Big Sur installation stuck at "Less than a minute remaining..."

I also have this issue. Stuck on “less than one minute” for hours. Reboot only leads me back to the install process which then gets stuck again. Booting into safe mode doesn’t work either, goes into a loop as described before. Managed to boot into recovery mode, tried reinstalling Big Sur from there, install process too over an hour and... got stuck at “less than a minute remaining”. This is my work machine, I’m a remote worker, I rely on my equipment. Only reason I even attempted the upgrade was because Docker was kept asking me to.

After 15 years of MBP ownership and loyally sticking with Apple and OSX I’m at the end of my rope, company ain’t what it used to be. This is a very serious issue for the users that have and this thread has no meaningful response, just your standard help desk “have you tried rebooting”.

Expecting to get some sort of official reply here.

Hi, I have Mac Book Pro mid 2014 it was working fine till now. I just downloaded BigSur to update it and installation process started well but now its stacked with the same problem tan you :'Less than a minute remaining..' in a black background and no way back to the former MacOs. How did you fix it?

Thanks in advance

Norma

I finally solved my problem by installing big sur on an external drive, booting from it, and accessing my internal drive files through terminal to move files to a separate drive and free up space. Once I freed up more space on the internal drive I was able to start the process over and reinstall big Sur on my internal hard drive without any hitches.

FOR GOD SAKE APPLE, Dont allow the freaking install to start if there isn't enough space to allow it to work. Seems to me that such a simple programming fix on your part could have spared me three days of extreme stress, a delayed delivery on the work I had to get done, and a whole lot of discontent aimed at your company.

I got the exact same problem, but thanks for this forum, I could get my mac updated to BigSur very quickly and without external drives. It's indeed a not available HD space problem. I had around 42Gb on my machine, but after downloading Big Sur (around 12Gb) it got to 30Gb only and, according to people over here, it needs ~35Gb.

In a few words, I restarted the computer on Safe Mode (Cmd + R pressed while turning on), accessed the Terminal, navigated to my disk, and deleted a bunch of unneeded files. Then, I've restarted again and left the BigSur installation to get finished without any other problem.

More details below:

• If you are stuck on this "Less than a minute remaining" screen, basically you will need to erase some big files from your computer. To start the process, just press and hold the power button for some seconds. The computer will shut down.

• Then, restart it, pressing and holding the Command + R keys while it restarts. Wait while a different screen shows up with these four options below.

There is also a top menu containing Recovery; File; Edit; Utilities; Window and Wi-Fi connection on the right side. My MacBook was not connected to the internet and I decided to connect it. IDK if this step is needed, but it won't hurt.

• Then, on the Utilities top menu, I found a link to open the Terminal

• With Terminal open:

1. Type cd /Volumes and press Return to navigate to the volumes.
2. Then type ls -l and press Return to see the Volumes you have. Big Sur installation creates some volumes and you need to change the Volume you are to your Mac HD.
3. To change to the correct volume, type cd "Macintosh HD - Data" or something similar and press Return. You need to confirm what is your data volume name and replace Macintosh HD - Data with the correct name. In case you have two similar options you can navigate to one of them and confirm if it's right on step 4 below. If it's not you can just restart on step 1 (cd /Volumes) or type cd .. to get back to the previous directory. Always execute ls or ls -l to list the content inside the current folder, that way you can confirm you are in the right folder before moving forward.
4. Execute ls -l to list the volume content. In the list, it must have a Users folder (and other folders like Applications, Library, System...). We are interested in the Users folder. So, navigate to it typing cd Users and pressing Return. If there isn't a Users folder, you are in the wrong directory. Restart from step 1.
5. Execute ls again. You will see one folder for each user on your mac + Guest and Shared folders. Now it's up to you to determine which user has erasable files. It's easier if you are the only user. Then navigate to this user folder using cd username. In my case, it was cd leomuniz
6. Execute ls again. You must see folders like Applications, Downloads, Documents, Movies, Music, Desktop, etc. These folders contain the files you will need to delete. If there is more than one user, you may repeat this process for other users too.
7. To find big files you must execute find . -size +100M
8. It will provide a list with all files bigger than 100Mb and, luckily, you will recognize some of them.
9. Again it's up to you to determine what can be erased and what can't. I could erase almost everything because I created a backup before starting. Even so, there were things that I don't know what was and I leave them there.
10. Once you determine the files to erase, run rm filename for each one. You can select the whole line containing the file name with your mouse, copy it, type rm and then paste it. Example: rm ./Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache/Update/spotify-autoupdate-1.1.52.687.gf5565fe5-30.tbz
11. I didn't erase this Spotify file above. I've basically removed some big videos (.mov, .mp4) from Zoom recordings, big audio files (.wav), and some folders from old stuff. In case you need to erase an entire folder, use rm -rf foldername
12. Keep erasing files until you think you are done. It's impossible to say how many files you should erase because every case is different. The most important thing is: you need to have ~35Gb free before starting the Big Sur install. I had ~30Gb before the install. When I got to the Safe Mode I had only 19Mb remaining. And I freed around 5Gb to compensate, but I didn't calculate. I just erased all the big files I found that I know I could safely erase and this was enough for me.
13. Once you are done erasing, just restart your computer. So, close the terminal. Then there is no need to click on the Reinstall macOS Big Sur button because there is already an update process running. There is a restart command on the top menu. If you have freed enough space, your install won't be stuck on "Less than a minute remaining". It worked for me.

