macOS 10.14.3 Update can't be installed on this disk...

::smdh::

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Well I have found out why the Combo won't install.

There is an error in the distribution file, as part of the installation the distribution file runs a number of checks to determine if the update can be installed. One of these is the Volume check, so it checks the build number of your install of MacOS Mojave.

In the distribution file there is a list or array of the previous builds of the OS. The array in this Combo is very short so quite a few build numbers are missing and therefore the error is generated.

You could expand the 10.14.3Combo.pkg, using pkgutil in Terminal, edit the distribution file to include the build number of your install of Mojave, then use pkgutil to revert the expanded folder to a new .pkg and it should install. I did and it was successful.

Or you could wait until Apple sorts it out. Or just use software update.

Crikey.

Jumping to resetting an SMC is not my first remedy of choice, nor are the instructions for doing so immediately available.

This looks pretty available to me.

How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

System Preferences> Software Update only works if your Mac is running Mojave on an SSD formatted as APFS.

If you are already on 10.14.2 you can update to 10.14.3 by using the Delta update.

Download macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Update

All - I've raised a case with Apple and worked through some of the issues with their engineering team (thank you, Lyndon).

It appears that the previous approach of being able to apply the 10.14.3 Combo Updater to all previous versions of Mojave is no longer the case. Not sure whether Apple has recently changed their policy or whether this is an oversight on their part.

If you download the 10.14.3 Updater and apply this over 10.14.2 it should work fine. I appreciate that this means the Combo updater is no longer a catch-all for bring any Mojave version up to 10.14.3

I'm unsure whether this is going to result in a fresh Combo updater being delivered or not and I'm waiting to hear back from Apple engineering. I'll keep this thread updated as I hear.

William - in short:

The glib answer is about 0.5GB :o) - but it seems to be:

(10.14.0 or 10.14.1) to 10.14.3 - use Combo Updater;

10.14.2 to 10.14.3 - use Updater

And this definitely represents a change from how it used to be. Again - not sure if this was really Apple's intention or not - but that's certainly how it is at the moment ...

wgrahame - out of interest, have you tried doing a reinstall of macOS over the top using the macOS Recovery feature?

You should back up your machine first using something like SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner and then try it. It should just overwrite the existing OS but not delete any of your data or configuration. I can't promise but it may help.

Confirmed.

The date printed on the Apple Support Download site https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1992?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US hasn't changed, but the combo DMG is different. It has a different md5 checksum compared to the first release, and also the file's date is two days older, Jan 24th 2019 22hh50mm.

And for me, the update worked fine.

Reminds me of the original Mojave installation fiasco that had to be fixed with Terminal commands to get rid of legacy files, just to get the install to go through. No thanks. Apple never did admit to, or post a patch to fix, that problem. That was fixed by users of this forum.

I updated to 10.14.3 today using System Preferences > Software Update and it went through. But, it completely disabled my Bluetooth, which knocked out my wireless mouse and keyboard. I had to locate a USB mouse and keyboard to fix the problem, which wound up involving an SMC reset (a PRAM reset did not help).

I'm glad you didn't have the original Mojave installation fiasco happen to you. I lost an entire weekend because the installer completely hosed my MacBook Pro, and I wasn't alone. I have been using Mac's since 1993, and only posted this because the current updater to 10.14.3 seems to be acting a little odd, and if someone else had this problem, here is a way to get out of it.

You do need a mouse and keyboard to search the Internet forums for a solution to a computer problem. Jumping to resetting an SMC is not my first remedy of choice, nor are the instructions for doing so immediately available.

i've fixed countless misbehaving Macs by running combo updaters over the years!

The reason is that, by definition, combo updaters check all the changes since the original point release, not just the changes from .x to .y

You catch more bugs with a wider net, so to speak

i've fixed countless misbehaving Macs by running combo updaters over the years!

The reason is that, by definition, combo updaters check all the changes since the original point release, not just the changes from .x to .y

You catch more bugs with a wider net, so to speak

Running a combo update can fix certain kinds of problems. But no one was talking about fixing a problem. Just updating Mojave from one version to the next.

Hi there!

I experienced this Mojave 10.14.3 Combo Update issue on a MacBook Pro Late 2017.

Then I went on updating thru Software update.

The Combo update then works later on.

This corroborates the previous post by "Eau Rouge" on a bid number error in the current Combo distribution file.

Best!

There is a distribution checksum issue with the combo file. Also, I tried to get the 10.14.3 update from Software update but it says nothing available (I am on 10.14.2).

I would wait till Apple fixes the installer (as other in this thread noted).

Regarding instructions being available to SMC reset, the instructions are not available when you can't use the computer to look them up because your bluetooth keyboard and mouse are disabled. That is what I am trying to say. Nothing more complicated than that.

I don't know what went wrong with the update that the Bluetooth was totally disabled after the update finished. I've never seen that happen before. I'm not sure it has anything to do with distribution checksums. The update was done using System Preferences > Software Update.