Migration assistant stuck at "Updating your system settings..."
Of course, I've done my due diligence and Googled the heck out it. It seems I am NOT the only one with this issue. There seems to be plenty of people out there with the same issue. And it seems it is always the same! Everything goes well, until you get to almost the end of the process, when the iMac Pro reads "Updating your system settings...", and then it simply freezes! For several hours (10+ in my case). Since there are more people with the same issue, it quite possibly is NOT a hardware issue, and also quite possibly NOT a bad Time Machine backup issue. It seems to be some sort of bug with the Migration Assistant software itself...!
So...:
I have an iMac Pro (not to be confused with the Mac Pro). I have an external HDD connected via USB, which contains my encrypted Time Machine backups. The iMac Pro uses APFS (Encrypted). The Time Machine external HDD uses Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted). I have NO problems decrypting the drives. I HAVE the passwords and I CAN decrypt the drives. I'm just explaining this to prevent anyone from suggesting it might be the encryption that is the culprit. (Although it may play a part.)
I start the iMac Pro in recovery mode (Command R), proceed to restore from a Time Machine backup. Right here I already get disappointed with Apple. It used to be that when you got to this point you would simply choose which point in time backup you have and everything would be restored. Plain, and, simple. Now, to my surprise, I am "greeted" with the message that reads something in the lines of "You must have Mac OS installed first before restoring this backup". Fine. I back out and choose the option to install Mac OS first. Which succeeds. So far so good. Then, the next step is to "Use Migration Assistant to transfer your data". (I am not happy at this point. Time Machine should handle everything. I shouldn't have to use yet another piece of software for this. But fine. Please read on.)
I start Migration Assistant, choose to restore everything from the latest backup from Time Machine. Everything goes well till almost the end. Close to the end of the process the machine gets stuck for several hours at "Updating your system settings..." And again, several people out there seem to be having the same exact issue, which seems to rule out a bad backup or hardware issues.
Suggestions anyone? Apple Support? (Yes, I WILL contact Apple Support eventually if I need to. I am just afraid they will give me the boilerplate response: "Just start over from scratch." Which is NOT an option for me! I am a Database Administrator. I have several setups and applications, with keys, etc. that I would have to spend days (weeks) setting up again!
Please help, anyone? Apple? Thank you, Raphael
iMac Pro, macOS 12.6