There's this business going on where some random people get a small 'stub' file (about 22MB) for the installer download. This can only be used to start the update process. It must run as an update app and cannot be used to create a USB installer.
Whatever determines if you get the partial 'stub' or the full installer download is apparently based on location? Or how your connection to the Apple server is made?
I've found this clue:
"Many theories and ideas were put forth as to what caused one to get the stub vs the full installer. While I’m still not 100% sure about this, I think we’ve narrowed in on the cause.
It appears that when the App Store is downloading the installer app, it also uses softwareupdate to get the resources that normally reside in Contents/SharedSupport. If com.apple.SoftwareUpdate has been configured to use a CatalogURL that points to a softwareupdate catalog that does not contain product URLs for the needed Install macOS High Sierra resources, you get the “stub” application instead.
If, however, softwareupdate is using either Apple’s default CatalogURL, or is pointed to an internal CatalogURL that contains the needed products, you get the full installer.
Currently, the needed resources are Product 091-34298, “Install macOS High Sierra”, but this will almost certainly change over time.
TL;DR: to get a full High Sierra installer from the App Store, make sure softwareupdate is pointed at Apple’s softwareupdate servers or an internal server in which you have synced and made available the “Install macOS High Sierra” product."
And then comments about downloading the 'stub' and following with running it to download the remainder of the installer and quitting before it does an update style install. The files are apparently downloaded to somewhere in /private/var/folders/.
I try to look for clues in Activity Monitor like open files for the services running during the online download part after launching the 'stub' app. Looks like a number of things going into multiple directories.
Does someone really have a clue to decipher all this and turn it into the full installer app file?
Seems like the easier path would be to figure out how to get the full download. Maybe the answer is right in front of me in the above clue but I need some background to understand it? I'd really appreciate any help here! Thanks!
Disclaimers:
I know about the dosdude1 download tool. I still want to get the download from Apple working.
(I'm not sure the dosdude1 version is handling firmware updates for all models. It keeps itself offline. Probably for a reason...) Anyway, comments welcome about why I should maybe forget about this but understand that I still stubbornly want to see a download from Apple work!
(Because I AM sure that firmware updates for some machines are missed with the 'update' method vs. a clean install from USB.)
This is not a case of not realizing the download is in the Applications folder.
I have tried downloading many times over the last few days and I get the 22MB 'stub' file every time. Whatever triggers this is consistent for me at my location. (Which is also what other people report going on for them.)
Whatever determines if you get the partial 'stub' or the full installer download is apparently based on location? Or how your connection to the Apple server is made?
I've found this clue:
"Many theories and ideas were put forth as to what caused one to get the stub vs the full installer. While I’m still not 100% sure about this, I think we’ve narrowed in on the cause.
It appears that when the App Store is downloading the installer app, it also uses softwareupdate to get the resources that normally reside in Contents/SharedSupport. If com.apple.SoftwareUpdate has been configured to use a CatalogURL that points to a softwareupdate catalog that does not contain product URLs for the needed Install macOS High Sierra resources, you get the “stub” application instead.
If, however, softwareupdate is using either Apple’s default CatalogURL, or is pointed to an internal CatalogURL that contains the needed products, you get the full installer.
Currently, the needed resources are Product 091-34298, “Install macOS High Sierra”, but this will almost certainly change over time.
TL;DR: to get a full High Sierra installer from the App Store, make sure softwareupdate is pointed at Apple’s softwareupdate servers or an internal server in which you have synced and made available the “Install macOS High Sierra” product."
And then comments about downloading the 'stub' and following with running it to download the remainder of the installer and quitting before it does an update style install. The files are apparently downloaded to somewhere in /private/var/folders/.
I try to look for clues in Activity Monitor like open files for the services running during the online download part after launching the 'stub' app. Looks like a number of things going into multiple directories.
Does someone really have a clue to decipher all this and turn it into the full installer app file?
Seems like the easier path would be to figure out how to get the full download. Maybe the answer is right in front of me in the above clue but I need some background to understand it? I'd really appreciate any help here! Thanks!
Disclaimers:
I know about the dosdude1 download tool. I still want to get the download from Apple working.
(I'm not sure the dosdude1 version is handling firmware updates for all models. It keeps itself offline. Probably for a reason...) Anyway, comments welcome about why I should maybe forget about this but understand that I still stubbornly want to see a download from Apple work!
(Because I AM sure that firmware updates for some machines are missed with the 'update' method vs. a clean install from USB.)
This is not a case of not realizing the download is in the Applications folder.
I have tried downloading many times over the last few days and I get the 22MB 'stub' file every time. Whatever triggers this is consistent for me at my location. (Which is also what other people report going on for them.)
