Phantom Multiple Installations that I did not do!

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Level 7

24,133 points

Phantom Multiple Installations that I did not do!

It's been a weird morning with several things behaving strangely on my M2 mini (Tahoe 26.0.1) but a restart cured them apart from this odd anomaly.

Going to About This Mac/More info/General/System Report/Software/Installation I discover that there are multiple instances of the same software being installed.

In the example below you can see that macOS 15.1 was apparently installed on 7 different dates.

I have my mini booted from an external NVMe but even if I updated both the external and the internal that would only account for 2.

As mentioned above many other apps have multiple installation dates.

Is there a logical explanation for this and no, I did not install them several times?

Mac mini, macOS 26.0

Posted on Dec 20, 2025 3:00 AM

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Answer 1

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,133 points

Dec 20, 2025 3:29 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

On a whim I fired up my M4 mini which I rarely use and discovered that 15.4 has been "installed" twice but that may be a result of installing it on both the external and internal. (On the M2 it's 3 times).

So I wonder whether anyone else has examples of 15.1 being installed multiple times.

Incidentally a couple of other things that went wrong today was that I could not take any type of screenshot and .mp4 files stopped playing until after I restarted.

Talk about all my troubles coming at once . . . it never rains but it pours.

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Answer 2

Owl-53

Level 10

102,601 points

Dec 20, 2025 4:26 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Ian R. Brown wrote:

On a whim I fired up my M4 mini which I rarely use and discovered that 15.4 has been "installed" twice but that may be a result of installing it on both the external and internal. (On the M2 it's 3 times).

So I wonder whether anyone else has examples of 15.1 being installed multiple times.

M4 Mac Mini arrive with Sequoia macOS 15.0 ( 24A8332 ) Special Build specific to the New M4 Chip Set

Updated the same day as arrival to Sequoia macOS 15.1 ( 24B2083 ) that appears to be Special Build for M4 machine

Nov 19, 2024 Sequoia macOS 15.1.1 ( 24B2091 )

There is a double listing for Sequoia 15.1

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

135,947 points

Dec 20, 2025 3:07 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

My guess is since they are all different dates it is code/fixes Apple pushed out without an actual update.

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Answer 4

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,133 points

Dec 20, 2025 3:15 AM in response to dialabrain

That makes sense but does Apple do such things?

Have you or anyone else got examples like mine?

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

135,947 points

Dec 20, 2025 3:16 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Ian R. Brown wrote:

That makes sense but does Apple do such things?

Yes

Have you or anyone else got examples like mine?

Yes

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

135,947 points

Dec 20, 2025 3:35 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

As I explained, they are not full updates of macOS, whatever version you want to name. You should try not to worry about every thing you see and don't understand.

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Answer 7

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,133 points

Dec 20, 2025 5:29 AM in response to dialabrain

I'm not worried . . . I might enter the "7" for the Guinness Book of Records.

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Answer 8

Dec 20, 2025 6:32 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

26.0.1?

Not 26.2?

The earliest updates for a new Apple software version can be particularly wobbly.

(Given the scale and scope of the changes, that they’re not yet wobblier is notable, too.)

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Answer 9

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,133 points

Dec 20, 2025 8:21 AM in response to MrHoffman

I am taking the hint and currently downloading/installing 26.2 on both my minis.

Strangely the M2 download is 6.68GB and the M4 is 5.56GB even though both are currently on 26.0.1

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