Big Sur download stalls

The immediate issues are hight-lighted in Bold.

1 - The Antivirus Avira is totally not needed and should be removed as per Developers Specific Instructions. It may be causing tour issue. There are no known Windows-like Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS, because of the underling UNIX  Foundation and Permission Limitation. 

2 - Running a VPN while doing a download of a Major Sized Big Sur 12.24 GB download - not suggested. The VPN may contribute to packet losses and corrupted downloads.

3 - Yes the drive has the space but getting low. It is usually suggested to alway keep 15% of the Drive capacity as Free Space. In this case 15% of 256 GB is about 38.4 GB as Empty at all time.

4 - The Battery is over the suggested Full Cycles of 1000 before needing Service. 1647 Cycles is almost Double

Below from the Etrecheck Report

Avira Security.app

Duplicate File Finder.app

Antivirus software: Apple and Avira

CactusVPN (Sergiu Candja - installed 2021-07-20)

Application

/Applications/CactusVPN.app

250.79 GB (Shared - 11.08 GB used, 57.18 GB available, 48.15 GB free)

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.

Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1647

Kernel extensions present - This computer has kernel extensions that may not work in the future.

teri555 wrote:

I’m trying to upgrade from Catalina 10.15.7, but it gets to 12.43 GB or 12.43 GB and then stalls. The progress bar stops at around 90% finished, and the ‘time remaining’ info is no longer there. It just won’t finish the download, no matter how long I wait. This is on a MacBook Air mid-2017. What can I do? There are some issues with Catalina, so it seems like I really need to upgrade or go back to Mojave.

—Verify you have adequate free storage on your Mac—

Big Sur states that you will need 35.5 GB of free storage when upgrading from High Sierra or newer, and 44.5 GB when upgrading from an older versions.

—If your Network download speed is suspect—get on a faster network.

—If no insight or resolve try downloading and/or launch from a SafeBoot environment—

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

If the download was succesfully it will be sitting in the Applications folder "Install macOS Big Sur.app"

You can launch it from there like any other app.

What issues are you experiencing with macOS Catalina, often it is best to fix the problem

first before trying to upgrade.

Often upgrading to a newer OS can make the problem worse rather than fix it.

How are you connected to the internet, when downloading from Apple it is

always advisable to use a cabled connection to your router. If you can only

use WiFi then have the mac as close to the router as possible.

Make sure there are no other devices sharing your internet connection whilst downloading.

Yes it seems to be a problem with Catalina since the last Security Update about three weeks ago

that Catalina does take longer to shut down.

For me when I hit Shut Down the folders and items on the Desktop disappear instantly leaving the

Desktop picture. This can be left for about 5 minutes before the screen goes black and you see a feint

image of the timer wheel or whatever it is called. This is the mac updating the changes that have been

made to system files while it was up. This may take a further two minutes. I experience the same on

macOS Mojave. I do not have macOS Big Sur but I don't think the behaviour will be any different.

Suggest downloading the Application  Etrecheck  https://etrecheck.com  directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. 

The application is free or paid from added features. 

Run the application with Full Disc Access ( Security & Privacy - Full Disc Access ).

It will take a Snap Shot -  both the hardware and software.

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.

This includes AntiVirus, Cleaners, Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.

Welcome and thank you too. Kalimpong or Darjeeling - better via from Kalimpong of K2 ??

Enterprise management of legacy system extensions in macOS Big Sur