High Sierra update 10.13.3 won't install

the only way that we were able to get past this at the Apple Store was by creating a separate "container drive" (in a partition of the otherwise 'erased' disk with several Apple/MSFT/Bootcamp 'empty-of-content' partitions) -- so carving out a 50gb or so container driver out of what was already a puny 128gb HDD. Then and only then could we successfully load a 10.13.3 fresh install.

Please note, this approach required us to wipe all the data on the Win10 partition and the MacOS partition (multiple attempts to erase, then unmount, then erase, with no success except that the contents were being erased, not the underlying partitions). And even having done that, with no Win10 files supposedly on the machine, and with a clean MacOS install at an Apple Store, every time you would boot the MacBook Pro it would first go to a Windows Blue Screen of Death pointing out that it didn't have the necessary files to continue booting. Thanks, MSFT. To give a sense of the irregularity of this, it took Apple folks two hours to do this in the store, and we were all getting failure, failure, failure, so much so, that we were at the store after the store itself closed! The tech was so curious to get to the bottom of this issue, which according to him, he had never seen before.

So, next day, spent a morning with Apple support on the phone to see how we could reclaim the remainder of my 128gb drive, and we also spent a TON of time, first with one tech, then escalated to another) to try to solve the problem. Failure, failure, failure from WITHIN TERMINAL using all sorts of fancy diskutil command-line tricks, until finally had to format the entire **** drive and then do a fresh install of MacOS 10.13.3 --

Now, anyone who has experienced this problem and has been reading these threads knows that the punchline is coming. Here it is:

-After doing what was supposed to be a squeaky-clean format following command-line directions from frustrated Apple techs who were also done being 'puzzled' and 'baffled' by the apparent persistence of the MSFT partition controls, and were just totally determined to return the machine to "factory state" -- [drumroll]

[drumroll]

Machine appeared to have been restored to factory. Finder and diskutil were showing just one Macintosh HD. Everyting seemed to be working ... until ... [drumroll]

You clicked to reboot, and this "restored-to-factory-settings" MacBook Pro asked you if you wanted to reboot to Windows (with the click option). Holy smokedy smokes!!!! That's how deep the Win10/Bootcamp/whatever-the-****-is-actually-controlling-the-drive really goes. I'm not a power Mac user at all, and in fact, got an MBP because I was dead tired of dealing with "enterprise-grade" Windows updater problems, but my novice gut tells me that I'm not supposed to be asked whether I want to reboot back into Windows by an Apple machine that's running a freshly mounted up-to-date MacOS 10.13.3 on a freshly formatted HDD that a total of five Apple technicians spent a total of 7 hours trying to cleanse of Bootcamp/Windows 'residuals.'

How's that for an intro to the "Mac" experience for someone who was transitioning away from Win precisely because update/security/control problems. Now, and only now, do I understand how Linux (and its many shards) stayed relevant and continues to grow.

Non-technical advice for Apple support (same advice given to each of the folks who worked on this mess with me) -- you gotta examine what the heck latest builds of Win10 1709 are doing on Apple HDDs. These 1709 builds are post Specter/Meltdown, so it doesn't surprise me that they are "burrowing deeper and deeper" into the HDD, using whatever tricks of the trade are available.

But the fact that Windows root coders have apparently succeeded in beating Apple root coders concerning control over Apple hardware/software does not inspire trust. Bottom line is that newest Windows builds seem to colonize the Apple disks, and it will take a LOT of effort to undo this. Apple has to expend this effort because othewise, the fancy new file format and partition claims they are making don't withstand basic user-scrutiny.

Hope this helps, in whatever little way. The irony of ironies, of course, is that now I'm not running Windows in Bootcamp on that (or other) machines, which deprives me of the best Windows experience that I had ever had (fleeting as it was). So maybe there's a lesson here for MSFT coders as well: if you play nice and don't try to colonize the entire Macbook Pro disk once we let you onto the hardware playground, maybe we'll let you return. If not, banishment seems like the only workable remedy, and that ***** because a regular user is forced back to having two machines for running two OSs -- and that seems so, 2008.

