Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer

I have a macbook pro with snow leopard on it. I am giving it away to a family members, but would like to erase the disk before giving it away. When I put my snow leopard dvd in, and click "install", I get a screen asking me to select the hard drive to install on. When I click the only one listed: "Macintosh HD", I get the message:
Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start your computer
If I try to boot from the dvd, my mac just hangs on the gray screen that shows the apple logo. Basically I put the dvd in, shut down the computer, when I turn it on, I hold the "C" key, and it just hangs.
How should I go about erasing everything on the computer, and re-installing the OS, I just want it to look like it did when it came from the factory. Any help would be much appreciated.
Note: I lost my original install dvd, so I called Apple and asked for a replacement, they charged me $20 and sent the Snow Leopard disk that I am using as my replacement.
Thanks.

It's possible you got a disk from Apple you can't use. What you should have gotten were gray disks based on the Mac's serial number so you would get disks which were identical to the ones it came with.
If the disk you received has a picture of a Snow Leopard on it, then they sent you a 10.6.3 retail disk, which will not have any of the bundled iLife apps on it.
Much more important is the point release. If your Mac originally came with 10.6.4 or some later point release of Snow Leopard, then 10.6.3 will not install on that Mac. The necessary hardware drivers are not on the retail disk.

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"Mac OS X cannot be installed on 'Macintosh HD'. This disk is used for Time Machine backups."

I am trying to upgrade our MacBook to Snow Leopard, but when prompted to select which hard drive to install on and "Macintosh HD" is selected, the following message generates: "Mac OS X cannot be instaled on 'Macintosh HD'. This disk is used for Time Machine backups."
I disabled Time Machine switched it "off," put it in the trash can, then "Secure Emptied" the trash can. I also rebooted. Then I connected an external hard drive thinking that might help, but for some reason I still cannot proceed with the Snow Leopard upgrade because "the disk is used for Time Machine backups."
WHAT is the DEAL!?

It doesn't sound like an upgrade would work very well anyway. Make sure you have a good backup and repartition the startup volume. Then install Snow Leopard onto the hard drive and migrate your old users and applications.

Can't install: "this disk cannot be used to start up your computer"

After making sure that my current startup disk for 10.5 was imaged to another hard drive, I inserted the Snow Leopard install disk and double-clicked the Install icon. Everything worked fine till I got to "Select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X." All of the disk partitions had warning triangles, including the one for my original startup disk, which has worked perfectly for the 10.5 pre-installed on my new iMac (identifier 9,1). When I click on the icon for this drive, the warning message below states "Mac OS X cannot be installed on 'iMac HD', because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer." Obviously that's not true, since that's where the OS is installed. No other programs were running except Finder.
I used Disk Utility to check the disk and repair permissions: no change in the installation program's message. I quit the installation program and reinserted the DVD. It certainly does a lot of churning of the DVD before you ask it to do anything. With all external hard disks disconnected, it still gives the same error message.
Where do I go from here? I thought Snow Leopard was "The world's most advanced operating system. Finely tuned." It can't even install itself and recognize a bootable internal hard drive on an iMac.

GasMan4932 wrote:
When I click on the icon for this drive, the warning message below states "Mac OS X cannot be installed on 'iMac HD', because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer." Obviously that's not true, since that's where the OS is installed.
How did you partition this drive, if you did that? Does it contain start up or utility partitions for any other OS (for instance Linux)? There have been reports that the "cannot be used to start up your computer" message will appear if a third party utility was used to create a 'triple boot' system or such, apparently because SL is picky about the format GUID partition scheme table info & how partitions are allocated space on the drive by other formatting/partition methods.
For some users with these partitions, the fix has been as simple as "tickling" (slightly changing) the partition size of some partition with Disk Utility, which apparently updates the GUID partition scheme table info so that the SL installer accepts it as safe to use with SL.( In this sense, the message may be trying to say the installer thinks the disk can't be used to reliably start up your computer with SL, not in general.)
See the discussions topic Cannot install Snow Leopard over 10.5.8 for more about this.

