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Update to Big Sur is stuck on progress bar.

I am updating to Big Sur from Mojave and the update is stuck on the progress bar nearly complete. Have left it on for hours, no results. Powered down, powered up, signed in again, repeat of the progress bar getting stuck.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jun 12, 2021 8:00 PM

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Posted on Jun 14, 2021 3:52 AM

Technically, booting from a USB installer doesn't necessarily have to wipe the internal drive with a clean installation. You can actually install on top of what you have and I would recommend trying that first. If that also fails, they do a full clean nuke and pave operation where you delete absolutely everything off the internal disk and re-install from scratch. If you have a Time Machine or other complete backup you can choose to restore it during the installation or afterwards with the Migration Assistant.


Always have a. backup.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 14, 2021 3:52 AM in response to PRP_53

Technically, booting from a USB installer doesn't necessarily have to wipe the internal drive with a clean installation. You can actually install on top of what you have and I would recommend trying that first. If that also fails, they do a full clean nuke and pave operation where you delete absolutely everything off the internal disk and re-install from scratch. If you have a Time Machine or other complete backup you can choose to restore it during the installation or afterwards with the Migration Assistant.


Always have a. backup.

Jun 13, 2021 7:51 PM in response to Andy from Miramar

Might be a good idea to burn a Big Sur installation thumb drive and boot from that and install that way. I've had much better luck doing it that way verses installing on top of an earlier release. It boots into a RAM drive with nothing running and runs the installer over the files on the disk.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372




Jun 13, 2021 4:46 AM in response to Andy from Miramar

Andy from Miramar wrote:

Restarted in safe mode, was able to go through (very slowly) the set up for Big Sur. Restarting again normally, the log in screen still shows a Mojave background, and the progress bar does not move past half way. Another restart has the progress bar barely beginning. See attach image. Any additional thoughts?

When the Setup Assist for Big Sur finished - what happened ? Were you able to Confirm Big Sur was actually installed via Apple Icon and About this Mac ?


Suggestion, again restart in Safe Mode and confirm that Big Sur was actually installed. If Not - how much Empty Space is Available on the internal drive ?

Update to Big Sur is stuck on progress bar.

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