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I have tried and tried to install Big Sur and nothing works on my 2018 Mac Air. What can I do as I have been working with this for two weeks now?

I have tried to install Big Sur now for two weeks and am getting nowhere. It shouldn't be this difficult. I need help.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 26, 2021 9:35 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 26, 2021 4:56 PM

Are you running the installer from within macOS? If so, then you may have some third party app that is interfering such an anti-virus software, cleaning apps, or third party security software. None of these apps are needed on macOS and usually cause more problems than they solve so you should uninstall them by following the developer's instructions.


You can try booting into Safe Mode to run the installer.


You can also create a bootable macOS USB installer using these Apple instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


When did you download the Big Sur installer? If it was in December, then you may have the old version. If you are not sure which version of the installer you have, then delete the installer app from the Applications folder and empty the Trash. Then download the Big Sur installer again.


Make sure to have a good backup before attempting to upgrade macOS.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 26, 2021 4:56 PM in response to Charleejane

Are you running the installer from within macOS? If so, then you may have some third party app that is interfering such an anti-virus software, cleaning apps, or third party security software. None of these apps are needed on macOS and usually cause more problems than they solve so you should uninstall them by following the developer's instructions.


You can try booting into Safe Mode to run the installer.


You can also create a bootable macOS USB installer using these Apple instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


When did you download the Big Sur installer? If it was in December, then you may have the old version. If you are not sure which version of the installer you have, then delete the installer app from the Applications folder and empty the Trash. Then download the Big Sur installer again.


Make sure to have a good backup before attempting to upgrade macOS.

I have tried and tried to install Big Sur and nothing works on my 2018 Mac Air. What can I do as I have been working with this for two weeks now?

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