Why Cant I Install Software On My Mac

Apr 08, 2009  Sadly I can't do what you speak of, the Mac is dead. Desktop comes up but won't do anything after that, shutdown is by pushing the button on the mini. I'm running Diskwarrior for the third time recently and that should (as four times previously) put it operational again however with the same non working installer issue. Jun 21, 2016  Test to see if the installation disk works fine on another computer. Change the settings for the device type, do this, follow the steps below: 1. Open AutoPlay by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Hardware and Sound, and then clicking AutoPlay.

Updating your MacBook or iMac should be free of headaches and drama. Apple even coined a marketing phrase “it just works!” But recently, a lot of readers and Mac users are finding the opposite–it just doesn’t work! Several users have recently had issues updating their MacBook with the latest version of macOS. Unfortunately, this appears to be a fairly common problem for some when updating to the latest macOS High Sierra update.

The update gets stuck with a message “mac os could not be installed on your computer an error occurred installing macOS.” Some folks report seeing this message as well “the path /System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg appears to be missing or damaged.”

Then your Mac prompts you to quit the installer and restart your computer. Well, Apple, whatever happened to it just works???

Contents

  • 1 Quick Tips
  • 2 Getting macOS could not be installed on your computer?
  • 3 How-To Fix macOS could not be installed issue
  • 6 Reader Tips

Quick Tips

  • Check that your Mac’s Date&Time are on Set Automatically
  • Reset your Mac’s NVRAM or PRAM
  • Free up some internal hard drive storage
  • Restart in Safe Mode and run Disk Utility’s First Aid
  • Try Recovery Mode
  • Use Terminal to identify and remove non-Apple KEXTs
  • Restart in Single User Mode to remove problematic files

Why Cant I Install Software On My Mac Computer

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Getting macOS could not be installed on your computer?

Why Cant I Install Software On My Mac Pc

If you are experiencing this issue with your update, here are a few tips that you can use to address this issue. Before proceeding with the steps below, we suggest that you ensure your Mac’s clock is correct. If your Mac’s Date&Time do not match your current timezone or date, macOS often won’t install. Go to System Preferences > Date & Time. Apple prefers if you choose the option to Set Automatically.

Next, let’s try out the basic NVRAM reset (or PRAM for older Macs) on your computer.

Follow these steps if you are not sure about how to do the NVRAM reset

  1. Shut down your Mac
  2. Turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R
  3. Release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart
  4. Open System Preferences and check (and adjust, if necessary) any settings that reset, like volume, display resolution, startup disk selection, or time zone

Check Storage

The other thing is to make sure that your MacBook/Mac has enough space available to complete the update. If you are running low on space, Apple provides some guidelines that can help you recover some space on your Mac.

Why Cant I Install Software On My Mac

Beyond the Basics

Now, that we have taken care of the basics, we suggest that you try each of the processes below until your macOS install problem is fixed. We arranged the how-to-fix steps in three separate categories.

The first of the troubleshooting steps walk you through Safe mode options and then we suggest the Recovery mode. The last of the options shows you how to remove third-party KEXT files using simple terminal commands and then try the install process.

How-To Fix macOS could not be installed issue

Fixing the Install issue using Safe Mode on your Macbook

  • One of the best practices around updating is to make sure that you have taken a backup of the system before doing any troubleshooting. Better Safe than Sorry. We are assuming that you have already backed up your machine before you proceed with any of the steps below
  • The first thing to try is to get your Mac/MacBook into Safe mode. When you hold the ‘Shift’ key during startup, your computer will launch into Safe mode
  • Safe mode essentially forces the initiated process to ignore all third party launch daemons and startup items. Once you are in the Safe mode, the next course of action is to get into Disk Utility. Once your MacBook has entered safe mode, you will see it indicated in the top right-hand corner of your screen
  • Log in using your credentials and then go to your macOS Utilities folder. Here you will need to start up the Disk Utility Program. Once in the program, Click First Aid on the top and choose the volume (Your main HDD) and start the repair process
  • Once the Repair has completed, you will be notified of the status. At this point, you would want to rerun the macOS Update program and see if it works for you without giving you the error message

If you tried the steps above in Safe mode and did not find success, the next course of action is to try the Recovery mode.

