Cannot install lion. "The Disk is Locked" help please!

I was hoping someone could help me. I just downloaded the Mac OS X Lion and when trying to install, it says there is an error with the disk and that it is locked and cannot install. Does someone know how I can fix this? Now I am also worried that I have lost my files. PLEASE HELP! Thank you!

Try to Repair it, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.
If it's still locked, this might help: https://discussions.apple.com/message/11044944?messageID=11044944#11044944?messa geID=11044944

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I am unable to erase hard drive after a crash, also cannot reinstall Lion because disk is locked. There seems to be nothing else to do, suggestions? Where do I go from here?

I downloaded Lion 100 days ago (conveniently after the 90 day tech support) now my HDD has crashed and it gets stuck at the apple screen. I then hold command R and go to disc utility try to repair, that doesn't work, and try to erase. But it says error, cannot unmount disk. I then try to reload Lion, but it says the disk is locked. Okay, so do I need a new hard drive? If so that's fine, I just cannot seem to erase this drive to reinstall lion. Also, I don't have a disk to reinstall OSx, as Lion is done via internet.

Wow, thanks. It did the trick. So now I am confused, do you think I still need to take in my Mac to see if there are some problems with the hard drive, or do you think I'm in the clear. I was going to get a new hard drive installed, because I thought that was the issue seeing as I couldn't access it during safe mode.

Disaster trying to install Lion - hard disk "locked" - need help.

Tried installing Lion on my mac mini. It's a 2009 model that runs Snow Leopard. Downloaded the Lion installer, started the installation process, it rebooted and reached the stage where I needed to choose the target hard drive.
Only one problem - it reports the hard disk is "locked", and is unclickable. I tried the "sudo chflags nouchg /" trick but to no avail. Used the mount command to check for problems, and sure enough the mac mini's HDD is mounted read only. I have no way of unmounting and remounting it as the system doesn't allow me to unmount the drive - says it's in use.
This is a stock Snow Leo installation from a legal DVD, and a legal paid download of the Lion installer through the app store in case there are questions about that.
Has anyone else faced this, and how did you solve this problem?

Replying to myself. Here's what happened now:
The last time I tried upgrading SL to Lion, I downloaded it from the AppStore and ran the installed from Snow Leopard. That's what got me to the "disk is locked" brick wall.
This morning, I burned InstallESD.img to a DVD and tried installing from DVD, and guess what? The drive is not locked any more and it appears to be installing. I will update you folks when it's successful.

Cannot reinstall Lion or Repair the disk cause the disk is locked

Hello,
I just tried to use my MacBook pro but its showing a loading bar and it loads for like 5% and then shuts down.
I read the instruction booklet and it says that I should tried to repair the disk or reinstall Lion but when I tried to repair it stops the process and when I try to reinstall its telling me that the disk is Locked!!!
HELP!!! Whats the next step?

Next step - Apple store or AASP.

The attempt to burn a disc failed. The disk is locked and cannot be written

I am having a problem burning CDs. iTunes begins to burn CD than cancels with the following message "The attempt to burn a disc failed. The disk is locked and cannot be written." After some research I found the following article "Burning disc in iTunes for Windows using a Sony CD-RW/DVD CRX830E model drive fails with 4280 error." I followed directions as noted, this worked for the burning of one CD, then failed message returned. I have tried different CDs and lowering record speed to no avail. Burner worked up until updating to latest iTunes. Here is the diagnostic report
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Sony Corporation PCG-GRT390ZP(UC)
iTunes 7.0.2.16
CD Driver 2.0.6.1
CD Driver DLL 2.0.6.1
LowerFilters: PXHELP20 (2.0.0.0), AFS2K (3.1.21.0),
UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.0.6.1),
Video Driver: NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5600 (Sony)\GeForce FX Go5600
IDE\DiskIC25N060ATMR04-0______________________MO3OAD1A, Bus Type ATA, Bus Address [0,0]
USBSTOR\DiskLexar__JumpDrive______1.00, Bus Type USB
USBSTOR\DiskSony___MSC-U04________3.00, Bus Type USB
IDE\CdRomSONYCD-RW__CRX830E_____________________JFK1___, Bus Type ATA, Bus Address [0,0]
If you have multiple drives on the same IDE or SCSI bus, these drives may interfere with each other.
Some computers need an update to the ATA or IDE bus driver, or Intel chipset. If iTunes has problems recognizing CDs or hanging or crashing while importing or burning CDs, check the support site for the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard.
Current user is an administrator.
E: SONY CD-RW CRX830E, Rev JFK1
Media in drive is blank.
Get drive speed succeeded.
The drive CDR speeds are: 4.
The drive CDRW speeds are: 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.
The last failed audio CD burn had error code -46(0xffffffd2). It happened on drive E: SONY CD-RW CRX830E on CDRW media at speed 4X.
Any help would be appreciated.
Sony Vaio Windows XP

hmmmm. i see that there's a chipset driver revision listed on the drivers and downloads page for your M520:
Gateway M520 > Windows XP
are your chipset drivers currently up to date?

