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How To Fix Mac Software Update Stuck On “Configuring Install”

Posted: December 15th, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: How-To | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments »


Apple recently released a 10.5.6 update to OS X. While I was downloading the new stuff using Software Update, my internet connection was interrupted. I relaunched Software Update and assumed it would continue downloading. It appeared to finish and then asked to reboot to complete the update process.

Unfortunately, the update process got stuck on Configuring Install and just sat there indefinitely. After an unhealthy hard power reset, I tried again with no luck. It seems the interrupted download led to some incomplete files and was hanging the update process.

I was able to solve the problem by deleting the partially downloaded files, then re-downloading using Software Update. This time around, the update applied successfully, upgrading and patching my OS X installation.

Hopefully this post will help others experiencing the same problem. My initial Google search returned a lot of outdated results.

In summary: if you keep getting stuck on Configuring Install during an update, try deleting the files in /Library/Updates/ and restarting the update process.

7 Comments on “How To Fix Mac Software Update Stuck On “Configuring Install””

  1. 1 Joe Schnez said at 12:05 pm on December 16th, 2008:

    Thank you…you’re a life saver.

  2. 2 Boris Kogan said at 5:02 pm on December 17th, 2008:

    thank you very much!

  3. 3 khad said at 5:43 pm on December 17th, 2008:

    Google is awesome. My MacBook did the exact same thing while an update to 10.5.6 was interrupted while downloading. Actually, I think it was the most recent Safari update (which I only now got around to) that was interrupted, but I just cleared the whole /Library/Updates/ folder to be sure.

  4. 4 lucky loops said at 7:39 pm on December 18th, 2008:

    great solution…!!! thank you

  5. 5 laurent said at 2:54 pm on February 1st, 2009:

    thanks a lot!

  6. 6 aditya said at 1:17 pm on February 17th, 2009:

    Thank God!!!!! you just answered a long unresolved issue. Thanks a great deal!! truly!!!

  7. 7 Sunny said at 7:16 pm on January 21st, 2011:

    Thank you so much. off to fix it now

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