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Can't install any software on my MacBook Pro

U

UncleMike987

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 22, 2013
5
1
Hi everyone,

I have a weird problem with my MacBook Pro.
It won't let me install any software on it.

For example, this morning, I've been trying to install a legit copy of Microsoft Office on it (I have a MSDN Developer Subscription through my company).

I've got the .pkg file, it starts going through the wizard, reaches the bit where I need to click on the "Install" button to continue, it asks me for my login password... then the login screen disappears, and I'm still on the Install wizard page. I can't get past it.

MacBookCantInstallSoftware.png


The same thing happens with the Cisco Online installer. I download the .dmg, run the .pkg file, it goes through the wizard, but when it prompts me for my login password, it just returns to the same wizard screen, and I can't get past it.

I've tried running Disk Utility, I've run both the Repair Disk (no errors found) and "Repair Disk Permissions" functions (quite a few permission problems were found and fixed) but nothing seems to help.


By the way, when I type in my login password (to give my MacBook permission to install the software), if I deliberately give it the wrong password, the dialog vibrates, if I give it the correct password, the dialog scrolls away, back to the original wizard screen. So it is recognising that I've entered the correct password.

I'm the only user on this MacBook Pro, running Mac OS X v10.7.5 and I do have Admin rights.

I'm stuck...


Mike
 
xlii said:
Under system preferences, security & privacy, general... check to see that you have allow downloads from anywhere set.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion.

And yes, I did check that.
The section is grayed out, but there is a tick in the "Allow applications downloaded from: Anywhere" box.

It's just odd that, when the login screen accepts my password, but returns me to the Install wizard screen, nothing seems to get added to the Console (as far as I can tell).

No exceptions or error are reported... it just, well, ignores that I've entered the password.
 
UncleMike987 said:
Thanks for the suggestion.

And yes, I did check that.
The section is grayed out, but there is a tick in the "Allow applications downloaded from: Anywhere" box.

It's just odd that, when the login screen accepts my password, but returns me to the Install wizard screen, nothing seems to get added to the Console (as far as I can tell).

No exceptions or error are reported... it just, well, ignores that I've entered the password.
Click to expand...

Is the padlock locked, unlock it first.

Oh, and we don't say wizard in the Mac world, it Installer.:p
 
justperry said:
Is the padlock locked, unlock it first.
Click to expand...

The plot thickens.

As I said, the "Anywhere" option was ticked for "Allow applications downloaded from:"... but out of interest, I clicked on the Padlock icon.

The login screen appears, telling me that "System Preferences is trying to unlock Security & Privacy Preferences. Type your password to allow this."

I type my password... and I get deja-vu. The password screen disappears, I'm back at the Security & Privacy screen, and the Padlock icon still shows "Click the lock to make changes."

Once again, it's like the password has been accepted, but then the login screen was completely ignored.


Hmm, I thought... perhaps my User account is corrupted somehow. I should try creating a new Admin user account, and try it from there.

So, I went into the Users & Groups screen, clicked on the Padlock icon, so I would be able to create a new user. But first, the login screen appears.

"System preferences is trying to unlock Users & Groups preferences. Type your password to allow this."

I typed in my password and... well... guess.

It ignored it again. The login screen disappeared, and the padlock icon was still telling me to click if, I wanted to make changes.

So, I'm the only user on this MacBook, I can't install any software on it, can't create a new user to let that user install software, and can't change the Security settings (even though they look fine at the moment).


I feel a trip to the Apple Store coming on...
 
UncleMike987 said:
The plot thickens.

As I said, the "Anywhere" option was ticked for "Allow applications downloaded from:"... but out of interest, I clicked on the Padlock icon.

The login screen appears, telling me that "System Preferences is trying to unlock Security & Privacy Preferences. Type your password to allow this."

I type my password... and I get deja-vu. The password screen disappears, I'm back at the Security & Privacy screen, and the Padlock icon still shows "Click the lock to make changes."

Once again, it's like the password has been accepted, but then the login screen was completely ignored.


Hmm, I thought... perhaps my User account is corrupted somehow. I should try creating a new Admin user account, and try it from there.

So, I went into the Users & Groups screen, clicked on the Padlock icon, so I would be able to create a new user. But first, the login screen appears.

"System preferences is trying to unlock Users & Groups preferences. Type your password to allow this."

I typed in my password and... well... guess.

It ignored it again. The login screen disappeared, and the padlock icon was still telling me to click if, I wanted to make changes.

So, I'm the only user on this MacBook, I can't install any software on it, can't create a new user to let that user install software, and can't change the Security settings (even though they look fine at the moment).


I feel a trip to the Apple Store coming on...
Click to expand...

Not so nice.
Weird problem, or we forget something
You could try this, open Keychain Access and repair the keychain, before you do see if your keychain is unlocked, it should be unlocked.
 
Final thoughts..

One trip to the Genuis Bar at the Apple Store later...

Nope, they couldn't fix it.

If repairing disk permissions didn't work, and you can't create a new Admin user, you're a bit screwed.