Fixing macOS Install Problem in Recovery Mode

  • To get to recovery mode on your Mac or MacBook, you will need to press and hold Command + R keys together when booting up your computer
  • Once you are in the Recovery mode, click on the Apple logo on the top left corner of the screen and make sure that your startup disk is pointing to the Mac Boot disk
  • Now find the macOS update program and run the update

Sometimes, when you are facing install/upgrade issues, a workaround that works for many users is to create an external bootable installer and try to run the install program using it. Apple provides a detailed white paper on this process. You can create the bootable installer on a USB and then try it to update the macOS.

Removing Third Party KEXT Files

If you are still reading and have already tried the series of fixes in both Safe mode and Recovery mode to no avail, you may have to roll up your sleeves and do a little more digging into the root cause of the issue. Sometimes it’s the third party KEXT extensions that cause a lot of heartache during update/install of macOS.

These KEXT Files get added to your Mac/MacBook when you are using third-party devices. If you are not sure about it, your best bet is to look and see what third-party extensions are currently there on your machine.

To do so, Open up terminal from your utilities and type in the following to see the non-Apple KEXTs.

Kextstat grep –v com.apple

This command should show you all the third party extensions. Now you can remove them one by one or remove the one that you think may be the suspect. Using terminal, you can unload the kext my using the following command.

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/NAMEOFTHEKEXT.kext

Here ‘NAMEOFTHEKEXT’ needs to be replaced with the appropriate suspect KEXT file that you found above. Once you have unloaded the KEXT, you can go back and check to make sure that it has indeed been removed by using the kextstat command.

Once you have removed all the third party KEXT files and have made sure that you have enough space on your machine for the macOS update, please try and relaunch the install process.

Problems? Try Single User Mode

If your install process is failing because of a particular problematic file, you can also try to log in using the single user mode and delete that specific file and then try resuming the install. Sometimes you find these problematic ones off files in the Installer log files. To access these log files, open up the Console app in utilities and click on ‘/var/log’ on the left-hand column and then choose ‘instal.log’in the next column.

We are hoping that you were able to fix the macOS Install issue using some of these tips. If you have tried everything without any success, your best bet is to reach out to Apple Support folks so that they can help out. Please let us know how your install worked by using the comments below.

Reader Tips

  • Try restarting in recovery mode and install macOS High Sierra or Sierra from a bootable USB drive disk. If necessary, reformat your SSD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), not APFS
  • Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues
  • Boot up your Mac using Cmd + R to access the recovery partition. Immediately, go the Apple menu choose Startup Disk. Select your HD. Unlocked it if necessary by entering your admin password. Reboot and see if it starts up normally
  • Update your system’s clock by using Terminal. Open Applications > Utilities >Terminal and type the command date. If the date listed is incorrect, type this command ntpdate -u “time.apple.com” then press return. If you live outside of the Americas, type in Apple’s time server nearest you, such as time.asia.apple.com or time.euro.apple.com inside the parenthesis
  • I created an ISO image of macOS High Sierra on a USB and installation was a breeze after that
  • Shut down your Mac and wait 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, press the power button and immediately hold down Command + R and keep pressing these keys until the apple logo appears. You should see a screen asking you to choose a language, select your language of choice, and navigate to your macOS Utilities. Check the WiFi button at the top right to make sure you’re connected to the internet. Then select reinstall the latest version of macOS, click continue, agree and allow it to download and restart on its own (just leave the Mac alone–really!) After macOS reinstalls, it should restart and end up at the login screen
  • I booted up while holding the Option key and chose my regular MacinstoshHD (not an update volume). Then I booted normally (not with safe mode) and tried again to reinstall the update. Took several reboots but in the end, it worked!
  • Oftentimes, this error means your Mac is trying to boot from a different HD partition, sometimes even the recovery partition. To fix it, restart in startup manager (holding option key) and select your regular HD to reboot from. Once successful, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk > Select your normal HD startup. That should fix the problem

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.

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Jun 17, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Part One: Introduction

Part Two: Why Can’t I Update My Mac?

Part Three: How Do I Update My Operating System on My Mac?

Whether you need to quickly crop a photo, add some text to an image, or just have fun doodling, Paintbrush has you covered. Drawing software for mac 10.5.8.

Part Four: What Do I Do If My Mac Won’t Update?

Part Five: Recover Your Data

Have you ever found yourself staring at a computer screen, clutching your head in your hands, and asking the question, “Why won’t my Mac update?”

