I did read installation stuck in a loop due to damaged HD and Mac OS X Sierra installation stuck in a reboot loop but neither is about the same looping scenario as I find myself in. Improve this question. Follow asked Jun 8 '17 at 8:46. User240852 user240852. I wanted to do a clean install on my shiny new M1 MacBook Pro, running macOS 11.1. I booted into recovery mode and navigated to disk utility, click my Macintosh HD entry, erase, then erase volume g.
Installing a new version of the macOS is not as difficult as you might think. More often than not, your Mac will tell you if there is an available update via popup notifications. In some cases, the update will be downloaded directly on your Mac. It’ll just wait for you to initiate the installation process. Though it rarely happens, there are times when the entire macOS update installation process gets stuck or frozen. If you get caught in such situation, fear not because we made this guide to help you get through, but before we proceed with the steps you have to take, allow us to enumerate the possible reasons why your macOS update installation is stuck.
There are many possible reasons why the macOS update installation is interrupted. One is that the power may have been cut off in the middle of the update. Another reason is that there might be no sufficient space on your Mac or there are other hardware issues with your Mac that need to be checked and fixed before updating. Hence, it is always a great idea to run a system check before performing an OS update on your Mac.
Now, if your Mac can’t download the update, here are a few things you should try:
Often, when Apple releases a new update, many people will want to download it, which causes issues with Apple’s servers. So, the first thing you have to do if you ever want to try downloading the update is to check the System Status page of Apple to know if there are any known issues with the macOS software update.
Pro Tip: Scan your Mac for performance issues, junk files, harmful apps, and security threats
that can cause system issues or slow performance.
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Sometimes, downloading becomes faster if you connect to the Internet via wired connection than a WiFi.
There are times when the solution to a stuck macOS update can be found on the Mac App Store. First, you have to find the software update you are downloading. Next, press the Option or the ALT key. At this point, you should see an option that allows you to cancel your download. If you cancel the macOS update download, you can start over again. By attempting to restart the download, hopefully, no problems will be encountered.
If you are having problems downloading the macOS update from the Mac App Store, you may go to Apple’s website instead. Go here if you want to stay in the loop for any software update for your Mac.
In most cases, if there is a problem with the installation process, your screen will display an Apple logo with a status bar indicating the progress of the software. And then, there is this little graphics that people call the “spinning beach ball.” Often times, you may also see a grey, white, or black screen. For some Macs, the screen becomes so dark that one might not be able to tell if it is switched on or not. Before you force reboot your Mac due to a frozen macOS update installation, be sure the installation is no longer running in the background. Otherwise, you might lose all your valuable data. Better yet, check out the handy tips we have for you below:
For you to be able to conclude if your Mac is stuck or frozen during the installation process, you have to check a few things. There are times when the update takes very, very long that you might be forced to believe that the macOS update installation is stuck. If you give it a few more hours, it might end up completing the update. To avoid being caught in situations like this, it is better to perform the upgrade at night, so you can just leave your Mac overnight to get the task completed.
Believe it or not, updates may often take 16 hours or more to complete. This is especially true if Apple has just released the latest version of their Mac OS. Take note that the progress bar will only give you a rough estimate on how long the installation will take. Usually, it will initially show that the process will only be a two-hour wait. Eventually, it will add 30 minutes, another hour, before it finally jumps down to 15 minutes. Just be patient and give your Mac enough time since it is doing its best to try and install the update as quickly as possible.
To check the Log, just press Command + L. You should then see all critical information and details regarding the amount of time needed for the installation. It may also give you an idea about the files that are being installed and the remaining time left.
If you think that the installation is not stuck, have patience and wait for the process to be completed.
Now, if you are sure that your Mac is not responding to the macOS update installation, then we recommend you follow the steps below:
First, press and hold the power button to switch off your Mac. Give it time to cool down before restarting it again.
If you were installing an app when the update installation got stuck, go to the Mac App Store and hit Updates. Here, you will see the updates or installation processes that have been paused or stopped.
Once the progress bar appears, press the Command + L keys to ensure the files required for the installation of the update are there. If the Log screen tells you that nothing is happening, proceed to the next step.
