying to install the Monterey OS on my MacBook. I haven’t needed to install from a USB stick in the past, but it sounds like you are suggesting that(?)

No, I was just guessing at where you read that you needed Mac OS Extended.

Assuming you erased the drive, there should be at least one Volume on the drive, but it sounds like there is not.

If there is nothing but a container on the drive, add an APFS volume. If there is something on the drive, what is it.

Jan 10, 2022 10:11 AM in response to Barney-15E

It’s greyed out and not responsive to hovering, but appears (in the pic) to be saying

“Macintosh HD

250.69 GB total

6.65 GB available”

though I’m not certain what that’s actually saying to me… whether it’s just the size and availability or if it’s saying there’s no space. If the later, how much space does it need? I ca try deleting some stuff I guess, guessing

Jan 10, 2022 10:18 AM in response to kcshem

What OS are you upgrading from. That determines the amount of free space needed. You can subtract out the 12.6GB of the installer you already downloaded.

From Sierra onwards, you need 26GB free prior to the download. So, you would need about 14 GB free for it to install on that drive. It will only end up using 16GB, so you would be left with about 10GB free. That's not enough for an SSD to run efficiently. If you can't just delete files, archive them to an external drive. Don't forget to backup that drive, too.

Cannot select an install device for Mac OS Monterey

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