macOS could not be installed on your computer (FIXED)

[bemed]

Hi all,

I have a 2014 15" rMBP and after the reboot on the update I'm getting the following message:

macOS could not be instead on your computer

The path /System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg appears to be missing or damaged.

Quit the installer and try again.

I restarted loads of times without any success.

Any clues on what should I do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fisherking]

am assuming you mean 'installed'... delete the installer, & redownload it.

and if that doesn't work, go to https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/
sign into your account, click the link for the beta (may help to redownload feedback assistant).

anyway, something like this worked for me.

 

[bemed]

Sorry, English isn’t my first language.

I meant that during installation this happens.

 

[fisherking]

Sorry, English isn’t my first language.

I meant that during installation this happens.

no prob! but try deleting the installer and starting again...

 

[flowrider]

deleted

 

[jbarley]

Sorry, English isn’t my first language.

No that'll more likely be "Scouse".

 

[bemed]

No that'll more likely be "Scouse".

Just because I live in Liverpool, that doesn't mean that I'm English.

I'm actually Brazilian
[doublepost=1501230848][/doublepost]

no prob! but try deleting the installer and starting again...

How would I do that?

It stops in the middle of the installation and doesn't let me eject the virtual drive that it created. Shall I boot in safe mode and try it?

I hope it boots from my physical drive.

 

[bemed]

Fixed it by rebooting holding shift then redownloading the installer.

 

[rahhb.riley]

Hello all, I had this error when installing as well.

I did manage to finally restart my computer in 10.12 Sierra, as opposed to installing 10.13, and wanted to let others know about it, as this page was one of the top results as I was trying to desperately find a way to either install or recover. I'll get 10.13 installed soon, but I was a bad user and didn't back up before trying to install the first time. I will do that now.

In the meantime, for those that haven't had success installing 10.13, and are in this same could not install loop, and simply would like to get back to 10.12, here is what I did: Once I received the "could not be installed on your computer message" and it told me to quit the installer and restart, I went to Apple logo in the upper left (maybe had to click a bit to make the menu bar appear?), and there was an option to choose the startup disk. It had my 10.12.6 system folder as an option, I chose it, it restarted, and instead of booting with the Installer, it booted normally! I'm backing up now and very happy I didn't screw myself over.

Mildly interestingly, I have a Bootcamp partition, and in troubleshooting, I wanted to be sure the partition was fine, so I booted using Option to choose a drive to start up from. In this view, the two partitions were disk images. I point this out to contrast it to when I chose the start up disk from the menu bar option, the images were the OS folders and names, not the disk image icons and names. Hope this ramble may offer an additional person another avenue of success.

 

[TKbk]

I had this error while installing High Sierra as well. I have a Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro with FileVault turned ON.

After restarting a number of times with no success, I did the following:

1. Held down Command+R on boot to go into recovery mode.
2. Started the Disk Utility in Recovery Mode and mounted the boot disk. The Disk Utility prompted me for a password for the boot disk.
3. Perhaps I typed in the password wrong, because it didn't work. I exited the disk utility, and started it again. This time I was able to mount the boot disk after typing in the password.
4. Exited the disk utility, and the recovery program. When it prompted me to select a boot disk, I was able to select the system boot disk.
5. On reboot, the install succeeded.

I also have a mid-2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro with a Samsung SSD and FileVault turned on. I didn't have the same problem there.

On both laptops I did run into the error: "macOS could not be installed on your computer. File system verify or repair failed." That was on the initial installation try. In both cases a restart cleared it up.

 

[akinaga]

I had this error while installing High Sierra as well. I have a Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro with FileVault turned ON.

After restarting a number of times with no success, I did the following:

1. Held down Command+R on boot to go into recovery mode.
2. Started the Disk Utility in Recovery Mode and mounted the boot disk. The Disk Utility prompted me for a password for the boot disk.
3. Perhaps I typed in the password wrong, because it didn't work. I exited the disk utility, and started it again. This time I was able to mount the boot disk after typing in the password.
4. Exited the disk utility, and the recovery program. When it prompted me to select a boot disk, I was able to select the system boot disk.
5. On reboot, the install succeeded.

I also have a mid-2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro with a Samsung SSD and FileVault turned on. I didn't have the same problem there.

On both laptops I did run into the error: "macOS could not be installed on your computer. File system verify or repair failed." That was on the initial installation try. In both cases a restart cleared it up.

I've tried same steps and still stuck. Thanks anyway.

 

[SgtFire]

I've tried same steps and still stuck. Thanks anyway.

I am in the same boat. I can’t start in safe mode, can’t do anything. A little help is appreciated beyond words right now.

 

[Fishrrman]

Sgtfire wrote:
"I am in the same boat. I can’t start in safe mode, can’t do anything. A little help is appreciated beyond words right now."

Got to say it once again, with emphasis:
This is what "having a bootable cloned backup" is for.
If you had one, you just plug it in and boot from that. Easy as it gets.

If you can't boot AT ALL, you might try booting to internet recovery.
It -might- get you going.
Then you can try a re-install of the OS.

