However, I had to do a complete OS X install. You'll be tempted to try and run a restore from Time Machine and your certainly free to try it out to see if things will automatically start working (and if your APFS volume is intact you may be able to). You'll be happily greeted by a familiar (yet older looking) version of the repair utilities where you can restore from Time Machine, install OS X (not a typo since OS X was the default install on my 2010 Mac), or run Disk Utility (Again useless in my case since APFS was what my internal hard drive had running). You'll now have to wait while your system downloads the recovery utilities from the internet.

Select your Wi-Fi network and enter the password.Power you mac back on while pressing Command-Option-R until you are prompted to connect to a network.

The good news is that getting to internet recovery mode is as easy as starting the regular recovery mode except with some extra steps. So I was forced to wipe and install Lion from the internet recovery utility. My disk utilities to repair my drive were now useless. MacOS High Sierra now runs Apple's new file system, aptly named APFS. Therefore, since my MacBook was from late 2010, it provided me tools that would only install and repair disks that work with OS X Lion. Until we realize that the recovery mode from the internet will query your system and provide a version of the recovery based on when the system was released. What happens if you have no ability to start restoration utilities at boot time? Well, Apple has a built-in system that allows you to perform an internet-based recovery.

High sierra macbook air troubleshooting