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

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.
OK, this worked with High Sierra, but what do I do if I get the same message with Mojave download? Now I see - page 8! noob
 
For those of you who are Try Ng to use this method. It works perfectly. Only the OPs directions are incomplete.

This post is inspired by a deleted post(probably) in an earlier post l.

When you run the stub installer and have it download the rest of the files in macOS install data, the files downloaded are the files downloaded the same way they are stored on Apple's servers.

These files are in no way suitable for installation. If you follow the directions of the OP, open the macOS install Mojave/Sierra/high sierra.app package in Applications (do so by right click , show package contents)z you'll see in the contents and sharedsupport (inside contents folder), the files are copied from the macOS install data directory to SharedSupport, as the cpio command is supposed to. These files, need to be modified a bit before they can use to install. Follow the steps below:

(After following OPs instructions)
Step 1
cd /Applications/Install \macOS\Mojave.app\Contents\SharedSupport

Step 2 (This step modifies the InstallESDDmg.pkg, which is unsuitable for installation and cannot be mounted at install and gives the error, with installation resources).

xar -xf InstallESDDmg.pkg InstallESD.dmg

Step 3 (Involves modifying the InsrallInfo.plist using a text editor so that it points to this InstallESD.dmg)

Open the InstallInfo.plist file in a text editor.

You'll see chunklist URL and chunklist Id entries. Delete them.

Also, in the text editor, search for InstallESDDmg.pkg and change it to InstallESD.dmg(tip, it is just before the chunklist URL and chunklist Id) entries.

Step 4

In the folder, there is an incompatibleapps.pkg file. Delete that.

Your installer is finished and ready to install. Just use Unibeast to copy this slightly modified installer to a USB. This will install smoothly at boot if you configured your config.plist properly in EFI/Clover of your USB.
 
Really obscure process! I do thank you for trying to be helpful, but I can't figure it out yet. Stuck on STEP ONE. Read this entire thread...

Post 74, Sanchayan says, "If you follow the directions of the OP, open the macOS install Mojave/Sierra/high sierra.app package in Applications (do so by right click , show package contents)z you'll see in the contents and sharedsupport (inside contents folder), the files are copied from the macOS install data directory to SharedSupport, as the cpio command is supposed to."

Follow the instructions of OP how far? Could you tell us which post # you're referencing, and which line to stop at?

Then, when I tried to "see in the contents and sharedsupport" I didn't find any "sharedsupport."
404625


Could somebody consolidate these instructions, and tell us what to do for High Sierra, and what to do for Mojave?

I'm using a Hackintosh (dual boot with Windows 10) with El Capitan built 2-1/2 yrs ago and not updated since, that I want to switch to Mojave. I'm hoping to save the old system, in case I have trouble with the new one, so I have a brand-new, unused SSD to install Mojave onto (planning to use a Time Machine backup to retrieve old settings and data).

Thought I might be able to do this myself, since I have no one nearby that knows Hackintoshes, but trying to pick one instruction from one post, and another from three pages later...meanwhile figure out which apply to me, and which don't...
 
Really obscure process! I do thank you for trying to be helpful, but I can't figure it out yet. Stuck on STEP ONE. Read this entire thread...

Post 74, Sanchayan says, "If you follow the directions of the OP, open the macOS install Mojave/Sierra/high sierra.app package in Applications (do so by right click , show package contents)z you'll see in the contents and sharedsupport (inside contents folder), the files are copied from the macOS install data directory to SharedSupport, as the cpio command is supposed to."

Follow the instructions of OP how far? Could you tell us which post # you're referencing, and which line to stop at?

Then, when I tried to "see in the contents and sharedsupport" I didn't find any "sharedsupport." View attachment 404625

Could somebody consolidate these instructions, and tell us what to do for High Sierra, and what to do for Mojave?

I'm using a Hackintosh (dual boot with Windows 10) with El Capitan built 2-1/2 yrs ago and not updated since, that I want to switch to Mojave. I'm hoping to save the old system, in case I have trouble with the new one, so I have a brand-new, unused SSD to install Mojave onto (planning to use a Time Machine backup to retrieve old settings and data).

