Catalina upgrade stuck on 1 minute remaining

I am trying to upgrade (I think from High Sierra) to Catalina so I can use the latest software. Not sure why it never prompted me to do this, but I checked the system requirements and manually asked for an upgrade on the app store after backing up.


The upgrade went as expected but then hangs on "About a minute remaining". I left it there for about 45 minutes the first time and searched around for solutions. The most common advice is to hold down the power button to force shut down and then it will work upon reboot.


When I did this, it started over at 29 minutes remaining, then got down to 1 minute and did the same thing. Since some people advised trying this multiple times, I have done that, with the same result. The second time I waited a half hour. I would let it go longer, but others are reporting letting it go overnight with no result and there's no longer sound coming from the hard drive indicating it is doing something.


There is no response from the mouse, keyboard, or track pad. Cmd-S does nothing.


Any ideas?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 7, 2020 11:27 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 12, 2020 2:52 PM

Hello jchrisharris and welcome to Apple Support Communities. It appears you are having some difficulty completing an install of Catalina.


How to reinstall macOS


Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac


If repairing the drive does not help with a reinstall, then you may need to use Disk utility and erase the drive as a first step, As you mentioned having backed up before undertaking this process, you don't have to worry about data loss.


Cheers.

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 12, 2020 2:52 PM in response to jchrisharris

Hello jchrisharris and welcome to Apple Support Communities. It appears you are having some difficulty completing an install of Catalina.


How to reinstall macOS


Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac


If repairing the drive does not help with a reinstall, then you may need to use Disk utility and erase the drive as a first step, As you mentioned having backed up before undertaking this process, you don't have to worry about data loss.


Cheers.

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Catalina upgrade stuck on 1 minute remaining

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