Install error : disk cannot be used to start up your computer [or] MediaKit reports partition (Map) too small

Greetings,
I am aware that this problem has been discussed, but in long and vague discussions that I had to sift deeply to find an answer. Therefore I am posting a clear message, as this problem can be very troublesome for someone who just received a Mac OS installation disk and cannot install it.
Situation : you cannot install/update your new system because the installer does not consider your volume.
Error message : this disk cannot be used to start up your computer.
Version française : Ce disque ne peut pas être configuré pour démarrer votre ordinateur.
Also discussed below error: "MediaKit reports partition (Map) too small"
Note : although this occurred with a Snow Leopard (10.6) install DVD, it can alo occur with Lion (10.7) according to discussions on Apple web site.
IF YOUR CONDITIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS :
- You are using an official Apple installation DVD of Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) [or 10.7 Lion] or an official download/upgrade of those systems.
- Your main Mac partition scheme is in GUID as it should be (check with Disk Utility). That partition contains a Mac system that can start-up.
- Your volume format is: Mac OS Extended (journaled) [the format should not be Case Sensitive.]
- You have the hardware requirements to install Mac OS 10.6 (Intel processor; internal or external DVD drive or a linked DVD drive; 1 GB of RAM; a screen controlled by your computer graphics card; at least 5 GB space on the hard disk or 7 GB if you install all components).
- Using Disk Utility, you of course tried the disk Repair Tool and the Repair Permissions tool.
- Your hard disk does not have a file called Backups.backupdb (if it does, this means Time Machine has once used this hard disk for its back-ups). Anyhow, if it were the case, the installation would give a different error message (with the word TimeMachine). This file may block the installation: Apple Support suggest to place it in the garbage, *without* deleting it, and placing it back on the disk later. Mind you, if you do not use this hard disk as such to save your Time Machine back-ups, you can simply delete this file.
HOW TO FIX :
1. Boot with the 10.6 install DVD (Tip: you can either select Mac 10.6 as the boot DVD in your Start-up Preferences or simply press down c during the start-up).
2. Above the install screen, you have a Utilities tab from where you can run Disk Utility. Select your hard disk and select the Partition tab. Resize the primary Mac partition (don't add a new one) by decreasing it by about 5 GB.
It will look like this http://i.imgur.com/jHTbr.jpg
( That image shows only one partition, but the same principle applies even if you have two or more partitions on your disk.)
Also see the official Apple how to: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926
Version française: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926?viewlocale=fr_FR
3. Commit the change by hitting "Apply"
3.b. If you get the error "MediaKit reports partition (Map) too small", this is a rare error where the partition that follows (for example Bootcamp) is slightly overlapping your main Mac partition. You will need to reduce that other following partition. Once you have reduced the other partition, you will probably need to return to step 2 and 3 and try again.
[ For example, in my case, I had resized my Bootcamp with CampTune software and it would seem that the file system ended-up somehow larger than the actual partition container. I simply asked CampTune to reduce the partition a bit (barely 2 GB) and that fixed it.]
4. Reboot, again into the 10.6 install DVD.
5. You can then install 10.6.
6. Once 10.6 is installed, use the Disk Utility on the desktop (you can boot into the primary HD at this point) to resize the primary partition back to its original or maximum size.
SOURCE (main fix): http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=774410 [and] http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926
SOURCE (explaination for MediaKit error): some Apple discussion post.
nb: in my case, it was on a MacBook Pro (late 2008).

GasMan4932 wrote:
When I click on the icon for this drive, the warning message below states "Mac OS X cannot be installed on 'iMac HD', because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer." Obviously that's not true, since that's where the OS is installed.
How did you partition this drive, if you did that? Does it contain start up or utility partitions for any other OS (for instance Linux)? There have been reports that the "cannot be used to start up your computer" message will appear if a third party utility was used to create a 'triple boot' system or such, apparently because SL is picky about the format GUID partition scheme table info & how partitions are allocated space on the drive by other formatting/partition methods.
For some users with these partitions, the fix has been as simple as "tickling" (slightly changing) the partition size of some partition with Disk Utility, which apparently updates the GUID partition scheme table info so that the SL installer accepts it as safe to use with SL.( In this sense, the message may be trying to say the installer thinks the disk can't be used to reliably start up your computer with SL, not in general.)
See the discussions topic Cannot install Snow Leopard over 10.5.8 for more about this.