To index in Portuguese as well:

Atualização Big Sur menos de um minuto restante travado pra sempre erro o que fazer

I tried everything recommended I could find online without any luck. The only thing that worked was to factory reset back to Yosemite.

Here is the process I used:

1. Power Off the computer holding down the power button
2. Power On, and hold Cmd+Option+Shift+R after the chime (Internet Recovery Mode)
3. Open Disk Utility once recovery screen appears (will first be a rotating globe, followed by the apple logo and bar)
4. Erase SSD using Disk Utility > Rename to "Machintosh HD" (Format: Mac Os journaled)
5. Quit Disk Utility
6. Select Reinstall OS (Yosemite)
7. Go through the install process

From there you can update back to the OS of your preference. I will be avoiding Big Sur this time. I hope this helps at least one person.

Hi GanJah,

Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help today with installing Big Sur on your Mac. The installation seems to be stuck.

You can try restarting or restarting in safe mode to see if the installation finishes or is actually finished: How to use safe mode on your Mac.

Have a fantastic day!

I was having this same problem and I want to share what helped me because I haven’t seen this fix proposed anywhere else. None of the options like turning on/off, using internet Recovery, or MacOS Recovery were working. I turned it on and off again several times and it kept getting stuck on less than a minute remaining. When I finally decided to let it set on that screen and leave it overnight, when I came back in the morning it had an error saying “an error occurred preparing the software update.” Using First Aid from Disk Utility on Recovery also did not fix it.

When I tried to use the option “Reinstall Big Sur” from Recovery it would tell me there was not enough room on the disc to do it. So I was effectively stuck on the install screen.

I called Apple and they were helpful. I was working with them on the phone on a different WiFi than I usually use as I was not at home when I tried calling them. Just to give an idea of what we tried, when I would use Recovery (turn off, turn on, hold command +R or hold command + R + P) and go to “reinstall Big Sur” from there it wouldn’t connect to WiFi and gave me an error that “Keychain ‘System’ cannot be found to store [my wifi username].” We hit cancel to get out of that (don’t choose “reset to defaults” if you get this error or else your keychain passwords on the computer will be deleted; if you save them in iCloud it may not matter if you do).

What ended up working was turning the machine off, then holding Option while it was off, and it came on with a screen to select my Macintosh disc and connect to WiFi. It let me connect to WiFi there. This took me to my desktop login screen and I was able to log in and get back to my regular desktop! Thank goodness.

From there we investigated and turns out I did not have enough space left on my disc to do the Big Sur install— the agent told me it takes 35 gigabytes, and I only had about 33 gig available (checked by going to Apple in top left corner > about this Mac > storage). Luckily I had an old iPhone backup I could delete to free up a lot of space.

The Apple agent told me not to turn my laptop off/restart it, or it would probably put be back onto the install screen. If I have to in the meantime, she said to follow the steps I described as working above to get back to the desktop.

She put notes on my case and I am supposed to call them back once I’m back on my regular home WiFi and we can restart and they will guide me through the reinstall through Recovery. I will update once we’ve attempted that. But for now, luckily my computer is actually working and not stuck on the install screen! I hope this helps someone else who is still having issues where the other proposed solutions aren’t working.