Thought I might be able to do this myself, since I have no one nearby that knows Hackintoshes, but trying to pick one instruction from one post, and another from three pages later...meanwhile figure out which apply to me, and which don't...

You'll understand my post once you read the OPs post on page 1 until the part where he copies the installation files from macOS install data to install macOS Mojave.app. Once you read it. Follow the original post on page 1 to get detailed instructions on where the installer files get downloaded. From there. Execute the same commands that OP has told you to in the original post on page 1 to copy the files OP has asked to copy over to macOS installer directory.

After that, follow the instructions I gave in my previous post after you copy the files over to install macOS Mojave.app
 
Last edited:
Sanchayan, Thank you, but I'm still trying to follow the logic here to get a Mojave bootable USB from a Hackintosh running El Capitan.

If I understand correctly, I start by following post #1.

So as that post says, I "Run the 19MB stub installer" (In my case, /Applications/Install macOS Mojave)... and when it asks to restart the Mac, I don't. I ABORT by right-clicking on the installer icon and choosing Quit or use keyboard strokes Command + Q.

Then I open Terminal, run sudo -s, enter my computer's password, then instead of copy and paste the commands from post 1, where he says, "mkdir /Applications (etc ...)/SharedSupport", I would instead, follow paste the commands from post #71, who says,

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

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

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


Do I run those one at a time, or all at once, or does it matter?

Then from there, I would follow your Step 1, 2, 3 & 4 from your post #74.
(in step 4, you say, "In the folder, there is an incompatibleapps.pkg file. Delete that." I presume that means in the /Applications/Install \macOS\Mojave.app\Contents\SharedSupport folder I delete the apps.pkg file.)

At this point, I will have just completed Step 1: Download macOS Mojave, and can move on to Step 2: "Create a Bootable USB with UniBeast" from the Installation guide UniBeast: Install macOS Mojave on Any Supported Intel-based PC

Did I get that right?
 
Do I run those one at a time, or all at once, or does it matter?

Once you open the terminal, you enter these commands only one at a time. Do not copy and paste all the lines at once.

Then from there, I would follow your Step 1, 2, 3 & 4 from your post #74.
(in step 4, you say, "In the folder, there is an incompatibleapps.pkg file. Delete that." I presume that means in the /Applications/Install \macOS\Mojave.app\Contents\SharedSupport folder I delete the apps.pkg file.)
[\QUOTE]

Yes. delete Incompatibleapps.pkg. Make sure you thoroughly follow Steps 1-4. Or your installer won't be able to find InstallESD.dmg needed to mount the installation files at install. Also, the InstallESDDmg.pkg file is no longer needed. So you can delete that as well

At this point, I will have just completed Step 1: Download macOS Mojave, and can move on to Step 2: "Create a Bootable USB with UniBeast" from the Installation guide UniBeast: Install macOS Mojave on Any Supported Intel-based PC

Did I get that right?

Yes, this is an overall Step 1 of building bootable MacOS USB guide. You will have to use Unibeast to create the macOS installer USB(by following the guide you mentioned just now). And follow the TonyMac guides to configure config.plist and kexts for your installer USB, which is covered properly in TonyMac for each computer configuration.
 
This didn't actually work for me the first time; so I uninstalled the installer, restarted the computer, and reinstalled the High Sierra installer. First time it didn't work, but second time I started the root process in terminal before I closed the installer (opened the terminal to root and then closed it at like 30 seconds) and tried everything again; worked perfectly. Thanks for this, I don't know why I had to start the root like I did, but this worked.
 
What an excellent post! Thank you for this information! I am upgrading to Mohave and was able to use these steps by changing the comands as follows:

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

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

find . -mount | cpio -pvdm /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/SharedSupport
 
The solution is a lot easier, than anything that I have read on this forum.
Just turn your system clock back to the 2015 time frame during the install, then, turn it back to
current, when you're done. POC
 
How did you. Mine would not even fire up App Store with the wrong date.
 
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