Panorama SWInstall direct upgrade from 10.1.x to 11.1.x stuck at 0%

• Attempting a direct software upgrade from PAN-OS 10.1.x to 11.1.x on a Panorama M-600, the SWInstall job remains at 0% progress, often while other system update jobs are queued.

Example CLI Output :

>show jobs all

Enqueued             Dequeued      ID    PositionInQ             Type           Status Result Completed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025/06/29 17:05:43  17:05:43       150963              _SystemWildfireUpdate_         QUEUED   PEND    1%
2025/06/29 16:58:01  16:58:01       150962                    SWInstall                ACT      PEND    0%

1. Additionally, attempts to view the swm.log file from the global command line may fail with a "No such file or directory" error:

tail follow yes mp-log swm.log
/usr/bin/tail: cannot open '/var/log/pan/swm.log' for reading: No such file or directory.

• Panorama M-600
• Upgrade from PAN-OS 10.1.x to 11.1.x
• Skip Software version

• "Skip Software Version Upgrade" used trying to bypass multiple versions of PAN-OS.
• IN this case 10.2.x and 11.0.x is bypassed

1. Perform an intermediate upgrade step to PAN-OS 10.2.x.
2. This helps bypass the code handling issue encountered during the direct "Skip Software Version Upgrade" from 10.1.x to 11.1.x.
3. Refer additional section for an example of this upgrade.

Recommended Remediation Plan:

1. Clear Any Stuck Jobs:
   1. SSH to your Panorama M-600.
   2. Identify any SWInstall or _System*Update_ jobs that are QUEUED or PEND using show jobs all.
   3. Cancel these jobs:
   4. clear job id <job_id>

Example: 

>show jobs all

Enqueued                    Dequeued    ID          PositionInQ          Type       Status Result Completed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025/06/29 17:05:43                   150963        _SystemWildfireUpdate_            QUEUED   PEND    1%
2025/06/29 16:58:01 16:58:01          150962                 SWInstall                ACT      PEND    0%

>clear job id 150962
Job 150962 cleared

>clear job id 1509623
Job 150963 cleared

>show jobs all

2.Upgrade to an Intermediate PAN-OS 10.2.x Release:

• Download a stable and latest preferred maintenance release of PAN-OS 10.2.x to your Panorama.
• Install this 10.2.x version.
• Allow the Panorama to reboot and come up successfully on PAN-OS 10.2.x.
• Verify system health and log collection.
  
  

3.Continue upgrade from PAN-OS 10.2.x to 11.1.x:

• Once Panorama is stable on PAN-OS 10.2.x, you can then proceed with the upgrade to 11.1.x
• Example: If target version is  11.1.6-h14; download the 11.1.6-h14 image, install the 11.1.6-h14 software.
• Allow the Panorama to reboot and come up successfully on the target version.

Note: Issue seen only on Panorama M-600 so far (all modes)