Migration Assistant fail on new MacBook Pro

[scandinavia3]

I tried to use the Migration Assistant on my new MBP, but it froze in the middle. I'm not sure how to proceed, and I'm beginning to think that the Migration Assistant messed up a bunch of things. I read somewhere that if I attempt to restart the MA, it will duplicate the user accounts. At this point, I'm wondering if I should do a factory reset and try to transfer the information from a backup drive. Any thoughts??? Help!!

 

[Fishrrman]

You can use the "erase all content and settings" to completely "wipe" the new MBP.
Then you can start over, it will be the same as if you just took it out of the box for the first time.

How to do this:
a. boot to the finder.
b. you will need a usable account with an administrative password
c. open system preferences
d. in the system preferences menu (up in the menu bar), choose "erase all content and settings".
e. this invokes the "erase assistant" -- just follow through
f. I believe when done, this should return you to the original startup screen (choose your language).

Something else:
WHAT method were you using with migration assistant?
Actually, for a Mac right-out-of-the-box, you SHOULDN'T be using migration assistant.
You SHOULD be using setup assistant, which runs as the initial setup app.

Were you trying to migrate from a backup drive?
or
Were you trying to migrate using a connection to the older Mac?

My advice is to NOT use a "live connection" to the older Mac.
Rather, use a backup on an external drive.
Just before you begin setup, run the backup "one last time" so it's up-to-date.

I also do not recommend time machine for this.
I recommend using a cloned backup created with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper instead.
Both of these apps are FREE to use for 30 days, so creating one will cost you nothing.

So, to repeat:
- create a backup on an external drive and have it ready BEFORE you begin the setup
- use erase assistant to "wipe clean" the MBP
- as soon as you see the initial setup screen, CONNECT THE BACKUP
- begin setup
- setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate from another drive -- YES.
- "point the way" to the external backup and give SA time to digest everything
- SA will give you a "checklist" of things to migrate -- I'd suggest "everything"
- let SA do its thing
- when done, you should see your old login screen, just as before.

 

[scandinavia3]

You can use the "erase all content and settings" to completely "wipe" the new MBP.
Then you can start over, it will be the same as if you just took it out of the box for the first time.

How to do this:
a. boot to the finder.
b. you will need a usable account with an administrative password
c. open system preferences
d. in the system preferences menu (up in the menu bar), choose "erase all content and settings".
e. this invokes the "erase assistant" -- just follow through
f. I believe when done, this should return you to the original startup screen (choose your language).

Something else:
WHAT method were you using with migration assistant?
Actually, for a Mac right-out-of-the-box, you SHOULDN'T be using migration assistant.
You SHOULD be using setup assistant, which runs as the initial setup app.

Were you trying to migrate from a backup drive?
or
Were you trying to migrate using a connection to the older Mac?

My advice is to NOT use a "live connection" to the older Mac.
Rather, use a backup on an external drive.
Just before you begin setup, run the backup "one last time" so it's up-to-date.

I also do not recommend time machine for this.
I recommend using a cloned backup created with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper instead.
Both of these apps are FREE to use for 30 days, so creating one will cost you nothing.

So, to repeat:
- create a backup on an external drive and have it ready BEFORE you begin the setup
- use erase assistant to "wipe clean" the MBP
- as soon as you see the initial setup screen, CONNECT THE BACKUP
- begin setup
- setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate from another drive -- YES.
- "point the way" to the external backup and give SA time to digest everything
- SA will give you a "checklist" of things to migrate -- I'd suggest "everything"
- let SA do its thing
- when done, you should see your old login screen, just as before.

Thank you so much for your very thorough response! I feel like I have destroyed my new MBP, so I was just leaning towards doing the factory reset. Does it hurt the machine in any way to do that?

To answer your question, I wasn't sure whether I would like the new MBP, so I set it up using only my Apple ID, and have been using it for a couple of weeks without migrating any old information over to it. I have an old (2014) MBP. I finally decided that I wanted to keep it, so I went to the Migration Assistant and tried to transfer the info over WiFi from the old MBP to the new one. As I had already set up a User Account on the new MBP, this resulted in two separate user accounts, which was not my intent. Then it froze, so it's unclear to me how much information is missing. I read somewhere that running MA a second time might result in yet another user account being created...and duplicate information. It's just a mess. I would like my old photos, videos, and documents. I don't really have any apps downloaded. When I did MA, it asked what information I wanted to download, and there were four choices. I didn't know, so I left all 4 checked. Now I think that may have been a mistake as well. I don't really have any apps to transfer, as the new one would have everything that I use (Pages, Numbers).

I have a Time Machine back-up, and was inclined to use that. Can I ask why you recommend against that? Also, do you know if I can transfer the stuff into a "new" username? I don't like my old username, and I haven't been able to figure out how to change it.

Thank you again for all of your help!!

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If you don't mind my saying so, sounds like you made a real mess of the previous "migration".

This can be fixed, but you have to decide what you want to do.

Do you want to "wipe it and start clean", with a completely "fresh" migration from the time machine backup?

BE AWARE that doing so is going to bring over your old account name, which you say you don't like.
(I ALWAYS advise folks to think very carefully about account names, passwords, etc. BEFORE committing to them).

You could also start out with a new account name, but this will make the migration far more complicated. Instead of using migration assistant, you'll probably need to move things from old-to-new Macs "by hand", with appropriate steps take to avoid permissions problems. I don't know if this can be done from a time machine backup. I do know that it CAN be done from a cloned backup.

You should never, NEVER attempt to change the name of an existing account unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing and what steps to take. Failure to take the right steps could mess things up even more than they are now.

My advice to you is to do pretty much what I outlined in reply 2 above.
Use erase assistant to wipe the MBP first.
You can skip the CCC or SD cloned backup, and use the tm backup that you have.
But be sure to update it IMMEDIATELY before using it.

And then... just learn to live with your existing (old) account name for the time being.

 

[scandinavia3]

OP:

If you don't mind my saying so, sounds like you made a real mess of the previous "migration".

This can be fixed, but you have to decide what you want to do.

Do you want to "wipe it and start clean", with a completely "fresh" migration from the time machine backup?

BE AWARE that doing so is going to bring over your old account name, which you say you don't like.
(I ALWAYS advise folks to think very carefully about account names, passwords, etc. BEFORE committing to them).

You could also start out with a new account name, but this will make the migration far more complicated. Instead of using migration assistant, you'll probably need to move things from old-to-new Macs "by hand", with appropriate steps take to avoid permissions problems. I don't know if this can be done from a time machine backup. I do know that it CAN be done from a cloned backup.

You should never, NEVER attempt to change the name of an existing account unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing and what steps to take. Failure to take the right steps could mess things up even more than they are now.

My advice to you is to do pretty much what I outlined in reply 2 above.
Use erase assistant to wipe the MBP first.
You can skip the CCC or SD cloned backup, and use the tm backup that you have.
But be sure to update it IMMEDIATELY before using it.

And then... just learn to live with your existing (old) account name for the time being.

Thank you so much for all of your advice! I have done a factory reset, and am debating how to set it up now. I have a TM back-up of my old device, but I'd like to avoid bringing over a bunch of "junk" software. I have a lot of photos and videos to transfer though. If there is a way to "share" or transfer all of those to the new computer, I would be inclined to do that, rather than transfer over my whole user account. If there isn't an easy way, then I will try using SetUp Assistant and the TM backup.

Thanks again!