Apple security update 2018-002 10.13.6 fails on Mac Pro

I had a similar problem. During restart, instead of booting up the OS went into a loop in which it would start the install but eventually return an error message saying the Mac could not install the update and to either try again or boot into diagnostic mode to check the hardware. I did both several times. The hardware was fine and I received the same error message every time I restarted. Eventually, I wound up restoring from a Time Machine backup from earlier in the day. I suspect there is an easier fix but I could not wait.

Same issue with a mid-2010 MacBook Pro. I tried both from the Apple Store update and again from a downloaded dmg: I think it it hangs while shutting down rather than restarting since I never hear a restart sound. The screen just shows a cursor but nothing else. I even tried applying the update from "Safe mode". Aside from taking much longer to boot when entering "Safe mode", I got the same result.

I booted into recovery mode and reinstalled Mac OS rather than restoring from a Time Machine backup. But Apple Store still said the update was needed. Just for grins, I did try applying the update from the dmg again but it still hangs. I was hoping that the newly installed High Sierra would have the update applied, but it does not.

My 13" Mid 2012 MBP had similar issues. Upon restart I got an Unable to Install message that takes me to the Installer Log. Tried a few times to restart, but no luck. Reimaged drive from Time Machine backup overnight. All things are back to normal by morning. Won't be installing this update!

MBP 2018. Same issue. I caved in and upgrade to Mojave now that all my apps are compliant.

No more issues, but very worrying handling and lack of response on the part of apple for botching a security update...

Hope they get their stuff together again. Not installing security updates is not an acceptable option in a business context.

I am writing this as this is the first time in 20 years that I have had a near brick situation with installing macOS updates. Equipment: 2017 MBP. OS Software: 10.13.6. Waiting to install Mojave, as being a first adopter burned deep with High Sierra. Updates shown in App Store was Safari 12.0.1 and Security Update 2018-002. Download file size was 1.88GB.

After download, install progress bar commenced and was very erratic and screen went black multiple times. Then after 10 min or so, "The macOS installation couldn't be completed" message with an Installation Log window in the background. There was a retry button so I tried and the same screen showed up and this time I saved the log to my root drive. There was also a Startup Disk button and I chose that to reveal my startup disk and chose that and restarted. It rebooted fine and noticed that Safari 12.0.1 was installed, but Security Update 2018-002 was still showing needed to be installed. There was some stray installer files in my main disk, but ignored and retried the update through App Store. This time it showed the download size was 1.8GB. After download, install progress bar commenced and was very erratic (not just forward, but jumped backward) and the screen went black multiple times. (Multiple restarts during the installation process usually indicates a firmware update.) After 10 min or so, booted up to my account. All seems ok for now (still testing).

I then checked my firmware through System Information and it showed: Boot ROM Version: 185.0.0.0.0. (This will be different for different Mac models. My Mac identifier is MacBookPro14,3.) This number is not the same as it was before, and it has a different numbering system as before. So I did an EFI verification through a Terminal command and my EFI version showed as: MBP142.88Z.F000.B00.1809280842. These two numbers (without the date code at the end) were both the same before this update, but now they are different, so Apple has now done something different with their firmware identification system. Here is a link to a page on how to do an EFI verification and the Boot ROM Versions you should have with your specific Mac model: https://eclecticlight.co/2018/10/31/which-efi-firmware-should-your-mac-be-using- version-3/. The reason I am mentioning this, is because I also had a very erratic update install with one of the earlier versions of High Sierra, and I noticed that there was a firmware update with that update also. Apple has been bundling their firmware updates with software updates which I think is a mistake. Please anyone who can verify their firmware being updated, please let me know, so I can further troubleshoot this issue.

ALSO, I noticed that the download file for the Security Update 2018-002 on the Apple website is only 421.1 MB. Please can anyone explain why the App Store update is almost 5 times larger than the website update?

Thanks all for furthering this issue.

