You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Can't download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X.

I'm trying to use the MacOS Recovery Utilities to reinstall my Mac OS X Lion. When I chose "Reinstall MacOS", I get the following message: "Can't download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X."

Also, I cannot create a bootable installer either, since I cannot boot up, hence the reason I was trying to do a clean install.

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 5, 2020 11:09 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 5, 2020 12:40 PM

The certificates for several of Apples OS's expired in October 2019, Apple have been very poor at getting these updated on their Recovery Servers with valid certificates. This may be the problem you are experiencing. 


Try this workaround, we are going to set the time and date on your mac to a date previous to the expiry date of the certificates.


Boot to your Recovery HD, click on Utilities in the menubar select Terminal.


Enter a new date, for example or just copy and paste


sudo date -u 011421002018


press Return

enter your password

press Return


Now try downloading the OS.

If this works when the OS is installed and booted up you can Open System Preferences> Date & Time

and reset the time back to today.

11 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 5, 2020 12:40 PM in response to Coquidragon

The certificates for several of Apples OS's expired in October 2019, Apple have been very poor at getting these updated on their Recovery Servers with valid certificates. This may be the problem you are experiencing. 


Try this workaround, we are going to set the time and date on your mac to a date previous to the expiry date of the certificates.


Boot to your Recovery HD, click on Utilities in the menubar select Terminal.


Enter a new date, for example or just copy and paste


sudo date -u 011421002018


press Return

enter your password

press Return


Now try downloading the OS.

If this works when the OS is installed and booted up you can Open System Preferences> Date & Time

and reset the time back to today.

May 27, 2020 8:04 AM in response to Coquidragon

I have the same issue. I tried changing the date and did everything else these replies and youtube said. I tried using a USB and boot from there but when I do the start up disk option, my Mac SSD nor USB is listed.

I was able to access the internet through recovery mode and download 2 versions of the OS that my mac can run. Now that it is downloaded I do not know how to proceed. Can anyone help?

Can't download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.