<< Solved >> "Installer Is Damaged" - Twice?

[wstrohm]

Downloaded Monterey installer (from same source, "Mr. Macintosh") twice. Both times I created a Kingston 16 GB USB 2.0 USB flash drive installer. It looks good on Disk Utility both before and after the "create media installer" routine in Terminal. But both times the attached message shows up at the 17 minute mark. What's going on? This is an attempt to install over an existing MacOS Big Sur 11.7 installation on my "Mini-ITX 2" Skylake computer (below). Everything seems to go smoothly until that "magic" 17-minute point in the installation process. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[trs96]

Downloaded Monterey installer (from same source, "Mr. Macintosh")

He's not hosting that installer on his website. The source is directly from Apple servers.
It's no different than downloading Monterey from the MAS. He just figured out the direct link.

 

[Middleman]

Downloaded Monterey installer (from same source, "Mr. Macintosh") twice. Both times I created a Kingston 16 GB USB 2.0 USB flash drive installer. It looks good on Disk Utility both before and after the "create media installer" routine in Terminal. But both times the attached message shows up at the 17 minute mark. What's going on? This is an attempt to install over an existing MacOS Big Sur 11.7 installation on my "Mini-ITX 2" Skylake computer (below). Everything seems to go smoothly until that "magic" 17-minute point in the installation process. Am I doing something wrong?

View attachment 555234

It really could be possible it is a damaged file that you have there (or one that is incomplete). You could either reboot your system, clear your DNS cache and try again to redownload the file OR you could download a slightly earlier build of the installer and see if that helps. Also a Disk Utility permissions repair of your main drive may be a good idea.

 

[wstrohm]

I have questions, as you might guess.

1. I note that creating the flash drive results in an empty EFI folder on the USB drive. Yet, after the install attempt, I find the OpenCore 0.8.4 EFI folder on it from my computer's SSD. Somehow the installer code grabs my computer's EFI folder and installs it on the flash drive? Is that normal?

2. Has anyone else attempted a Monterey version 12.6 install over an earlier MacOS version (like in my case over Big Sur 11.7)? Is this known to be a problem?

3. Since Disk Utility First Aid and TechTool Pro 14 both show no problems, even including a "surface scan" on the flash drive following the install attempts, is it possible Apple has publicly posted a bad file?

I think I'll try an update from Big Sur using Software Update... just to see if that works.

 

[c-o-pr]

Downloaded Monterey installer (from same source, "Mr. Macintosh") twice. Both times I created a Kingston 16 GB USB 2.0 USB flash drive installer. It looks good on Disk Utility both before and after the "create media installer" routine in Terminal. But both times the attached message shows up at the 17 minute mark. What's going on? This is an attempt to install over an existing MacOS Big Sur 11.7 installation on my "Mini-ITX 2" Skylake computer (below). Everything seems to go smoothly until that "magic" 17-minute point in the installation process. Am I doing something wrong?

View attachment 555234

For macOS Big Sur and later installation, the most likely culprit is hard errors on source or target drive.

There's more ECC for the source image, so it's a glitchy install target that's most likely the problem.

Since SSV (signed system volume) appeared in Big Sur the installer computes hashes for the core OS installation on the target, where even a single-bit drive error causes the installer to die.

In my experience, the next most likely problem after drive errors is non-ECC RAM. If you are overclocking, dial it back, esp RAM OC. Swap module positions and see if this affects failure. Also, the long-term influence of ESD damage is a bogeyman for every custom system build. It just comes with the turf. Re RAM: Passing memtest86 is no guarantee of reliability at all. In fact computing hashes for drive images can be tougher than memtest86 due to entropy.

It's a tough situation because every link in the chain is suspect. Of course the network is suspect, but there are multiple levels of integrity checking on that pipe. I think the install target drive is the weakest link.
To recap:

First step i would try us dial down OC, if applicable.

Next try another target drive.

Third try another source drive.

Then try to download installer with another system.

Finally if still stuck, rearrange RAM.

If none of this helps, you are cursed.

—If you feel better about another order of trouble shooting, do it the way you like.

Hth

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I have questions, as you might guess.

1. I note that creating the flash drive results in an empty EFI folder on the USB drive. Yet, after the install attempt, I find the OpenCore 0.8.4 EFI folder on it from my computer's SSD. Somehow the installer code grabs my computer's EFI folder and installs it on the flash drive? Is that normal?

2. Has anyone else attempted a Monterey version 12.6 install over an earlier MacOS version (like in my case over Big Sur 11.7)? Is this known to be a problem?

3. Since Disk Utility First Aid and TechTool Pro 14 both show no problems, even including a "surface scan" on the flash drive following the install attempts, is it possible Apple has publicly posted a bad file?

I think I'll try an update from Big Sur using Software Update... just to see if that works.

Hi there.

1) No, it's not likely that macOS would do that. I've never seen that behaviour.

2) Yes, I have. No, that's not been a problem.

3) Yes, but it's not generally known about if so.

An annoying problem! I think you are correct to try and use Software Update because - hopefully - if there is another issue the Installer should return you system to a still-bootable state. Backup-backup-backup first.

At 17-minutes this is unlikely to be a certificate or time/date issue. More likely the file-system where the installer is being run from.

That's my 10-cents worth. Hope you sort it.

 

[wstrohm]

I thank both c-o-p-r and UtterDisbelief for very thoughtful and astute replies! I will try the Software Update approach today. If that works, I guess it means my flash drive installer can't be used as a backup. If Software Update doesn't work, I will most probably downgrade the OS to Mojave, since this computer is really an "extra" that I'm was just playing with. (Its AMD RX 560 graphics card is not all that great, either...)

"More likely the file-system where the installer is being run from." Hm. Should I maybe change the filesystem on the USB drive from the recommended HFS+ to APFS and see if that helps?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I thank both c-o-p-r and UtterDisbelief for very thoughtful and astute replies! I will try the Software Update approach today. If that works, I guess it means my flash drive installer can't be used as a backup. If Software Update doesn't work, I will most probably downgrade the OS to Mojave, since this computer is really an "extra" that I'm was just playing with. (Its AMD RX 560 graphics card is not all that great, either...)

"More likely the file-system where the installer is being run from." Hm. Should I maybe change the filesystem on the USB drive from the recommended HFS+ to APFS and see if that helps?

HFS+ (macOS Extended (Journaled)) should be fine for the installer USB. My oblique reference was to the fact that Apple has been actively modifying APFS since High Sierra and sometime incompatibilities show up.

If you have a spare, blank disk you could try installing to that and see if the dreaded 17-minute "wall" happens again ...

 

[wstrohm]

Using Software Update was successful on both my primary and backup disks. The version/build number now in the "About this Mac" window is the same as that of the downloads I tried on my USB flash drive installer: 12.6/21G115. So the problem had something to do with the flash drive, but I know not what. (Maybe a fresh install using the flash drive on a blank SSD might have worked better... don't know.)

 

[c-o-pr]

Using Software Update was successful on both my primary and backup disks. The version/build number now in the "About this Mac" window is the same as that of the downloads I tried on my USB flash drive installer: 12.6/21G115. So the problem had something to do with the flash drive, but I know not what. (Maybe a fresh install using the flash drive on a blank SSD might have worked better... don't know.)

Good work.

Tricky to deduce anything because if there just a locally bad block on the target drive, which is common, running SW update versus a standalone installer may or may not expose that defect. OTOH if the defect in on the flash drive...

You wrote that you scanned your flash drive and it was clean. If you can, look at SMART for target and see if read errors are recorded.

Best