"The iPod '...' cannot be synced. The disk is locked and cannot be written to."

Hello.
I keep getting this "The iPod '...' cannot be synced. The disk is locked and cannot be written to." error when I try to sync my 11 GB of music from my very old, updated Windows XP Pro SP3 machine to an old iPod Touch 1G (iOS v3.1.3). It has a brand new (lat/new)est iTunes installation too. I tried rebooting the the machine, disconnecting USB cables, etc. None of them helped. I did not have this problem in the end of 2013. Is my iPod Touch 1G dying?
Thank you in advance.

lllaass wrote:
Try:
- Reset the iOS device. Nothing will be lost
Reset iOS device: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- Reset all settings
Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.
All your preferences and settings are reset. Information (such as contacts and calendars) and media (such as songs and videos) aren’t affected.
- Restore from backup. See:
iOS: Back up and restore your iOS device with iCloud or iTunes
- Restore to factory settings/new iOS device.
- Try on another computer
I did a reset since I had to restore v3.1.3 firmware and reconfigure from a Mac OS X 10.5.8 MBP before I ran into problems. Isn't that enough? Or do I have to do it again? Also, these were brand new installations and setups for iTunes and iPod Touch 1G. So, I am doing everything from scratch.
I also found out that iTunes wants full (not read) access to my shared medias in my very old, updated Windows XP Pro SP3 machine. When I gave them full access, then I got farther, but it still failed later on (almost half way since 5 out of 11 GB according to math with disk spaces on both iTunes and iOS v3.1.3?) I didn't use Mac OS X 10.5.8's iTunes (only kept it for whited00r firmware part) for syncing since all my media is on the other machine.

When installing mountain lion on my computer, why does it say "OSX Mountain Lion couldn't be installed, because the disk \ is damaged and can't be repaired."

I'm unable install mountain lion on my computer. Every time it says "OSX Mountain Lion couldn't be installed, because the disk \ is damaged and can't be repaired. Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again." So I press the only button listed as an option, it restarts, and the same screen comes up again. I can't make mountain lion go away...I've tried many times. What is wrong with my computer? It's stuck like this and I can't even get snow leopard back on there if I wanted to because I can't get away from the same screen. Please help : (

Insert your OS installer disk in the optical drive. Power the Mac down by holding down the power button. Then power back up and hold down the 'c' key so the MBP boots to the installer disk. From Disk Utility you should do a Repair Disk. If DU successfully repairs the disk quit the installer and reboot your Mac. You should update to 10.6.8 prior to upgrading to ML.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
Then do your ML upgrade install.

My MacBook Pro, 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo gives me an error message during Lion install. My Intel Duo Core is not an Intel Duo Core and cannot install Lion. I already have Snow Leopard what is the problem with Lion?

My MacBook Pro, 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo gives me an error message during Lion install. My Intel Duo Core is not an Intel Duo Core and cannot install Lion. I already have Snow Leopard what is the problem with Lion?

You need a "Core 2 Duo" for lion, and I'm guessing you only have a "Core Duo" My wife's macbook is also a "Core Duo" and has Snow Leapord, but cannot install Lion.....

After installing Lion, the Software Update "can't check for updates because of a network problem.But I've no network problem. My internet is working properly. could you help me?

After installing Lion the Software Update "can't check for updates because of a network problem". But I've no network problem. My internet is working properly. Could yoy help me?

Hi All
Same problem this morning but now resoloved.
Update require using the following url support.apple.com/kb/DL1437 update for lion 10.7.1
updates now work with this update
Hope this helps
Thanks

After installing lion the setup assistant crashed and i had to force quit. now i cannot open it. any tips?

Ater installing Lion, the setup assistant froze and I had to force quit. Now I cannot open it. What can I do?

See if the Recovery HD was installed.
Hold ⌘R on Boot, and if it works, select Reinstall OS X Lion

A magnet fell on my macbook "late 2007 series black" and it stopped working. When i start my macbook up it sits on the white screen. i tried inserting the snow leopard disk to do a clean install but the disk ejects and all i see is the pointer.help please

A magnet fell on my macbook "late 2007 series black" and it stopped working. When i start my macbook up it sits on the white screen. i tried inserting the snow leopard disk to do a clean install but the disk ejects and all i see is the pointer. i even bought a new hard drive to do the clean install but the same thing happens. Please Help

Your problem is not Boot Camp, in fact, is your optical drive. Win XP requires indeed sp2, but also the internal drive, does not work from external optical drive.
For other possible tricks, please use the appropriate Boot Camp forum, not here. Mac OS X may be installed from both external and internal optical drive and/or internal/external partition of a disk, any disk. Windows is not so generous.

