I reset my laptop to the default settings normally (I’ve done it before), but when I tried to reinstall MacOS Big Sur it says “No users available for authorization”. I’ve tried making a new admin through terminal in recovery mode but it isn’t working and Command+S to get to single user mode doesn’t work either. Any ideas on how to fix this?
MacOS Big Sur Issues
I also have the same issue. Please help. Thanks.
Just had this happen to me and noticed your question during my search. I was able to fix it by allowing it to boot into normal mode where it asked me to use my apple account to activate the mac, before I "quit recovery assistant" button (IIRC that's what it said) I chose "Erase Mac" from the menu up top. That took a few seconds, rebooted and I was able to continue a fresh install, this time without the “No users available for authorization” message.
You are my life saver! Thank you so much. It Works!
Okay, same issue here, but I'm not given the option for "normal" mode. It just goes into recovery mode straight away. Any ideas?
@rhweinberger "normal" mode in this case was recovery mode. I had just erased the "Macintosh HD" partition because it was just full of crap and I wanted a fresh start. On the screen where you log into your apple account, that's where you'll find the "Erase Mac" option. I don't know if you have to do it before or after you sign on, but you should not exit from the dialog after you sign on. The option is on the menu bar at the top of the screen. Good luck!
I just spoke with Apple support about this issue and they had me go to terminal and then type resetpassword and then I erased the mac and was able to reinstall mac os big sur. Part of the issue was that I had erased the macbook air without creating any user accounts. After it reboots you will need to connect to wifi again.
I’m having this same issue, only after I type resetpassword into terminal it is saying reset password failed and that there are no users on this volume to recover. Not sure what to do next
Having the same issue on my end as well. Accidentally wiped out the disk on my M1. Now getting the “No users available for authorization” message when I try to reinstall OSX.
Tried:
Tried:
Terminal (resetpassword)
Terminal (rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/var/db/.AppleSetupDone")
I had the same issue @tgermaneri answer helped me thank you so much it is reinstalling now. I never had that in an other Mac .
I had the same issue and tried
Terminal (resetpassword)
Terminal (rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/var/db/.AppleSetupDone")
go to iCloud.com and erase the Mac then delete it from your account and then long press on power button for of the MacBook with M1 chip to get to reinstall the os
to reinstall macOS big sure on MacBook Air :
4. Click Erase Mac in the window that opens When done, your Mac will restarts.
5. follow the steps in wizard , Until you see Exit to Recovery Utilities.
6. select Reinstall Mac OS Big Sure
utilities window choose Utilities > Terminal from the menu bar
Type resetpassword in Terminal
Click on the Reset Password box(any where) and from menu bar select Recovery Assistant > Erase Mac from the menu bar
4. Click Erase Mac in the window that opens When done, your Mac will restarts.
5. follow the steps in wizard , Until you see Exit to Recovery Utilities.
6. select Reinstall Mac OS Big Sure
I eventually managed to get around this by deleting all the volumes/partitions on the disk and starting from scratch.
The steps that worked for me is to delete both the "data" volume and "Macintosh HD" volume and create a new volume from scratch. Then the reinstaller stops complaining.
Delete both Data and macintosh HD and then shut down Disk Utility and reinstall Mac OS Big Sur. This option worked for me as well. All other solutions given, like using Terminal, did not work for me. Thanks protossor.
Delete both Data and macintosh HD and then shut down Disk Utility and reinstall Mac OS Big Sur. This option worked for me as well. All other solutions given, like using Terminal, did not work for me.
Thanks protossor and leefe012!!
Thanks protossor and leefe012!!
This happened to me with a brand new mb air. Got stuck after following the steps I have taken in the past to complete a nuke and pave which, to my surprise, is not even close to the same steps with an Apple laptop with an M1 chip and Big Sur.
First, to get into recovery mode, you have to shut down the device, and then to turn on, hold down the power button until you see the option to continue with recovery mode. Cmd+R or Cmd+Ctrl+R doesn't work anymore.
Next, if you get yourself to the point that you are reinstalling Big Sur and get the “No users available for authorization” problem, have no fear. Delete the Macintosh HD partition and the Data partition. Granted, your experience after that is going to be somewhat messy. Eventually you will need to get back into recovery mode and disk utility, and create a new partition Macintosh HD. Otherwise, Big Sur offers to install, but there are no available HDs to select at that step. You must create the new Macintosh HD partition after deleting both Data and Macintosh HD.
