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.

Ryanconn Author

Level 1

6 points

Unable to install clean Catalina PKDownloadError error 8: failed to download package

I nuked my hard drive (it was encrypted). I thought I could just erase the drive and start fresh. I have a mid-2017 macbook pro 2017. I was running catalina fine. I updated and then the system got unstable and would continuously restart.

When installing macOS Catalina 10.15.6, I am getting this "PKDownloadError error 8" error message.

I'm failing to download this package:

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/10/06/001-36801-...OSX_10_15_IncompatibleAppList.pkg

Additionally, I'm getting an opendirectoryd [212]: [auth] failed to write file <private>

error that crashes with EXC_BAD_ACCESS with a KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS code.

Has anyone else had this issue? I can't seem to reinstall the OS. I'm assuming erasing the drive may have messed something up. Perhaps bricked the drive.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 9, 2020 6:43 AM

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

188,466 points

Posted on Sep 9, 2020 6:55 AM

Boot into Internet Recovery (Option Command R)

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

How to erase a disk for Mac - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496

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

If your Mac has the T2 security chip, you may want to review those restrictions as well:

About Startup Security Utility - Apple Support https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208198

What is the Startup Security Utility on Mac? - Apple Support https://support.apple.com/lt-lt/guide/mac-help/mchlf5346320/mac

View in context

Unable to install clean Catalina PKDownloadError error 8: failed to download package

Similar questions