Stuck on Preparing macOS Big Sur 11.1 Update

As for me, "Safe mode" has been the remedy for this problem. As soon as MacBook starts running, switch on "safe mode" for software operation (by holding down the left "SHIFT" key until you can see on your computer screen a login box to enter a password. Afterwards, run the update Big Sur 11.1.11. installation. It has worked in my case and the issue is fixed now.

Same problem: stuck at 10m during 11.1 download

I tried many things:
1) restart computer -- failed
2) create temporary Admin account and upgrade from there -- failed
3) start up in Safe mode -- confused

I'm confused by the "Safe mode" solution. I tried holding shift-key during start and also holding cmd-R during restart, and in each case only get the option to install Mac OS 11. And when I start that it says it will take 40 minutes, as opposed to the 15 minutes the 11.1 upgrade was supposed to take.

I assume this method is installing the OS fresh -- which I didn't ask for. If so, why is this considered a solution to the original problem which is updating, not reinstalling? I've also seen some say that even that method didn't work.

Any other suggestions? Otherwise, I'll wait and try again with 11.2

I was finally able to install Big Sur 11.1 update. Safe Mode didn't work for me. Same Problems like in normal mode. I managed to install Big Sur 11.1 in Recovery Mode. All personal stuff still there. Please make sure you have a backup before. To me it is still annoying and not understandable that a company like Apple is not able to fix problems like these. Ok maybe there are not a lot of users hit by this, but for me it is very annoying to try an update 30 times because you think it will work at some point in the future. I think this is more kind of a problem with your local configuration. I guess even this should be solvable.

Safe mode worked for me when I installed 11.2.beta2. Not sure why we need to take this approach and why this isn't mentioned in the Release Notes for this beta.

same here.

Was just curious whether there is someone in this forum able to share a simple step by step explanation on how to get the update 11.1 version running.

thanks

Same issue upgrading 11.2 Beta :( Stuck preparing for upgrade at 15 minutes.

HI all!

I found this article when I ran into this problem on my Mac Mini Late 2018, trying to update from 11.0.1 to 11.1 and I tried all the different suggestions in here.
Both downloading the full Install file as well as trying to do the update from "System Preferences", both in "Regular" and "Safe Mode". Always stopping partly through with different text on the status indicator window.

What helped me in the end was that I tried something that I encountered when trying to setup my MacBook with Big Sur to do Time Machine backups to my Synology NAS which was failing, and the solution was to uninstall Sophos Home (mentioned in a few places, but also in Sophos support article called "Support for macOS 11- Big Sur"), and it's apparently a bug somewhere (either in Mac OS or in the Sophos software) that limits the possibility to use a Network Share for Time Machine backup.
So I just, basically because everything else failed, tried to uninstall Sophos Home, and "Bob's your uncle...".
I was able to install the update as supposed to.

Hope this helps someone else as well!!

Cheers,

Jonas

İ had the same problem. Safe mode worked for me 👍🏼

I've encountered this on 11.2 public release. On a 2020 MacBook Pro 13". The only way I could get it to install was the suggestion to boot into safe mode, then try performing the update. It was still a bit slow, but worked and after a reboot, now all is back to normal. I highly suggest giving this a try to get 11.2 installed.

Yes I am on a lMackBook Pro 15 inch 2017, and it just gets stuck..
at 10 minutes remaining

Please just sort it Apple.

Uninstalling Sophos or restarting and updating in safe mode does the trick.

After reading @Maecius message, I removed Eset Cyber Security. That was the trick for me.

Thanks @Dirkjand that worked for me too. OS 11.2.2 update.
I had to run Activity Monitor and search for ESET to quit all processes. Even if you force quit the app, there are residual processes running that need to be quit (i think).

Same here, Im using a MacBook Air 2019 model. The update process is stuck here and showing "About 10 minutes remaining" for last 8 hours.

Any Idea?

The safe mode suggestion worked for MacOS BigSur 11.2.2 update. Recovery mode was also an option but that wouldn't be an "update" but a clean re-install so I think the "safe mode" option is better. Also, I think it's horrible that it's been months and Apple hasn't bothered to figure out a fix for this or at least give an assurance here that the issue is being looked at.

Same with 11.2.3

i have never been disappointed by Apple except for my last iMac bought less than a year ago, initially running in Catalina and now Big Sur.

it s always running slow or worse

Same issue on MacBook air 2020. Any fix available yet?

this one is easy. All you do is boot into safe mode. Look up how to do it. then perform the update.

i had the same issue for mac OS Big Sur 11.3 update and updating it in the safe mode worked for me.

Same, 11.3.1 version.

Facing same issue in 11.3.1 in my old Macbook Pro 2015 model.

This is happening to me as well.

M1 Mac Mini and trying to update to 11.4

I had the same issue, I left it for a long time connected to the internet and it worked

Same problem here with 11.4. Late 2017 iMac. Installer stuck on "Preparing macOS Big Sur 11.4".