Clean Installation of macOS Mojave

I have MacBook Air-13 Early 2014 model. I did update to Mojave on Oct 22, after downloading the OS from App Store. The update was very straightforward. However, after several days my Mac lost Internet connection. It was really frustrating with no connections to outside.

The following is my story of how to get my Mac Mojave back to normal.

Back to Previous OS

Fortunately I had TM backup before my update. I restored my Mac to previous OS High Sierra as first step. Then I repeated updating to Mojave again. This time before rebooting, I stoped the update process (force to kill the update process from Apple icon->Force Quit).

I remember that I made bootable USB disk before. I decided to boot from another bootable USB to make a clean installation. I followed the advice from an article to make a bootable OS USB as in references. Actually I think this step may not be required. It may be good to make one for emergency or installation to other Macs easier.

Clean Installation

The next step is to reboot. While it is rebooting, hold on cmd+R keys till you see Apple logo. After seconds, a menu of options is displayed. Choose "Disk Utility" to erase my Mac HD. This will guaranty an installation to a clean Mac. Create an admin user during installation.

Migration Assistant

When it is done, login to admin and run Migration Assistant. This app provides options to migrate accounts, Applications, and documents back from TM. In the option list, uncheck Computer and Network settings.

With above steps, now my Mac is back alive, and all my apps, accounts and documents to a new Mojave. So far so good. I hope this clean installation will be fine.

By the way, I went to local Apple Store to get advice yesterday. I explained my situation and strategy of a clean installation, and they agreed this way. Since the process took very long time: back up to TM again with latest documents(specially my Xcode source codes), installation, and lastly migration, I had to go home to finish the whole process. During this process, I got Apple Support call twice to confirm my restoration fine. Even though Mojave release is really not a solid package, I had to thank Apple support stuff for their effort and help.

References

• OSDaily article: How to Make a MacOS Mojave Bootable USB Installer Drive
• Apple Discussion: No Internet Connectivity After Installing Mojave