Machines not pulling Ventura in recovery

rpayne
Contributor II

I'm seeing a lot of machines that when booted into recovery, Ventura is not being presented. Usually it's Monterey. Appears to be the OS the machine is shipped with. All of these machine were previously on Ventura. When can fix it with AC2, but that's not scalable. Anyone seen this?

6 REPLIES 6

Strannik
New Contributor III

@rpayne 

When you install macOS from Recovery, you get the current version of the most recently installed macOS, with some exceptions:

  • On an Intel-based Mac, if you use Shift-Option-Command-R during startup, you might be offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
  • On an Intel-based Mac, if you use Option-Command-R during startup, you might be offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
  • If you just erased your entire startup disk, you might be offered an earlier compatible version of macOS.
  • If the Mac logic board was just replaced, you might be offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

 

"If you just erased your entire startup disk, you might be offered an earlier compatible version of macOS."

This is what is going on. These are all machines in the process of being redeployed. What would you recommend instead of this?

mainelysteve
Valued Contributor II

If they're Apple silicon Macs then treat them like an iPad and use the Wipe Device command. They do hit the recovery volume, but you'll only see it for a minute or two before it reboots again.

That's about as scalable as you'll get without resorting to external media (ssd/hdd or flash drives) with bootable installers on them or AC2.

Strannik
New Contributor III

@rpayne For Apple Silicon Macs, if you can get your hands on them, - use Apple Configurator to restore latest macOS. 

For Intel Macs - hold Command+Option+R to boot into Internet Recovery and get latest version of macOS. But it doesn't always work. As Apple says "you might be offered the latest macOS". Only they know what it depends on.

AC2 is what we're trying to avoid for other reasons. 

AJPinto
Honored Contributor III

The version of macOS that is offered in recovery is based on the EFI, not the previously installed version of macOS. The recovery version does not usually update with macOS updates, but can be updated independently with enough effort.

I have been told in this past that Apple does not update recovery to ensure highest compatibility with OS recovery attempts. Though I would not be shocked its more nefarious like apple cannot figure out how to reliably update recovery.