installers no longer are working

[pcpete]

We noticed we had some trouble running either high sierra or the Mojave installers a few days ago. We chalked it off to a screwy logic board. We got the classic error, "this copy of osx installer of mojve is corrupted". This usually just happens when the time is not set correctly. We set the time in every way imaginable, that is not the problem. We have tried different copies of the installer on the off chance it was corrupted. Since then we have tried to install on 4 different macs with the same issue. This seems to appear to be something apple has done on their side. Have you guys had any issue like this the past couple of days?

Before you give us a bunch of basic ideas, we have been installing hundreds of osx computers and until two days ago have never had an issue.

 

[Big Jim]

I had an issue with High sierra installer and got the same message, but I assumed our memory stick had actually corrupted.
Downloaded a fresh copy and installed just fine.

 

[pcpete]

I had an issue with High sierra installer and got the same message, but I assumed our memory stick had actually corrupted.
Downloaded a fresh copy and installed just fine.

interesting. how do you download old versions?

 

[pcpete]

I just had a thought. I set the date back on the computer to October 1st and now they are working. I think apple must have put some code in those installers not to work after a certain date.

 

[Markverhyden]

I've commented about this in the past. Known good installers not working after a while with a security/corruption error. But I don't do much break/fix these days so don't really keep track of dates. Problem I just download a new one. Fortunately I've had the same Apple account since the beginning so I can still access all older OS's.

If you browse the installer you'll find manifest. It's date should be the date the installer was downloaded. I'd be curious as to what it is on your's @pcpete.

 

[pcpete]

@Markverhyden I am unable to find a file called manifest

 

[AlohaTech]

We just had the same problem here with 2 USB Flash Drives I created to install High Sierra. They were created sometime in early June. I downloaded the installer file again and recreated the bootable flash drive and we are back in business.

 

[Big Jim]

interesting. how do you download old versions?

I used dosdude1's patcher , it has an option that allows you to dl direct from apple's servers, his patchers only go as far back as Sierra though, not sure what you would do if you wanted an older version.

 

[Mainstay]

1. In the OS X Installer, choose Utilities > Terminal.
2. Enter "date 0201010116" and press Return.
3. Quit Terminal and continue the install.

 

[Markverhyden]

@Markverhyden I am unable to find a file called manifest

Hmm... Just checked a couple downloaded recently but it's not there. Looked around and I apparently used the wrong name. _MASreceipt is the folder. But not sure why it's not showing up in some of the others.

 

[overburnz]

Redownload the installers and create new usb sticks

 

[pcpete]

https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...k9JHvRmTXsgDVvtV8MLiUOpgkWDvhZz2mKKPXOvlDMJPM

 

[Big Jim]

So I have some patch tools that allow me to DL the latest 4 OSes from Apple directly, how do you get hold of older versions ?
Currently would be needing Mavericks, El Capitan and Yosemite. (don't think there is any need for earlier than that is there ?)

 

[overburnz]

So I have some patch tools that allow me to DL the latest 4 OSes from Apple directly, how do you get hold of older versions ?
Currently would be needing Mavericks, El Capitan and Yosemite. (don't think there is any need for earlier than that is there ?)

you can still download El Capitan from Apple the older ones only from “other sources”

 

[AlohaTech]

This article has links to El Capitan and Yosemite installers from Apple. It also talks about a workaround to fix Mavericks installer.

https://tidbits.com/2019/10/28/redownload-archived-macos-installers-to-address-expired-certificates/

 

[Markverhyden]

you can still download El Capitan from Apple the older ones only from “other sources”

I know you in a different country so that may impact Apple App Store behavior. But in the US if the account has downloaded any OS via the App Store it will show up when logged into that App Store account. I still see 10.7 in mine. At least for now.

But comments above plus what I've seen indicate that the cert date is an issue. So setting the date back is the nickel solution to the dime problem.

 

[overburnz]

I know you in a different country so that may impact Apple App Store behavior. But in the US if the account has downloaded any OS via the App Store it will show up when logged into that App Store account. I still see 10.7 in mine. At least for now.

But comments above plus what I've seen indicate that the cert date is an issue. So setting the date back is the nickel solution to the dime problem.

and you can still download it? 10.9 on mine doesn’t show the download option :/

 

[Big Jim]

we haven't been supporting macs as long as some of you guys on here, the oldest installer I have is Mavericks, is there a need for older ones ?

We did have a 2007 imac in the other day for secure data destruction, that was reinstalled using the customer disks though, couldn't go newer than lion as it only had 1GB RAM

 

[overburnz]

we haven't been supporting macs as long as some of you guys on here, the oldest installer I have is Mavericks, is there a need for older ones ?

We did have a 2007 imac in the other day for secure data destruction, that was reinstalled using the customer disks though, couldn't go newer than lion as it only had 1GB RAM

I don’t think you’ll have a need for older than El Capitan, but last week I had one with the customer wanted do export the photo gallery from aperture to photos and we had to install lion :/ sometime it comes in handy

 

[Markverhyden]

and you can still download it? 10.9 on mine doesn’t show the download option :/

I should have been clearer. Generally a new machine or an older machine with the latest OS can cause problems. Even then the behavior is odd. I have a 2012 MBP with 10.12 and I only have Install as an option, not Download. Of course clicking on Install won't let me because they are older. Another 2015 MBP running 10.13 has the Download button, including for 10.7, and it lets me download any of them.

That's why I still have an old Macmini running 10.7 just so I can download. But a project for this weekend is to spin up a 10.7 VM on ESXi and see if I can download OS images. If so that'll be much easier as I'll be able to remote into it.

But irregardless of the above. You must have purchased those via the app store. If you get into the game late, after they drop off the app store as an offering, you'll need to get them from somewhere else. If you have a paid Developer account I think you can still download images as well.