▷ How to fix error creating Preboot volume for APFS install error

This error is not very common among users and only appears if the user is trying to remove their Macs and reinstall MacOS High Sierra. If you get the error message “Could not create a Preboot Volume for APFS Installation” when you try to reinstall macOS High Sierra, In this post we will show you why this error occurs and how to fix it.

Error message

First, we need to explain what it means when your Mac says that “could not create a pre-boot volume for the APFS installation”. This error means that the Preboot runtime environment (PXE) cannot install on APFS volume. The main reason Preboot cannot be installed is that something (that Apple has yet to discover) is wrong with APFS or Apple File System, the new file system that Apple is introducing in High Sierra to replace the file system of 20 years or HFS + .

Volumen APFS

The new APFS system has improved security, while being faster and more compatible with SSD, but the problem occurs with OS X which is not compatible with it and also with MacOS which is older than High Sierra. And when you try to reinstall High Sierra using recovery mode, not working due to partition type of apple file system.

There are two possible solutions or methods in our case when you cannot reinstall MacOS High Sierra and you get the error message “could not create a pre-boot volume to install APFS”, and they are: delete partition or volumes on your Mac or install Sierra on internet recovery partition. We will go through these methods step by step.

Method # 1. Delete partition (volume).

Note: We must tell you that this method is the most effective to correct the error “could not create a pre-boot volume for the APFS installation”.

1. Turn off your mac.

2. Restart your Mac in recovery mode. Press and hold the power button and at the same time the command + R until you see the Apple logo.

3. The utilities menu will appear.

   MacOS Utilities

4. Select Disk Utility. All your Mac drivers will appear.

5. Select the internal drive and click Delete. This will erase the drive.

6. Close disk utility.

7. Now, you have two options:

• Reopen Disk Utility and select the internal drive and format as “Mac OS Extended”. And then you can reinstall macOS.

• Or you can shut down your Mac and restart it. Hold down the Option keys + Command + R to enter Internet recovery mode. And select Disk Utility. You will see a drive and format it as “Mac OS Extended” and will call her “Macintosh HD”. If you don't see the drive, create one and reformat it as “Mac OS Extended”. And then you can exit Disk Utility and click Reinstall macOS.

  Remove disk

Removing this drive will cause the APFS system that is the problem to be removed and cause the error and you can reinstall macOS.

Method # 2. Enter internet recovery mode.

1. Restart your Mac.

2. When your device restarts, press Command + R + Alt / Option to put your Mac into Internet recovery mode.

   Internet recovery mode

3. You must choose the WiFi and enter the Utilities

4. Click Reinstall Operating System and it should install the original operating system on your computer.

If you want to install High Sierra, you can install or update it from the App Store when the procedure is done.