Unable to install macOS Sequoia update 15.4 on my MacBook Pro

Yeah it's definitely been weird. I haven't actually seen any of the MacBook Pros do it, but we've had quite a few MacBook Airs do it. The script I provided elsewhere in this thread seems to work if it isn't auto booting people to recovery mode. I'm going to try to see if there is a command we can run in recovery mode terminal to do something similar.

Does the command you used work from the “Terminal” app in “Recovery” mode?(It works in the terminal app in safe mode).

I tried it in “Recovery” but it kept giving me an error and wouldn’t execute the command. This is what I was using.

sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.4 --launch-installer -R

Any ideas?

I haven't been able to get it to work from the terminal within recovery mode. I am trying some things to see if there is something that works for recovery mode as my company has a few devices that we need to reinstall the OS on.

I have not had the need to use that command in Recovery, so no. I'm sure you're already aware that internet recovery is going to pull the latest version of the operating system anyway. Not an expert, but I'm assuming that command doesn't work via recovery because it has nowhere to put the installer.

Earlier today, tested the command via terminal in the os on an M1 MacbookPro running 15.3 with no issues.

I've literally given up trying to update to version 15.4

I've tried everything except DFU, because I don't have another Mac to do that with.

I'm extremely indignant that Apple has done nothing, that their support knows nothing and that we've been left in the dust.

Macbook Air M1

Same here!

Trying to reinstall my M1 Pro MBP yesterday, after erased my entire drive and installed Sequoia over the internet, it just won't startup.

It asks me to select a bootable drive and once I selected the Internal drive, it keeps saying "the version of macos on the selected disk needs to be reinstalled"!

I even tried restore with DFU mode, yet no luck.

It fails every time!!!

I can only install Ventura via my USB Drive that I created long time ago....but I cannot upgrade to Sequoia

It keeps ending up as a fatal error reboot!

Now I am trying to create a Sequoia bootable USB.

Come on, Apple!!!!

It happened to me on a 16" MacBook Pro 2021. Curiously enough, my work partition upgraded to 15.4 just fine, but my personal partition was stuck on 15.3.2. Reinstalling my computer was out of the question.

[Edited by Moderator]

Glad to hear it!

It really shouldn't be this difficult; my own suspicion is that this is an update package gone sideways and Apple really should be scrambling here.

Otherwise, I predict they will be scrambling as report volume surrounding this increases.

Here's hoping v15.5 is en route and will fix us all. Until then, it looks like we may be stuck at 15.3.2, as for me the 15.4 update always fails and rolls back to (now) the 15.3.2 installation.

Happy computing!

I didn’t even try to go past the fix.

I needed to be on 15 for a tool to work.

I was told to nuke the drive and start from scratch but that doesn’t seem to be helping either since the image for 15.4 is borked.

I’m glad I poked around a bit more and waited and found your post.

I feel bad for everyone one being told to do a restore. It’s definitely not necessary.

Stuck with a useless M1 Mac in recovery mode because of this issue. I’ve erased and reinstalled at least 5 times at this point. I can’t restore from Time Machine, I can’t boot in safe mode, I can’t do anything.

I was able to restore my M1 mbp to Monterrey (what it shipped with). Now how do I upgrade to 15? Must I sign into App Store to download Sequoia? Not sure how to proceed. This all started when I got new M4, decided to sell this M1, erased the whole drive in Recovery mode because "delete user" feature did not erase the user for some reason. After erasure of drive, the 15.4 install did not work and I got in this loop, so now I have the system running Monterrey, clean install. Thanks folks!

Personally, I just wanted to restore my Macbook Air M1, without know that 15.4 has so many issues! I followed the steps of Apple - system settings, general, transfer and reset. It is useful to mention that I have done this several times with previous versions of Os, without issues. This times I got an exclamation mark! OMG!!! My mac was dead!

The only way that you can solve it is by connecting your Mac with another Mac, put the problematic mac in DFU mode, and revive or restore your Mac with the good one!

I am using Mac since 2011, I have restored my devices several times. I have NEVER faced this issue, which cost my 35 euros, since I did not have a second Mac to restore or revive my Mac.

I am waiting now for an update. Os 15.4 has many issues and I do not trust it!

I want to restore my mac to default again, however with an upcoming Os update or somewhere in September/October, when Apple is going to introduce a new Os

Too bad I didn't come across your post sooner. I tried installing 15.4 from the bootable USB, from System Settings (2x), from the Applications folder, from the App Store, then DFU Revive to finally write a line in the Terminal and 30 minutes later I was running 15.3.2. Thank you very much!

Tried to update from Sequoia 15.3.2 to 15.4 automatically (as auto-update is mandatory in our organization). Update fails and the recovery process starts over and over. Never experienced such a bad update from apple. Trying to work around like described here in the thread is not an option as its my company MacBook. Apple has to provide a decent update.

even if I have been able to update to 15.4.1 in the meantime,

I still have a question about the script/command:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.2

Even with version 15.4.1 this no longer works for me.

I have been getting the error for about 3-4 weeks:

Scanning for 15.4.1 installer

Install failed with error: Update not found

It doesn't matter whether it's 15.4, 15.4.1, 14.7.5, etc., it just doesn't work anymore.

At first I thought it was because I updated from 15.3 to 15.4, because it still worked with 15.3.2, but it seems to have been a coincidence, in any case it seems that Apple has a general problem here, why this command no longer works !??

Does anyone know more in the meantime ??