Computer trouble is always frustrating, and even more so with Macs because, to be frank, things don’t go wrong very often on a Mac. It gets easy to expect that nothing ever will.

But if you find yourself staring down a computer that just will not work right, don’t worry. There are ways to fix a corrupted Mac OS update. Read on to learn the symptoms of a corrupted update and what you can do about it.

Why Won’t My Mac Update?

You might see these problems or errors when you're trying to update your Mac. Here's what's causing them.

Symptoms and Error Messages

If you have a problem with your Mac’s latest update, chances are the problems are going to show up when you try to boot up the computer. You may get a message that reads “A critical software update is required for your Mac, but an error was encountered while installing this update. Your Mac can’t be used until this update is installed.”

You could also start getting a screen with a black background and white text in four languages. The text will read, “You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds, or press the Restart button.”

In some cases, your Mac won’t even get as far as booting up long enough to get you an error message. Some update problems can be so severe that your system won’t boot up at all, even if you know the computer is plugged in and working fine.

More commonly, you may see a system that begins to boot and then crashes. Your Mac may get stuck on a blue or gray screen and refuse to move from there. Or you may get a flashing question mark on your screen.

Causes of the Problem

Oftentimes if your Mac runs into an issue with an update, it’s because the update process was interrupted somehow. Maybe you lost power or lost patience and unplugged the computer partway through the process. If a laptop battery died or you tried to turn a system off before it finished updating, it can land the computer in a sort of limbo between updated and running an update.

Imagine if you and a friend were driving down a highway you know when you fell asleep. Once you woke up, you were on a stretch of road you didn’t recognize, and you didn’t know how to get back home or to your destination.

That’s the state your computer finds itself in when an update is interrupted – as long as it’s got power during the update, it knows where it is on the road, but as soon as it goes to sleep, it’s lost the way.

If your computer won’t boot up or boots and then crashes, you may be dealing with a problem called a kernel panic. This is where your computer runs into a critical problem when it tries to turn on. Its response to hitting critical problems is to try to start fresh, so it reboots, but if the problem is with the system, it can get stuck in an endless loop of reboots and crashes.

There are a ton of things that can cause a kernel panic, including installing new apps or not getting them installed in the right folder. You may have outdated drivers or plugins or apps that conflict with each other. There may also be some hardware issues or broken disk permissions.

Can't Install Any Programs

How Do I Update My Operating System on My Mac?

We'll guide you through running updates on your Mac, whether it's old or new.

Normal Updates

So before we dive into troubleshooting, let’s talk about how you update a Mac under normal circumstances. First open the System Preferences app, which should be under an icon in your dock that looks like a gear inside a silver box. You can also click the apple symbol at the top left of your screen and choose “System Preferences.”

If you’re up to date on your software, you should have a “Software Update” option under System Preferences. When you click this, it will check for updates to your operating system. If it finds any updates, it will give you information about what they are and give you the option to “Update Now.”

You can also choose to have your Mac automatically run any updates that come through. This will save you having to check every so often on whether your system has any updates waiting. It can also help fend off problems before they start since it will prevent kernel panics over outdated drivers and the like.

Earlier OS Versions

If you aren’t up to date on your operating system, you’ll have to go through a couple of extra steps to update your computer. You’ll still start in System Preferences, but this time you’ll go to the App Store icon. You can also open the App Store app from your launchpad; the Icon looks like a white A made of a pencil and a paintbrush on a blue background.

In the App Store, navigate to the “Updates” section of the top menu bar. This will be on the right side of the menu bar next to “Categories” and “Purchased.” You’ll be able to check here for new updates both to apps and to your operating system and run them if they come up.

You may notice that you have a few incompatible app updates listed. More than likely this is because you haven’t updated your operating system software in a long time. There may be some apps that have new updates that are not compatible with your current operating system.

The Latest Version

The latest version of the Mac OS is version 10.15, or Catalina. This version is set to release on October 4, 2019, though it has been out on a beta testing basis for a while now. You can check if your computer is running this version yet by clicking the apple icon at the top left of your screen and selecting “About This Mac.”

There are two sides to the question of whether to update your Mac; will you get all the cool new features, or will you just wind up with a computer that no longer works the way you need it to?

In general, if your computer was made in the last five years, it’s a good idea to run the update. But if your computer is more than five years old, it’s best to stick with what works for you.

