Help please - dmg files not working on Tahoe and can't restore from TM

[psybear]

I told myself quite a few MacOS versions ago to never again upgrade to the latest version, always stay at least one behind. Well I ignored my own advice and now I'm really in a mess.

I was on Ventura on my Mac Studio. Having just upgraded to the latest versions of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, I got a pop-up advising me that they wouldn't run properly on my current OS. So I decided I needed to bite the bullet.

Installed Tahoe and the first thing I went to do was to download the newer printer software for the OS. But the dmg file won't open. Nor will any other previously downloaded dmg files. Looked online for advice and tried a restart - no difference. Tried Safe Mode, no difference.

Decided to use TM to revert to previous state and then try upgrading the MacOS in smaller steps - my MacBook has been totally stable running Sequoia and I'd be happy with that on my Studio.

Well I've been sitting here staring at the same macOS Recovery screen for over half an hour now, with "Examining Volumes..." and the spinning timer thing. Googled this and it's yet another glitch.

So... any advice?

Either (a) on how to get the dmg issue in Tahoe sorted - in which case I'd likely be happy to stick with it or (b) how to access my TM backups so I can at least get back to where I was?

I'm not that tech-aware compared to some on here but would appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

 

[psybear]

Update re the Time Machine issue - so I finally got past that "Examining Volumes..." screen and proceeded with the TM restore. But when I selected the Restore file I get "You must Use Migration Assistant to transfer data from this backup. Reinstall MacOS if necessary, then use Migration Assistant to transfer data from your backup".

The reinstall MacOS option appears to only offer Tahoe though. Does this mean that I need to find an installtion file for the old OS I was using, wipe the system, install the old OS and then restore from TM?

 

[Bigwaff]

Try using Disk Utility. Open Disk Utility and use menu File > Open Disk Image...

 

[Rastafabi]

You can download macOS Sequoia and create an bootable installer disk to boot from. I'd recommend Mist for this, as it offers and comprehensive beginner friendly UI.

Regarding your dmg issue: have you installed the latest 26.1 bugfix update? I did not have any dmg mounting problems with Tahoe at all. What you could try though is opening the dmg with a right click. Maybe some app got ahold of dmg file associations by mistake, so they are not regularly mounted anymore but selecting "DiskImageMounter" from the right click dialog should mount them.

 

[psybear]

You can download macOS Sequoia and create an bootable installer disk to boot from. I'd recommend Mist for this, as it offers and comprehensive beginner friendly UI.

Regarding your dmg issue: have you installed the latest 26.1 bugfix update? I did not have any dmg mounting problems with Tahoe at all. What you could try though is opening the dmg with a right click. Maybe some app got ahold of dmg file associations by mistake, so they are not regularly mounted anymore but selecting "DiskImageMounter" from the right click dialog should mount them.

Thanks for this.

I have somehow managed to fix one issue while trying to fix the other....

I tried to use Migration Assistant to access a TM backup from yesterday. It did its thing collating everything but then told me that there was insufficient space to restore the backup. So I backed out of it, emptied my Bin, moved all the Desktop files onto an external SSD, and removed a few of the larger files in my Downloads folder. Then (for whatever reason) I tried a dmg file again.... and it worked.

So I am still on Tahoe but at least I can now install applications again.


Too early to tell yet if I will still want to abandon Tahoe after using it for a while.