Can't install MacOs Tahoe on Mac Studio M3 Ultra

if you downloaded the Installer it is sitting in your Applications folder, you can launch it from there

try launching the installer from a SafeBoot and try again.

Applications/ "Install macOS Tahoe.app"

no resolve—

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The panic you’re seeing:

ANEHWDevice::Failed to validate ANE register offset 0x5a8...

…means the installer is loading the new Tahoe kernel/driver for the Apple Neural Engine, but the hardware check fails.

This can happen if:

• The Tahoe build you’re getting has a driver mismatch for your exact M3 Ultra revision.
• There’s a firmware update bundled in Tahoe that isn’t applying correctly during the install phase.
• A known launch-week bug in Tahoe 26.0 is affecting certain Apple Silicon Macs.

Steps to Try:

Here’s a sequence that’s worked for similar cases:

(1) Check for a Newer Build of Tahoe

Sometimes Apple silently reissues the same version with a fixed build number.

In Terminal:

bash
softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 26.0

Then check the build number in About This Mac → System Report → Software after download (before install). If it’s newer than your current installer, try again.

(2) Install via macOS Recovery

Shut down your Mac.

Hold Power until “Options” appears.

Choose Options → Reinstall macOS.

This pulls the latest signed installer directly from Apple’s servers and bypasses some of the live-update process that’s triggering the ANE panic.

(3) Try Safe Mode Install

Boot into Safe Mode (hold Shift after selecting your startup disk in the boot picker).

Then run the Tahoe installer from there — this can prevent certain kernel extensions from loading during the upgrade.

Erase-Install on an External Drive (Non-destructive test)

Use a spare SSD, format it APFS, and install Tahoe cleanly to it.

If it boots fine, the issue is with the in-place upgrade path; if it still panics, it’s a firmware/driver bug.

(4) Escalate to Apple

Given the ANE-specific panic, this is likely something Apple needs to patch.

File a Bug Report here for your specific Mac model: Product Feedback - Apple

My Take

This isn’t a storage, network, or generic corruption problem — it’s almost certainly a Tahoe 26.0 + M3 Ultra ANE driver issue. Until Apple pushes a fixed build, your best bet is either: Install via Recovery (which sometimes pulls a patched build), or wait for 26.0.1 or a supplemental update.

I have the exact same Mac Studio M3 Ultra with same problem. I have an open case with Apple advanced support and provided logs last night. I am running Sequoia 15.7 btw. Multiple attempts via software update, using the Full installer, safe mode update, recovery mode update, etc all result in same problem. After a normal looking 15 minute install process you boot back into Sequoia as if nothing happened with no error messages.

Would recommend opening a case as well must be something particular to this machine type.

I am having the exact same issue on my M3 Ultra Mac Studio. I opened a case with Apple so they have another data point.

Same problem here. Tried twice with no success. Then finally tried installing Tahoe while in Safe Mode, no success either. Depressing…

BTW, I first updated to 15.7.

As another data point, I also have a Mac Studio with an M3 Ultra and it does the same thing - gets to 1 minute remaining and then dumps me back to the login screen. In my case though, it generates no logs or error messages. I tried this like 8 times before finding this thread.

I also upgraded to 15.7 before installing macOS 26.

Same problem here with updating to Tahoe 26 OS with a Mac Studio M3 Ultra.

Same problem with my M3 Ultra Mac Studio as well.

Have the exact same issue with my M3 Ultra. Wasted a good 15 hours trying every workaround until I found this page of postings. Tahoe is easily the most annoying OS upgrade since Panther wiped my external drives. :p

I just reported this to

feedbackassistant.apple.com

and noticed that no one else has reported this. It says:

Recent Similar Reports: None

Please report this annoying bug!

They need to know that many are having this problem!

Hey guys,

So same here, been trying all night (Paris) and all day too. Update worked flawlessly on MacBook Pro M3, and failed every time on Mac Studio M3Ultra.

I discovered one thing though : The build on my MacBook is the 25A354 (so the latest one, out yesterday) ; I uploaded through Settings/Software Update.

As I was looking for a different course of action, I used fetch In terminal to get the latest build and it doesn't matter how I much I try, I only get the RC Build 25A353. I've tried a bunch of ways of getting it, and it's always the same result, I can't seem to get the latest build.

I tried downloading it from my MacBookPro to make a USB : it's the same. I've tried maybe 5 or 6 different sources, I always end up with the exact same file. (I checked in terminal the catalog : the right build shows up in the list, but when I download it : nothing) I thought this might be Apple's CDN but how can it explain the right build showing on my other Mac, downloaded at 5 minutes intervals, from the exact same internet connection ? (I would also like to mention : I don't use VPNs so that just my normal internet access)

Maybe I'm overreaching but : If the latest build isn't really downloading, and the RC shows up in place, maybe that's why we get an error ? I mean, is there any way the ANE validation fails because there's a build conflict ? Has any of you tried the 25A354 on Mac Studio M3 Ultra and failed in the same way ? Is there any certified way to "force" a build download ?

It's just an upgrade, yes, but I think we would all agree that with this kind of money, (since it's only concerning the Mac studio M3Ultra) we should have a patch right now....

Worked on my m1 and M2 Mac Studio ultras just not my m3 ultra.

[Edited by Moderator]