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How to Fix a Damaged macOS Installer

You know the wired part of all this.. While Apple only offers .PKG files with the new certs (not app packages), the SAME app Mojave installer app that i download months after this was 'fixed' was from the app store. now suddenly remains to ok.

Did Apple also fix up their app bundles as well ? Cos i thought they left these alone.

It's good at least, my version of High sierra i re-downloaded from app store works flawleslly now.
 
Tech198 said:
You know the wired part of all this.. While Apple only offers .PKG files with the new certs (not app packages), the SAME app Mojave installer app that i download months after this was 'fixed' was from the app store. now suddenly remains to ok.

Did Apple also fix up their app bundles as well ? Cos i thought they left these alone.

It's good at least, my version of High sierra i re-downloaded from app store works flawleslly now.
Click to expand...
Apple fixed a lot of software installer packages, and new apps being downloaded from the App Store got new certificates.
 
I have an entire collection of bootable Mac OS X flash drives from 10.8 through 10.14... is there a way to update the certificate or the installer on each of those without having to re-create them all from scratch again?
 
MustiKoko said:
I have an entire collection of bootable Mac OS X flash drives from 10.8 through 10.14... is there a way to update the certificate or the installer on each of those without having to re-create them all from scratch again?
Click to expand...
You'd need to make new ones, although 10.8 and 10.9 don't have signed installers so shouldn't have any issue. I think signing only happened with 10.11, so even your 10.10 installer may be ok as is.
 
chrfr said:
You'd need to make new ones, although 10.8 and 10.9 don't have signed installers so shouldn't have any issue. I think signing only happened with 10.11, so even your 10.10 installer may be ok as is.
Click to expand...

So, it appears that these direct downloads are .pkg format, not .app... so I have a quick question: are there any special instructions regarding the creation of a bootable USB drive for each of these (10.11 - 10.14), or is the procedure the same as it was for each when they were downloaded through the App Store? Better yet, is there a trustworthy utility (i.e. DiskMaker?) you might recommend for creating these without using Terminal? I'm comfortable enough using Terminal as I did with the initial drives, but if there's something quicker I'd appreciate that, too.

Thanks!
 
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MustiKoko said:
So, it appears that these direct downloads are .pkg format, not .app... so I have a quick question: are there any special instructions regarding the creation of a bootable USB drive for each of these (10.11 - 10.14), or is the procedure the same as it was for each when they were downloaded through the App Store? Better yet, is there a trustworthy utility (i.e. DiskMaker?) you might recommend for creating these without using Terminal? I'm comfortable enough using Terminal as I did with the initial drives, but if there's something quicker I'd appreciate that, too. ...
Click to expand...
You are partly correct. This is related to the downloads that Apple offers for El Capitan, and Sierra. There's another step that you can use.
Both of those download as .dmg files, which you would open to mount the images. Both of those images have .pkg files, which is what you noticed. When you open those with the Installer app, you will find that those will simply install the actual macOS installer app - which is used with your normal tools, DiskMakerX, or (my current fav) Install Disk Creator. So, that .pkg file is just used to "assemble" the actual install app, which you would use as normal.
But, I just save the resulting installer app, for later use.
 
MustiKoko said:
So, it appears that these direct downloads are .pkg format, not .app... so I have a quick question: are there any special instructions regarding the creation of a bootable USB drive for each of these (10.11 - 10.14), or is the procedure the same as it was for each when they were downloaded through the App Store? Better yet, is there a trustworthy utility (i.e. DiskMaker?) you might recommend for creating these without using Terminal? I'm comfortable enough using Terminal as I did with the initial drives, but if there's something quicker I'd appreciate that, too.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, installing the .pkg will put the actual installer in your Applications folder. From there you can use the Terminal to make a bootable USB or an app like Install Disk Creator.

macdaddy.io

Make a Bootable USB macOS Installer Download the update for Big Sur compatibility -

What’s needed for a clean install on a Mac A backup of the disk before it’s erased. Two options are to use Duplicate (a free utility which can copy and paste an entire bootable volume), or Mac Backup Guru (a paid, fully featured backup utility with unique incremental backups capability) for...
macdaddy.io macdaddy.io
 
DeltaMac said:
You are partly correct. This is related to the downloads that Apple offers for El Capitan, and Sierra. There's another step that you can use.
Both of those download as .dmg files, which you would open to mount the images. Both of those images have .pkg files, which is what you noticed. When you open those with the Installer app, you will find that those will simply install the actual macOS installer app - which is used with your normal tools, DiskMakerX, or (my current fav) Install Disk Creator. So, that .pkg file is just used to "assemble" the actual install app, which you would use as normal.
But, I just save the resulting installer app, for later use.
Click to expand...

gank41 said:
If I remember correctly, installing the .pkg will put the actual installer in your Applications folder. From there you can use the Terminal to make a bootable USB or an app like Install Disk Creator.

macdaddy.io

Make a Bootable USB macOS Installer Download the update for Big Sur compatibility -

What’s needed for a clean install on a Mac A backup of the disk before it’s erased. Two options are to use Duplicate (a free utility which can copy and paste an entire bootable volume), or Mac Backup Guru (a paid, fully featured backup utility with unique incremental backups capability) for...
macdaddy.io macdaddy.io
Click to expand...

