Option-⌘-R via Automaton is not working
Issue #384
resolved
Using the latest pre-beta build 20119, I have configured an Automaton to use Option-⌘-R for booting. It doesn’t boot the latest Internet recovery tools (i.e. Catalina based ones), but Yosemite-era tools instead. The flashing of the Automaton was successful, as I also made a change to the command to be run in Terminal, so I could see that it took my changes.
Comments (15)
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reporter
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can’t replicate this issue. Works fine with our iMac.
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- changed status to on hold
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reporter
I just tested it again with the Automaton firmware coming with version 2.0.1 (20252), same result. It’s set up to use “Latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac (Option-⌘-R)”, and it’s booting into the Yosemite tools. This is on various iMac14,1 with Catalina 10.15.2 GM installed). What other information can I provide to get to the bottom of this?
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reporter
How can I get this issue out of the “on hold” status?
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reporter
- changed status to open
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I believe older Macs use that shortcut to force Internet Recovery at all (as opposed to the partition), rather than forcing the latest macOS recovery.
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reporter
Well, not quite correct. It works fine when I’m doing it myself at the keyboard, and that matches Apple’s KB:
https://support.apple.com/HT204904
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I just tried it with the keyboard view open and the command-option-r option set, and it showed that it was pressing those keys.
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is it possible you are inserting the automaton at the boot selector screen but pressing command-option-R at startup? Those two are sometimes different.
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reporter
Hm, I might have, will have to look at it again. But isn’t that the recommended procedure? Hold ALT pressed at startup to get to the boot selector screen, then plug in the Automator to take over?
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For most firmware, that is true. For some older firmware, it varies slightly.
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reporter
If that’s true, then we have a problem, as we have all kinds of different generations of iMacs that need to go through this process regularly. If we cannot rely on the Automaton to boot into the correct environment, what is the solution? They were meant to be used by people who are not technically inclined, so that they don’t need to do these complicated and confusing key combinations.
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The recommendation is to hold the key combo (command-option-R) and when the apple logo appears, plug in the automaton. Then everything else should work as expected.
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- changed status to resolved
i believe this is resolved. Please comment if that is not the case.
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Just tested it with PreBeta-MDS_Build-210015 and the updated firmware for the Automatons, same issue. It is not the Catalina Recovery environment that is loaded, but the machine’s original, Yosemite-based one.