My MacBook Pro failed to update and I am stuck on opt recovery assistant. The screen says ‘a software update is required to use this startup disk.’ And I have two options to try again or select ‘startup disk’ when I click try again I am brought back to the same thing.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.3
Boot into Safe Mode. Then run Software Update to make sure is macOS is completely up to date. If there are updates to install, then install them although you may need to boot back into Safe Mode again once the laptop reboots to install the update. Keep checking Software Update and continue installing all updates until there are no more updates. Hopefully after this you can boot normally.
If you cannot boot normally after doing this, the your laptop has a hardware issue which is causing the Touchbar not to function so you will need to have Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider examine the laptop to provide you with a repair estimate.
Hi AnnaBayliss,
Try HWTech's instructions first. If those don't work, try these steps to reinstall macOS and keep your data:
Do you have an Intel Mac or an M1 Mac? If it is an M1 Mac, then the procedure has changed so make sure to read the instructions in the link I provided before and which I'm providing here again:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
If it is an Intel Mac, then you need to hold the Shift key immediately after hearing the Startup Chime. If you don't hear a Startup Chime, then hold the Shift key within a second or two of powering on the laptop.
Also when trying to boot normally make sure you have a good Internet connection. I've found doing this over WiFi seems to work best (surprisingly), but you may also want to try connecting the laptop directly to the router using an Ethernet cable and a USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter. Just make sure the laptop is first connected to the router before attempting to boot the laptop since I've found macOS doesn't seem to properly configure an Ethernet connection if you wait until you see the "Critical Software Update" message (I think macOS has trouble even connecting the Ethernet before booting).
@Encryptor5000: I am fairly certain it will be impossible to boot into Recovery Mode when this issue occurs because even in Recovery Mode macOS is trying to upload the EmbeddedOS to the Touchbar. Only Safe Mode prevents this from occurring. I don't know if it is possible to trigger Safe Mode when booting into Recovery Mode.... Most of the time when I encounter this issue with our organization's Macs it is due to an actual hardware failure (surprisingly it can be just about any part, but the Top Case/Touchbar and/or Logic Board are most common followed by the Display).
Thank you for the response, I can’t seem to enter safe mode. I’m not sure if I’m doing it wrong but I’ve tried multiple methods and the MacBook either turns itself off or brings me back to the same screen.
HWTech wrote:
@Encryptor5000: I am fairly certain it will be impossible to boot into Recovery Mode when this issue occurs because even in Recovery Mode macOS is trying to upload the EmbeddedOS to the Touchbar. Only Safe Mode prevents this from occurring. I don't know if it is possible to trigger Safe Mode when booting into Recovery Mode.... Most of the time when I encounter this issue with our organization's Macs it is due to an actual hardware failure (surprisingly it can be just about any part, but the Top Case/Touchbar and/or Logic Board are most common followed by the Display).
Interesting... I haven't ran into this issue yet so unfortunately I can't really test it too much.
I did notice that the Touch Bar software loaded completely normally (on my 2016 MacBook Pro, running macOS Big Sur 11.6) even when I booted into Safe Mode. It seems that macOS Recovery limits the Touch Bar to only show the virtual Escape key, so that would make me think that macOS Recovery, not Safe Mode, would limit what is sent to the Touch Bar (especially considering that macOS Recovery is an extremely minimal version of macOS, more minimal than normal macOS + Safe Mode).
In regards to OP's situation: They mentioned that they saw a notice posted by Recovery Assistant. That already indicates a successful boot into macOS Recovery, albeit not initiated by the user.
There are two common scenarios that will summon macOS Recovery:
User requested: The user explicitly requests macOS Recovery at startup by holding down the appropriate keys (Intel) or the power button (Apple silicon). After the recovery disk image is verified and mounted, macOS Recovery starts in the usual fashion and presents the expected screens. If the local recovery image (not Internet Recovery) was requested, special security permissions are granted to change the security policy. On Apple silicon, a special indicator is locked in hardware, and Apple terms this privilege as "One True Recovery" (see the bputil man page).
System requested: The most common case in this category is a macOS boot failure. Appropriate variables are likely set in NVRAM or the firmware, which then cause the system to reboot into macOS Recovery. If the system can successfully boot macOS Recovery, it runs the Boot Recovery Assistant app, which diagnoses why booting into normal macOS failed. Typically, only a grey background and an error message pop-up are shown (not the expected utilities, although they are technically accessible). Also, no security permissions are granted, so the security policy cannot be changed for the most part. In this scenario, it may be possible to get to the normal utilities by selecting to choose a startup disk, then quitting the Startup Disk app.
The info about Boot Recovery Assistant (which I think OP is running into) was sourced from this previous whitepaper about the T2 Security Chip (page 10): https://www.apple.com/mideast/mac/docs/Apple_T2_Security_Chip_Overview.pdf
In regards to accessing Safe Mode without needing macOS Recovery, it is possible to do so on Intel-based Macs but not on Apple silicon Macs. This is because on Apple silicon Macs, Safe Mode needs to be set from Startup Options, and Startup Options is actually an app (named "Boot Picker") that lives inside macOS Recovery. When the boot picker screen appears, you're already inside macOS Recovery, and selecting "Options" will just present the regular Recovery utilities. If you can't boot macOS Recovery on an Apple silicon Mac, you'll get this screen, and be forced to revive or restore the firmware.
If you're interested in what apps are hidden inside macOS Recovery, you can mount the appropriate volume and open the disk image inside.
On an Intel-based Mac, the Recovery volume is most likely disk1s3.
On an Apple silicon Mac, the System Recovery volume is disk2s1.
Inside the disk image, the apps can be found in these folders (where "/" denotes the image root):
/Applications
/System/Applications/Utilities
/System/Installation/CDIS
Encryptor5000 wrote:
In regards to OP's situation: They mentioned that they saw a notice posted by Recovery Assistant. That already indicates a successful boot into macOS Recovery, albeit not initiated by the user.
The "A Critical Software Update" screen does kind of look like a Recovery Mode screen.
Making sure all OS updates are installed is probably the easiest thing to do from Safe Mode, however, if that does not work, then reinstalling macOS over top of itself may fix the issue if it can update the system firmware assuming there is no hardware issue.
Continuing with the thought of a firmware issue if the laptop is a 2018+ Mac, then a user can attempt to "Revive" or "Restore" the T2 firmware, but this requires access to another Mac running macOS 10.15+. The "Revive" should not affect any data, but the "Restore" will destroy all data on the SSD. May be worth a try for a 2018+ Mac.
Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac with Apple Configurator 2 - Apple Support
Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon with Apple Configurator 2 - Apple Support
MacBook Pro failed to update
