Unable to install macOS Sequoia update 15.4 on my MacBook Pro

Has SIP ( System Integrity Protection ) been disabled

To check if System Integrity Protection (SIP) is enabled or disabled on your macOS, open Terminal and type csrutil status then press Enter. The Terminal will then display whether SIP is "enabled" or "disabled". 

% csrutil status

System Integrity Protection status: enabled.

@edward

Edward Martz wrote:

This morning, I contacted Apple Support to continue troubleshooting after backing up my important documents. I explained the steps I had taken and shared insights I found online from the apple forum. They informed me that I would need access to another Sequoia Mac in order to attempt further recovery methods. Unfortunately, my only remaining option would be to wipe and reinstall, although they cautioned that this might not resolve the issue, as the M-series chips don’t allow downgrades.

As an alternative, they recommended scheduling a Genius Bar appointment, where they would have the necessary tools to explore additional recovery options before resorting to a clean install. I’m heading in this afternoon to see if any progress can be made before taking that final step.a

Likely you can install Sonoma on a different partition of the disk ( volume) then you will see your files/datas and move them over ( external or the new install ).

Then that new Sonoma installation can be updated up to 15.3.2.

At this stage , you can delete the faulty partition to reclaim the space back.

I'm not seeing a 15.5 Beta version of Sequoia available yet via the App Store. Latest version history is 15.4 beta 4. Once available, a 16GB or 32GB (I'd recommend) flash drive should do the trick. Just make sure it's formatted correctly, you have admin privileges, etc. resource Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Just make sure to quit the installer post media creation and delete if you don't want the Beta version on your actual device.

You can also partition out larger drives (i.e external SSD's) as you go if you'd like to keep multiple operating systems in one place for testing, etc. Hope this helps!

Try installing 15.4.1, released today!

Yup it would because Apple appears to Not Have uploaded the Full Version 15.4

It may appear via the Terminal command but in reality it is Not Yet Available as a " Full Version "

You can wait a few days and try the terminal command again

Or, explore >>

If an error occurred while updating or installing macOS - Apple Support

Pinath wrote:

I've experienced the same error yesterday and I've tried the command this morning. Here's the result

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.4

Scanning for 15.4 installer

Install failed with error: An error occurred while running scripts from the package “InstallAssistant.pkg”.

Error Domain=PKInstallErrorDomain Code=112 "An error occurred while running scripts from the package “InstallAssistant.pkg”." UserInfo={SUErrorUpdateTitle=macOS Sequoia, NSURL=file:///Library/Updates/082-16524/InstallAssistant.pkg, PKInstallPackageIdentifier=com.apple.pkg.InstallAssistant.macOSSequoia, NSLocalizedDescription=An error occurred while running scripts from the package “InstallAssistant.pkg”., SUErrorRelatedCode=SUErrorCodeInstallFailure, NSFilePath=./postinstall.sh, SUErrorUpdateProductKey=082-16524}

Nothing has changed since Yesterday to Today

Apple Apps Store is still showing Sequoia 15.3.2

It may appear via the Terminal command but in reality it is Not Yet Available as a " Full Version "

You can wait a few days and try the terminal command again

I just found this relative to the Beta for 15.4 (seems like this problem was present for some even during beta). At that time the solution was perceived to be a DFU restore was the only solution. It comes from this Reddit website (you have to scroll down load more comments to get to it): https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOSBeta/comments/1j2q230/154_developer_beta_2_released/?rdt=62051

The original Post and response was in Portuguese (this is translation):

I installed 15.4 Beta via the Beta Development Version on my external HD. It worked, but when I turned it off and booted from the internal HD with 15.3.1. The installation was corrupted. I cleaned the disk with Recover Sonoma, but now the Mac no longer accepts the installation of version 15.3.1. It always crashes and stays in a loop...I can only install 15.4 when this is only the Beta Development version on both the internal and external disks. Now when I try to update it always crashes with this LOG:

panic(cpu 0 caller 0x0): t6000dart 0xfffffdf03f8c2850 (dart-disp0): Can't ignore lock validation u/t6000dart.c:437

Reply #1:

Hi, I’m going through the same issue. I guess you haven’t found a solution other than DFU restore either, right?

Reply #2:

Unfortunately not, only restoring via DFU. After I restored everything worked normally.