Can't install MAC OS X Lion - Macintosh HD "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer."

I downloaded OS X Lion this morning and when I went to install it I got a "Screen - Select the disk where you want to install OS X." -- Had two disk my Macintosh HD and my Time Machine (both are 1TB). The top and most important is the Macintosh HD (999.86GB - 739.75GB available states "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer". What do I need to do to install OS X Lion?

Create a Backup Lion Bootable 10.7 Disk
Purchaseand download Lion from the Mac App Store on any Lion compatible Macrunning Snow Leopard.
Right click on “Mac OS X Lion”     installer and choose the option to “Show Package Contents.”
Inside the Contents folder that     appears you will find a SharedSupport folder and inside the     SharedSupport folder you will find the “InstallESD.dmg.” This is     the Lion boot disc image we have all been waiting for.
Copy “InstallESD.dmg” to     another folder like the Desktop.
Launch Disk Utility and click the     burn button.
Select the copied “InstallESD.dmg” as the image to burn,     insert a standard sized 4.7 GB DVD, and wait for your new Lion Boot     Disc to come out toasty hot.
With this disc you can boot any Lion compatible Mac, and install10.7 just like you installed previous version of Mac OS X. You caneven use Disk Utility's Restore function to image your Lion boot discimage onto a external drive suitable for performing a clean installon a optical-drive-less MacBook Air, or Mac mini server.
If your using Mac's in a mission critical type environment or have third party hardware or software you must rely upon working correctly. It's advised to wait until all the bugs, driver updates, third party software updates and other issues are resolved before upgrading. This might take several months. Then if you do so, do one machine at a time and carefully test everything before full deployment.
It's also highly advised to backup all one's data either manually to a external powered drive in addition to TimeMachine and Hold option bootable Carbon Copy Clones etc.

Can't install OSX Mountain Lion, on the disk selection screen i cant select the Macintosh HD to install OSX giving a message (This disk cannot be used to start up your computer).only have one disk to select and my partition map scheme is GUID partition

just bough OSX Mountain Lion, my laptop operating with v10.6.8. Can't install OSX Mountain Lion, on the disk selection screen i cant select the Macintosh HD to install OSX giving a message (This disk cannot be used to start up your computer).only have one disk to select and my partition map scheme is GUID partition table. 24.44gb disk available.

Verify your computer can run Mountain Lion:
Upgrading to Mountain Lion
To upgrade to Mountain Lion you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Purchase and download Mountain Lion from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mountain Lion is $19.99 plus tax. The file is quite large, over 4 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
     OS X Mountain Lion - System Requirements
       Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
         1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
         2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
         3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
         5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
Open Disk Utility and verify the drive is partitioned using GUID and formatted Mac OS Extended, Journaled. If it is then do this:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Now try installing Mountain Lion.

Can't install OSX Mountain Lion, on the disk selection screen i cant select the Macintosh HD to install OSX giving a message (This disk cannot be used to start up your computer).

Can't install OSX Mountain Lion, on the disk selection screen i cant select the Macintosh HD to install OSX giving a message (This disk cannot be used to start up your computer).

Read
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15659267#15659267

I have tried to repair my disk and this is the message I get: "Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use disk Utility to repair" How do I correctly perform this action?

I have a boot disk that needs repair and I would like to know the correct way to repair this disk using another install disc. I guess there is an issue with the volume free block count.
Please advise.
Thanks.

Insert/connect that disk if needed, start up with the Option key held down, tab to it, and press Enter. If it's a Mac OS X install DVD, choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. If it's a different Mac OS X installation, open the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. Repair the drive.
(61964)

Mavericks won't install because Macintosh HD "cannot be used to start up your computer"

I've searched around, but I haven't found a solution yet. Any ideas?

Thanks for the quick response. I had already found this while searching for a solution, and it unfortunately didn't solve the problem. I'm in the process of backing up right now, I wanted to avoid reformatting and reinstalling, but it's looking like that might be my only option.

