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I have a mid-2012 Intel Macbook Air (256GB) which is physically fine.

I had bought it second-hand in 2017 & the seller specified that it was only running Windows 10 & did not have macOS installed. He had updated Bootcamp Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Now I want to use it for macOS but I can't access the Mac partition because it doesn't exist on that machine.

I tried all the Command+R, Command+Option+R key combinations, but nothing worked. The Bootcamp assistant software is also missing.

Also tried to use a USB stick to boot from but wasn't successful. :(

The disk partitions currently looks like this:

My Disk's Current partitions

What should I do now?

Is it still possible to restore macOS or do I have to use it in windows only?

Any and all assistance welcomed!

IconDaemon
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Danny1o1
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  • Are you able to boot to recovery with WiFi or Ethernet connected to the internet? https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery-on-an-intel-based-mac-mchl338cf9a8/mac This will simplify things if you can get to recovery. Option Command R is the one you want, ideally. If not, what Mac can you borrow or take this to another Mac to assist with the erase? – bmike Sep 13 '22 at 11:45
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    Which version of macOS (OS X) was on the USB stick? Your Mac supports OS X 10.7.4 through macOS 10.15.7. – David Anderson Sep 13 '22 at 12:26
  • Are you sure the Mac is a mid-2012 Intel Macbook Air? If you can find the serial number on the Mac, then you can use this website to get the model. – David Anderson Sep 13 '22 at 12:42
  • @bmike, wifi is working but can't get to the recovery mode, the most I can do is go to advance boot from settings in Windows. Currently no one in my contact has a Mac device – Danny1o1 Sep 14 '22 at 12:19
  • @DavidAnderson, I have the MacOS X mountain lion on my 14gig usb & it is indeed a 2012 intel macbook air5, 2. Actually I found out that in the same webpage you have provided – Danny1o1 Sep 14 '22 at 12:21

1 Answers1

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You can install OS X El Capitan, then upgrade to macOS Catalina. See this answer for instructions for creating an OS X El Capitan installer USB flash drive from Windows. After booting from an OS X El Capitan USB flash drive installer, make sure you first use the Disk Utility application to erase your internal drive before installing El Capitan. Choose the following in the Disk Utility application "Erase" popup.

Item Choice
Name Macintosh HD
Format OS X Extended (Journaled)
Scheme GUID Partition Map

After installing and booting to El Capitan, download and install all available updates. Finally, goto the Apple website How to download macOS for instructions on how to download macOS upgrade applications. I would recommend first upgrading to High Sierra before upgrading to Catalina.

David Anderson
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  • Good news here..!! Somehow managed to get into Internet Recovery & it brought up an installer of "MAC OS X LION", but couldn't install because it asked for an empty " GUID" Partition. What should I do next? (My partitions are same as before) – Danny1o1 Oct 05 '22 at 08:01
  • Did you use the Disk Utility to erase the internal drive before trying to install Lion? – David Anderson Oct 05 '22 at 08:13
  • No, I just tried the key combination as I do always & it worked this time. I didn't change anything, just selected "Reinstall macos" And it asked for a volume (partition) with GUID to install . Then I quit from there and i have created a 150 gb GUID empty partition. With the rest left for windows. Is GUID and GPT the same? – Danny1o1 Oct 06 '22 at 04:55
  • Yes. GPT is the abbreviation for GUID Partition Table. GUID is the abbreviation for Globally Unique Identifier. – David Anderson Oct 06 '22 at 05:11
  • My friend had borrowed the device for his college presentation a few days after partitioning and has messed up all the partitions I had created. Now there is only the C: drive and the recovery drive. He has deleted all the other partitions for some reason he is not ready to share with me. I now don't know how to create those partitions once again & I can't find the instructions websites I had used. Now I have to do it from scratch. How do I create the 'GUID /GPT' partition? What must be the volume of this drive? – Danny1o1 Jan 02 '23 at 15:14
  • I tried to install bootcamp for windows, but it just said that my version of windows was incompatible – Danny1o1 Jan 02 '23 at 15:16