Also stuck on "less than a minute remaining ..." In my attempt to update to big Sur.

I have been rebooting all day. Have left it in this state for anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 hours and it doesn't ever get past the "less than an minute0 stateZ Computer won't boot up in safe mode either. Gets caught in a reboot loop when I try and never boots past the apple with about a 30% progress bar.

WHAT DO I DO? This has been a deeply documented issue with Big Sur updates. what is the solution apple?????

GanJah wrote:

Im trying to install Big Sur on my macbook pro mid 2015 and it stuck at "Less than a minute remaining..." for about 2 hours now.. Should I just wait or is there something I can do?! Thanks

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/1619bfa2-99b7-49b0-b4be-efda8e50b864

You can force quit a shutdown by holding the power button/TouchID for ~6-10 sec.

Reboot as normal and see where this leaves you.

https://support.apple.com/en-mide/guide/mac-help/mchlp2522/mac

I did the step to format my external HD in Disc Utility, but I don't know how to do the next step... is there a way to drag and drop the update into the hard drive, or how do you do that from Disc Utility?

Similar problem. On MacMini late-2014, trying to install on external WD drive, 1TB. Drive checked out okay.

Had almost same problem installing on Seagate external drive a month or two ago. Took ten or 15 tries but it finally finished, once.

Am trying again tho because that first drive failed (just like the internal drive failed a week or two before that). Run of bad luck??

A friend of mine who is far more educated than I walked me through accessing the internal HD files through the terminal view. I wish I could reiterate the commands he had me type in but I can't. It's super frustrating how apple hides certainly files that you can't access otherwise.

I’m having the same issue! It started with “less than one minute screen” and now it’s stuck on a loop between apple logo screen and password screen. Reboot won’t work. Safe mode won’t work. I’ve tried several times! This is what I use for work!!! What should I do?

After 24 hours of being stuck in the loop this solution worked for me, I now have Big Sur successfully running on my (wife's) Macbook Air (MacBook Air 2015, 128 GB HD). The issue was that there was not enough free space on the hard-drive, but because I was stuck in the loop I was not able to free up any space. I used an external hard-drive to install Big Sur on, was able to break the loop and get back into the Macbook to clear up enough space (35 GB was enough for me). After that I was able to re-install Big Sur on the Macbooks internal hard drive, without losing any files. This is what worked for me:

• Turned off the Macbook - hold down power button until it powers down.
• I used Recovery (hold down cmd + R while booting up Mac). When I got to the Recovery screen, connected my external HD (1 TB Seagate).
• In the Recovery menu, used Disk Utility to format my external HD to make it compatible for use with Mac (just google, easy to find and do)
• I installed Big Sur onto the external hard-drive
• I followed all the steps (like setting up an entirely new computer) until you are finally able to work with the new OS (please note the Macbook was significantly slower than usual because it is running off an external drive, so be patient)
• I searched for folders using the looking glass on the home screen (I could not navigate to the internal HD 'Documents' or 'Downloads' folder for some reason, but the search function was able to locate files)
• I copied the files onto the external drive, so nothing got lost
• I deleted the files from the internal HD, and subsequently emptied the 'Bin' so the space was cleared up
• I powered down the Macbook
• Used CMD + R to start the Recovery tool again
• Chose the option to re-install Big-Sur onto the Macbook
• Bit my nails for quite some time while the installation lumbered its way through loads of progress bars, but finally successfully completed the install. For extra kicks the 'less than 1 minute screen' staid up for a solid 10 minutes, making me think the installation failed again, but it went to the next screen (Apple logo with progress bar, no text) after a while.

It is a bit of work, but doing it this way meant I did not have to erase the internal hard drive completely, and did not even lose any files in the end.

Hope it works for you!

Oh, and also: Hey Apple, might be a good idea to warn users of the massive space requirement BEFORE they install the update, will save your customers some angsty moments :)

I managed to mount the Data Disk. Delete 2 of the 3 users I have but only one folder is out of the list, there are still

the folders of the other users. Also I delete on terminal some files fromthe downloads folder, the biggest ones. But the Disk Space show still full in disk utility! Why!!! Help!!!

also when I try to find larger files on the disk on the search all files said no such file or directory