Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Solving the macOS Installer's "Failed to Personalize" Error with New Firmware Adam Engst Kudos to user LALicata on TidBITS Talk for sharing a [1]macOS update solution that isn't widely available on the Internet. Attempting to update an M2 16-inch MacBook Pro from macOS 13.6 Ventura to any subsequent version of Ventura or macOS 14.5 Sonoma always resulted in a 'Failed to personalize' error. This error pops up quickly in Internet searches, and [2]several [3]articles [4]offer possible fixes, including many old standbys: * Restart your Mac * Make sure your Internet connection is working * Clear sufficient space on your Mac * Repair the boot drive with Disk Utility * Employ the full installer from the Mac App Store * Boot into Safe Mode before installing * Install from macOS Recovery * Use a bootable USB installer * Erase the Mac from Recovery Assistant or iCloud before reinstalling Those are all reasonable troubleshooting steps, but none solved the problem. Apple's support reps kept focusing on the Internet connection under the assumption that the Mac couldn't reach a necessary Apple server during the installation process. However, once LALicata mentioned that an M1 MacBook Air was able to download and install macOS updates with no problem, they focused on the Mac itself and eventually provided the solution, which was to restore the MacBook Pro to factory settings using Apple Configurator, which writes a fresh copy of the firmware to the Mac. Firmware Updates Typically, [5]Mac firmware is updated whenever a new version of macOS is installed, but if something goes wrong in the process, the Mac can be left with outdated firmware. When automatic firmware updates fail, [6]the solution is to 'revive' or 'restore' the Mac using another Mac running macOS 12 Monterey or later and a USB-C cable that supports data and charging, such as the Apple USB-C Charge Cable (Apple explicitly warns against trying to use a Thunderbolt 3 cable). Although Macs running Sonoma can update firmware using the Finder, [7]Apple Configurator is necessary for Macs running Monterey or Ventura, and LALicata's Apple rep said that this particular problem could be resolved only by restoring from Apple Configurator, not the Finder. (Reviving leaves your data in place and is worth trying first; restoring erases the Mac and reverts it to factory defaults.) Before LALicata fixed the problem, when the MacBook Pro was still running macOS 13.6.4, its System Firmware Version was 10151.41.12. After using Apple Configurator and upgrading to macOS 14.5, the System Firmware Version jumped 10151.121.1, which is [8]the latest version for all Apple silicon Macs. To check your Mac's System Firmware Version, Option-click the Apple menu and choose System Information'you'll see it in the Hardware Overview screen. This scenario suggests another general avenue of Mac troubleshooting. If you're having problems associated with startup or updating, compare your Mac's current firmware version with the latest version. Howard Oakley's excellent [9]Silent Knight utility, which reports on the update status of various system settings, makes that easier. The Answer Is Documentation It's easy to rail about the technical side of this problem. However, Apple certainly doesn't want or expect this firmware corruption to happen and is undoubtedly working to prevent it from happening and work around it automatically if it does. But no one is perfect, and it's impossible to predict every possible occurrence that could corrupt firmware during an update. Instead, I'd argue that the problem here revolves around documentation. First, the error message is terrible. What does 'Failed to personalize' mean (nothing, in at least this context, and not much in any I can imagine), and how is it related to firmware (it's not)? I suspect that the firmware problem is sufficiently rare and unexpected that it's triggering an unrelated message. Still, a better-worded error message would go a long way toward helping users (and support reps) figure out what's going wrong. The error condition might be rare, but it's not unheard of, so the second problem is that Apple's article about reviving and restoring Mac firmware doesn't include the error message text as one of the symptoms of corrupted firmware. If it had, LALicata and other users could have found the solution with a quick search. That's partly why I'm writing this article'to seed Internet search engines with the 'Failed to personalize' string and the solution. Anyone running into such a problem in the future should be able to find this article and jump to Apple's instructions on reviving or restoring firmware. They may be somewhat involved and non-trivial to follow (it matters which USB-C port you use, for instance), but they'll take far less time than working with remote support reps. Ideally, no one will run into this problem again, but if someone does, I hope they find their way to the solution here. References Visible links 1. https://talk.tidbits.com/t/solving-the-failure-to-personalize-error-when-updating-macos/27930?u=ace 2. https://macpaw.com/how-to/failed-to-personalize-software-update 3. https://iboysoft.com/howto/failed-to-personalize-the-software-update.html 4. https://www.easeus.com/computer-instruction/failed-to-personalize-software-update.html#:~:text=This%20is%20one%20of%20the,install%20the%20macOS%20update%20manually.&text=You%20need%20more%20storage%20space,spaces%20before%20installing%20the%20update. 5. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/how-do-i-get-firmware-updates-mchlp2609/mac 6. https://support.apple.com/108900 7. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator/id1037126344 8. https://eclecticlight.co/2023/10/03/which-firmware-should-your-mac-be-using-version-8/ 9. https://eclecticlight.co/lockrattler-systhist/ Hidden links: 10. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Failure-to-Personlize.png 11. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/System-Information-firmware.png 12. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/06/Silent-Knight.png .