I find that the previous answers to this question were insufficient in terms of details. There was no guidance regarding the creation of a new partition before reinstalling Big Sur.
First, to get into recovery mode, you have to shut down the device, and then to turn on, hold down the power button until you see the option to continue with recovery mode. Cmd+R or Cmd+Ctrl+R doesn't work anymore.
Next, if you get yourself to the point that you are reinstalling Big Sur and get the “No users available for authorization” problem, have no fear. Delete the Macintosh HD partition and the Data partition. Granted, your experience after that is going to be somewhat messy. Eventually you will need to get back into recovery mode and disk utility, and create a new partition Macintosh HD. Otherwise, Big Sur offers to install, but there are no available HDs to select at that step. You must create the new Macintosh HD partition after deleting both Data and Macintosh HD.
I find that the previous answers to this question were insufficient in terms of details. There was no guidance regarding the creation of a new partition before reinstalling Big Sur.
Same issue. thank god for this forum. I haven’t even had this MacBook for 2 weeks & I thought it was broken.
@marmaladeBen’s way helped. I had only in fact erased the Macintosh hd drive.. I then went and erased the data drive and it worked.
@marmaladeBen’s way helped. I had only in fact erased the Macintosh hd drive.. I then went and erased the data drive and it worked.
I just solved the error "No users available for authorization." which occurred upon attempting to reinstall Big Sur on MacBook Pro with Apple M1 chip. Likely what happened when you went to Recover Mode > Disk Utility you did not erase all the volumes of data. Within Disk Utility go to View > Show All Devices and select "Container disk" and erase. Then close out of Disk Utility, and now you should be able to reinstall Big Sur. Something to note is that it's possible that erasing container disk will fail - this happened to me. I turned off the laptop and tried again, and it worked. Good Luck!
When you enter safe mode and click to option before you enter your previous password or apple id in left corner go to recovery assistant and erase mac. After that you can instal normally macOS Big Sur. At least that work for me. Good luck
I had the same issue, so I've erased Macintosh HD disk and Data disk then it works perfectly.
Thank you all so much for the information on here!
The other solutions didn't work for me, but it's actually really easy to fix, Apple Support (phone) was incredible, call them if this doesn't work for you:
My issue was that I had accidentally hit "Erase" instead of "Erase Volume Group" on Macintosh HD. The "Erase Volume Group" option would have basically erased the container that contains both "Macintosh HD" and "Data" internal volumes, instead of just Macintosh HD.
1) In Disk Utility, go to View and choose ""Show all" (I believe the shortcut is CMD+2)
2) Select the disk that contains Macintosh HD and Data. In my case it was called "disk3". Erase that disk. It might warn you that you will need internet to reinstall/activate your Mac, that's fine.
3) You now need to reinstall macOS now. But in my case, I had an error at some point before that, where the Recovery Assistant opened and said "Your Mac has no volumes to recover". If you get that error, in the menu bar, tap "Recovery Assistant" and then "Erase".
That's it, after that you should be able to restart your Mac (open the start options through CMR+R on Intel or long-press on power button on M1) and reinstall macOS.
My issue was that I had accidentally hit "Erase" instead of "Erase Volume Group" on Macintosh HD. The "Erase Volume Group" option would have basically erased the container that contains both "Macintosh HD" and "Data" internal volumes, instead of just Macintosh HD.
1) In Disk Utility, go to View and choose ""Show all" (I believe the shortcut is CMD+2)
2) Select the disk that contains Macintosh HD and Data. In my case it was called "disk3". Erase that disk. It might warn you that you will need internet to reinstall/activate your Mac, that's fine.
3) You now need to reinstall macOS now. But in my case, I had an error at some point before that, where the Recovery Assistant opened and said "Your Mac has no volumes to recover". If you get that error, in the menu bar, tap "Recovery Assistant" and then "Erase".
That's it, after that you should be able to restart your Mac (open the start options through CMR+R on Intel or long-press on power button on M1) and reinstall macOS.
I tried the various solutions listed on this thread, to solve the same problem. After deleting the Data and Macintosh HD volumes I attempted to reinstall Big Sur, but when it gets to "select the disk where you want to install macOS nothing shows up. What next?
Just thought of something. I deleted both volumes, but didn't create a new one. I just created Macintosh HD and reinstall system works. I must be brain dead this morning. Thank you to all who posted solutions!