Anyone experience this error when downloading newer OS versions?

[Ethosik]

My brother has a 2015 iMac still on El Capitan. I was working on getting it upgraded to any newer version, but it would not work. The downloads from the App Store finish downloading in 1 seconds, take up 20 MB, and when I run it I get an error that the installer information could not be loaded to the primary drive.

Why are the downloads from the App Store only 1 second and 20 MB? The only think I can think of is to download Catalina on my system, create a USB drive and take it to my brother's system.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Maybe someone has seen that and has an easy fix but here's an alternate method:

macOS Catalina Direct Download from Apple Server

This will help you to directly download macOS Catalina from Apple Server and install it on your Mac. No more download errors from Mac App Store. Install macOS without the MAS.

7labs.io

 

[LuisN]

My brother has a 2015 iMac still on El Capitan. I was working on getting it upgraded to any newer version, but it would not work. The downloads from the App Store finish downloading in 1 seconds, take up 20 MB, and when I run it I get an error that the installer information could not be loaded to the primary drive.

Why are the downloads from the App Store only 1 second and 20 MB? The only think I can think of is to download Catalina on my system, create a USB drive and take it to my brother's system.

You should install High Sierra first just in case it needs some firmware update

 

[Ethosik]

You should install High Sierra first just in case it needs some firmware update

No OS downloads from the App Store, not even High Sierra. It all takes 1 second and takes up 20 MB and the installer fails.

 

[CooperBox]

No OS downloads from the App Store, not even High Sierra. It all takes 1 second and takes up 20 MB and the installer fails.

Not strictly true. I downloaded El Capitan and Sierra a week ago from Apple. One just needs to know where to look.
From memory the Sierra download was 4.7GB. There are a number of YTube videos which explain.

 

[Ethosik]

Not strictly true. I downloaded El Capitan and Sierra a week ago from Apple. One just needs to know where to look.
From memory the Sierra download was 4.7GB. There are a number of YTube videos which explain.

Yes its true for my brother's system. I am not sure what is happening. I tried all future OS versions, they all take 1 second to download and only take 20 MB. Not sure why you said its not true? Something is clearly wrong with my brother's system. I am not saying High Sierra cannot be downloaded in general, just something wrong with my brother's system.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Yes its true for my brother's system. I am not sure what is happening. I tried all future OS versions, they all take 1 second to download and only take 20 MB. Not sure why you said its not true? Something is clearly wrong with my brother's system. I am not saying High Sierra cannot be downloaded in general, just something wrong with my brother's system.

Try this:

• Remove any previous copies of the OS installers (e.g. El-Capitan, etc.) from the /Applications folder.
• Do a reset PRAM.
• Boot into Safe Mode and back to normal mode.
• Download OS X El Capitan

Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

If one or more settings stored in NVRAM don't work as expected on an Intel-based Mac, resetting NVRAM might help.

support.apple.com

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

To help determine whether an issue is caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up, you can start up your Mac in safe mode.

support.apple.com