• Step #1: Launch “System Preference”. Mac System Preferences Option. Step #2: Then Open Software Update Auto Download and install Apps Update and macOS Update on Mac Note: if any pending update found then you get the Update button. Like screen – An update is available for your mac with the Update now button. in some case, if your mac running with Beta profile then you won’t see update.
• Once the volume is removed, and the indices updated (you have to wait.), the App Store started finding updates. For better technical details, see: Mac App Store: 'Cannot update App Store purchases or updates do not seem available' and 'Mac App Store Update issue in Yosemite'.
• On rare occurrences people may find that after updating their Macs the system will not boot. Sometimes the system will hang at a specific boot screen such as the gray Apple, or at a blank blue screen.
• May 08, 2017  System updates protect your Mac from malware and other threats, and occasionally add new features. The same goes for software updates, so it’s important to keep all your apps up to date. But popups asking users whether they want to install updates have a way of being ignored, even when the user knows that updates are important.

When the Apple Watch's Auto Unlock works, it's magical. You open or approach your Mac while wearing your Apple Watch and, instead of having to type in your — hopefully long, strong — password, it just logs you in. No fuss. No muss.

But when it's not working, you might feel anger, frustration, blame, recriminations, along with having to type in that — hopefully long, strong — password. Not so much fun.

Well, it's more that we're asking you not to turn it off, because it's a vital tool within the Find my Mac service, which is a part of iCloud that lets you attempt to track down a lost or stolen Mac. The Mac might have been stuck on 20 minutes remaining for the past two hours, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's not busy trying to install the software. Look at the Log to see if your Mac.

So what can you do when Auto Unlock doesn't work? Here's an in-depth guide to help you out.

Some basic Auto Unlock troubleshooting

If you can't enable Auto Unlock (or it was working, but stopped), here are a few of more obvious problems we've run across:

• Your Mac is not compatible: Remember, to use Auto Unlock, you must have a 2013 Mac or newer.
• Your software isn't compatible: If you own an Apple Watch Series 0, 1, or 2, you'll need watchOS 3 or later and macOS Sierra or later to use Auto Unlock; the Apple Watch Series 3 requires watchOS 4 and macOS High Sierra or later.
• You don't have two-factor authentication enabled for iCloud: Either you never enabled two-factor authentication, or you still have Apple's older two-step verification procedure enabled instead.
• Your Mac and Apple Watch are signed into different iCloud accounts: Make sure your devices are both signed in with the same Apple ID.
• Your Apple Watch or Mac don't have a passcode enabled: Both devices should have a default passcode enabled to use Auto Unlock — otherwise, what are you unlocking?

You can also check your setup process and make sure everything's still working there:

These quick fixes fail to address your issue? Check out our more in-depth troubleshooting options below.

Is Automatic Login enabled?

If so, you should disable it.

1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen.

2. Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.

   Source: iMore

3. Click on Users & Groups.
4. Click the lock to make changes.
5. Enter your system administrator password.
6. Click on Login Options.

7. Select Off from the Automatic login menu.

   Source: iMore

Is your Apple Watch paired correctly?

This has happened to iMore staffers before: Editor Lory Gil had forgotten to pair her existing Apple Watch with her new iPhone, which momentarily broke Auto Unlock.

Reset the radios

Auto unlock requires Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi to be up and running on both your Apple Watch and Mac in order to work. If one or both radios have been turned off on one or both devices, or somehow stopped responding, Auto Unlock will likewise stop working. Cycling them can sometimes jump start everything back into action.

On your Apple Watch:

1. Swipe up from the watch face to bring up control center.
2. Tap the Airplane Mode button to turn all radios off. (It'll turn yellow when they're off.)

3. Tap the Airplane Mode button to turn all the radios back on. (It'll go back to black and gray when they're on.)

   Source: iMore

On your Mac:

1. Click on the Bluetooth icon in the menubar.
2. Click on Turn Bluetooth Off.
3. Click on the Bluetooth icon in the menubar again.

4. Click on Turn Bluetooth On.

   Source: iMore

5. Click on the Wi-Fi icon in the menubar.
6. Click on Turn Wi-Fi Off.
7. Click on the Wi-Fi icon in the menubar again.

8. Click on Turn Wi-Fi On.

   Source: iMore

Once you're done, try auto-unlock again. If it works, great. If not, keep reading.

Reboot everything

The next thing to try is a hard reset. Make all the 'reboot Windows' jokes you want but it's a cliche for a reason!

On your Apple Watch:

1. Press an hold the Digital Crown and Side button at the same time.
2. Keep holding them down until you see the Apple logo.

On your Mac:

1. Click on the Apple button on the menubar.
2. Click on Restart...

Once you've rebooted, auto-unlock will be temporarily disabled. Enter your password to re-enable it. Then let your Mac sleep and try auto-unlock again.

