Fix/solution for "Selected Mac OS X Installer is incomplete"

[rudimania]

A real solution for those who get stuck at STEP 1.

Seeing no real solutions offered here on the forums, other then seeing users getting pushed to look at the troubleshooting guide for UniBeast 8 and then coming back empty handed because they are stuck at:



The troubleshooting guide won't supply users with a fix and users getting all over forums pushed back to the guide.

The fine install guide tells you in step 1:



And then you windup with an installer thats 19MB in /Applications.

Then you start UniBeast and it says "Selected Mac OS X Installer is incomplete".

If this is you then you can fix this by doing the following:

You will need to recreate the full installer from the separate parts.

To do so we will use the installer stub app to grab all the files from Apple and then abort the install before it does anything else.

Run the 19MB stub installer (/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra).

Choose the install disk and click ‘install’ (it won’t actually install yet!).

It will download the remaining install files and place them under /macOS Install Data (i.e. look for the folder in the root of your hard drive ‘Macintosh HD’).

When it has finished downloading all it needs, the installer screen will then ask you to restart the Mac – but don’t! At this point ABORT the install by quitting the installer app.

Next we will recreate the full installer from all the downloaded parts. This will restore the ability to create an install media USB.

Do the following:

Open Terminal and run: sudo -s
Enter admin credentials to gain root permissions.
Then copy and paste the following 3 commands:

mkdir /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

You now have a full installer package in your Applications folder!

Now goto STEP 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive with UniBeast to continue the install guide.

Do I need to remove the mac os install data when I am done? I am worried that the pc will install the os when i reboot on my macbook.

 

[Toyo72]

This method didn't work for me. When I ran the commands, it does build the High Sierra installer app, 5.21Gb in size, but it appears in Finder as broken. Attached is how it appears, as well as the package contents. Not sure how to fix, I've attempted three times on three different Macs (Sierra, High Sierra, and El Capitan) all with the same result. Compared to other installers that I have archived, there are a bunch of files missing in the "Contents" folder.

EDIT: SOLVED
I ran it again, this time with the 22mb "Install macOS...app" remaining in the Applications folder. I may have deleted this app before executing the commands in Terminal (don't recall, but I think I deleted it first when I tried the other times). Seemed to work, as I now have a file that appears functional. Will try running Unibeast and see what I get. And will also archive that installer so I have it for later use.

 

[Toyo72]

Also - for those having trouble with the original commands, see post #35
copy and paste the commands suggested there, they may work more reliably for you

 

[basspoint]

its not working, ist says There was an error creating your UniBeast drive: Couldn't create installer and in the Unibeast troubleshooting even nothing works please help

 

[BruceLee5000]

I didn't want to risk my boot disk, so I chose a secondary disk for the install target.

It created the directory "/macOS Install Data" on the root of my secondary hard drive. The script won't work as presented if the "macOS Install Data" folder is not in the root level of your boot disk. So I copied it there so I wouldn't have to type different volume names in Terminal.

mkdir /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

This creates a new folder (directory) inside of the originally downloaded High Sierra 19MB installer package. It originally does not have this folder.

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

This changes the current directory to the downloaded installer data in the root level of the disk you chose as the install target.

find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

This command copies everything from the Current Directory (root/macOS Install Data) into the SharedSupport folder inside of the 19MB Installer package, after which it will become a 5.23GB package.

Here is a link that explains the CPIO command in detail https://www.computerhope.com/unix/ucpio.htm.

So far UniBeast seems to be happy with it. Thanks Toro86!

 

[merovingian96]

Thanks, it just worked

 

[ikem4825]

find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

so ive done this and It says for the last several lines it says locked files. figured it was nothing and went along started installing on the pc and it says "could not find resources." is there something im doing wrong?


/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./InstallInfo.plist

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./Locked Files

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./Locked Files/.disk_label

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./Locked Files/.disk_label.contentDetails

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./Locked Files/.disk_label_2x

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./Locked Files/Boot Files

/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/./Locked Files/cleanup_installer

cpio: Failed to set file flags



edit the install file still turned out to be 5.23 gigs

 

[mully]

A real solution for those who get stuck at STEP 1.

Seeing no real solutions offered here on the forums, other then seeing users getting pushed to look at the troubleshooting guide for UniBeast 8 and then coming back empty handed because they are stuck at:



The troubleshooting guide won't supply users with a fix and users getting all over forums pushed back to the guide.

The fine install guide tells you in step 1:



And then you windup with an installer thats 19MB in /Applications.

Then you start UniBeast and it says "Selected Mac OS X Installer is incomplete".

If this is you then you can fix this by doing the following:

You will need to recreate the full installer from the separate parts.

To do so we will use the installer stub app to grab all the files from Apple and then abort the install before it does anything else.

Run the 19MB stub installer (/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra).

Choose the install disk and click ‘install’ (it won’t actually install yet!).

It will download the remaining install files and place them under /macOS Install Data (i.e. look for the folder in the root of your hard drive ‘Macintosh HD’).

When it has finished downloading all it needs, the installer screen will then ask you to restart the Mac – but don’t! At this point ABORT the install by quitting the installer app.

Next we will recreate the full installer from all the downloaded parts. This will restore the ability to create an install media USB.

Do the following:

Open Terminal and run: sudo -s
Enter admin credentials to gain root permissions.
Then copy and paste the following 3 commands:

mkdir /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport

You now have a full installer package in your Applications folder!

Now goto STEP 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive with UniBeast to continue the install guide.

Great but what is the “stub installer” and where to get it

 

[andykibria]

For Mojave:

mkdir /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/SharedSupport

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/SharedSupport

 

[crispyhashbrowns]

It's worth noting that " find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport" process takes about 5 minutes on an older machine.