We mentioned that the Mac App Store is not the only place to find a macOS update. Apple also hosts a macOS update on their website. So, you can try to download from there. We highly recommend getting your OS update from Apple’s website if you are having problems with the installation. Why? That is because the version available on Mac App Store often contains only the files required to update your Mac.
If you get the OS update from Apple’s website, you can download the Combo updater, which already includes all the files needed to update your Mac and its OS. The version you can download from Apple’s website can replace all your system files, ensuring a successful update.
Running your Mac in Safe Mode while performing the OS update sometimes helps prevent problems with the installation. To start your Mac in Safe Mode, press the power button while you hold down the shift key. Next, go to the Mac App Store and start updating your apps. Finally, reboot your computer.
If the installation doesn’t push through because there is no sufficient storage space available, then you might need to delete unwanted files and trash on your Mac. You can use tools like Outbyte MacRepair for this.
If running your Mac in Safe Mode does not solve the problem, try restarting your Mac and holding down the following keys: Command, Option, P, and R. Doing this will reset your NVRAM. After that, wait for your Mac to restart. Check if it resumes with the update installation.
Your final resort is to restart your Mac in Recovery Mode. To do that, hold down the Command + R keys during startup. You will then be presented with some options. You may recover your Mac from your most recent Time Machine backup. You may also perform a quick disk repair. However, we suggest you select the Install New OS option.
Choosing the Install New OS option will overwrite any problematic files with the correct ones. Unfortunately, this won’t include the most recent version of the OS. So, you might need to check and apply any latest software updates manually.
If you still experience problems with installing the macOS update, try installing the upgrade from an external drive.
Just because the update installation is completed does not mean you have nothing left to do. We recommend that you run Disk Utility to ensure there are no other issues that can cause problems in the future.
We hope that this guide helped you fix your problems with a stuck macOS update. The key here is just to have patience. Give your Mac enough time to complete the installation. If all else fails, then you might have to find some quick fixes and solutions, which we believe we have also given above.
You have encountered a severe problem. That is your Mac stuck on the loading screen for a long time, usually after a recent macOS like macOS Big Sur update or macOS reinstallation.
You may regard such a long boot process as a slow startup of your Mac and wait for hours. But the sluggish progress bar still remains on the screen without any change.
In fact, your Mac won't turn on at all and froze on startup. All the documents, photos, videos, etc. on Mac are in danger of loss. Rescuing data from your Mac is a primary task before fixing the issue - Mac stuck on the loading screen with Apple logo on startup.
Save your important files now! Watch this video to rescue your data from Mac that can't boot past loading bar:
Tutorial to rescue your files with iBoysoft Data Recovery Software for Mac:
If the above command doesn't work, try solution 2 at: How to run iBoysoft Data Recovery in macOS recovery mode?
Then, you can use iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery to scan, preview, and recover data from your Mac within a few clicks. If you think the above steps are complicated, why not watch video above instead?
Whatever, when your Mac like iMac or MacBook stuck on the loading screen, you can try the 7 available solutions below.
Or you are one of the users as below whose Mac crashes during boot. Even though your Mac stuck on login screen or your Mac won't boot past the Apple logo. These fixes are also applicable.
Whenever you encounter the boot problem, you can try rebooting Mac. This way is easy and sometimes works.
When your Mac, like MacBook Pro, is stuck on loading screen, you can press and hold the power button for a few seconds to turn off the Mac. Then, disconnect all peripheral devices from your Mac. This will isolate the problem caused by peripheral devices and leave the Mac alone.
After a few minutes, press the power button to restart the Mac again.
Mac stuck on Apple logo with loading bar could be caused by software conflict or incompatibility. So, to confirm it, you can boot the Mac into Safe Mode.
A safe boot will prevent your Mac from launching unnecessary programs and login items at startup. It also does a basic check of your startup disk and may solve the slow startup issue of your Mac.
To boot your Intel-based Mac into Safe Mode:
To boot your Apple M1 Mac like M1 iMac into Safe Mode:
If your Mac boots past the loading bar and enter Safe Mode successfully, it's surely the software or firmware conflict. Find out the conflicting program or software, usually the recently installed third-party software, and then uninstall it.
