Sierra install stuck a 5 minutes remaining

Hi, I also faced the same problem while clean reinstallaing mac OS Sierra and thought the download stucks everytime.

Whwn the instqllation starts it does not tell the correct time of 6 minutes or 5 minutes remaining. You just gow to windows tab and look for Installer log. In installer log just click show all Process. In that you will see that Mac os is downloading chunk file which are 471 in number and each chunk file takes approximately around 2 minutes. So if you can see the chunk files downloading then dont worry macOs is downloading on your device.

For my mac it took around 13 hours to complete the download and once you have started the installation please do not cancel it. Your downloading depwnds upon your internet network. Even if the download is interrupted you can reconnect it to the internet and it will begin from where it left off.

So dont forget to check installation log if its progressing then no need to worry Apple does that often.

Go up to the status bar and click install macOS sierra. Click services and then show errors and progress. I thought mine was frozen but now I can see there is very slow steady progress. Mine said 5 minutes to start and has taken 20 so far and is at .365935% so I'm not sure if it will finish but it IS working even though it appears frozen.

I have similar situation on iMac (fast internet connection). It has downloaded and apparently installed most or all of the software but has stopped on the loading screen with the loading bar full (black). I tried once to restart manually but that just pushed the loading bar to 2/3 full; it reached the end (full/black) then has apparently stopped again. Guess I'll give it another hour before restarting again.

I was experiencing errors on start up and I too wanted to erase the hdd and reinstall MacOS Sierra however it was stuck at "5 minutes remaining".

After I cancelled the download and forcefully shut down my macbook, I pressed CMD+R and the system asked for the network and loaded the factory settings (OS X Mountain Lion). I am now planning to just update the MacOS to Sierra and hopefully everything will be working smoothly from there. Not the most efficient way to restore your Macbook.

I have similar problem...

I am updating my MacBook Air 2011 to Sierra, and after downloaded the new OS, the Mac rebooted and now is on the white screen with the black apple in the middle, and the progression status bar showing to be close to the end... it is already 24 hours (1 full day) in this status!!! I can hear the fan working very fast like when I use the Mac with heavy applications.

Command + L does not work

What should I do?

Many Thanks in advance

Thanks Eric Root for replying.

I did the shutdown and restart, it back exactly where it was before the shutdown, although stuck again there for 6 hours. I did the shutdown again and restart, but nothing changed, the Mac back at the same situation and still there.

So, what now?

PS: missing you Steve!

I tried everything but noting worked. Spent 2 whole days researching blogs, calling apple, and doing all the methods recommended. Nothing worked. Finally I had to erase my hard drive, and install Sierra all over. Worst of all, macbook air worked better before Sierra. Big disappointment I get from mac after many years of enjoying their laptops.

I am almost in the same situation. Installing Sierra on my Macbook air and it is on the installation screen with the apple in the middle and the installation status bar fully completed.

I tried both SMC and PRAM reset but nothing changed.

I do not have any backup on time machine, and I would like to keep some photos stored on this mac, at least.

Hi! I'd go back to Recovery mode (CMD+R or Apple+R) and start from the beginning. Format the target HDD before and Restart again in Recovery mode and check the progress (real progress bar) with CMD+L . There you will see the packages that are getting downloaded in order to install, you just have to pray Apple servers won't get slow and take you from a 6 min job to an over night job😮. It's not the internet connection, not the 2700Euro you spent is just Apple making fun.

My MacAir still stuck on full installation status bar without progressing.

I have tried with booths resets SMC and PRAM, but no luck.

Cmd + L does not work

I do not have any backup for this and need to recover some photos from in there before scratching everything.

Thinking to create a boot disk on USB key with OSX, although the instructions I have found out around are not really clear on how to make it, especially for OSX versions before Sierra.

Any help?

Can't upload my screen's picture but there's only maybe half an inch of the progress bar to load for over 10 hours. It doesn't show how many minutes. Tried restarting and it goes back to the same screen. Command+L doesn't do anything.

Hi Smwilsey,

Unfortunately it is not solved yet. There are many threads about this kind issue with Sierra, it looks like Sierra has serious problems on upgrading on olds macs.

By using Command+V (verbose mode) I can see the mac doing this:

- AppleKeyStore: operation failed ........

- AppleMCP89TMS: powerGettingDown (0): Done

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 1

- busy timeout [0]......

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 1

- busy timeout [1]......

- IOConsoleUsers: time(0) 0->0, lin 0, link 1

- IOConsoleUsers: gIOScreenLockState 3, hs 0, bs 0, nov 0, sm 0x0

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 1

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 2

- SmartBattery: finished polling type 4

- Smart....

- Smart...

-

-

-

(It is just looping at the SmartBattery, not going forward)

Here some tips and tricks very useful:

https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/mac-startup-options/

However, I was able to do the backup of all data stored on the hard disk.

-> I switched off the mac (keeping pressed the power button for 6 seconds), then I restarted it again by pressing the Option key (alt), and it went on the Recover mode. Form Terminal I copied all the most important directories onto an external hard drive.

From the Recovery mode you can do many things:

- browsing on Safari

- Reinstall OSX

- Utility Disk

- Terminal

Now, I am going to:

- switch off the mac pressing the power button for 6 seconds

- restart the mac by pressing Option key (alt)

- from the Recovery mode I will use Utility disk to fully scratch the hard disk (format)

- then, staying within the Recovery mode, I will launch again Reinstall OSX

Crossing fingers!

Touching wood!

I missing you Steve!!!

Hey just keep trying it over. again and again evey 5 min if you dont see it go down to 4. Im not 100 percent on this but i think scroling down on the agreement helps aswell. I took these pics as i was typing lol

Thank you! After days and days trying I managed to install it after formatting the computer, but needed some files and used time machine to go back to the old system.

The computer had been crazy slow for a while and seemed to only get worse after all this, so I sent it to a professional and turns out I have a problem on my HD and need a new one.

Do you think it´s worth it to spend on a SSD for my Mid-2010 machine instead of buying a new Macbook (4 times more expensive than the SSD where I live)?