Cannot install lion 10.7.4 on my harddrive

I've just purchased and completed the downloading of Lion 10.7.4 to my MacBook Pro (2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - RAM 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3 with current system Snowleopard 10.6.8).
Problem: I cannot install Lion to my harddrive. My Mac HD (which is the only harddrive on the computer) is greyish and a message appears saying: "This harddrive is used for Time Machine safety copies" (translated from Swedish), which is not so - as far as I know. I obviously can't choose the Mac HD for installing.
(I have a Freecom 1 TB harddrive which I use for safety-copying. I recently made a full system backup to the Freecom using Disk Utilities using the Source and Target in "Re-create". (Source = my Mac HD on the MacBook Pro, Target = my Freecom external harddrive).)
Look forward to getting some help in this matter!
Thanks!
Best regards,
Marie Fredriksson Karvelas
Sweden

First we need to know which one of the 9 different models of MacBook you have. To see which model you have go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info and then System Report. When System Profiler comes up check the Model Identifier and post it back here.

Macbook Air with no OSX (Mid 2011) ... cannot install Lion nor Snow Leopard

I have a Macbook Air with no OSX (Mid 2011) ... and I cannot install Lion nor Snow Leopard.
I purchased this Macbook Air 13" and found that the OS had been wiped off. Since then I've been able to get the Recovery Disk Assistant to get me into the Recovery Partition on the MBA... but when I try the "Reinstall Mac OS X" from within Mac OS X Utilities, the download fails after 30 sec. and I get the error message, "Could not find installation information for this machine. Contact Apple Care". This MBA is still covered under Apple's Applecare, but the nearest Apple Store is 3 hrs away and from what I've read, they may not be able to help me.
I know all about Build 11A2063 but cannot figure out where or how to get that.
Also, I've tried making a bootable Lion Drive from my Mac Mini onto a flashdrive, but this too did not work on the MBA (I assume because it isn't Build 11A2063).
I have a huge expensive paper weight with no idea of where to go from here. Any help would be much appreciated.

Where did you buy an MBA without an operating system? Was this from another individual who took the liberty to remove the Mac OS X before selling it to you?
You might try calling Apple customer support and have them walk you through the process, as they can figure out just what version of the OS should be on that machine.
http://www.apple.com/contact

Im having trouble getting my macbook pro to boot up after a fail safe boot, im getting as far as the grey screen with the apple loggo. so im trying to run a disk repair but is saying the disk is locked, how do i unlock disk??

Im having trouble getting my macbook pro to boot up after a fail safe boot, im getting as far as the grey screen with the apple loggo. so im trying to run a disk repair but is saying the disk is locked, how do i unlock disk??

Some clarification may help.
You say you cannot boot normally. It shows a gray screen with the Apple logo.
Did you say it will boot successfully in Safe Mode (boot, then hold down the Shift key)?
How did you boot the machine to run Disk Utility? (Which keyboard combinations)?

TS1600 OS X could not be installed on your computer. OSX can't be installed on the disk Macintosh HD because a recovery system can't be created.

I just bought the new OS X 10.8 and downloaded but when I tried to install it on my computer Installation Failed and I got this message:
"OS X can't be installed on the disk Macintosh HD , because a recovery system can't be created."
I tried so many times but the same message comes out to me each time and when I restart the computer I am back to the same OS X installer and can't access my computer any more so I am really stuck I can't install the new OS X version and can't go back to the old OS X version or access my computer.
Please help
My computer is MacBook Pro 13"

OK. You have a Boot Camp partition which is why the issue. See the following:
It seems the issue is that the space at the "bottom" of your available space when Lion installs it's partition is already occupied by BootCamp. The fix was to go into Disk Utility; Select your Hard Drive; Select Partition; Move the bottom of your main partition "up" a bit to create a space for Lion; close Disk Utility; Install Lion; once Lion is successfully installed, go back into Disk Partition and drag the bottom of your main partition back "down" to the bottom of the window.
In your case use Disk Utility to "shrink" your OS X partition a little more than 1 GB.
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After the main menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
2. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired empty space. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
Remember that you only need to shrink the OS X partition a little more than 1 GB. Now, when you try the Mountain Lion installation the installer will be able to make the Recovery HD.

Cannot install lion. "The Disk is Locked" help please!

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