Check for updates

Apple's Bluetooth and Wi-Fi stacks—the set of software that controls the radios—aren't without occasional quirks. Sometimes, new versions of watchOS or macOS introduce compatibility problems; other times, they fix them. If you're having Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity problems, you're better off updating than not. If it's already broken, the update is your chance for a fix.

On your iPhone:

1. Launch the Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the My Watch tab at the bottom.
3. Tap on General.
4. Tap on Software Update.

5. If there's an update available, tap to install it.

   Source: iMore

On your Mac:

1. Launch the Mac App Store.
2. Click on the Updates tab, top left.

3. If there's a macOS software update available, click to install it.

   Source: iMore

Once you're done updating, try to use auto-unlock again — after you've logged in follow with a reboot to re-enable it! If it works, awesome. If not, there's even more to try!

Re-pair your Apple Watch

Re-pairing your Apple Watch is a huge pain, but if something has gone wrong with the connection between your iPhone and Apple Watch, secure information won't be transmitted properly, and that will stop auto-unlock dead.

1. Launch the Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the My Watch tab at the bottom.
3. Tap on (Name)'s Apple Watch at the top.
4. Tap on the Info button on the right. (Looks like an i.)

5. Tap on Unpair Apple Watch.

   Source: iMore

Once your Apple Watch has been unpaired, repeat the pairing process, restoring from your most recent backup. You'll have to re-enable Auto Unlock in your Mac's System Preferences again, but once that's done, auto-unlock should be back up and running. If not, you have one option left...

Contact Apple

Sometimes a problem really is a problem. Like any electronics, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios and the various connections to them can have problems. If you have AppleCare+, don't walk, run to your local Apple Store to get it looked at.

Other questions?

Let us know below.

Updated December 2019: Updated to reflect macOS Catalina and watchOS 6.

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Discord and others are down worldwide due to issues with Cloudfare

Discord appears to be down worldwide due to some kind of outage. The team at Discord has acknowledged the issue, and promises that a fix is on the way.

Updating your MacBook or iMac should be free of headaches and drama. Apple even coined a marketing phrase “it just works!” But recently, a lot of readers and Mac users are finding the opposite–it just doesn’t work! Several users have recently had issues updating their MacBook with the latest version of macOS. Unfortunately, this appears to be a fairly common problem for some when updating to the latest macOS High Sierra update.

The update gets stuck with a message “mac os could not be installed on your computer an error occurred installing macOS.” Some folks report seeing this message as well “the path /System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg appears to be missing or damaged.”

Then your Mac prompts you to quit the installer and restart your computer. Well, Apple, whatever happened to it just works???

Contents

• 1 Quick Tips
• 2 Getting macOS could not be installed on your computer?
• 3 How-To Fix macOS could not be installed issue
• 6 Reader Tips

My Mac Is Not Showing Software Update

Quick Tips

• Check that your Mac’s Date&Time are on Set Automatically
• Reset your Mac’s NVRAM or PRAM
• Free up some internal hard drive storage
• Restart in Safe Mode and run Disk Utility’s First Aid
• Try Recovery Mode
• Use Terminal to identify and remove non-Apple KEXTs
• Restart in Single User Mode to remove problematic files

RELATED ARTICLES

Getting macOS could not be installed on your computer?

If you are experiencing this issue with your update, here are a few tips that you can use to address this issue. Before proceeding with the steps below, we suggest that you ensure your Mac’s clock is correct. If your Mac’s Date&Time do not match your current timezone or date, macOS often won’t install. Go to System Preferences > Date & Time. Apple prefers if you choose the option to Set Automatically.

Next, let’s try out the basic NVRAM reset (or PRAM for older Macs) on your computer.

Follow these steps if you are not sure about how to do the NVRAM reset

1. Shut down your Mac
2. Turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R
3. Release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart
4. Open System Preferences and check (and adjust, if necessary) any settings that reset, like volume, display resolution, startup disk selection, or time zone

Check Storage

The other thing is to make sure that your MacBook/Mac has enough space available to complete the update. If you are running low on space, Apple provides some guidelines that can help you recover some space on your Mac.

Beyond the Basics

Now, that we have taken care of the basics, we suggest that you try each of the processes below until your macOS install problem is fixed. We arranged the how-to-fix steps in three separate categories.

The first of the troubleshooting steps walk you through Safe mode options and then we suggest the Recovery mode. The last of the options shows you how to remove third-party KEXT files using simple terminal commands and then try the install process.