Mountain Lion wont install on macbook. "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer"

Basically, when I try to install the mountain lion update onto my Snow Leapard OS, I get the above message. Something must be wrong with my hd configuration.
I think the problem was caused when I tried to install linux on a partition before this and failed miserably time after time; I think the problem was that reFIT wasn't recognizing the proper partitions to boot into. Anyway, I also noticed that even after deleting the defunct linux partitions using Disk Utility, the linux drives still showed up in the reFit startup menu. Did I screw up my HD? Is that what is preventing me from installing Mountain Lion? If so, how can I fix it?
Thanks.

Go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and press Macintosh HD. Open > http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926

I downloaded lion and and accepted the terms but it won't install on my hardrive. "This disk cannot be used to start up on the computer." What does this mean?

I have plenty of space remaining for this to be downloaded to the hardrive.

Have you checked to see what the Partition Map is? It sounds like, and this is a stab in the dark, that you might not be set on a GUID format.
To check, go into Disk Utility and highlight the drive you want to use. in the bottom of the Disk Util box, you will see the details of the disk itself. Check to see if it is GUID, listed under Partition Map Scheme.
If it is then you have a different issue and one that I am unable to answer. If it isn't then you will need to back any data up from the drive you want to use and reformat the disk to GUID. This should then correct the install issue you are experiencing. Reformatting is relatively easy, just following the prompts in the Partition Tab, in Disk Util.
However, to reiterate, back up any data ypou wish to keep prior to this! Reformatting will wipe the disk completely.

Yosemite cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD"

When trying to upgrade from Mavericks to Yosemite I get this:
Yosemite OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD".
This is a late 2009 iMac with 4G RAM and 1TB of hard disk space.
Suggestions please.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Select
/var/log ▹ install.log
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen. The contents of the log will appear on the right. Each log message begins with a timestamp. Select the messages from the time of the last installation or update attempt. If you're not sure when that was, click the Clear Display button in the toolbar of the Console window and then try the installation again. Select the new messages that appear. Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
☞ If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
☞ When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
☞ Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
☞ Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting. You may need to use a text editor with search and replace, such as TextEdit.

Mountain Lion will not install on MBP (late 2011) Macintosh HD: "This disk cannot be used to startup your computer"

Tried to upgrade from 10.7.4 on relatively new MBP. It appears that Mountain Lion successfully downloaded from App Store. However, ML will not install to the hard drive because "This disk cannot be used to startup your computer". Thanks for advice.

Try going through the steps described here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926.

HT1338 i try and download Aperture but i get a dialog box stating 'Aperture can't be installed on macintosh HD because OSX version 10.9 or later is required' i am using an iMac with OSX Mavericks

I try and download Aperture but i get a dialog bos saying 'Aperture cannot be installed on macintosh HD because OSX 10.9 or later is required. I am using an imac with OSX Mavericks

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Are you sure you are using OS X Mavericks? OS X Mavericks is 10.9, so it looks like you are using an older OS X version. To check this, open  > About this Mac, and check Version.
To get Aperture from the Mac App Store, upgrade to OS X Mavericks. Open the Mac App Store and download OS X Mavericks. Make a backup of your files with Time Machine and check that your apps are compatible > http://www.roaringapps.com
After upgrading, you will be able to purchase Aperture

I just purchased OS X Mountain Lion Upgrade. When I went to install it is says "Os X Mountain Lion cannot be installed on Macintosh HD" please help!

Just purchsed upgrade OSX Mountain Lion. Went to install and it says "OSX cannot be installed on Macintosh HD" Why?

Hi,
If you bought the iMac in 2010 it should be supported indeed, however be aware that the information refers to the manufaction date which might be different than the purchase date.
Please verify the following information:
Click the Apple icon.
Click About This Mac.
Click More Info.
What is the listed Model Identifier?
You may identify the exact model by comparing it with the Model Identifier below:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1758
Now go back to your Desktop, click the Go menu and select Utilities.
Open the Disk Utilitiy.
Select Macintosh HD from the left pane.
You may find the Available space listed in here.
As well, what it the listed Format within the same screen?
Shlomi

Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer

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