Similar entry also existed in my crash report:

"OSInstaller[548]: The main OS Installer distribution (/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Updates/AtomicUpdates/041-18191/041-18191.Dutch.dist) did not load with error: The file doesn’t exist."

In my earlier post I only inserted the ReportCrash log entries. The above message was just before that as part of the OSInstaller process logging, followed by:

"Language Chooser[529]: Child process exited 11"

Is someone at Apple awake?

Did anybody try the following solution? It seems a bit like the 'shotgun solution' as mentioned before.

See: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/30061/macos-updates-fail-to-install -potential-workaround-resolution

I think you all should wait for "App Store" to indicate "updates are available" rather than seeking out updates and attempting to use them. They might not apply to your hardware.

And yes updates can "freeze" while rebooting (wait overnight before deciding it's frozen) - they should complete normally after a reset button is pressed.

other than that, you might need to factory refresh and do the update while things are "fresh" (without all your old apps and hacks installed it may complete as expected)

You can check your LOGS to see what went wrong. Post them here so others can see the report and comment or fix it for you.

Hello -- yes, only hard power off would work, same as you are experiencing. You do have to use Terminal, and the steps in the linked post (reposted below) did solve the problem -- the only thing I would add is that after step 2 (the sudo command) you will need to enter your password, and there is an extra space in the command (in the word "framework") that you need to take out before entering it. Hope this helps!

Re: Apple security update 2018-002 10.13.6 fails on Mac Pro

This update tripped me up too (iMac 2017 5K). All appeared fine until a re-boot the following day, iMac wouldn't boot, stuck at Installer screen, I eventually managed to get the iMac to boot by selecting the 'Macintosh HD' from the utilities menu. Like others I was left with the 'MacOS Install' folder at the root level. However, everything appeared to be working OK, I didn't attempt to reinstall the 2018-002 update. I then noticed that iStats was reporting higher GPU and CPU temperatures than what I would usually expect to see for my typical use, especially after waking the Screensaver or coming of out of sleep. I checked Activity Monitor and there were no processes running to explain the high temps.

I then decided to do a Time Machine restore (pre 2018-002) and that seemed to go to plan, however the high GPU and CPU temperatures started again yesterday (nothing unusual in Activity Monitor).

I'm thinking a PRAM and SMC reset may be in order?

I never installed Security Update 2018-002 after reading this thread. So to answer one of your questions, there is only Security Update 2018-003 now as my only option. 2018-002 is no longer available from my end.

I haven't attempted to install the new update yet.

Not exactly the same but we ran the Safari 12.1 update on two different 5K Retina 2017 iMacs yesterday and upon booting this morning each computer crashed. On both, they took a much longer time to boot, then started with gray screens and a program called the Installer Logs came up with a log of errors. We had to reinstall High Sierra on each to get them back up and running.

I then ran the software update you're referring to. The machine restarted fine but now the App Store is still saying it needs to be updated without any record of it having just done so.

*** is going on today?

I also had issue on installing this security update.

1. after installation, reboot the mac and re-enter the desktop. The screen was keep blinking.

2. So I rebooted the mac again. The booting failed, and it said: "install updating failed ,you can restart or shutdown the mac"

3. reboot the mac again, still failed to reboot and the mac entered the recovery mode.

4. reboot the mac. Finally, no error again, and the mac was booted successfully.

My device info:

Had same experience with my Mac Pro late 2013 running High Sierra 10.13.6 Got a crash report then it froze. After shut down and restart it failed to install again citing missing resources. Third restart got me back where I started with the update appearing as available in the App Store Update section.

On my wife's Late 2011 i5 the 2018-002 install ran cleanly and quickly, on my Mid 2012 i7 the install took roughly an hour (on a Crucial SSD but would have been half a day on an HDD) and had multiple black screen periods and reboots but left alone it eventually ran to completion.

That said according to the latest System Report I now only have 3 Applications despite Launcher running to 4 screenfuls....