Migration Assistant Fails from Sequoia 15.4

Question

Migration Assistant Fails from Sequoia 15.4

Glitches in new mac setup... Apple, please note broken option below.

Brand new MacBook Pro 16" M4 Pro
Start up, start Migration Assistant, following instruction on new and old Macs
On new Mac, a window, "... from Sequoia 15.4, this mac needs to be updated...
Menu options "Update" and "Skip". I click "Update"
Update Failed, same menu. Tried a couple of times. Then Skip
Now Migration Assistant starts, "Preparing to transfer user documents" with back-and-forth bar moving
That runs for 16 hours.

I called Apple Support who guided me to

Stop Migration Assistant
Restart new Mac, skip Migration Assistant, set up user id, etc. as a new mac
Run Software Update
Then Settings... General... Erase everything
... and then run the Migration Assistant again, should work this time

One small note: Now, on the new mac, File Vault Encryption is the default, and support technician confirms that this is Apple's recommendation.

MacBook Pro (M4)

Posted on Apr 16, 2025 5:02 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Owl-53

Level 10

103,357 points

Apr 16, 2025 5:13 AM in response to Richard Karash

Lesson learned the hard way

Fortunately, it all worked out in the end

It is usually a good idea to check if there are Operating System UpDates Before attempting to Migrate from old to new machines

Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant

Get ready

Install the latest software updates on both computers.

Reply

Answer 2

Owl-53

Level 10

103,357 points

Apr 16, 2025 7:10 AM in response to Richard Karash

Richard Karash wrote:

Right. The wrinkle here is the Update menu item fails. And the workaround (set up as new, update, erase) is pretty obscure. Hope this post helps others trying to setup brand new Mac.

I’ve been thinking about the Software Update Issue that happened on an Out of the Box Experience.

I don’t think it should have happened from the very beginning, in my opinion.

I was really lucky on the first release day of the M4 Mac Mini on October 28, 2024.

When I first powered it up and before Setup Assist showed up, I got a Software Update prompt. I happily downloaded and installed it, and everything went smoothly.

I’m so sorry that this machine had to go through this issue.

I hope things get better as things move forward.

Reply

Answer 3

Apr 16, 2025 5:20 AM in response to Owl-53

Right. The wrinkle here is the Update menu item fails. And the workaround (set up as new, update, erase) is pretty obscure. Hope this post helps others trying to setup brand new Mac.

Reply