Level 1

103 points

file is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

All the files that I download from the internet return the error "*****" is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash. when I try to open them. This issue started today.

To clarify the problem only applies to downloaded files like apps, zip and dmg.

I'm able to open all the other files and run apps.

To solve the issue I reinstalled Catalina and disable Gatekeeper without any success.

Any Ideas on how to resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Mac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) running Catalina 10..15.1

Thanks in advance,

WFG

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 26, 2019 5:05 PM

Top-ranking reply

MacPCmb

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Jan 11, 2020 11:43 AM

On my 2013 27" iMac, turning off SIP was the solution to my systems problems after macOS 10.15.2 was installed, at which point, everything in the Downloads folder gave the error message “file is damaged and can't be opened”. This behavior was also true for any attachment downloaded from Apple Mail, any downloaded installer file (.dmg or package). After SIP was disabled via the Terminal command csrutil disable in the Recovery mode, these symptoms disappeared completely. When I enabled SIP once again by rebooting my system, this anomalous behavior returned, with the "file is damaged" message being displayed (for files that were not, in fact, damaged at all).

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59 replies

Nov 26, 2019 5:45 PM in response to wgrahame

How odd that this issue would persist after reinstalling Catalina. What browser do you use? If not Safari, perhaps the browser has an issue with Catalina. I would check for updates within the browser, and if that doesn’t help, try Safari or another browser. Let me know if you still have trouble.

Nov 27, 2019 1:23 PM in response to wgrahame

What happens when you try to download these files on other devices in your home? Have you tried to download them on a network outside of your home? If you can share some links for these files, I can see what happens when I try on my Mac.

wgrahame Author

Level 1

103 points

Dec 18, 2019 7:51 PM in response to wgrahame

Could not find a Fix, for the third time in a month I had to erase may machine and then do a restore. The difference is that this time I did a restore using the Time Machine backup from from the day before applying the 10.15.2 update, in previous 2 incidents I did a combination fresh Mac OS 10.15 install, manually transferring my files and migration assistance to move over apps from Time Machine.

Everything seems to be working fine, not sure how to proceed with the 10.15.2 update, I do not want to find my self in the same situation.

wgrahame Author

Level 1

103 points

Jan 7, 2020 8:22 AM in response to LD150

As I mention before I had to Macs with this issue, a MacBook Pro and iMac.

As soon as I upgraded the MacBook from Mojave to Catalina the download folder got affected, all downloads returned the "*****"is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash error, no matter what type of file or installer. Important to point out that only the download folder had the issue, all other files and apps worked fine.

On the iMac the problem was even worst, when I updated from Catalina 10.15.1 to 10.15.2 all the files and installers on my account where affected with "*****"is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash, additionally all the other user accounts exhibited the same problem, in other words the issue was computer wide, again apps worked fine.

Disabling SIP is a solution that for me had parcial results, some files and installers would open others would not, the only proper solution that I could find was to erase both machines and then do a restore.

As of now both my machine are working fine on Mac OS 10.15.1, I have no tried to upgrade to 10.15.2. Not exactly sure on how to proceed with the update to 10.15.2 without running into the same issue.

I am no expert but it seems to me that Catalina has serious issues with SIP.

Old Toad

Level 10

218,040 points

Dec 13, 2019 9:09 AM in response to wgrahame

On those apps that are being reported check their permissions to make sure you have read and write. Also go to the Applications folder and try to launch them directly.

Old Toad

Level 10

218,040 points

Jan 11, 2020 11:56 AM in response to MacPCmb

On a file that gives you that error message set the permissions to Read & Write for the owner (you), the group that it's associated with and for everyone. Then see if you can open it.

RiPC

Level 1

12 points

Mar 17, 2020 2:52 PM in response to LD150

It is a general problem not related to file type. Turning off SIP resolves the problem. But re-enabling it brings it back.

MacPCmb

Level 1

9 points

Jan 4, 2020 3:24 PM in response to dot.com

Hello again. OK -- I ran the terminal commands as you suggested on the install_backblaze.dmg file on my desktop in Catalina, then tried to mount it, but still get the error message as show below

Note that after running the terminal commands as you suggested, and repeating the ls -lae@ install_backblaze.dmg in Terminal, I get these results:

-rw-r--r--@ 1 username staff 17658479 Jan 3 13:54 install_backblaze.dmg

com.apple.macl 72

com.apple.quarantine 57

The source for this file is at this URL -- see if you can download it on your system, and if you can get it to open on your machine running macOS 10.15.2: Download for Mac

TheLittles

Level 10

208,293 points

Jan 7, 2020 8:58 AM in response to wgrahame

I just want to emphasize: Don’t forget to enable SIP (System Integrity Protection) once all is complete. Use this command in Terminal while in Recovery Mode: csrutil enable

