OS X 10.11 Beta 1/2 - Recovery HD won't boot

Is this before or after the RecoveryHD Update that came with Developer Preview 2?

Developers answer: Yes 😉

It didn't boot before the Beta 2 update and it hasn't changed or improved after.

RecoveryHD booted for me in DP1. The update wasn't necessarily to address a problem where it didn't boot up. Sounds like the problem originated with the DP1 install. If it's critical then I can only suggest the usual fallback: A fresh install.

It's not mission critical as I have a complete bootable backup of my Yosemite install including the Recovery HD.

But it would have been nice if there was an easy fix ore a way to re-create the Recovery HD without fresh install.

Well, someone made an app to create a pure RecoveryHD installer from full installer:

musings.silvertooth.us/2014/07/recovery-partition-creator-3-8/

You'll need the 10.11 DP1 download. Instructions for getting it to work for Yosemite are in the replys below the main post. The same instructions may be applicable to 10.11.

If that doesn't work you can proceed as follows:

A. Revert Core Storage (if necessary)

Run these 2 commands in terminal to revert the core storage if necessary.

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command.

Then restart for everything to get back to normal after you have run these commands in Terminal.

B. Manually create the recovery partition.

1. Download the Lion Recovery Update from http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1464. Make sure it is in your downloads folder. If you still happen to have the el capitan DP1 installer app somewhere, right click on it and click Show Package Contents. Go to Contents/SharedSupport/. Copy the InstallESD.dmg file into your Downloads folder. If you don't still have the installer, you can get it again by redownloading from your purchases tab in your mac app store.

2. Copy and paste the following into a textedit file, name it recovery.sh and put the file into your Downloads folder.

read -p "Ensure "RecoveryHDUpdate.dmg" and "InstallESD.dmg" are in your Downloads folder and press [Enter]"

#access dmtest from RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg

rm -rf /private/tmp/RecoveryHDUpdate

echo "Expanding RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg"

hdiutil attach -nobrowse ~/Downloads/RecoveryHDUpdate.dmg

pkgutil --expand /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion\ Recovery\ HD\ Update/RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg /tmp/RecoveryHDUpdate

#access BaseSystem.dmg and BaseSystem.chunklist

echo "Expanding InstallESD.dmg"

hdiutil attach -nobrowse ~/Downloads/InstallESD.dmg

#build Recovery partition

echo "Building Recovery Partition. Please Wait"

/tmp/RecoveryHDUpdate/RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg/Scripts/Tools/dmtest ensureRecoveryPartition / /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg 0 0 /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.chunklist

#cleanup

echo "Cleaning up"

hdiutil eject /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion\ Recovery\ HD\ Update

hdiutil eject /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/

sudo touch /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

sudo kextcache -f -u /

exit 0

3. Open Terminal and type the following commands:

chmod +x ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

sudo ~/Downloads/recovery.sh

4. Wait a few minutes for it to finish and return back to a prompt. Reboot with holding down the option key to test your 10.11 recovery partition.

I wouldn't waste time on the link I gave you - use tywebboooo's solution.

I should point out that if the system has been updated to DP2 and if you created the recovery partition using the DP1 installer in the manner I described then it would be a good idea to reinstall RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg available in a direct link available in this thread: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/6624

The entire Startup Manager area seems problematic with EC, things like missing partitions and booting wrong partition. What I found helps some:

1. Create a thumb drive with some version of OS X Installer

2. Power down system

3. Add thumb to hub

4. Power up

5. Hold Command key

Then all partitions show and seem to work. OW only a subset of partitions show and many boot wrong area.

That did the trick - thanks 🙂

Now I can use my Recovery HD as usual.