Unable to update to Catalina 10.15.5

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architype Author

Level 1

14 points

Unable to update to Catalina 10.15.5

I have a 1 month old MacMini(2018) running Catalina 10.15.4 that will not update to 10.15.5.

My HD has 410GB free.

Software update does not show the update to 10.15.5 as available. The snapshot below is from 5/30/2020.

I have tried using the installer download for 10.15.5 but it fails with no explanation.

The downloaded combo update also fails.

Any help in or advise to help install the latest Catalina 10.15.5 update would be greatly appreciated.

Mac mini, macOS 10.13

Posted on May 30, 2020 07:47 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

architype Author

Level 1

14 points

May 30, 2020 08:57 AM in response to dialabrain

Restarting in Safe Mode still provided the same errors.

The disk space was not an issue, i have 410GB free.

I have now been able to install the updates, but it required making a new admin user account and updating from there.

Does it make any sense for the ability of MacOS updates to depend on local user settings? This seems like a flaw for system updates to fail based on a local user accounts.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

133,499 points

May 30, 2020 09:08 AM in response to architype

architype wrote:

Does it make any sense for the ability of MacOS updates to depend on local user settings? This seems like a flaw for system updates to fail based on a local user accounts.

Well, I updated three different Macs to 10.15.5 without a problem so I guess I would have to assume something was wrong with your user account.

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Answer 3

Jun 5, 2020 02:29 PM in response to architype

I haven't been able to update from 10.15.3 to 10.15.5. Last time I updated to Catalina it wiped my system. I had to spend a couple hours at the Apple Store. And now I continue to have problems updating. I may have to look for a new product as I don't have cycles to spend continually trying to figure this out. And I work for a tech company.

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Answer 4

Jun 10, 2020 04:49 AM in response to architype

I have the same issue. Based on the progress bar while the update is running, it it either in a retry loop or some other abnormal loop. The activity monitor shows no I/O to disk as well for the procs.

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Answer 5

tjtropp

Level 1

8 points

Jun 27, 2020 08:01 AM in response to Andy Macbook

So why isn’t Apple doing anything about this. I have the same problem on my brand new MacBook Pro 13. Some of the workarounds suggested are above my pay grade. Will they be releasing a replacement to 10.15.5?

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Answer 6

ph39n

Level 1

8 points

Jul 21, 2020 03:46 PM in response to tjtropp

I have tried all above recommendations without success. Cannot update to 15.5 or 15.6. Also got this message:

macOS Catalina 10-15-5 Update can’t be installed on this disk. This Mac can only install macOS on APFS-formatted drives. Please use Disk Utility to reformat as APFS

I am new to Apple so would appreciate any suggestion. Does the above mean that I have to reformat my hard drive to APFS format (which I do not see as a choice in the disk utility)?

Many thanks,

Patrick

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Answer 7

dialabrain

Level 10

133,499 points

May 30, 2020 07:56 AM in response to architype

You can try the stand alone or combo installer while in Safe Mode.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

You should also have at least 12.5GB free on your drive. More might be better.

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Answer 8

Tm0000

Level 1

11 points

Jun 3, 2020 09:21 PM in response to architype

I have this same problem.

How did you create a new admin user account and update? Can you please help?

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Answer 9

Jun 28, 2020 03:56 AM in response to tjtropp

After a hard reboot (Power off/ Power on), ensuring I had a good internet connection, and reverifying my credentials for apple accounts, the issue went away.

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Answer 10

tjtropp

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2020 08:01 AM in response to Andy Macbook

Thanks, Andy. Worked perfectly.

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Unable to update to Catalina 10.15.5

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