Mac stuck at “ Critical software update required, but an error was encountered”

I have a Macbook Pro (15-inch, 2017) and yesterday, I had to erase an APFS volume on my mac that was taking up like 400 GB of space. It belonged to the previous owner so I got rid of it and kept my own data.

I then decided to restart it to make sure nothing was wrong and after the login screen and choosing a WIFI network, the “critical software update required” message popped up.

Here’s what I tried to get rid of it (but have been unsuccessful) :

  • I went into safe mode and got rid of everything that was supposed to start at login. I also got rid of some unnecessary apps (I don’t have much since I only recently got the mac). Restarted and the message still popped up.
  • Went into recovery mode and reinstalled Big Sur. When it finished downloading, the message still popped up.
  • Went into safe mode again to check for software updates. Downloaded Monterey which was perfectly fine at first until it asked me to put in my admin password to complete the update. Apparently, my password is correct but a bug is making the text box shake as if I had the wrong password. Tried multiple times and kinda gave up.
  • Went to solve the admin password problem but nothing seemed to work.

Now I’m kinda hopeless. I can’t try any solutions with an Ethernet because I don’t have one. I don’t know what to do now, so I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me out/provide their solutions !

Encountered same problem today. I believe I solved it.

Bottom line: though my Mac was using Monterey - I prepared an install-disk (USB) for macOS Big Sur (not a mistake !) and installed it on the Mac (may require overwriting the Mac - I actually erased and formatted the disk...) - and all worked fine after that.

The touch-bar worked again, and and is great.

After using Big Sur for an hour, I safely upgraded (via Preferences > Update) to macOS Monterey - and after an addition three hours of work, reboots and all - it's still working great.

Try it - it may help you too...

All the best.

Mac stuck at “ Critical software update required, but an error was encountered”
 
 
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