Updating Old Systems

So what if you do still have some of those older operating systems running on your computer? It depends a lot on which computer you’re running, but almost all of them will still support Sierra. Only newer machines will support Mojave and Catalina, and nothing above a 2015 Retina will still run El Capitan or the older operating systems.

You may be wondering what to do with the “Install Mac OS Mojave” app you have leftover after your 10.14 update. You can delete this app with no problem; that’s the installer, and it doesn’t serve any purpose once the OS is installed. You can go to “Applications” in Finder, drag the app to the trash can, and clear the trash can to get rid of it.

What Do I Do If My Mac Won’t Update?

There are some steps you can take to get your Mac updated even if it seems stuck.

Install in Safe Mode

If you can’t get your Mac to update properly, the first thing to do is try to run the update in Safe Mode. Safe Mode is a diagnostic mode that you find in both Windows and Mac operating systems. It prevents some of the usual background processes from running, which can make it easier to sniff out bugs on a PC and can keep your computer from loading some of the programs that may be causing it problems during booting on a Mac.

The easiest way to boot into Safe Mode on a Mac is to hold down the shift key while it restarts. So if your computer is off, press the Start button, and if it’s on, start the reboot sequence. As soon as the apple appears on the screen, press down either of the Shift keys and hold it down while the computer boots up.

You can let the shift key go as soon as the login screen appears on your computer. If you’re not sure if you’re in Safe Mode, hold down the option key, click on the apple icon at the top left corner of your screen, and click “System Information.” This should pull up a window with a menu on the left that reads “Hardware,” “Network,” “Software,” and so on.

Check which app is using port 80 mac. The name of the protocol the port is using (TCP or UDP). The state of a TCP connection. The IP address and port number to which we’re connecting. It’s also used in other operating systems (OS) like Unix and Linux, but we’ll stick to Windows here.Netstat can provide us with:. The local IP address and name of the computer and the port number being used.

If you click on the Software menu, you should get a screen to the right that shows your system software overview. Under the Boot Volume, you should see Boot Mode, and it should be in “Safe.” If it isn’t, try an alternate method of booting into Safe Mode.

Why Can't I Install Programs

Once your Mac is in Safe Mode, run through the same update process we discussed before. With other programs out of the way, it may be able to make it through the update and then boot up normally.

Wait It Out

It may sound strange, but one of the best things you can do when your computer won’t update properly is to just wait it out. Yes, computers can indeed execute about two billion operations a second. But what you’re asking it to do is the virtual equivalent of building a fully furnished mansion out of Lego bricks; even at two billion blocks a second, that’s going to take some time.

Your computer is good at figuring things out, so try giving it the time to do so. It’s not a bad idea to boot into Safe Mode first, as we discussed but set the update running and do not touch it until you are certain the problem isn’t going to solve itself.

This can mean letting the computer sit and work things out for eight to twenty-four hours; after that, you can be confident this isn’t a self-fixing problem.

When you’re doing regular updates, it’s a good idea to set them to run when you go to bed. Make sure your computer is plugged in and set so that it won’t go to sleep after a certain amount of inactivity. Then let it run all night, and in the morning, it should have had plenty of time to work out all the update issues it needed to; your mansion will be ready to move into.

Use a Recovery

Why Can't I Install Software On My Mac

If you absolutely cannot get your computer to install the update on its own, it may be time to bring in a recovery backup. This will do a few things; for one, it will make sure none of your files get lost in the update shuffle. But for another, it will act as a sort of air rescue for your lost computer operating system.

So let’s go back to our road trip metaphor from earlier. Running a backup would be like going back in time and making sure you had a road map and plenty of coffee on hand during your trip. This time, you don’t fall asleep, you catch every turn you take, and you get where you’re going just fine.

You can boot your computer into recovery mode by starting it back up or restarting it. When the apple logo appears on the screen, press Command+R. This will allow you to connect to the internet to get a new operating system download to start the process over.

Recover Your Data

Trying to answer the question “Why won’t my Mac update?” is frustrating, but you don’t have to resort to pitching a thousand-dollar machine. There are ways to manage a corrupted update, and as long as your files are safe, you can get things back up and go again. But you want to make sure none of your files are unprotected.

If you’re trying to recover data from a Mac that has crashed, check out Recoverit by Wondershare. We can help you rescue all your deleted files and restore everything to your device. Download Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac and get started saving your files today.

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