[Solved] Error: could not get license agreement- Quick Fix

With High Sierra, Apple introduced its new file system APFS (Apple File System) which is much faster and is more secure. However, the speed and security do not work well with macOS High Sierra Hackintosh due to hardware limitations. When you install macOS High Sierra on a Windows PC or Laptop and if you using SSD (since APFS only supports SSDs) as installation drive, the installer automatically converts the SSD format to APFS format even if you have formatted it HFS+ or JHFS+.

Now to fix this, there is a command that is revolving on the internet promising it prevents APFS conversion,

/Applications/"Install macOS High Sierra.app"/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --converttoapfs NO --agreetolicense

However, many people when trying to use this command, ended up with error: could not get license agreement (see the above screenshot). Therefore, today in this guide, we have mentioned an easier way of preventing APFS conversion as well as avoid Error: could not get license agreement that occurs when you run the command in order to avoid APFS conversion.

Why Avoid APFS Conversion

APFS is a modern file system and as I said, it’s more secure and offers improved read and write speed on SSDs but on Apple’s own hardware found in MacBook’s, iMac, and so forth. However, for all other hardware and Intel-powered PC or laptops, this is more of an issue. Here is a list of issues that you may face after installing High Sierra with APFS on a Windows PC or Laptop

1. Slow boot Time
2. Slower read/write speeds
3. Kernel Panic

How to Fix Error: Could not get License Agreement

1. Disable APFS Conversion while High Sierra & Mojave Installation

The process of solving error: could not get license agreement is an easy process and I will explain it in much more easier language than what other blogs and sites have explained it. Additionally, I will soon upload a video guide showing the effective way of avoiding APFS conversion during macOS High Sierra or Mojave installation.

1. Plug in the macOS High Sierra or Mojave Installer
2. Turn On system and choose the High Sierra or Mojave installer as a boot drive
3. Continue boot from USB installer that says Install macOS from Install macOS High Sierra/Mojave disk
4. Click ‘Install macOS’ and choose the drive. Let it install the required installation files in the SSD drive
5. The system will reboot itself and after reboot, from clover screen, again select the USB installer; Install macOS from Install macOS High Sierra/Mojave NOT the SSD
6. This time, go to Utilities and open Terminal window
7. Here type following command followed by the ‘Enter’ key

ls -l /Volumes

1. From the volume lists, note down the name of SSD volume where you are installing the macOS
2. Type

cd /Volumes/SSD_Drive_NAME and press ‘Enter’

Replace SSD_Drive_Name with the name of your real SSD volume where macOS is being installed

10. Now type

cd “macos install data”

Vi minstallconfig.xml

10. Press ‘I’ letter on keyboard and then move the cursor to ‘ConvertToAPFS’. Below this, the value is true, move the cursor to ‘true‘ and use delete key to remove it
11. Now type ‘false‘

10. Press letter ‘I’ and then type :wq to quit vi editor after saving the edits. In case you messed up things, type :q and Enter to quit without saving and restart again by typing the above-mentioned commands
11. Once you successfully changed true to false, close the Terminal Window and restart the system
12. Now this time, from clover boot loader screen, choose the SSD as the boot drive and this will begin the macOS High Sierra or Mojave installation without converting the SSD file system to APFS

For guides on complete macOS installation and required files, please visit following blog posts: Install macOS 10.13.5 on 8th Gen PC or Laptop- CoffeeLake Hackintosh

Now restart the system and this time select the SSD drive from the clover bootloader and continue the installation process.

After installation and setup are complete, go to About System, System report and click Storage. It shows HFS+ Journaled partition. This means your attempt to avoid APFS conversion was successful and without dealing with error: could not get license agreement.