MacOS Big Sur Issues

Question

Created Nov ’20

Replies 36

Boosts 0

Views 47k

Participants 48

I reset my laptop to the default settings normally (I’ve done it before), but when I tried to reinstall MacOS Big Sur it says “No users available for authorization”. I’ve tried making a new admin through terminal in recovery mode but it isn’t working and Command+S to get to single user mode doesn’t work either. Any ideas on how to fix this?

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Answer 1

aldismac OP

Nov ’20

I also have the same issue. Please help. Thanks.

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Answer 2

tgermaneri OP

Nov ’20

Just had this happen to me and noticed your question during my search. I was able to fix it by allowing it to boot into normal mode where it asked me to use my apple account to activate the mac, before I "quit recovery assistant" button (IIRC that's what it said) I chose "Erase Mac" from the menu up top. That took a few seconds, rebooted and I was able to continue a fresh install, this time without the “No users available for authorization” message.

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Answer 3

aldismac OP

Nov ’20

You are my life saver! Thank you so much. It Works!

2

Answer 4

rhweinberger OP

Nov ’20

Okay, same issue here, but I'm not given the option for "normal" mode. It just goes into recovery mode straight away. Any ideas?

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Answer 5

tgermaneri OP

Nov ’20

@rhweinberger "normal" mode in this case was recovery mode. I had just erased the "Macintosh HD" partition because it was just full of crap and I wanted a fresh start. On the screen where you log into your apple account, that's where you'll find the "Erase Mac" option. I don't know if you have to do it before or after you sign on, but you should not exit from the dialog after you sign on. The option is on the menu bar at the top of the screen. Good luck!

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Answer 6

ssearson OP

Dec ’20

I just spoke with Apple support about this issue and they had me go to terminal and then type resetpassword and then I erased the mac and was able to reinstall mac os big sur. Part of the issue was that I had erased the macbook air without creating any user accounts. After it reboots you will need to connect to wifi again.

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Answer 7

SkiDiamonds OP

Dec ’20

I’m having this same issue, only after I type resetpassword into terminal it is saying reset password failed and that there are no users on this volume to recover. Not sure what to do next

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Answer 8

user_not_found OP

Dec ’20

Having the same issue on my end as well. Accidentally wiped out the disk on my M1. Now getting the “No users available for authorization” message when I try to reinstall OSX.

Tried:

Terminal (resetpassword)
Terminal (rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/var/db/.AppleSetupDone")

No luck...

1

Answer 9

hpwot OP

Dec ’20

I had the same issue @tgermaneri answer helped me thank you so much it is reinstalling now. I never had that in an other Mac .

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Answer 10

marmaladeBen OP

Dec ’20

I had the same issue and tried

Terminal (resetpassword)
Terminal (rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/var/db/.AppleSetupDone")

As this was a fresh install and was happy to wipe all data -what worked for me was erasing the data drive as I had only erased the Macintosh HD drive. Please be careful to ensure you have a backup in place should you not be able to wipe everything before proceeding with this solution.

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Answer 11

Nashyou OP

Dec ’20

go to iCloud.com and erase the Mac then delete it from your account and then long press on power button for of the MacBook with M1 chip to get to reinstall the os

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Answer 12

ahmadBadwan OP

Dec ’20

to reinstall macOS big sure on MacBook Air :

utilities window choose Utilities > Terminal from the menu bar
Type resetpassword in Terminal
Click on the Reset Password box(any where) and from menu bar select Recovery Assistant > Erase Mac from the menu bar

(even if there no user inside the box)
4. Click Erase Mac in the window that opens When done, your Mac will restarts.
5. follow the steps in wizard , Until you see Exit to Recovery Utilities.
6. select Reinstall Mac OS Big Sure

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Answer 13

DavePullig OP

Dec ’20

I eventually managed to get around this by deleting all the volumes/partitions on the disk and starting from scratch.

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Answer 14

protossor OP

Dec ’20

The steps that worked for me is to delete both the "data" volume and "Macintosh HD" volume and create a new volume from scratch. Then the reinstaller stops complaining.

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Answer 15

leefe012 OP

Dec ’20

Delete both Data and macintosh HD and then shut down Disk Utility and reinstall Mac OS Big Sur. This option worked for me as well. All other solutions given, like using Terminal, did not work for me. Thanks protossor.

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