I too tried several times without success - and don't have an AV product installed. So I downloaded the combo installer from here at it worked first time: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1953

I finally just gave up and did a reinstall. It fixed the issue.

http://osxdaily.com/2016/02/09/howto-reinstall-os-x-mac-recovery/

Thanks for the help.

It was strange - I just let it run and it finally calculated the time

needed to install was 29 minutes. I have no idea why, but it finally

did get back to rebooting. I've never installed an update that took 30 minutes

to complete.

ted

Hi my Mac book pro is doing something similar. The update will download, the install starts and they just ends. The setting Mac screen starts and then the desktop load and says some update not installed. I am not running bitdefender. Any ideas?

Same problem - running BootCamp with Windows 10 (and Win10 has Bitlocker). I suspended Win Bitlocker, rebooted into OSx and did the same update attempt. Same fail. No Bitdefender installed, no other AV program running. Trying one last time from Combo Update as was suggested by others and then heading into the Apple Store.

The greatest Irony of all is that this is my first experience doing a MacOS update EVER after being assured by the kind genius at the Genius Bar that "Apple never has update problems" -- and, consequently switching to a MacBook Pro from a brand spanking new state-of-the-fart MSFT SurfaceBook2.

Irony, Part 2 -- the Windows that I'm running on the MacBook Pro was able to do the latest Windows updates (1703 => 1709) flawlessly, even as the top-of-the-line MICROSOFT SurfaceBook machine choked on its own Windows update and wasn't able to do it.

Irony/Intuition, Part 3 -- both MSFT & APPL are releasing these updates/patches in the wake of Specter/Meltdown and they're really not communicating what's happening in the updates to make them more radical (as in rooting deeper and deeper into the respective BIOS-es) than before. If true, that ***.

I'm having the same issue on my MacBook Pro, but I don't have Bitdefender installed. I have a sneaking suspicion Parallels may be the culprit, but I'm curious if anyone else with Parallels can confirm?

my iMac is on 10.13.1 and I've attempted to install the 10.13.3 update twice unsuccessfully. No anti-virus software and no Parallels on my iMac. I'm downloading the combo installer linked above to try next.

I would agree Mac OS more secure than most other desktop OS's however this is dangerous advice macworld for example has the following list https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/mac-viruses-malware-security-366 8354/ or plug mac os malware inintoour favorite search engine

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mac+os+malware&atb=v89-1_f&ia=web.

I am also having problems. Right now, I've tried installing from the App store (it restarts several times but with no success) and from the combo (same result). I don't have Bitdefender. Any other way?

For more info, I'm running 10.13.2.

Any luck with this? I am in the same boat, no matter what i do i cannot install the 10.3.3 update.

2012 mac mini.

Tried:

-updating from app store

-downloading update
-downloading combined update

-updating from command line

-cloning to another disk and trying all of the above

no bitdefender, or AV software, not running parallels.

No parallels, no anti virus, nothing running in background and I don't really have anything unusual on this machine. I've attempted the install 6 times and my system has auto-attempted 3 times and all have failed. It goes through the entire install process as if it is installing, reboots, and comes up with no errors BUT the update is not installed.

Same for me as you... no virus material. Both App store download and combo installer have failed multiple times. Machine restarts starts installing but fails to complete install and reverts to 10.13.2. Did you get any solution?

I haven't had any new ideas to try so I'm still stuck. I figure my two options right now are wait for the next update - perhaps major update - and hope one of them will eventually work. Or use my Time Capsule and wipe/upgrade/restore which I'm waaaay not excited about wasting my time doing.

To say to not use AV software on a Mac and to say that it is not needed as BAD BAD advice. Macs get hacked too and it is more common thane you think. This is advice coming from an ethical hacker. Don’t ever assume that a Mac doesn’t need anti malware or security software just because it’s a Mac.