Why can't my MacBook Air run Software Update?

Question

One of the first things that I tried to do when I got my new MacBook Air out of the box was upgrade iTunes to 10.5 (through Software Update). It downloaded the files (four different updates in total), verified data, then started to write the files, at which point it stopped and said that it couldn't complete the update.

Since then I've also downloaded the .dmg file for the iTunes upgrade and for the Lion 10.7.2 combo. My .dmgs can't be verified though; I get an invalid checksum error. I've downloaded them a bunch of times too just in case they were corrupted.

Then thinking that because it's a new machine, I can just refresh the OS and start again, I tried the cmd + r boot and tried to just reinstall and it said "Can't install the additional components needed to install Mac OS X".

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Have you tried checking if you are an admin user of the system? Did you set an admin password when you first booted the system?

You can check this by opening the Terminal app (press Cmd+Space to call Spotlight and type "Terminal" there or go to Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal) and enter

sudo ls

You will be asked for a password. Enter the password for your user.

If it doesn't give an error message, you are the admin of the system and the error could be something else (go to Apple Store asap, you can get a LOT of help from them in resolving such issues).

If it gives you an error, that could just be the root cause of your problem. Open the System Preferences app and go to Users and Groups under the System section. There, select your user and tick the "Allow user to administer this computer" option and restart/log out and log back in.

This should resolve your problem. Else call/email/go to the Apple Store and get their help (for free).

Silly note- When I read just the question, I thought you are a tech admin and are having a problem in your organization as an MBA grad who is using a Mac is not able to install updates on his machine! :)