Could not create a Preboot Volume for APFS install

So I have this issue when trying to reinstall macOS in the recovery, but when I tried to reinstall "Could not create a preboot volume for APFS install" comes up.

I came across this solution which requires you to completely wipe your drive but I don't want to do that since that would mean my BootCamp installation would also have to be gone.

Is there a way to fix this issue without completely wiping my disk?


Solution 1:

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I faced this issue when i converted HPS+ to APFS manually via DiskUtil. My MacBook was completely dead.

Bless utility is looking for APFS Preboot volume and because it is missing it fails to configure APFS container.

What i've done is:

  1. Boot to Recovery
  2. go to Terminal
  3. check partitions/disk numbers with diskutil list (preboot volume was missing for my APFS container )
  4. create Preboot volume manually with diskutil apfs addVolume disk"Disk Number here" apfs Preboot -role B
  5. and then bless the APFS container again with bless --folder /Volumes/MACINTOSH HD/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --verbose
  6. bless again via Startup Disk ( just to be sure)
  7. reboot

Solution 2:

For some odd reason, running the installer off a bootable flash drive solved the issue (as suggested here.)

I created the bootable flash drive using Install Disk Creator (DiskMaker X seems to have some trouble with High Sierra), booted onto it using Startup Manager by holding down Option at boot time, and then proceeding as normal with the install.