Stuck on "30 minutes remaining"

Upgrading a Mac Air to Sierra - after a reboot, been tuck on "30 minutes remaining" for over 9 hours.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.0.x)

Posted on Sep 2, 2018 10:07 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 2, 2018 10:44 PM

Force shutdown. Press and hold down the Power button until the computer shuts down. Wait 15 seconds then do the following:


Reinstall El Capitan or Later Without Erasing Drive


Please be sure you back up.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  3. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.
  4. Click on the First Aid icon in the toolbar. Wait until the Done button activates, then click on it.
  5. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  6. Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.


Also, see this User Tip: Basic Steps for Upgrading OS X.


If the above does not help then do this:


Install El Capitan or Later from Scratch


If possible back up your files.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the CommandandRkeys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.
  3. When Disk Utility loads select the volume (indented entry, usually Macintosh HD) from the Device list.
  4. Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
  5. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  6. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
  7. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  8. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.
3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 2, 2018 10:44 PM in response to ChuckHooper

Force shutdown. Press and hold down the Power button until the computer shuts down. Wait 15 seconds then do the following:


Reinstall El Capitan or Later Without Erasing Drive


Please be sure you back up.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  3. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.
  4. Click on the First Aid icon in the toolbar. Wait until the Done button activates, then click on it.
  5. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  6. Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.


Also, see this User Tip: Basic Steps for Upgrading OS X.


If the above does not help then do this:


Install El Capitan or Later from Scratch


If possible back up your files.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the CommandandRkeys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.
  3. When Disk Utility loads select the volume (indented entry, usually Macintosh HD) from the Device list.
  4. Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
  5. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  6. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
  7. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  8. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.

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