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Won't update to monterey

I have a Macbook Pro mid-2015, which the website says is upgradeable to Monterey. However, I constantly get an error message during installation and the update fails. I've tried deleting the install file, downloading it from the app store, rebooting, making sure the firewall settings are correct, and there's even 700GB of available space on my harddrive. Can anyone speak to this?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Feb 19, 2022 6:07 PM

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8 replies

Feb 20, 2022 2:45 PM in response to Shantheman73

The mid 2015 MBP's all offered 1 TB SSDs. I've had much better luck installing from the Safe Mode because I evidently have some 3rd party software that interferes with the installation so try the following:

#1 - boot into Safe Mode according to Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3-5 minutes as it's doing the following; 
• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)
• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically
• Disables user-installed fonts 
• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

#2 - go to the System/Software Update preference pane and begin the download.

#3 - run the installer from the Safe Mode.



Feb 19, 2022 6:33 PM in response to Shantheman73

Before proceeding further, you could boot into safe mode, then reboot and boot into recovery and run Disk Utility to repair all drives, after choosing "view all devices" so you can repair first at the lowest level and proceed in turn up to the device (physical drive) level. Safe mode also performs a disk repair but one cannot see the results, while doing it in recovery one can see the error messages, if any.


Do you have any anti-virus, "cleanup" software, security tools, or internet traffic monitors installed? These should all be removed completely, preferably with vendor-provided uninstallers. These can interfere with MacOS upgrades.


Finally, you can also try to install the upgrade from safe mode.


An absolute LAST REORT (which I once did successfully on my daughter's Mac that had this problem, I have no idea what she had installed on that Mac previously) would be to make two verified backups of all your files, then erase/reformat and install a new MacOS, then create one admin user (different name from any of your existing users) and from that user, update to 12.2.1 Monterey. This will work unless your Mac has a hardware problem. Then migrate from the backup, user accounts and files/folders but NO applications, NO settings, only user files/folders. Then reinstall software anew, being careful to use the most current versions and only ones that are Monterey compatible.


Side question: before you embark on any of the above, I have to ask: does your Mac have a non-Apple internal drive? If it does, Monterey installs may all fail because an Apple drive is required for the firmware update that comes with Monterey. If your Apple drive was replaced along the way with a non-Apple one, the remedy is to temporarily put in an Apple drive, upgrade to Monterey, then put back your non-Apple SSD and perform the upgrade to Monterey on that drive. This might be best handled by an Apple-Authorized repair shop.

Feb 20, 2022 2:17 AM in response to Shantheman73

There are reports appearing on the ASC Forums regarding failed installation of Monterey on older Qualifying Apple Computers. In most cases this is related to having a NON Apple Original internal drive ?  


The EFI Boot ROM included in Monterey is verifying for Original Apple Drive and if not found , may Balk or fail to upgrade to Monterey. 


Reports indicate the EFI BOOT ROM is Required to Flash the Computer and is a  requirement for a Successful Monterey Installation.


If above applies to this computer ;


1 - Replace the after Market Drive with an Apple Original Drive and Install Monterey to the computer. This will apply the EFI BOOT ROM to the computer


2 - Reverse the above action in point 1 and put back the After Market Drive and Install Monterey onto this drive.

Feb 20, 2022 2:43 PM in response to Shantheman73

The past does not matter. I had same problem with y 2013 Mac Pro desktop. I had to reinstall the Apple disk that I had,.Then update that to Monterey. After that I could update the non-Apple SSD to Monterey.


Go to About this Mac>Overview>System Report>Hardware>NVMExpress. What is the Model? AN Apple SSD il be like APPLE SSD SM0512F

Your nujber will be different.

Won't update to monterey

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