They've recommended that I reinstall everything.

:(
 
Once you get up and running again (hopefully) be sure to make a clone of your system using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Then if you run into a problem like this, you can use the copy that (hopefully) does work to quickly get up and running again.
 
Final thoughts...

The final chapter...

I reinstalled Mac OS X (which was really easy to do via the startup menu) and a couple of hours later, it all worked again.

Surprisingly (coming from a Windows environment) all of my files were still there after the reinstall had completely. It hadn't wiped the existing data, so I could continue working straightaway... but perhaps I got lucky.

And yes, once OS X was reinstalled, it did accept my admin password - I could now install other software, add extra users to my machine, etc etc.

It was an odd problem, and one which the guys at the Genius Bar had never seen before, or knew how to fix. But, reinstalling the OS did the job.

----------
bobr1952 said:
Once you get up and running again (hopefully) be sure to make a clone of your system using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Then if you run into a problem like this, you can use the copy that (hopefully) does work to quickly get up and running again.
Click to expand...

Problem is, if I had done that, and had tried to restore the problem files, the OS would've asked me for my Admin password, before letting me restore those system files. And that's the step which was failing in the OS.

Honestly, I think I just got unlucky. I haven't found anyone else reporting this issue, but given it's severity, I think when this problem does occur, I doubt anything short of reinstalling the OS will fix it.
 
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UncleMike987 said:
The final chapter...

I reinstalled Mac OS X (which was really easy to do via the startup menu) and a couple of hours later, it all worked again.

Surprisingly (coming from a Windows environment) all of my files were still there after the reinstall had completely. It hadn't wiped the existing data, so I could continue working straightaway... but perhaps I got lucky.

And yes, once OS X was reinstalled, it did accept my admin password - I could now install other software, add extra users to my machine, etc etc.

It was an odd problem, and one which the guys at the Genius Bar had never seen before, or knew how to fix. But, reinstalling the OS did the job.

----------



Problem is, if I had done that, and had tried to restore the problem files, the OS would've asked me for my Admin password, before letting me restore those system files. And that's the step which was failing in the OS.

Honestly, I think I just got unlucky. I haven't found anyone else reporting this issue, but given it's severity, I think when this problem does occur, I doubt anything short of reinstalling the OS will fix it.
Click to expand...

That is the good thing about reinstalling, only System files are deleted/updated, all user data remains intact, glad it is solved.
 
UncleMike987 said:
Hi everyone,

I have a weird problem with my MacBook Pro.
It won't let me install any software on it.

For example, this morning, I've been trying to install a legit copy of Microsoft Office on it (I have a MSDN Developer Subscription through my company).

I've got the .pkg file, it starts going through the wizard, reaches the bit where I need to click on the "Install" button to continue, it asks me for my login password... then the login screen disappears, and I'm still on the Install wizard page. I can't get past it.

MacBookCantInstallSoftware.png


The same thing happens with the Cisco Online installer. I download the .dmg, run the .pkg file, it goes through the wizard, but when it prompts me for my login password, it just returns to the same wizard screen, and I can't get past it.

I've tried running Disk Utility, I've run both the Repair Disk (no errors found) and "Repair Disk Permissions" functions (quite a few permission problems were found and fixed) but nothing seems to help.


By the way, when I type in my login password (to give my MacBook permission to install the software), if I deliberately give it the wrong password, the dialog vibrates, if I give it the correct password, the dialog scrolls away, back to the original wizard screen. So it is recognising that I've entered the correct password.

I'm the only user on this MacBook Pro, running Mac OS X v10.7.5 and I do have Admin rights.

I'm stuck...


Mike
Click to expand...

Hi, I am having the same issue described here. The only difference is my admin password was working but I had to reinstall OS X and now it doesn't work!!! I know it's a long shot but does anyone have any ideas how to solve this issue without reinstalling my OS again??
 
earlsy said:
Hi, I am having the same issue described here. The only difference is my admin password was working but I had to reinstall OS X and now it doesn't work!!! I know it's a long shot but does anyone have any ideas how to solve this issue without reinstalling my OS again??
Click to expand...

This solution worked for me:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7260492?start=0&tstart=0

OSX apparently needs to regenerate a fresh auth.db from /System/Library/Security/authorization.plist.

This can be triggered in terminal with the following command: sudo mv /var/db/auth.db /var/db/auth.db.old

After rebooting the system everything works as it should be.
 
Dean Aldinger said:
This solution worked for me:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7260492?start=0&tstart=0

OSX apparently needs to regenerate a fresh auth.db from /System/Library/Security/authorization.plist.

This can be triggered in terminal with the following command: sudo mv /var/db/auth.db /var/db/auth.db.old

After rebooting the system everything works as it should be.
Click to expand...

It's good you add something to this thread so that others can solve it, BUT, the post you replied to is already 7 months old, not only that, he also said he can't login so the approach you mentioned does not work, instead you have to start up from another OS X install and delete it from there, or start up in single user mode and then delete the file from there, but this is a bit complicated for most users.
 
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