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This error is not very common with users and appears only if the user tries to erase their Mac and reinstall macOS High Sierra. If you get this error message “Can not create a preboot volume for APFS” when you try to reinstall macOS High Sierra, we will explain in this article why this error occurs and how to fix it. First, we need to explain what it means when your Mac says that “you can not create a pre-launch volume for APFS.” This error means that the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) can not be installed on the APFS volume. The main reason you can not install pre-launch is due to something (Apple has not yet figured it out) with the APFS or the Apple file system, the new file system that Apple introduced in High Sierra to replace the 20-year old file system or HFS +.
In our case, there are two possible solutions or methods when you can not reinstall macOS High Sierra and you get the “Can not create pre-launch volume for APFS” error message, that is, delete the partition or the volumes of your computer. Mac or install Sierra on the Internet Recovery partition. We will go through this method step by step.
Solutions to fix Macbook apfs error
Method 1: Delete Your Partition (Volume).
- Turn off your Mac.
- Restart your Mac in recovery mode. Press and hold the power button while holding down the + R button until the Apple logo appears.
- The Utilities menu will appear.
- Select Disk Utility. All the drivers on your Mac will appear.
- Select the internal drive and click Clear. This will remove the reader.
- Close Disk Utility.
- You now have two options:
Reopen Disk Utility, select the internal drive and format it as “Mac OS Extended”. And then you can reinstall macOS.
Or you can turn off your Mac and restart it. Hold down Option + Command + R to access Internet Recovery mode. And select Disk Utility. You will see a drive, reformat it to “Mac OS Extended” and name it “Macintosh HD”. If you do not see the drive, create one and format it as “Extended Mac OS”. Then you can exit the disk utility and click on Reinstall macOS.
Removing this drive will remove the APFS system that is causing the problem and the error and allow you to reinstall macOS.
Method 2: Enter Internet Recovery Mode.
- Restart your Mac.
- When your device restarts, press the Command + R + Alt / Option keys to put your Mac in Internet Recovery mode.
- You must select WiFi and enter the utilities
- Click Reinstall the operating system. The original operating system must be installed on your computer.
If you want to install High Sierra, you can install or update from the App Store when the process is complete.