MacBook Air macOS Sequoia update stalls at 30 min

Software on the computer interfering with the download process including AntiVirus Software

Notation:

Disabling the AV Software may or may not solve the issue.

Removal of the AV Software may increase the chances of the download to perform as expected.

Running behind a VPN which may increase Packet losses or corruption of the download 

Some packages of Malwarebytes do include a VPN

Turn off any Third Party Two Way Firewall and try again 

Best Results are via Ethernet Cable to Router

Worst case - Restart in Recovery Mode and choose Reinstall macOS. 

This in theory will pull the latest version of macOS this computer qualifies to run 

If using the last method { Recovery Mode )

Fear not it should not attempt to install macOS 26 Tahoe

Reason, I think you already know

The Intel MBA from 2020 does not qualify

bruce177 wrote:

It downloads the entire 137 gb and begins to prepare the install and stalls. It stops at “30 minutes remaining” and makes no more progress.

Something doesn't seem right with the size you have given for that update.

I'm not sure what size the incremental 15.7.4 update is, but it is smaller that 137 gb and larger than 137 mb.

According to Apple my 2020 is still supported hence running MacOS Sequoia 15.7.3.

That is correct.

Has anyone experienced/remedied this issue? Any suggestions? I have tried over the course of two days at different hours of the day thinking network traffic might be a factor. No success.

I'm not sure what is wrong, but I would restart the Mac and then use the following the directions to update.

see > https://support.apple.com/en-us/108382

I had similar problems going from 15.7.3 to 15.7.4 on my 2018 Macbook Pro. It didn't even get it saying how much time was remained before it froze - just the Apple logo and a progress bar stuck half way. I consulted the local Apple store (unhelpful) and then waited 6 hours to be sure it was actually stuck before forcing a restart which then bricked my personal Macbook account password, forcing me to do an Apple ID account reset of the my Macbook password which in turn failed. I had to retreat to the main admin account for the Macbook and force a password reset, followed by various other resets and logins to get to my account. All of which took another hour to sort through.

And after all that it is saying that the OS has been updated "successfully" (?) to 15.7.4!

I have never had any problems with any Mac OS update on any of my five or six Macs going back over 30 years. The most time updates have taken in the past was around 30 to 45 mins and were trouble free.

[Edited by Moderator]

Your experience seems to be somewhat localize and unique to your computer setup

In the 20+ years in the Apple Eco-System and approximately 18 - 19 different Laptops and Desktop dating back to the Motorola PPC 12" Powerbook with OS X 10.4 Tiger

The only Upgrade / Update issue was a Defective DVD of OS X 10.5 Leopard

Having the same issue with a 2025 M4 MBP. Apple logo with progress bar stuck half way for well over an hour now. If I touch the fingerprint sensor there’s a little message below the progress bar saying the machine will restart once update is complete, but that disappears and nothing else happens. My first MacBook is not making me happy.