Accidentally deleted MacHD, Failed macOS Monterey reinstall on MacBook Pro

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Accidentally deleted MacHD, Failed macOS Monterey reinstall on MacBook Pro

Hi, I need guidance! I was trying to clear my Macbook Pro A1506 (2015, was running MacOS Monterey), with a 256GB SSD, for resale. In Disk Utility, I accidentally deleted the Macbook HD (yeah, there's a story behind that, oops, deed is done). So I tried making a new partition "Macbook HD" with APFS, and then reinstalling OS X. This seemed to be progressing as normal, and then failed and sent me into internet recovery and wants install an older version of Mac OS (now I forget which one). Also, it doesn't give me the option for APFS.

I'm attaching pictures of what I see in that version of "OS X Utilities" (as well as a couple earlier screenshots before this disaster, showing the details of the computer while still running Monterey).

What is the best route to getting back to a working HD with Monterey on it? If you ask, Do I have a Time Machine backup? Yes, well, it's been inherited by a new MacBook and that has upgraded to newest OS (Tahoe), so I don't think that will help.

Your wisdom and guidance will be much appreciated!!

Previous to deletion:

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Nov 24, 2025 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Matti Haveri

Level 6

19,670 points

Nov 24, 2025 10:48 PM in response to JerryGP

Try to boot to Internet Recovery: Shutdown, press the power button, when the Mac chimes, start pressing Option-Command-R until you see a spinning globe. Join to the Wi-Fi and wait for about 20-40 minutes for it to boot from the cloud.

If that fails, reset PRAM: Shutdown, press the power button, when the Mac chimes, start pressing Option-Command-P-R until the Mac chimes again. Then repeat previous step. You might also reboot the router and tell rest of the family not to heavily use the net, just in case. Or connect the Mac via Ethernet to the router if Wi-Fi fails.

When booted to Internet Recovery, switch to Disk Utility > View > Show All Devices. The select the topmost device (not volumes under it) and choose APFS (you might need to select GUID partition scheme before that is selectable), set name for the disk and erase.

Then switch to macOS installer and install to the freshly formatted disk.

When after install the Mac boots, quit when it starts to ask settings for the new user so you can put it on sale.

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Answer 2

JerryGP Author

Level 1

7 points

Nov 25, 2025 5:03 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Hi, Matti,

thanks for this. Turns out I didn't have to follow it:

Overnight, I had shutdown the computer already. This morning, starting it up, I didn't get the keys down in time to keep the normal boot-up from happening. Anyway, that continued, through a couple of 20-30 min cycles - and voila! - it had recovered itself and had reinstalled Monterey. I went through the first screens of setup to get to the place where I could get into Disk Utility, and yes, the volumes were all correct again. So I've (more carefully this time :-) erased the MacBook HD, and am reinstalling Monterey, and will be set to sell this thing off.

SO, thanks again, and we'll consider this one solved. - with a win for Apple's self-repairing system.

Blessings, - Jerry

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