Thank you, DeltaMac and gank41, for both your assistance and your recommendation of Disk Creator! Everything worked great and I now have working bootable USB drive for all my formerly-created ones as well as a new one for Catalina. Disk Creator is a keeper!

Now I only hope the new installers don't have certificates that will expire down the road.
 
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The answer to this:

How to Fix a Damaged macOS Installer (Mojave)

for me, turned out to be this:

Step 1. Go to your Applications folder.

Step 2. Find the Installer for macOS Mojave in Applications folder

Step 3. Right click on the installer and click “Show Package Contents”.

Step 4. Click on folder named “Contents”.

Step 5. Click on the folder named “SharedSupport”.

Step 6. Delete the file named “InstallInfo.plist”.

Step 7. Enter your administer password to confirm.

Step 8. Now open the installer for MacOS Mojave again, it will run

It was simplest thing after fighting with Apple and installers for about 5 hours.
 
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Spk1 said:
The answer to this:

How to Fix a Damaged macOS Installer (Mojave)

for me, turned out to be this:

Step 1. Go to your Applications folder.

Step 2. Find the Installer for macOS Mojave in Applications folder

Step 3. Right click on the installer and click “Show Package Contents”.

Step 4. Click on folder named “Contents”.

Step 5. Click on the folder named “SharedSupport”.

Step 6. Delete the file named “InstallInfo.plist”.

Step 7. Enter your administer password to confirm.

Step 8. Now open the installer for MacOS Mojave again, it will run

It was simplest thing after fighting with Apple and installers for about 5 hours.
Click to expand...

If the certificate expired?

Thanks
Camelia
 
Old certificate is not likely an issue (so far) with Mojave. Last date that Mojave installer (versions 10.14.6, build 18G103) was updated is Oct 14 2019, less than one year at this post. If you have some issue with the installer, and the fix allows you to use the installer successfully - then that fix is worth trying. I have no issue with Mojave, and have done both updates and clean installs of Mojave, probably a dozen installs in the last month or two on a variety of Macs. No issues (and no special "adjustments" to the installer) on any Mac where I have installed Mojave.
 
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DeltaMac said:
Old certificate is not likely an issue (so far) with Mojave. Last date that Mojave installer (versions 10.14.6, build 18G103) was updated is Oct 14 2019, less than one year at this post. If you have some issue with the installer, and the fix allows you to use the installer successfully - then that fix is worth trying. I have no issue with Mojave, and have done both updates and clean installs of Mojave, probably a dozen installs in the last month or two on a variety of Macs. No issues (and no special "adjustments" to the installer) on any Mac where I have installed Mojave.
Click to expand...
The certificate on older 10.14.6 installers is expired– the certificate expired on installers October 24, 2019.
 
So are you saying, if you have an older 10.14.6 installer, then the fix is to download the 10.14.6 installer again, which should have a valid certificate?
 
Spk1 said:
The answer to this:

How to Fix a Damaged macOS Installer (Mojave)

for me, turned out to be this:

Step 1. Go to your Applications folder.

Step 2. Find the Installer for macOS Mojave in Applications folder

Step 3. Right click on the installer and click “Show Package Contents”.

Step 4. Click on folder named “Contents”.

Step 5. Click on the folder named “SharedSupport”.

Step 6. Delete the file named “InstallInfo.plist”.

Step 7. Enter your administer password to confirm.

Step 8. Now open the installer for MacOS Mojave again, it will run

It was simplest thing after fighting with Apple and installers for about 5 hours.
Click to expand...

Will it work with this version?

Code: 
#         Version    Build       Post Date   Title
 1        10.14.4    18E2226     2019-04-25  macOS Mojave


Thanks
Camelia
 
I am fairly sure that version is for a Mac with T2 chip - plus it is 2 "dot-versions" behind the current 10.14.6

If you want to download a macOS installer, get the latest Mojave version, which would be 10.14.6, build 18G103
 
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DeltaMac said:
I am fairly sure that version is for a Mac with T2 chip - plus it is 2 "dot-versions" behind the current 10.14.6

If you want to download a macOS installer, get the latest Mojave version, which would be 10.14.6, build 18G103
Click to expand...

How do I know the chip I have in my MBP?

Thanks
Camelia
 
If that is the 2014 listed in your signature, then you don't have a T2 chip.
T(x) chips are in 2016 MBPro and later with touch bar.
 
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Downloaded the 10.12 installer direct from the app store.

Deleting "InstallInfo.plist" did NOT work for me...the installer "phones home" and gave an invalid certificate error when I did so.

What worked was disabling "set time and date automatically" and then manually setting the year back to 2018 before starting the installation on my iMac 2014.

EDIT: setting the date to sometime in 2018 also works to install 10.13.
 
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Attila F said:
The (new) Sierra installer file from Apple is causing the error message ".. not a valid mount point..".
The problem lies in the installer file from Apple, which needs to be modified.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ant-make-bootable-drive.1935673/post-28197924

Type this command in a Terminal window and it will “fix” your “Install macOS Sierra.app” file:

sudo plutil -replace CFBundleShortVersionString -string "12.6.03" /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Info.plist

Now you should be able to create a bootable Sierra USB drive from the “Install macOS Sierra.app” file.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
I've done very little with Terminal. Does this need to be added to Terminal before I start trying to create the bootable USB or after?
 
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