Cannot install macOS Big Sur Beta

Question

Created Aug ’20

Replies 61

Boosts 0

Views 14k

Participants 46

Hello all,
I'm trying to install Big Sur beta and I face the same problem every time - after the installer is downloaded, installation starts and when the progress bar reaches 12 minutes installation interrupts with an error message "An error occurred installing macOS. You can try again to complete the installation".
I encounter the same problem starting from Beta 3, then Beta 4 and now the Public beta.
I performed SMC reset and even complete reinstall of macOS Catalina with no avail.
Would appreciate any help or ideas.
My system is 15" MacBook Pro (15,1) running macOS Catalina 10.15.6.

Boost

Answer 1

kmcbride OP

Nov ’20

A workaround is to enter this into the Terminal prior to running the installer:

Code Block bashsudo nvram IASUCatalogURL=https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.16seed-10.16-10.15-10.14-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

4

Answer 2

rockbmi OP

Nov ’20

Hi, what is that, what does it do?

0

Answer 3

JerryJnr OP

Nov ’20

Thanks that fixed it, what did it do?

0

Answer 4

BradleyHunt OP

Nov ’20

This also worked! Thanks 👍🏽

0

Answer 5

Jblank1074 OP

Nov ’20

Didn't work for me. I copied and pasted it, it asked for my password, I supplied that, re-ran the installer, same error at the same time. Did I do something wrong?

0

Answer 6

kh4inguyen OP

Nov ’20

Hi all,

I fixed this by:

Open Terminal. Paste and enter:

Code Block sudo nvram IASUCatalogURL=https://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-10.16seed-10.16-10.15-10.14-10.13-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog

You may need to enter 2 time if you got the error.

After that, rerun the installer --> It worked.

After done upgrading, you should update the nvram back:

Code Block sudo nvram -d IASUCatalogURL

Source: mrmacintosh.com/big-sur-11-0-1-rc2-full-installer-an-error-occurred-installing-macos

2

Answer 7

GianniV OP

Nov ’20

Hi @kh4inguyen, do you know if that solution works even installing Big Sur from USB from boot? Thanks

0

Answer 8

GianniV OP

Nov ’20

Hi the last suggestion fixed the problem. It works even with boot USB for clean installation. Thanks.

1

Answer 9

lucianafbohnert OP

Nov ’20

Disabling the Gatekeeper helped me after I encountered another problem after this one

0

Answer 10

samihaija OP

Nov ’20

I was getting an error installing it via App Store. However, this worked for me. After I tried (and failed) to install it from App Store, I found that I have a new Application:

Code Block /Applications/Install macOS Big Sur

I right-clicked that, clicked "Show Package Contents", and navigated to Contents -> MacOS and I double-clicked InstallAssistant.

I was able to install it from there

0

Answer 11

avinashk_51 OP

Jan ’21

Even I am facing an issue installing Big Sur, unlike others the issue with my 15MBP is the entire 12.2G file gets downloaded and then nothing happens; the installation doesn't start. If I retry it starts from square 1 trying to download 12.2G again.

0