Stuck on Preparing macOS Big Sur 11.1 Update

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
macOS Big Sur 11.0.1

The 11.1 update gets to 10 minutes remaining and stays indefinitely. Well, at least the 1.5 hours that I was willing to wait. Tried multiple times with the same result.

The following process is driving high CPU:
/private/var/db/com.apple.xpc.roleaccountd.staging/com.apple.MobileSoftwareUpdate.UpdateBrainService.16777220.24853506.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.MobileSoftwareUpdate.UpdateBrainService

I've had four attempts and nothing works. I spoke to a very rude woman at Apple Customer Support to fix it. Her first and last suggestion was to reinstall the whole operating system. I said I was not confident that would work (seems from some of the posts here it's been true for others), and that I didn't have an infinite amount of data to waste on this. Very, VERY disappointed. This update would seem to make Windows 10 seem rather the gold class operating system.

Boot into Safe Mode and update from there finally made the 11.1 update work for me. MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

As carlos_reyes said:

I had the same issue. I restarted the MacBook in safe mode (press and hold the Shift key while it boots) and I was able to perform the update. I hope this will work for you. 

Worked for me.

MacBook Air13" 2019 - same issue. 10 min. remaining and hanging

I have the same problem with two 2018 MacBook Airs

M1 Air with the very same problem, stuck on Preparing Update at 15 minutes. I was able to update successfully though the App Store, apparently seamlessly. Not the ideal solution by any means, but it got the job done.

I’m new here. Does Apple ever do the right thing and help us here? My Mac is only two years old. I don’t download much at all and only use the secure google suit that my job provides.
Same problems. Frozen. I tried rebooting with sage mode and recovery mode.

Softwareupdate in safe mode worked for me as well on MacBook Air 2019! Hopefully Apple will fix this anyway.

MacBook Air 13" - 2019 - safe mode worked for me. Recommend to use it.

Hi all,

I have the same problem, Mac mini (2020) (Intel) with an external monitor, as others, either from the normal login or using Recovery Mode, it either locks up (typically "10 minutes to go") or just fails.

I tried Safe Mode, it looked much as if it was going well, but then the Screen Saver kicked in, and I couldn't enter a password to get out of it!

So I tried again,

• Start in Safe Mode

• Disable Screen Saver (the monitor powers down after a while by itself, but that's not an issue, if the screen updates or any keyboard key is pressed it comes back to life)

• Change wallpaper to a fixed wallpaper (disable "Change Picture")

Then kick of the update of "Big Sur" to v 11.1 (from v 11.0.1)

It just did everything as required, rebooted, came up in "normal' mode I logged in and all done!

I am not sure how much the screen saver messed things up (in conjunction with Safe Mode) , but it certainly seems to have made difference, the wallpaper being fixed is just one less thing to be going on at update time (probably not needed)!

Anyway, this worked for me (having tried some of the other offered solutions first)...

Hope it helps somebody else

Cheers Derek-b

I had the same issue. Updating in safe mode worked!

Thanks to BenHaith I was able to update my software through downloading from the App Store, it was a little lengthy but did the trick without having to go into safe mode. Hope this helps and Thanks Again BenHaith!

Same issue here, it looks like it takes a very long time.

I found out that you can get a current status via the „Console“ App, just search for „brain“ and you‘ll see semi regular updates about the progress from softwareupdated (every few minutes)

Currently the progress is at 30% after 20 minutes! It seems there‘s a bunch of hardware updates happening with signing of configurations in between - needs to have a stable internet connection!

For 3 days and 3 nights I cannot seems to update to MacOS Big Sur 11.1.

I have the same issues guys on my mac mini 2014.

It somehow brick my mac mini.

I get the work arounds.

I use the Internet Recovery methods to get the things done and have it updated to Big Sur 11.1.

I apply the Command-Shift-Alt-P-R something like that and it gives a Globe Spinning screen...and I have to get connected to the Wifi network. It download via Internet Recovery. And download the Big Sur 11.1.

But somehow upon booting or restart I notice that the progress bar are stuck.

I have to reset PRAM 4 times to get it to fix the problem.

And done a Disk Utility fix on my hard disk.

Some of the mac users are having the same issues with their Apple Silicon M1 macs.

Their get around to fix this issues is to make use Apple Configurator 2 with another mac to do recovery.