Recovery Server Could Not be Contacted

The Recovery partition is an incredibly useful feature of the newer macOS devices. It stores the latest installed macOS version and allows access to the different utilities such as the First Aid, Terminal, or reinstalling the OS on the main disk partition. However, recovery mode needs to connect to Apple's servers, and if it is not able to do so, users could be presented with 'The recovery server could not be contacted' message. 

To pinpoint the cause of the error, start by checking if your Internet connection is running properly. Make sure you are connected to the right Wi-Fi network and that there is sufficient signal strength. The next step is to see if the issue isn't on Apple's end. To do so, go to the https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/ address and scan through the listed services. While there isn't a specific one dedicated to Recovery mode, any current problems could potentially be affecting it as well. 

Make sure that the device's time and date are using an appropriate format. Indeed, a common cause of 'The recovery server could not be contacted' message is a mismatch between the server's time and date and the user's Mac. While being in recovery mode, you can use Terminal to reset the time and date.

1. In Recovery mode, choose 'Utilities.'
2. Select 'Terminal.'
3. Type the command appropriate for your macOS version:

For macOS older than Mojave use sudo ntpdate -u<a href="http://time.apple.com"> </a>time.apple.com and press Return on your keyboard.

For newer macOS versions use sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com and press Return on your keyboard.

Try connecting to the recovery server once more after the time and date of the system have been reset.