Level 1

19 points

Update to macOS Big Sur 11.1 from 11.0.1 fails

I'm having trouble updating from macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 to 11.1? I've had issues on both my 2013 Mac Pro and my 2016 13" MacBook Pro. In both cases, the upgrade appears to progress normally (you get progress bars during the reboot cycle, and you get a post-upgrade setup screen after reboot--which basically just requires re-entry of the iCloud password), but after the boot completes there is a kernel crash reporter, About This Mac still shows 11.0.1, and System Preferences still shows the 11. update as being available.

Both computers had a "clean" install to 11.0 when it was released (drive reformat, no time machine restore).

On my Mac Pro, the upgrade was successful on the second attempt. On the MacBook, I've had three failed attempts, all as described above.

Anybody else seeing this? Any suggestions?

Posted on Dec 14, 2020 3:26 PM

Top-ranking reply

roger137

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Dec 15, 2020 9:25 AM

Safe mode had no bearing on fixing this. Tried SMC and nvram resets with no luck.

Wound up downloading and applying MacOS Big Sur 11.1 from the app store. All is well now.

I think I had an issue with com.apple.os.update being undersized after applying Big Sur 11.0.1

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68 replies

roger137

Level 1

9 points

Dec 14, 2020 4:17 PM in response to KirkCoo

I am seeing a similar issue on a 2019 iMac 27"5K. The update downloads and starts the preparation phase which stops after 5 minutes or so with a popup saying the download failed. The dialog in the box says to check the internet connection. After checking that two internet connections are okay, repeated attempts also fail.

Doing a disk first aid on the update com.apple.osupdate volume says there is an issue with the allocation.

Stuck here.

Bobbi2

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2020 10:31 AM in response to KirkCoo

I had the same problem of failing at 10 minutes. My MacBook went through just fine. Not my MacMini. So I finally booted in safe mode and installed the update. All went fine. I wish Apple would jump on-board and make suggestions that may work, or better yet fix the updates.

MizzJay

Level 1

4 points

Dec 19, 2020 12:24 AM in response to FrankKwok

And further to below I have just read that indeed it is a know problem and next update should be a fix for it ... https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/12/18/macos-big-sur-update-bug-is-causing-issues-for-mac-system-administrators

d18ge

Level 1

43 points

Dec 15, 2020 11:46 AM in response to Old Toad

In my case, the upgrade would stall at the 10 minutes remaining mark. Switching to Safe Mode worked. Thanks for the suggestion.

roger137

Level 1

9 points

Dec 17, 2020 4:39 PM in response to sikeer666

Only workarounds at this point.

roger137

Level 1

9 points

Dec 19, 2020 6:01 AM in response to MizzJay

Not sure the article explains why the update failed on my 2019 iMac but installed with no issue on my 2019 Macbook Pro...

Dec 20, 2020 1:17 PM in response to Old Toad

Safe Mode worked perfectly on my MacBook Pro 16. First time in over 11 years of owning Macs that I ever had a problem with updates. Thanks for helping!

Teerasej

Level 1

8 points

Dec 20, 2020 8:13 PM in response to KirkCoo

I confirmed that Safe mode boot didn't work for me. (also remove all external disks)

My solution: Get the latest Big Sur from App Store. It'll take a lot of disk spaces for a while, but it's work.

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Update to macOS Big Sur 11.1 from 11.0.1 fails