macOS Monterey Beta 2 update fails

Hello there, Yes indeed i am also, i am here in Australia and have been on the phone with Apple support who have said there may be an issue with the Beta 2 software.

Same exact issue for me. Downloaded the restore image but not sure how to even apply that.

A little googling on OpenDirectory error 5103 and the fact that another machine updated from Beta 1 to Beta 2 without issue led me to find the difference.

If the machine has a secure token (Run sysadminctl -secureTokenStatus <username> and you will either get "Secure token is DISABLED" or "Secure token is ENABLED") then the update works as expected. Without a secure token, the update fails.

Both machines don't have FileVault enabled. It's unclear how one machine ends up with a secure token and the other without.

I couldn't find a definitive solution for getting a secure token, so I'm really hoping this is something Apple will fix.

Same issue here and I've no secure token ("Secure token is DISABLED for user ..."). I read in another forum that booting in recovery mode helped, but loading it fails with no error message and the M1 MacBook Pro restarts normally.

By starting the update using the command line, I was able to bypass the secure token/owner check from the Software Update pref pane:

sudo softwareupdate -i -a -R

-i Install

-a All appropriate updates

-R Automatically restart (or shut down) if required to complete installation)

Thanks for this tip @infiniteloop. Worked for me, too.

Same error with each beta update. This command resolves the problem every time so far (beta 4). Thanks!

Had this error with Beta 3. Did the command line and it worked. Now Beta 4 comes along and neither works. Command line fails within 10 seconds.

Finding available software
Downloading macOS Monterey 12 Beta 4
2021-07-29 17:35:22.943 softwareupdate[45227:382232] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[__NSPlaceholderDictionary initWithObjects:forKeys:count:]: attempt to insert nil object from objects[4]'
*** First throw call stack:
(
	0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814cce24b __exceptionPreprocess + 242
	1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007ff814a33b9d objc_exception_throw + 48
	2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814d876b0 _CFThrowFormattedException + 202
	3   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814d91e81 -[__NSPlaceholderDictionary initWithCapacity:].cold.1 + 0
	4   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814bdc712 -[__NSPlaceholderDictionary initWithObjects:forKeys:count:] + 251
	5   CoreFoundation                      0x00007ff814bdc5fd +[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjects:forKeys:count:] + 49
	6   softwareupdate                      0x00000001063dc04f softwareupdate + 28751
	7   softwareupdate                      0x00000001063d7a08 softwareupdate + 10760
	8   dyld                                0x000000010b04a4d5 start + 421
	9   ???                                 0x0000000000000000 0x0 + 0
	10  softwareupdate                      0x00000001063d5000 __dso_handle + 0
)
libc++abi: terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
zsh: abort      sudo softwareupdate -i -a -R

I had the same issue when trying to update to Beta 4 on my MBP with M1 chip.

I managed to update using the above-mentioned command line, but I find it strange it's necessary to circumvent the usual update process, can it be related to the M1 chip?

The Beta updates on the ATV, iPhone and iPad went well without any issues although it's not related to Monterey.

Greetings,

I have the exact same error on my M1 Macbook, when trying to update to Monterrey Beta 5. Has Apple acknowledged this bug?

I'm seeing the same issue on a MacBook Air M1, on all beta updates since beta 3. Beta 6 still has the same issue. It's not an issue on my 2020 Intel MacBook Pro.

Apple, we need a solution for this issue! Hopefully, this is not going to still be a problem when the final version of Monterrey comes out.

I wanted to let you know how I resolved my issue with this:

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/683913

My old MBA was in the beta program. When I got the new one, I had to setup, enroll in the beta, and then try to erase and migrate via Thunderbolt.

I messed up because Disk Utility now seems to default to Show All Volumes, instead of Show All Devices. I don’t think that I erased the entire drive before I restored. I may have erased each partition individually. This kept my account from getting a secure token for the device, preventing me from doing GUI updates, and enabling FileVault.

I did a Time Machine backup to an external drive, erased the SSD Device, and reinstalled the current beta. Still in the installation interface, I migrated from the backup, and was prompted to enter a secure password, enable FileVault, and allow reset via Apple ID.

My important note is that the problem is not saved in the backup. I did not have to boot into the system with a fresh account to establish ownership.

I had the same issue. However, the 'sudo softwareupdate' solution did not work.

I was having two admin accounts. One is local to laptop. And another is my domain user account (mobile/Admin). The issue was happening with my domain user account.

I was able to install once I switched on to local admin account.