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

[stormdown]

Here is the full Instructions summed up.

1) Download the stub High Sierra Installer from App Store.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12
2) Run the installer, select the volume to install to (To make sure that there will be no data loss make a new volume ~25GB and select that as the volume to install to.) and select install,
It will now download all the files to the volume selected.
3) After downloading, it will automatically reboot in 30s. Make sure to quit the installer when the countdown starts. VERY IMPORTANT.
To Quit, Right Click the Installer's icon on the dock and select Quit
The files will be downloaded to the Volume you selected.
4) Open terminal and run the commands in order
5)

sudo -s

You'll be prompted to enter password. Just type it and hit enter.
6)

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

7) If you made a new volume and selected it in the installer, execute this command else skip to the next step.

cd /Volumes/<name of the volume you created here>

Example: /Volumes/testvol


8)

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

9)

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

This will take a few minutes (Longer on older hardware). You'll get "unable to set flags" error at the end. Ignore that. (My guess is that as these are install files, some of the files have no flags at all triggerig the error.)
10) Press Ctrl + D to exit from super user.

11)

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

12)

xar -xf InstallESDDmg.pkg InstallESD.dmg

This will take a few minutes.
13)

sudo rm InstallESDDmg.pkg

14)

open -e /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallInfo.plist

Now Text Editor will open with the file to be edited.

15)Search for InstallESDDmg.pkg. You'll get to a section like this. There may be small differences so don't just copy paste the entire code block.

    <key>Payload Image Info</key>
    <dict>
        <key>URL</key>
        <string>InstallESDDmg.pkg</string>
        <key>chunklistURL</key>
        <string>InstallESDDmg.chunklist</string>
        <key>chunklistid</key>
        <string>com.apple.chunklist.InstallESDDmg</string>
        <key>id</key>
        <string>com.apple.pkg.InstallESDDmg</string>
        <key>sha1</key>
        <string></string>
        <key>version</key>
        <string>10.13.6.0.0.1532145923</string>
    </dict>

Remove the 4 lines below the "<string>InstallESDDmg.pkg</string>" line.
Replace InstallESDDmg.pkg with InstallESD.dmg
Replace com.apple.pkg.InstallESDDmg with com.apple.pkg.InstallESD

Now it will look like this (there may be differneces especially in the last line. ie version)

    <string>OSInstall.mpkg</string>
    <key>Payload Image Info</key>
    <dict>
        <key>URL</key>
        <string>InstallESD.dmg</string>
        <key>id</key>
        <string>com.apple.pkg.InstallESD</string>
        <key>sha1</key>
        <string></string>
        <key>version</key>
        <string>10.13.6.0.0.1532145923</string>
    </dict>

Now you have a working Full Installer.
For Mojave steps seem to be the same just replace High Sierra with Mojave. And delete a file named incompatibleapps.pkg.

You can create an install media DMG,bootable USB or ISO.
Make an ISO for VMs.

Do the hackintosh steps to get ito to boot for hackintoshing.
You can now use it with clover or multibeast.

Alternatively you can use the macadmin-scripts to make the full installer. The follow the hackintosh steps.

 

[FlorianA89]

EDIT: Solved the Problem!

hi guys. is there a way to do it with Sierra? ( 10.12.6 ) ?
get stuck on creating the usb drive with unibeast.
Selected Mac OS X Installer is incomplete
Many thanks!

 

[FlorianA89]

EDIT: Solved the Problem!

I have a macbook pro with Catalina on it but it's not possible to create the full installer for Sierra.
Would be great if someone could help me out here!

 

[HypeLevels]

Excellent guide.

There is something I want to mention. In this support document : https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201372

It is mentioned under "Download macOS from the App Store" that :


So if we attempt to download MacOS High Sierra from a Mac or hackintosh that is not running El Capitan 10.11.6 / Sierra 10.12.5 or 10.12.6 / High Sierra, then all we get will be the 19MB file. Like I tried on my Mac mini 2012 Server running Mavericks. I tried repeatedly and could only get the small file and not the full installer. Now I understand why.

Hey, I'm at 10.12.6 but I'm still getting the small file

 

[oneof4]

Well, I have the same problem that kicked this thread off: "MacOS Installer is Incomplete." I've tried Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra, all with the same result. I do get the full install of 5 to 6 GB, not the 12.9 MB that the original instructions dealt with. Because of that I didn't see the need to run the original set of code that was given. The only thing that I did try was setting the system date back to 2012 and that didn't work. I'm attempting this on my 2015 MacBook Pro currently running Catalina 10.15.5. Any ideas?

 

[HBenengeli]

Uh oh. Got stuck part way in Terminal. For some reason it says for macOS Install Data that "No such file or directory" exists. It does exist, I can see the folder on Finder. I'm a noob at command prompts, so not sure what I did wrong, but I'm assuming it's something basic and dumb.

This is being done on an already hacked machine, currently running Mavericks (10.9.5), upgrading to Mojave.

I'm following stormdown's sum-up, post 111, and named the volume where I downloaded the full installer "MacOS_Mojave". Here's my terminal:

Help help? I'm afraid to shut my computer down now without reverting to a backup!

 

[HBenengeli]

Read back through the whole thread...again. BruceLee5000 had the answer...

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.

(emphasis mine)

I had been using stormdown's summary and, like them, was trying to mount the volume where I had 'safely' downloaded the full installer. But either because I wasn't doing it right or because I'm on Mavericks or - like BruceLee5000 said - the package wasn't at root of the boot, it would not see the Install Data folder. Period.

Copied the whole thing to my boot root, suddenly all the Terminal commands worked. Unibeast sees it, at least.

Now I just have to sort out this whole APFS thing and maybe I can finally get this machine working!
Guess I don't. Mods aware that the Guides quicklink at the bottom of the page for 10.13 links to the High Sierra update guide, not the full install like other guides?

 

[pipco]

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

You have to wait for the files to transfer from the terminal, can take a while, look in applications till the file is max size

 

[pipco]

after that my folder is only 150mb.
anyone with same problem or a idea?

You have to wait for all the files to transfer to applications, can take some time, be patient

 

[pipco]

Thanks toro86 for this solution, it worked perfectly, thanks also to MetalDoom for the terminal entry for Catalina,
it took quite a while for all the files to transfer to 'applications' so wait until the install app is over 8gig (Catalina) and static before you start making your unibeast drive, below is MetalDoom's terminal entry for Catalina, after the sudo -s and password (which you won't see), copy and paste the commands below one line at a time (press enter as you go) and wait......................Yours pipco.

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

cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

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