macOS 11.01 not updating to 11.2

Following Sven G's advice, this worked, adding the following to Configure > Hardware > Boot Order > Advanced > Boot Flags
devices.smbios.board_id="default"
If not specifying "default", is the board_id randomized, and this causes the Apple server to not reply with expected updates?
Is there any negative side-effect from doing this - something that could affect the Host OS?
Is this something Parallels will address in an update?

 

I spoke too soon. After doing the above, the Guest macOS DID recognize the software update, but during installation it hung with the progress bar at about 80% for hours and hours and hours until I gave up and just deleted the VM. Seems that there is a bug somewhere, as this should be a smooth process, and I will try to open a ticket with Parallels.

 

Yes, it seems to be a bug: also for me it hung; but rebooting/resetting the VM (even multiple times, whenever it hangs again) usually fixes this, and after some time eventually the install completes.

 

... BTW, I had to add devices.smbios.board_id="default" also in order to install a new macOS Catalina VM, as otherwise (without boot parameters, as one would expect for such a VM) it hung indefinitely at the beginning of the install (and there was also a post about a similar issue here on the forum, if I'm not mistaken): which is indeed quite strange (that parameter usually had to be added only for Big Sur VMs in the beta period, when that OS wasn't yet completely supported: so, it shouldn't really be necessary today, and this can certainly be considered a bug)...

 

Setting the board id in the boot params to that of a known to be supported by Big Sur device worked to get the 11.2.1 update.
You can pick one of your own here: https://mrmacintosh.com/list-of-mac-boardid-deviceid-model-identifiers-machine-models/
I used "Mac-3CBD00234E554E41" corresponding to a 15-inch Late 2013 macbook pro.

 

Parallels Customer Support replied to my ticket, acknowledged the issue that a macOS 11 VM, on macOS 11 Host, is unable to receive Apple Software Updates. They attempted to resolve with a number of suggested troubleshooting steps that did not work, and they are escalating the ticket.

 

My macOS 11 VMs see the updates, but usually get stuck when trying to install them. 11.3 beta appears to be the worst case. Shortly after the reboot the VM's CPU go to 100% and stay there. I tried just to Stop and Restart, as well as go back to previous snapshot and redownload the update - no success. macOS 11 and PD 16 is an extrememly frustating experience...

 

This fix worked for me. I had created Big Sur 11.2.1 VM from Recovery Partition but was unable to upgrade the VM to 11.2.2 until I made this change to the boot order advanced settings.

 

<Facepalm> I failed to read ahead and now I'm stuck at the 80% load upon install after downloading and preparing the update.

 

Got stuck at the same point.

What i did, was:
1) stop the hanging VM
2) Boot into Startup Manager (VM setting to choose start-up device CHECKED)
3) Boot VM --> it will boot into the "startup manager"
4) Select "Mac OS" and press Enter
5) Screen returned 80% and after a couple of seconds it finished installation and presented a login screen

I do not know, if that will do the trick for others, but for me it worked.

Cheers Marcus

 

I've discovered a way of getting standalone Big Sur installers and found that they work. Unfortunately this one requires some time and effort. I have a Software Update mirror for my legacy systems and although Big Sur does not support this the recent 11.2.3 update was available for previous versions of macOS which are eligible for upgrade. You can get this system going by following instructions from https://github.com/jamf/NetSUS .

Once the appliance is setup you can login to the web interface, setup Software Update and add a branch which I call "Manual". You can then see the downloaded updates including Big Sur 11.2.3. in the branch list and you can click Big Sur 11.2.3 in the web interface then download the InstallAssistant.pkg which installs the Install macOS Big Sur application into your Applications folder. Run the installer as normal and you should be able to complete the update.

A lot of hassle but it's a way of getting up to date manual installers if not appearing in the App Store.

 

Upgrading a Mac VM to 11.2.3 has bricked my VM. I have had endless trouble since upgrading to Parallels 16, running a Mac Big Sur VM on a Mac Big Sur VM. Such a waste of time and I wish I had upgraded Parallels or the VM or host machine to Big Sur. Sadly it's been a total disaster, wasting hours and hours of time. I'm terribly disappointed after 7 years of using Parallels.

 

Well, not only is Big Sur not updating, but I am having all sorts of issues updating Catalina and Mojave. The updates appear, but fail to install and the VM is corrupted. Thank God for backups. I thought Parallels was the gold standard for Mac compatibility. What happened?

 

I had that problem too recently. It seemed to affect me on a Big Sur host but I ultimately got stuff updated:
I found that when the update fails that switching the network mode seemed to help: switching from bridged networking with a specified adapter, or from bridged to shared and just keep switching between them after fails.
I also seem to have more success using the softwareupdate -ir commands in the guest VM's Terminal.app. The command line tool works as follows:

software update -l #this checks for updates and (l)ists them
softwareupdare -ir. #this (i)nstalls (r)ecommended updates

You're right about the sudden drop in quality but I personally think it's Big Sur that's the main issue. When running Parallels Desktop 16 on a Catalina host I have no problems. Apple should have named the current macOS release macOS Me; you might need to remember another operating systems history to get that one.

Hope you get your vm's updated.

 

I first opened a ticket for this issue a month ago. The issue being, on a Guest VM with macOS Big Sur - the VM can't see Apple Software Updates, or if you set Boot Flags, the VM does find the updates, but hangs at around 80% during installation.

Parallels Support requested I add this Boot Flag: devices.mac_hw_model=default
Result - VM saw and downloaded Apple Software Update, but installation hung at 80%

Parallels Support then requested I try this Boot Flag: devices.smbios.board_id=default
Result - same again, VM saw and downloaded Apple Software Update, but installation hung at 80%

Not sure I like having to do the QA work - doesn't the Parallels development team have a Mac for testing?

 

Still broken using Parallels Desktop 16.5. Mac OS host is on 11.2.3 and my guest Mac OS is on 11.2.

juls

 

None of the fixes here have worked for me, and I still have the issue with 16.5 as well. This is very disturbing.

 

Same problem here. Unable to update, adding boot option fails and downloading Big Sur installer from App Store causes restart hang at 80% or so. Parallels, PLEASE FIX THIS!

 

Finally! My 11.2.x VM upgraded to 11.3 with no issues. Yay!

 

Still not working after upgrading the host to Mac OS 11.3. Using Parallels Desktop 16.5 and my guest Mac OS is on 11.2.
juls