How-To Fix macOS could not be installed issue

Fixing the Install issue using Safe Mode on your Macbook

• One of the best practices around updating is to make sure that you have taken a backup of the system before doing any troubleshooting. Better Safe than Sorry. We are assuming that you have already backed up your machine before you proceed with any of the steps below
• The first thing to try is to get your Mac/MacBook into Safe mode. When you hold the ‘Shift’ key during startup, your computer will launch into Safe mode
• Safe mode essentially forces the initiated process to ignore all third party launch daemons and startup items. Once you are in the Safe mode, the next course of action is to get into Disk Utility. Once your MacBook has entered safe mode, you will see it indicated in the top right-hand corner of your screen

• Log in using your credentials and then go to your macOS Utilities folder. Here you will need to start up the Disk Utility Program. Once in the program, Click First Aid on the top and choose the volume (Your main HDD) and start the repair process

• Once the Repair has completed, you will be notified of the status. At this point, you would want to rerun the macOS Update program and see if it works for you without giving you the error message

My Mac Will Not Update Software

If you tried the steps above in Safe mode and did not find success, the next course of action is to try the Recovery mode.

Fixing macOS Install Problem in Recovery Mode

• To get to recovery mode on your Mac or MacBook, you will need to press and hold Command + R keys together when booting up your computer
• Once you are in the Recovery mode, click on the Apple logo on the top left corner of the screen and make sure that your startup disk is pointing to the Mac Boot disk
• Now find the macOS update program and run the update

Sometimes, when you are facing install/upgrade issues, a workaround that works for many users is to create an external bootable installer and try to run the install program using it. Apple provides a detailed white paper on this process. You can create the bootable installer on a USB and then try it to update the macOS.

Removing Third Party KEXT Files

If you are still reading and have already tried the series of fixes in both Safe mode and Recovery mode to no avail, you may have to roll up your sleeves and do a little more digging into the root cause of the issue. Sometimes it’s the third party KEXT extensions that cause a lot of heartache during update/install of macOS.

These KEXT Files get added to your Mac/MacBook when you are using third-party devices. If you are not sure about it, your best bet is to look and see what third-party extensions are currently there on your machine.

To do so, Open up terminal from your utilities and type in the following to see the non-Apple KEXTs.

Kextstat | grep –v com.apple

This command should show you all the third party extensions. Now you can remove them one by one or remove the one that you think may be the suspect. Using terminal, you can unload the kext my using the following command.

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/NAMEOFTHEKEXT.kext

Here ‘NAMEOFTHEKEXT’ needs to be replaced with the appropriate suspect KEXT file that you found above. Once you have unloaded the KEXT, you can go back and check to make sure that it has indeed been removed by using the kextstat command.

Once you have removed all the third party KEXT files and have made sure that you have enough space on your machine for the macOS update, please try and relaunch the install process.

My Mac Is Not Updating Software

Problems? Try Single User Mode

If your install process is failing because of a particular problematic file, you can also try to log in using the single user mode and delete that specific file and then try resuming the install. Sometimes you find these problematic ones off files in the Installer log files. To access these log files, open up the Console app in utilities and click on ‘/var/log’ on the left-hand column and then choose ‘instal.log’in the next column.

We are hoping that you were able to fix the macOS Install issue using some of these tips. If you have tried everything without any success, your best bet is to reach out to Apple Support folks so that they can help out. Please let us know how your install worked by using the comments below.

Reader Tips

• Try restarting in recovery mode and install macOS High Sierra or Sierra from a bootable USB drive disk. If necessary, reformat your SSD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), not APFS
• Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues
• Boot up your Mac using Cmd + R to access the recovery partition. Immediately, go the Apple menu choose Startup Disk. Select your HD. Unlocked it if necessary by entering your admin password. Reboot and see if it starts up normally
• Update your system’s clock by using Terminal. Open Applications > Utilities >Terminal and type the command date. If the date listed is incorrect, type this command ntpdate -u “time.apple.com” then press return. If you live outside of the Americas, type in Apple’s time server nearest you, such as time.asia.apple.com or time.euro.apple.com inside the parenthesis
• I created an ISO image of macOS High Sierra on a USB and installation was a breeze after that
• Shut down your Mac and wait 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, press the power button and immediately hold down Command + R and keep pressing these keys until the apple logo appears. You should see a screen asking you to choose a language, select your language of choice, and navigate to your macOS Utilities. Check the WiFi button at the top right to make sure you’re connected to the internet. Then select reinstall the latest version of macOS, click continue, agree and allow it to download and restart on its own (just leave the Mac alone–really!) After macOS reinstalls, it should restart and end up at the login screen
• I booted up while holding the Option key and chose my regular MacinstoshHD (not an update volume). Then I booted normally (not with safe mode) and tried again to reinstall the update. Took several reboots but in the end, it worked!
• Oftentimes, this error means your Mac is trying to boot from a different HD partition, sometimes even the recovery partition. To fix it, restart in startup manager (holding option key) and select your regular HD to reboot from. Once successful, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk > Select your normal HD startup. That should fix the problem

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.

My Mac Won't Update Software