Earlier this week, various macOS sysadmins began reporting that some Apple devices were failing to upgrade to Big Sur version 11.1. Affected users may briefly see the 11.1 upgrade, but then it disappears from the update UI and from the command line softwareupdate tool despite not having been installed.
Patched Sur is not a virus according to Apple's notary services. Guess I will sign it from now on. Posted by 1 day ago. A new tool called ‘Patched Sur’, currently in beta, allows users to download and install macOS Big Sur on unsupported Macs. The patcher downloads the original installation file for Big Sur (or.
Erroneous update request
Developer Victor Vrantchan, of the open source MicroMDM project, says he's found the problem. Some Macs are erroneously requesting 11.0.1 instead of 11.1 from Apple's update server—which update is then rejected if the machine in question is already running 11.0.1 or newer, as most such are.
While the erroneous requests themselves are clear enough, the breaking condition is less so. According to Vrantchan, making the erroneous request 'somehow corrupts the state of the software update process,' resulting in a system that no longer presents the update as an option in System Preferences at all.
Restarting the affected system will make the update visible again—but that may or may not help; if the next attempt to install 11.1 generates the same erroneous 11.0.1 request, the problem behavior will simply repeat itself.
Removing the MDM profile—for you non-Mac folks and non-sysadmins, that's Apple's misleadingly named Mobile Device Management service, which allows education and enterprise orgs to manage and 'supervise' fleets of macOS and iOS devices—also makes the update visible. That said, mortals should not try this workaround lightly; messing with MDM has potentially severe impacts on system security, and there's no guarantee that re-enrolling the Mac in its workplace will go smoothly, either.
AdvertisementCan I just download the 11.1 update manually?
One seemingly obvious workaround would be to just directly download and manually apply the update package for Big Sur 11.1. Unfortunately, Apple has deprecated combo update packages—there is no manual package to download or install.
As of macOS Big Sur, the format of the updates has changed—and they can no longer be installed without Internet access. Update packages must come directly from Apple, and they must be managed by the softwareupdate process itself. It isn't even possible to use a custom URL for softwareupdate anymore.
How—or when—can I fix this?
Until we have more concrete information on the condition causing softwareupdate to erroneously request 11.0.1 instead of 11.1, there's no guaranteed way to fix the issue. Many users are reporting that after rebooting and attempting to upgrade again—in some cases, after rebooting and trying several times—the upgrade does go through properly.
Other users report that removing the MDM profile fixed the issue entirely—though we'd still consider that a very risky, Hail Mary play.
With no ability to manually download and install system updates as user-installed packages in Big Sur, getting the bug patched might be tricky. The bug might not manifest when the system requests a different version number, so perhaps an update to 11.2 will bypass the buggy requests and therefore be able to fix the bug in 11.2 without intervention. It would also be possible—if extremely hacky—for Apple to sideload the update into an unrelated patch that doesn't affect the OS version number.
All else failing, a complete reinstall of Big Sur from the App Store should get you to 11.1—although it's a 12.6GB download, and as with any major OS installation, you should be absolutely certain you've got good backups of all your data prior to the attempt.
Be it your comfort zone or tech limitations, there are many users who are still working on the macOS Catalina. Since every update brings new updates like bug fixes, system customizations, & personalizations, the macOS version 11 (macOS Big Sur) is worth exploring. From various color combinations to simplest user interface, everything is exciting with the macOS Big Sur.
Just like the iOS14 update that has brought many transforming updates including App Clips, PIP mode, & screen widgets. Same way, while accessing the macOS Big Sur, you will know how many useful features you are missing while unable to use the same. So in case you are still working on the macOS Catalina, check out the ways to upgrade to Big Sur as well as update macOS Catalina.
Is Your Mac Compatible With macOS Big Sur Update?
Since the macOS Big Sur update has been released for quite some time now, users are going gaga over it. However, please know that upgrading to Big Sur isn’t available for everyone of those users. The compatibility issue of the macOS Big Sur update will fully depend on your computer.
So if you do not have those mac computer versions, the only option you have is to buy a new Mac. You can check out the list of the macOS Big Sur update compatible mac versions to know if yours is listed here or not.
Things to Consider Before Updating macos catalina to macOS Big Sur
Sometimes it’s better not to upgrade to the latest version for mac right away as there are a few things that need to be taken care of. Since every one of us wants to have a seamless & smooth transition of the macOS Big Sur update, let’s start considering few of the things as mentioned below:
1. One of the first things before going ahead with the upgrade to macOS Big Sur is backing up your system. All you need to have is the Time Machine & an external hard drive and in a few minutes, you will be able to backup your mac.
2. Another thing to consider is using the First Aid feature from the Disk Utility app on the mac. You need to start with launching the Disk Utility app on the system & navigate yourself to the First Aid option to look for the errors on the disk. Hopefully the disk doesn’t show any errors while using the Disk Utility app so that the whole transition can be easy for you.
3. Cleaning out the junk or unnecessary items from the mac is extremely important as there are plenty of them on your device. So please delete all those items from the mac to have a smooth transition for the macOS Big Sur update.
How to Update macOS Catalina
Normally, whenever the new system update releases, the system will show the same automatically as a notification. And that’s your hint to go ahead with the update where you need to tap on the notification & click on Install Now option.
However, there are times when you either miss out on those new system updates or are waiting for the reviews from users. Either way, after making the decision of going ahead with the macOS Big Sur update, navigate yourself to the System Preferences > Software Update > Upgrade Now.
Now if you are one of those users who didn’t get a chance to tap on the macOS Big Sur update notification or use the above mentioned path, you can use another option as well. All you need to do is, visit the Apple official website (macOS Big Sur) & download the latest macOS update from the same platform.
Patched Sur Dmg
Please know that the macOS Big Sur update is a bit over 12 GB, it will take some time for the update to get downloaded. Once the whole “upgrade to macOS Big Sur” file has been downloaded, your mac will start the installation process by launching the installer automatically. The next steps wouldn’t require anything specific from users end as all they need to do is follow the instructions through the installation process. And within a while, the macOS Big Sur update will be installed on the system successfully. The average time it takes to update macOS Catalina to the macOS Big Sur is about 30 minutes so please be prepared to have patience for that much time.
Get Exciting Features With The macOS Big Sur Update
Patched Sur Download
Each & every update on different devices brings many features to explore and at the same time, instant bugs as well. For example, the macOS Big Sur update that brings many features from user interface to exciting features that can give your system a whole new makeover. I strongly believe that once you are all set with this macOS Big Sur upgrade, you yourself will know that the experience cannot be described in words. So without further ado, check if your mac comes under the list of the compatible macbook versions, & if yes then download the macOS Big Sur installation files right away.
Patched Sur Github
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