I’ve officially joined the unfortunate club of MacBook owners facing update issues. I’m on a MacBook Pro M2 Pro and decided to update from macOS 15.3 (Sequoia) to 15.4 through my System Preferences, thinking it would be just another typical update. However, I was immediately hit with an endless restart loop, only to eventually see the message: “The version of macOS on the selected disk needs to be reinstalled. You can use macOS Recovery to reinstall macOS or select another startup disk.”

I quickly called Apple Support, hoping they had a solution. The technician guided me through entering Recovery Mode, running Disk Utility, and performing a First Aid check on all the drives listed. After a restart, I was back to square one—stuck in the same restart loop with the same message.

Apple advised attempting to reinstall macOS, but rather than updating from Sequoia to 15.4, it wanted to install macOS Sonoma. When I tried, the installation failed with the error: “This volume cannot be downgraded.”

At that point, the technician told me that the only option left was to wipe the system and do a clean install. But my heart sank. All my projects and important documents weren’t backed up, and there was no way I was about to delete everything.

My main priority shifted to recovering my files. After some searching, I found a way to access the files using another Mac. In the Recovery menu, under Utilities, there’s an option called Share Disk…. I connected both computers with a lightning-to-USB cable, started the file sharing process, and finally began backing up my files to an external 4TB SSD.

This experience has been yet another reminder to always back up your important documents before trusting system updates. Now, I’ll focus on reinstalling everything and taking proper backups going forward. The first step is getting my files safe, and then I’ll deal with the full system reinstall.

I have no clear understanding of the cause or how to prevent the corruption from occurring. I was informed that the installation had become corrupted and that there were no alternative solutions except for wiping the system and performing a full reinstall of version 15.4. The technician's only advice was to ensure I have backups of my data in case a similar issue arises in the future.

Using time machine would let me return to a previous working state while preserving all my data, saving me the hassle of starting from scratch. Right now, I'm on version 15.4 (24E248), but I'm still in the process of reinstalling all my apps. Transferring 300GB of files using an SSD was a breeze, but losing 24-48 hours just to reinstall everything due to an official update is unacceptable. To make matters worse, they even make you sign a waiver before their tech team tries to troubleshoot, absolving them of any responsibility for potential data loss—data loss caused by their own faulty software update in the first place!

Can you test a system on 15.3.2 using LittlebigalanCM's sudo command below:

sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.4 --launch-installer -R

I've run it successfully on an already erased mac (M1 Pro) without issue, just curious as to the result on a machine already getting crash reports or with a user who doesn't want to wipe their device until the next incremental is released.

So I did try using the script in the recovery mode and it definitely can't access the partitions it needs to in order to use the script. So right now the two cases my company is running into are the following:

Users can log into device -> run the script I mentioned previously and it will fix the issue

User can't log into device (very few)/we are reimaging the device and run into an installation issue -> We decided to use a Bootable Installer to reset the device and install 15.4 on the device.

That softwareupdate command timed out for me. I did not try at safe mode.

Instead, at my M1 Air 2020, while being booted to external SSD disk, I did:

1. Downloaded macOS 15.3.2 InstallAssistant.pkg from Apple CDN, download links at https://osxdaily.com/where-download-macos-installers/
2. Double clicked InstallAssistant.pkg and install it to my external SSD disk Apps
3. Formatted USB-C stick as HFS+ format
4. Used command from Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support to write to USB stick
5. Booted with long press of power to options menu
6. Formatted internal disk as APFS
7. Booted with long press of power with USB-C stick plugged in
8. Selected Installer of macOS 15.3.2, installed it.

@J4lambert What does your issue have to do with this post thread? Your traceback shows a mention of ARM which means it must be an M1 or newer, so it is definitely still supported. Did you try installing 15.4.1 yet? That should, in theory, work on your MacBook Air.

In my case, after having my iMac m1 starting up in recovery mode after it should have installed Sequoia, I tried to switch Startup disks to Macintosh HD manually. That worked for me.

Looks like the installer forgot to set that switch, and kept starting from the Recovery partition over and over again.

Second thoughts

Based upon this similar question doing the 15.4 Update

Apple Servers maybe having issues

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256030016?login=true&sortBy=oldest_first