If that doesn't work...
... what you do next will depend on whether you have access to another Mac, or not.

IF you have access to another Mac, try creating a bootable USB flash drive with the OS installer on it.
You'll need a USB flash drive 16gb or larger, formatted to HFS+.
You'll also need a copy of the OS installer of your choice.
And ONE of the following free apps: "Boot Buddy", "DiskMaker X", or "Install Disk Creator".

If you DO NOT have access to another Mac, and no matter what you try you can't get internet recovery working, then your best course of action might be to go on ebay, and look for sellers who offer USB flash drives with a copy of the Mac OS installer pre-installed on them. They sell for around $20.

Once you have the USB installer, just boot up that way, and try to install.
You -might- have to use Disk Utility to erase the internal drive.
Hope you've got a backup...

 

[SgtFire]

Unfortunately I do not. I had an external drive for his very thing but it died a while back. I guess I rolled the dice and got snake eyes. I also do not have access to another Mac. I will try and give your eBay suggestion a try. I just don’t have the best computer knowledge but I will give it your best shot.

 

[ktamas77]

Fixed it by rebooting holding shift then redownloading the installer.

this totally worked for me. thank you.

 

[SgtFire]

this totally worked for me. thank you.

I have a wireless keyboard and nothing works! Aaaarrgghhhh!!

 

[ktamas77]

I have a wireless keyboard and nothing works! Aaaarrgghhhh!!

i have a wireless keyboard too - holding shift at boot helped to start the os and reinstall the update from the app manager.

 

[SgtFire]

Wish I could say the same. I got my wife’s keyboard she used from an old MacBook and the update didn’t finish before I went to bed. Haven’t checked this morning as everyone is still in bed. Not holding my breath and I do have an appointment with a place called Simply MAC Tuesday morning if this doesn’t work.

 

[adityashah1989]

no prob! but try deleting the installer and starting again...

How do I delete the installer if I can't get in?
[doublepost=1509430546][/doublepost]

Fixed it by rebooting holding shift then redownloading the installer.

This worked for me as well. Did not have the shift key on my Mac so pressed & held the Alt key, connected to my wifi (it asked for the password again) & then the install went through. Thanks!

 

[InnerQuest]

Hello all, I had this error when installing as well.

I did manage to finally restart my computer in 10.12 Sierra, as opposed to installing 10.13, and wanted to let others know about it, as this page was one of the top results as I was trying to desperately find a way to either install or recover. I'll get 10.13 installed soon, but I was a bad user and didn't back up before trying to install the first time. I will do that now.

In the meantime, for those that haven't had success installing 10.13, and are in this same could not install loop, and simply would like to get back to 10.12, here is what I did: Once I received the "could not be installed on your computer message" and it told me to quit the installer and restart, I went to Apple logo in the upper left (maybe had to click a bit to make the menu bar appear?), and there was an option to choose the startup disk. It had my 10.12.6 system folder as an option, I chose it, it restarted, and instead of booting with the Installer, it booted normally! I'm backing up now and very happy I didn't screw myself over.

Mildly interestingly, I have a Bootcamp partition, and in troubleshooting, I wanted to be sure the partition was fine, so I booted using Option to choose a drive to start up from. In this view, the two partitions were disk images. I point this out to contrast it to when I chose the start up disk from the menu bar option, the images were the OS folders and names, not the disk image icons and names. Hope this ramble may offer an additional person another avenue of success.

You saved my bacon matey! Worked a treat and such a simple fix - THANK YOU!!!!

 

[JG2D]

Hello all, I had this error when installing as well.

I did manage to finally restart my computer in 10.12 Sierra, as opposed to installing 10.13, and wanted to let others know about it, as this page was one of the top results as I was trying to desperately find a way to either install or recover. I'll get 10.13 installed soon, but I was a bad user and didn't back up before trying to install the first time. I will do that now.

In the meantime, for those that haven't had success installing 10.13, and are in this same could not install loop, and simply would like to get back to 10.12, here is what I did: Once I received the "could not be installed on your computer message" and it told me to quit the installer and restart, I went to Apple logo in the upper left (maybe had to click a bit to make the menu bar appear?), and there was an option to choose the startup disk. It had my 10.12.6 system folder as an option, I chose it, it restarted, and instead of booting with the Installer, it booted normally! I'm backing up now and very happy I didn't screw myself over.

Mildly interestingly, I have a Bootcamp partition, and in troubleshooting, I wanted to be sure the partition was fine, so I booted using Option to choose a drive to start up from. In this view, the two partitions were disk images. I point this out to contrast it to when I chose the start up disk from the menu bar option, the images were the OS folders and names, not the disk image icons and names. Hope this ramble may offer an additional person another avenue of success.

Oh my, thank you for this!! I was able to save some work files!! However my super old G5 tower is now reverted to 10.6.7 and doing WEIRD STUFF!!