Next, you can simply reboot your Mac and find that the Mac stuck on the loading bar issue is fixed.
PRAM or NVRAM is a non-volatile random access memory. It is used to store system settings on Mac, including startup disk selection and recent kernel panic information. So, when Mac won't boot after macOS update but Mac progress bar stuck at 100%, resetting NVRAM/PRAM might help.
To reset NVRAM/PRAM, you can simply restart your Mac and simultaneously press Command + Option+ P + R keys. If you have an M1 Mac, you don't need to reset NVRAM. Because it is automatically run test and reset on startup if needed.
SMC (System Management Controller) is used to control a number of Mac core functions, including sudden motion sensor and thermal management. Typically, when Mac freezes on startup or stuck on loading bar, SMC reset helps to resolve such unresponsive issues related to power and hardware.
To reset the SMC on a Mac computer stops loading halfway, follow the way below. Note that there is no SMC on M1 Mac.
1. Reset SMC when MacBook Air and MacBook Pro stuck on loading screen
2. Reset SMC when Mac Mini, Mac Pro and iMac stuck on loading screen
Sometimes, the Mac stuck on the progress bar because the startup disk is corrupted. Fortunately, you can use First Aid, a built-in disk repair tool on your Mac, to fix the errors on the startup disk that cause the Mac stuck on the Apple logo with a loading bar.
Firstly, boot your Mac into macOS Recovery mode:
After booting into Mac Recovery mode, choose Disk Utility. Select the startup disk and click First Aid in the Disk Utility window. Next, click Run to check and repair the startup disk.
If First Aid successfully found the errors and repaired them, you can restart your Mac quickly without a slow startup. Disk Utility helps Mac boot up, and your Mac desktop or MacBook won't be frozen on the startup screen this time.
If you can't fix the Mac that stuck on the loading screen with First Aid, the startup disk is critically corrupted. In this case, you need to erase the startup disk in macOS Recovery mode. Disk erasure will reformat the hard drive with a new file system. And then, you can reinstall the macOS.
This usually will fix this issue. However, disk erasure will wipe all your files off the drive. So, if you have important files on this Mac, you should first rescue data from the Mac that stuck on the loading bar. It's necessary especially if you don't have any backup.
After data recovery, you can proceed with reformatting the Mac hard drive.
1. Reformat the corrupted startup drive
Now, you have an empty but workable Mac hard drive.
2. Reinstall macOS in macOS Recovery mode
After erasing the Mac internal hard drive, you can continue to reinstall a new macOS in macOS Recovery mode. Click the Reinstall macOS utility in macOS Recovery mode and then follow the instructions to reinstall the operating system.
Hopefully, it fixes the Mac that stuck on the progress bar at startup.
It's inevitable that a macOS update is not compatible with your Machine. For example, your Mac stuck on the Apple logo when you proceed or finish the macOS Big Sur update. The updated macOS Big Sur software is not compatible with MacBook Air before 2013.
To make the Mac boot past the progress bar and won't stick on the loading screen anymore, you can revert it to the previous state. In other words, just downgrade the macOS. Downgrading macOS may erase your hard drive, so you also need to back up data on the unbootable Mac first.
• How to downgrade from macOS Catalina to macOS Mojave
• How to downgrade from macOS Big Sur to macOS Catalina
Curious about the reasons why your Mac not loading? Go on reading to get the answers.
Normally, Mac would show the Apple logo at startup once it finds your local startup disk. Then, based on if you have encrypted the startup disk, a loading bar appears after or before you log into the Mac.
The Mac progress bar indicates that the system is checking and loading macOS from the startup disk. It involves macOS structure, corn components, file system, etc.
However, if something is not going well, like the corruption of the startup disk file system, your Mac will stick on startup.
It's terrible if your Mac stucks on the loading screen or shows a folder with question mark at startup.
For the Mac that freezes on startup, you should first check if you have a backup of your data to avoid permanent data loss. If not, iBoysoft Data Recovery software will be a good helper to recover lost data from the unbootable Mac. Then, you can try out the solutions above one by one till your Mac boots up rather than hangs on slow startup.