Unable to install macOS Sequoia update 15.4 on my MacBook Pro

Dreadful experience here:

Facing the same issue and it completely damaged my system .

I had the same message as OP posted, and at some point my laptop was able to restart , proceeded with the update but failed.

At this Point, I was unable to start the laptop anymore, I was stuck in a boot loop forever.

• I tried recovery mode to run some diagnose and fix but amongst all the options available Only Reinstall Sonoma was possible.
• My current Volume was marked as "unable to downgrade", so I had to create a new disk and install Sonoma there.
• For 24 hours, now I have been installing Sonoma, upgrading to Sequoia 15.3.2 and moving ALL my Data over ! Stressful and losing time unable to work !
• At this point , I have 2 systems running 15.3.2, only one is bootable though.
• The new OS is still proposing to update every once in a while but unable to upgrade to 15.4 .
• I WILL NOT risk to update it before Apple fix it for sure.

Same problem here.

M1 mac mini running 14.7.5.

The only mildly unusual things this mac mini are that (1) it's using an Apple brand USBC to VGA adapter plugged into a KVM switch connected to a VGA monitor, and (2) and I'm screen sharing using ARD.

Try using Software Update

Update to 15.4 using the Software Update Control panel: fails with a kernel panic, reboots back in 14.7.5.

Repeated: happened again.

Try with Full Installer

• Downloaded the full "Install macOS Sequoia" installer app (15GB) by going to the Mac App Store, searching for Sequoia, and clicking the "Get" button to download it. (I downloaded on another mac (M4), then copied the file over to the ~/Downloads folder using ARD, then moved it to /Applications)
• Launch the full installer app: the installer runs, asks to Restart, then reboots. Progress bar comes up saying "about 11 minutes", then 5 minutes, then 3 minutes.
• End result: it reboots back in 14.7.5 with another kernel panic:

after erase i cannot install Sequoia 15.4 on my macbook air m1, after installing and restarting the notebook says „the version of macOS on the selected disk needs to be reinstalled“

this happen over and over again

You won't believe what happened after `sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer -a --launch-installer -R`

It downloaded Sonoma MacOS and surely rejected it to launch. I have no clue why Sonoma if I'm on macOS Sequoia (MacBook Pro M3Pro)

Here is how I fixed. Maybe there is shorter path to do this.

1. run command

`sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer -a --launch-installer -R`

It will download full installer into /Applications

2. Start installer Install macOS Sequoia.app from Applications

3. selected disk and proceed to the process where progress bar appeared and estimation time showed up, wait a bit and then cancel.

I think at this point it did some cleanup.

4. Went back to the System Settings and click on Update.

Now I see message to accept terms and conditions, click agree and it starts downloading update.

From this point at goes as normal.

This is precisely the problem I'm having. Earlier this year an iOS update did the same thing to my iPhone; stuck in the infinite reboot loop with no option but to wipe the system. Over 30 years using Apple products, I can't recall ever having this kind of catastrophic failure, let alone twice in six months. Sure, there were bad updates that got next-day patches, but a "you need to wipe your entire hard drive and start all over again" kind of failures just never happened.

Now I have to spend my weekend resetting and reinstalling and re-setting up the system.

This is a MacBook Pro 14" M3.

The upgrade was suggested by the system itself in Settings; I was just using the normal upgrade mechanism.

macOS 15.3.2 -> 15.4 was attempted.

The funny thing is that if you click 'download,' MacOs shows 15.4 in the process of downloading, but I'm not sure if I want to do a full re-installation on a corporate-managed machine. Will it preserve all of my files and settings? I just wanted to update as usual, but it constantly gives me that error. I have no clue how to fix it. ( I tried literally everything.)

Edward Martz wrote:

But my heart sank. All my projects and important documents weren’t backed up, and there was no way I was about to delete everything.

Always back up your data! Time Machine is an excellent facility.

See:- Back up your Mac with Time Machine – Apple Support (UK)

This applies to everyone! 😎

Just sayin'!

Had same problem: couldn't update from 15.3.2 to 15.4.

No error codes, just a message that update couldn't be installed.

Solution: shut down computer, reboot in safe mode (hold power button and when choosing volume: hold shift).

Then run update.

I decided to end the call when the agent informed me that nothing could be done, so I took matters into my own hands and resolved backing up my files. A few hours later, I called back to speak with a different agent, who sounded more optimistic about troubleshooting, although I was still in the process of creating backups. I plan on calling again tomorrow, hoping to speak with someone more experienced who can help resolve the issue.

I am experiencing a similar condition on an M1 MacBook Air. I have tried more or less everything except the DFU route. My system was actually unusable for a few days until I managed to make a Sonoma installer SD card using an older mac.

This morning, I contacted Apple Support to continue troubleshooting after backing up my important documents. I explained the steps I had taken and shared insights I found online from the apple forum. They informed me that I would need access to another Sequoia Mac in order to attempt further recovery methods. Unfortunately, my only remaining option would be to wipe and reinstall, although they cautioned that this might not resolve the issue, as the M-series chips don’t allow downgrades.

As an alternative, they recommended scheduling a Genius Bar appointment, where they would have the necessary tools to explore additional recovery options before resorting to a clean install. I’m heading in this afternoon to see if any progress can be made before taking that final step.

l could go down that path but I'm taking it in to attempt further recovery methods before reinstalling a new os.

I did use an older late 2013 Macbook pro to move my files/data using Recovery > Utilities > Share Disk... Manually backed up on a 4gb SSD.

I'm hoping that by taking it in that they are able to fix the installation process or boot up instead of having to do a fresh reinstall. We'll see how it goes. I'll report back with the outcome.

I've experienced the same error yesterday and I've tried the command this morning. Here's the result

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.4

Scanning for 15.4 installer
Install failed with error: An error occurred while running scripts from the package “InstallAssistant.pkg”.
Error Domain=PKInstallErrorDomain Code=112 "An error occurred while running scripts from the package “InstallAssistant.pkg”." UserInfo={SUErrorUpdateTitle=macOS Sequoia, NSURL=file:///Library/Updates/082-16524/InstallAssistant.pkg, PKInstallPackageIdentifier=com.apple.pkg.InstallAssistant.macOSSequoia, NSLocalizedDescription=An error occurred while running scripts from the package “InstallAssistant.pkg”., SUErrorRelatedCode=SUErrorCodeInstallFailure, NSFilePath=./postinstall.sh, SUErrorUpdateProductKey=082-16524}