Thankfully got most of my files off there and am transitioning to newer iMac. That’s what I get for wanting to use Air Drop! xD

 

[DeltaMac]

Oh my, thank you for this!! I was able to save some work files!! However my super old G5 tower is now reverted to 10.6.7 and doing WEIRD STUFF!!

Thankfully got most of my files off there and am transitioning to newer iMac. That’s what I get for wanting to use Air Drop! xD

That would be truly mysterious, as a G5 can't possibly boot to OS X 10.6.7 (nor can any other PPC Mac.) OS X 10.5.8 is newest OS possible on a PowerMac G5.
I am guessing that you could mean 10.2.7, or 10.3.7 - as that would be the result of reinstalling from original PowerMac G5 installer disks.

 

[lcjahson]

Hello all, I had this error when installing as well.

I did manage to finally restart my computer in 10.12 Sierra, as opposed to installing 10.13, and wanted to let others know about it, as this page was one of the top results as I was trying to desperately find a way to either install or recover. I'll get 10.13 installed soon, but I was a bad user and didn't back up before trying to install the first time. I will do that now.

In the meantime, for those that haven't had success installing 10.13, and are in this same could not install loop, and simply would like to get back to 10.12, here is what I did: Once I received the "could not be installed on your computer message" and it told me to quit the installer and restart, I went to Apple logo in the upper left (maybe had to click a bit to make the menu bar appear?), and there was an option to choose the startup disk. It had my 10.12.6 system folder as an option, I chose it, it restarted, and instead of booting with the Installer, it booted normally! I'm backing up now and very happy I didn't screw myself over.

Mildly interestingly, I have a Bootcamp partition, and in troubleshooting, I wanted to be sure the partition was fine, so I booted using Option to choose a drive to start up from. In this view, the two partitions were disk images. I point this out to contrast it to when I chose the start up disk from the menu bar option, the images were the OS folders and names, not the disk image icons and names. Hope this ramble may offer an additional person another avenue of success.

Bro you are a ****ing life saver!! BTW- to access the Apple logo click on the wifi icon and try to change the Wifi connection and the apple will appear of the top left. Thanks again!

 

[Teflondub]

Hello all, I had this error when installing as well.

I did manage to finally restart my computer in 10.12 Sierra, as opposed to installing 10.13, and wanted to let others know about it, as this page was one of the top results as I was trying to desperately find a way to either install or recover. I'll get 10.13 installed soon, but I was a bad user and didn't back up before trying to install the first time. I will do that now.

In the meantime, for those that haven't had success installing 10.13, and are in this same could not install loop, and simply would like to get back to 10.12, here is what I did: Once I received the "could not be installed on your computer message" and it told me to quit the installer and restart, I went to Apple logo in the upper left (maybe had to click a bit to make the menu bar appear?), and there was an option to choose the startup disk. It had my 10.12.6 system folder as an option, I chose it, it restarted, and instead of booting with the Installer, it booted normally! I'm backing up now and very happy I didn't screw myself over.

Mildly interestingly, I have a Bootcamp partition, and in troubleshooting, I wanted to be sure the partition was fine, so I booted using Option to choose a drive to start up from. In this view, the two partitions were disk images. I point this out to contrast it to when I chose the start up disk from the menu bar option, the images were the OS folders and names, not the disk image icons and names. Hope this ramble may offer an additional person another avenue of success.

Thank you! A lot of time wasted reboots playing keyboard twister to reset NVRAM and restarting in recovery mode, but this actually worked.

Just to add, if you don’t have a menu bar on the macOS High Sierra screen, clicking at the top of the screen where it should be a few times makes it appear.

 

[nurae]

Thank you, you life saver

Hello all, I had this error when installing as well.

I did manage to finally restart my computer in 10.12 Sierra, as opposed to installing 10.13, and wanted to let others know about it, as this page was one of the top results as I was trying to desperately find a way to either install or recover. I'll get 10.13 installed soon, but I was a bad user and didn't back up before trying to install the first time. I will do that now.

In the meantime, for those that haven't had success installing 10.13, and are in this same could not install loop, and simply would like to get back to 10.12, here is what I did: Once I received the "could not be installed on your computer message" and it told me to quit the installer and restart, I went to Apple logo in the upper left (maybe had to click a bit to make the menu bar appear?), and there was an option to choose the startup disk. It had my 10.12.6 system folder as an option, I chose it, it restarted, and instead of booting with the Installer, it booted normally! I'm backing up now and very happy I didn't screw myself over.

Mildly interestingly, I have a Bootcamp partition, and in troubleshooting, I wanted to be sure the partition was fine, so I booted using Option to choose a drive to start up from. In this view, the two partitions were disk images. I point this out to contrast it to when I chose the start up disk from the menu bar option, the images were the OS folders and names, not the disk image icons and names. Hope this ramble may offer an additional person another avenue of success.

[doublepost=1513776001][/doublepost]Thanks man wifi tip was really helpful

Bro you are a ****ing life saver!! BTW- to access the Apple logo click on the wifi icon and try to change the Wifi connection and the apple will appear of the top left. Thanks again!