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Upgrade to Catalina stuck

My last upgrade before getting a new iMac since this one has still been working perfectly. Upgrading from Mohave to Catalina on iMac late 2013 i5 core 8 GB 1TB HDD. Seems stuck for at least 24 hours. Tried restarting in safe mode but still stuck on apple screen with progress bar about 40% across. Says estimating time remaining, but said will restart when finished installing before that. No response to control+L. At some point in the process is said 9 minutes remaining but that was maybe even yesterday. Not an experienced person in this matter. Have been researching online for hours and hours . Should I try an OS Recovery by shutting down, restarting and holding command+R?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 23, 2021 1:08 PM

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Posted on Nov 24, 2021 9:20 AM

I have two suggestions. You can try doing the upgrade from the Safe mode. Press the Shift key on restart. I am guessing that the reason you are unable to successfully install your operating system is because the installer became corrupted during the download. Put the installer into the trash and do another download. If you were using Wi-Fi to do the download, don't. It's too much data for Wi-Fi. Instead, you need to use an Ethernet cable directly connected to your modem/router. If necessary, temporarily move your computer to do the download. And during the process, stay off the internet. If you are unable to directly connect to the internet, then be prepared to do multiple Wi-Fi downloads until you get a good one that loads. And allow each download to fully complete, which can take up to an hour, more or less, plus another 45 minutes or so for the installation. Good luck. I hope it goes well.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 24, 2021 9:20 AM in response to weatherfield

I have two suggestions. You can try doing the upgrade from the Safe mode. Press the Shift key on restart. I am guessing that the reason you are unable to successfully install your operating system is because the installer became corrupted during the download. Put the installer into the trash and do another download. If you were using Wi-Fi to do the download, don't. It's too much data for Wi-Fi. Instead, you need to use an Ethernet cable directly connected to your modem/router. If necessary, temporarily move your computer to do the download. And during the process, stay off the internet. If you are unable to directly connect to the internet, then be prepared to do multiple Wi-Fi downloads until you get a good one that loads. And allow each download to fully complete, which can take up to an hour, more or less, plus another 45 minutes or so for the installation. Good luck. I hope it goes well.


Upgrade to Catalina stuck

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