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@reedobrien
Created September 7, 2011 01:09
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fix "Waiting for other installations to complete." on OSX 10.6 10.7
## fix "Waiting for other installations to complete." on OSX 10.6 10.7
## sometimes a failed installation leaves us unable to
## perform an installation. The following fixes it for me
sudo rm /private/var/db/mds/system/mds.install.lock
sudo reboot
@pascalpp
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thank you!

i wonder though: is the sudo reboot needed? seems harsh. would a regular reboot suffice?

@reedobrien
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You must be root to reboot thus sudo...

camel:build reedobrien$ reboot
reboot: Operation not permitted

@pascalpp
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yeah i mean just choosing Restart... from the apple menu, so your apps have a chance to quit normally, etc.

@reedobrien
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Yes I am sure that would work fine.

@xiongchiamiov
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It seems that rebooting shouldn't be necessary, but I can't seem to find out how to remove whatever other lock Software Update is waiting on. I thought it might be mds.lock, but no.

@reedobrien
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Yeah I gave up and rebooted after a few minutes.

@Horse888
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Very Good. Thanks!

@dwilt
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dwilt commented Aug 1, 2012

This worked for me. Thanks! I love nerds <3

@cailurus
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worked for me! Thanks.. lol

@TheodoreMurdock
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This seems a bit extreme...first you should check whether there are actually other installers waiting to finish, and do whatever they need.

In my case, I started installing new software while there was a popup saying that I needed to close iTunes for an install to finish (due to a recent update). Switching users and closing iTunes, which was open on my other user account, let the first install finish, which in turn let my second install finish as well.

@bryanmacfarlane
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I agree with @TheodoreMurdock - in my case, I forgot that there was an xcode installation going in the background. Being patient let everything finish gracefully :) . patience

@tamerhad
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tamerhad commented Jan 4, 2021

Just:
sudo killall -1 installd

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