unable to reinstall macOS: ‘downloaded too many times’ please help!

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unable to reinstall macOS: ‘downloaded too many times’ please help!

Hello,

i’ve been experiencing major issues with my MacBook Pro 2017 and reinstalling macOS. Through a series of events I won’t describe, I ended up on the macOS recovery screen with the utilities. I was fine at this point, and my Macintosh internal disk was formatted correctly with a partition etc.

When I went to reinstall Sierra (the original OS with the computer) everything goes fine until the very start of the installation where it stops it and gives a pop up saying ‘The app store download could not start because it has already been downloaded too many times.’ I have no idea what to do, and I cant use my macbook anymore. Please help!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 10, 2020 8:59 AM

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Answer 1

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leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

188,532 points

Apr 10, 2020 5:57 PM in response to _vincent28

If the installer is sitting in your Applications folder? "Install macOS Catalina.app"

You can launch from there.

If you have an issue with the installer itself, reboot into Safe Boot mode, an launch the installer from that environment.

SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5-15 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc. Login

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Answer 2

Apr 10, 2020 9:06 AM in response to _vincent28

experiencing major issues ? What major issues??

It is hard to believe after 10.15 EFI firmware that you could fall all the way back to Sierra.

Even if you can(?) why not reinstall the Catalina if that is your current macOS?

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

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Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,429 points

Apr 10, 2020 6:13 PM in response to _vincent28

There are different key combinations for different OS installs - have you checked through those:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

PS I have never heard of a message that you've downloaded it too many times, so I can't help with that.

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Answer 4

_vincent28 Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 10, 2020 5:53 PM in response to leroydouglas

hello, thanks for replying.

I guess my wording was unclear. The major issue was just the fact that I couldn’t reinstall macOS which is detailed in the post.

I’m not sure why you are asking me about Sierra. I had Catalina installed before all this happened, and when I clicked on the macOS reinstall option on the recovery menu, it offers Sierra. I believe its because that whats the macbook was shipped with? Is there a way I can change this?

I’ve already ploughed through all of apple’s articles. Again, the problem is, is that when it begins to install it says its been ‘downloaded too many times’ and there’s nothing I can do.

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unable to reinstall macOS: ‘downloaded too many times’ please help!

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