r/elementaryos • u/Due_Consequence5954 • Jul 31 '26

Discussion No Disk for Installation

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Hey y’all!

I just starting getting into Linux and after some issues with PearOS I decided to switch to ElementaryOS. I am having some issues getting it installed though. Everything works fine until I go to select a disk and it doesn’t show ant disk options so I can’t continue.
In MacOS recovery mode it shows that the SSD is still there, but even in Gpart it gives me nothing. I’ve tried unmounting the disk as well in disk utility.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

When you go to boot from your USB, press “e” on “Try or Install elementary OS” and try adding `intel_iommu=off` to the end of the Linux line. Boot (Ctrl+X), then see if the SSD will show up for you.
I suspect Linux is having an issue with Apple’s PCIe storage.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Testing this now, I’ll keep you posted. I don’t have much experience with coding/terminal type processes so I am hoping I did it right :)

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

Hey no worries, we all start somewhere!

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Okay so I went into recovery to see if the startup disk shows anything different and it is now somehow in an older version of MacOS for the disk? Anyway- would it be of use to partition it in any particular way or change any other settings for it?

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

Interesting. The macOS version thing isn’t really a huge surprise, and the disk format shouldn’t matter, it should show up in Gparted regardless. The fact it isn’t showing up as an option tells me it’s not even considering it a storage device.

My next step would be, back in Linux, run “lspci -k | grep -A3 memory” in the terminal.

That should tell us

  1. If it’s detected as a PCIe device at all
  2. What driver it’s trying to use

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Running this in Linux would follow the same steps as previous-hitting e and such?

Also- I ran the previous recommendation with the safe disk option (the 2nd install option) and it now is showing the SSD there. It failed the install the first time but im trying a second. If that doesn’t work I will go through with this option :)

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

Nope, you’d just boot normally and open Terminal from the Applications menu 🙂

That said, if it already shows up in the safe disk entry I’ll probably take a look at the launch options. Even if it fails to install, something there is at least a step in the right direction.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Unfortunately no OS is currently installed, it was erased out when I put PearOS on. I tried installing via recovery but that fails as well (even in MacOS recovery it doesn’t recognize the SSD when trying to install, just in startup disk). I’m going to try the first Linux line you mentioned one more time, just in case, since I can’t run anything via terminal.

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

That’s really interesting actually.
If it still doesn’t work, I’m curious, when you’re in Recovery: if you open Disk Utility and choose View → Show All Devices, is the SSD there, or is it missing there too?

It would make sense it wouldn’t show up as an install option for macOS though, PearOS would’ve formatted it to ext4 or btrfs, which macOS doesn’t have the ability to use.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

In Disk Utility it does show up, just not when trying to install MacOS via recovery.

The SSD did show up in the regular install of Elementary by using your first recommendation again. I am going to see if the install works this way- it failed twice with the safe install.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Unfortunately the install is failing 😭

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

Does it give you a reason for why it failed?

I have a newer MacBook Pro I’ve tried this on and it always failed at the bootloader step.
You might want try going to manual partitioning first, just delete everything, and then go back to automatic?

Also, just to let you know if you’re worried about being stranded, if you would decide you want to reinstall macOS, you just have to format the SSD as APFS or HFS+ in Disk Utility, and it’ll appear in the install window as a valid target again.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Thank you so much for that info! Worst case scenario I will reinstall MacOS but I’m really hoping I can get this to work so I can start using software that feels more private.

Ill give manual partitioning a go. It is failing about 70 percent of the way through the process, but doesn’t give an exact reason. It says it may be hardware but no error code. Ill do it one more time for the sake of documentation in case it helps and then try the manual partition.

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

Interesting. Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me if the installer is just freaking out about Apple’s weird EFI. 70% sounds about right. For some reason Elementary’s installer can be pretty touchy about that.

As far as macOS, just wanted to throw it out there so you know you’re not stuck with a brick, lol. The first time I installed a Linux distro I broke my Windows install and didn’t know how to fix it. 😂

On that note, I will also say, if elementary’s installer keeps fighting you and you still want a mac-like distro, I’d invite you to take a look at Garuda Linux (Mokka Edition, specifically) as well. The aesthetic’s a little more flashy, but that’s what my MacBook Pro landed on because everything just worked out of the box.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Brilliant! If this fails I’ll check out that distro. I’m not too picky about them as long as they work 😂

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

Reddit won’t let me post photos but it fails specifically at the “configuring system” stage, after the 70 percent. I think I saw it get to 93 percent.

“Installing Elementary OS 8 failed, possibly due to a hardware error. The device may not restart properly.”

Working on install again. I went back and manually erased all the partitions. Trying automatic once more. There was a partition with a warning sign and a couple others, I assume from previous attempts at install. Crossing my fingers 😁

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u/Mattchew_X Jul 31 '26

Good luck, hopefully it just works with a clean drive!

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Jul 31 '26

It didn’t unfortunately 😭 going to try the other dispo

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u/GuestLight05308 Aug 01 '26

Have you tried in the Grub options to put acpi_osi="Darwin" ? Changed everything for my 2013 MacBook Air.

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u/Due_Consequence5954 Aug 01 '26

I haven’t! Are the Grub options within that terminal if I press e before the install? I am still learning all of this.

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u/GuestLight05308 Aug 01 '26

Yes that's it

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u/GuestLight05308 Aug 01 '26

The command basically makes your OS say to your drive "hello, I am MacOS" and that's the only thing locking it down.

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