Then Confirm it is Enabled:

To confirm that SIP is enabled, reboot into Normal Mode and type this in Terminal (Found in Applications > Utilities): csrutil status

El Deanio

Level 3

809 points

Jan 11, 2020 3:10 PM in response to El Deanio

Couldn’t find the post I was reading but, from another post I found, I believe I had to enter the following -

spctl --master-disable (Also I understand that the space after spctl is important so don’t omit it)

Mar 17, 2020 7:54 AM in response to RiPC

Hi Dazzzz, I can confirm the same happens on my system. I also get two HD icons in the finder. I have not found a resolution other than to keep SIP off. This happened even after a full reinstall fro scratch.

RiPC

Level 1

12 points

Mar 17, 2020 8:20 AM in response to nekken169

I have also found that I can successfully open a file from within an App e.g. Adobe Reader. However the same file will not open from within Finder.

LD150

Level 10

105,378 points

Mar 17, 2020 9:22 AM in response to RiPC

What do you see in Finder if you use Open With ?

(Strictly speaking you shgould open a new thread.)

wgrahame Author

Level 1

103 points

Dec 13, 2019 6:28 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for the reply, I ended doing a clean installed of the system and apps, then I moved my files manually.

It worked perfectly and my Mac was running like new until yesterday that I did the Mac OS 10.15.2 update, now all the files on all the accounts in the computer are "*****"is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

This is extremely frustrating, this is the second time I run into this issue since installing Catalina, never had this issue with previous Mac OS versions.

Doing a search of the community I can see that many user have the same problem, but I can find a solution that revolves the issue without having to do a clean install again.

MacPCmb

Level 1

9 points

Jan 4, 2020 11:54 AM in response to dot.com

Thanks for your response. I used the terminal commands above and got the following results in Catalina, will post results from Mojave in my next post:

User@iMac27 Desktop % sum install_backblaze.dmg

3423 17245 install_backblaze.dmg

User@iMac27 Desktop % ls -lae@ install_backblaze.dmg

-rw-r--r--@ 1 username staff 17658479 Jan 3 13:54 install_backblaze.dmg

com.apple.lastuseddate#PS 16

com.apple.macl 72

com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDownloadedDate 53

com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms 101

com.apple.quarantine 57

In Catalina, here are the results of the ifconfig -a command:

lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384

options=1203<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TXSTATUS,SW_TIMESTAMP>

inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000

inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128

inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280

stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

options=400<CHANNEL_IO>

ether 88:63:df:a5:29:47

inet6 fe80::1c4a:9567:2fa3:d557%en1 prefixlen 64 secured scopeid 0x4

inet 192.168.254.11 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.254.255

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

media: autoselect

status: active

p2p0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2304

options=400<CHANNEL_IO>

ether 0a:63:df:a5:29:47

media: autoselect

status: inactive

awdl0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1484

options=400<CHANNEL_IO>

ether ae:6f:ac:b2:7f:5a

inet6 fe80::ac6f:acff:feb2:7f5a%awdl0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

media: autoselect

status: active

llw0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

options=400<CHANNEL_IO>

ether ae:6f:ac:b2:7f:5a

inet6 fe80::ac6f:acff:feb2:7f5a%llw0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x7

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

media: autoselect

status: active

en2: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

options=460<TSO4,TSO6,CHANNEL_IO>

ether 82:0d:65:07:00:00

media: autoselect <full-duplex>

status: inactive

en3: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

options=460<TSO4,TSO6,CHANNEL_IO>

ether 82:0d:65:07:00:01

media: autoselect <full-duplex>

status: inactive

en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

options=50b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,AV,CHANNEL_IO>

ether 0c:4d:e9:c7:76:23

inet6 fe80::10e4:6152:2b72:f389%en0 prefixlen 64 secured scopeid 0xa

inet 192.168.254.13 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.254.255

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control,energy-efficient-ethernet>)

status: active

bridge0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

options=63<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4,TSO6>

ether 82:0d:65:07:00:00

Configuration:

id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0

maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200

root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0

ipfilter disabled flags 0x2

member: en2 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>

ifmaxaddr 0 port 8 priority 0 path cost 0

member: en3 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>

ifmaxaddr 0 port 9 priority 0 path cost 0

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

media: <unknown type>

status: inactive

utun0: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1380

inet6 fe80::a58e:6376:e798:86b5%utun0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xc

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

utun1: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 2000

inet6 fe80::4fb:54ef:4b3a:3a3e%utun1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xd

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

utun2: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1380

inet6 fe80::6701:854a:bcb:7f73%utun2 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xe

nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>

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file is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.