Free Lion download problem

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Free Lion download problem

it downloads ok from

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2077?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I have a Mac mini 2.1 mid 2007 running snow leopard (10.6.8) and want to upgrade to Lion (10.7) which is the last OS upgrade allowed. The requirements are met (RAM, HD space, current OS, ok processor, too old to ship with Lion). And I downloaded from apple (above url) and it goes thru all the steps, says successfully loaded, green checkmark, and nothing is changed. The compatibility check at the beginning went instantly and at the end there was no reboot and in-between takes awhile. So I am mystified what is happening with no result. Any ideas?

The mini is connected to the internet router, although safari is obsolete on the mini, the download came from another computer and copied to the mini.

I also tried using macOS Recovery ( Option + Command + R) to upgrade to the latest compatible version of Mac OS and the computer will not go into recovery mode. I went into safe mode successfully and repaired some permissions found by disk utility, but afterwards could not succeed going into recovery mode. Appreciate ideas to solve.

Mac mini, macOS 10.13

Posted on Oct 9, 2021 1:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,596 points

Oct 11, 2021 11:46 PM in response to Charles Palenz

Not sure if it is going to be easy to find a solution, looks like Apple have released an installer that has got a fundamental flaw.

In the Install.log you can see the error is being generated within the ESD Payload PKG

Oct 11 19:18:15 Metal-Box Install Mac OS X Lion[329]: Retrieved package com.apple.pkg.CompatibilityUpdate (http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/21/49/041-85049-A_HQLEMUMHEZ/ow0znrs46prf0sneg6bwvucs0ieui2fnr3/MacOS_10_7_IncompatibleAppList.pkg)

Oct 11 19:18:17 Metal-Box Install Mac OS X Lion[329]: Error verifying ESD Payload PKG: The operation couldn’t be completed. (PKProductErrorDomain error 0.)

Oct 11 19:18:17 Metal-Box Install Mac OS X Lion[329]: pkgdmg is not signed or altered.

Oct 11 19:18:17 Metal-Box Install Mac OS X Lion[329]: pkgdmg validation has failed.

Oct 11 19:18:17 Metal-Box Install Mac OS X Lion[329]: Stopped operation queue with Error Domain=IAErrorDomain Code=101 "The software could not be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading." UserInfo=0x10055bea0 {NSLocalizedDescription=The software could not be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading.}

O

If you want to share your frustration and astonishment at Apples poor quality control you can drop them a line here,

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 2

Oct 10, 2021 8:27 PM in response to judysings

I downloaded from the Apple page (https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2077?locale=en_US) and went into safe mode and the installer ran exactly as I expected, taking awhile to verify, loading scripts, etc and gave the green check at the end, maybe 15+ minutes ..... Successful ! Definitely the correct way and not like my previous two attempts.

But it was still 10.6.8 snow leopard. The only thing that did not happen at the end of the installation was to initiate or indicate a restart was to be done. I did a restart to exit safe mode. Still 10.6.8.

How do we know that the download is actually Lion and not Snow leopard? There is nothing about the file to so indicate and the installation says it is writing scripts etc. And the HD free space change is about 1.14 GB less free space which suggests some file were added. I am puzzled and still need a solution, if any. Hardware and installer info follows:

[Image Edited by Moderator to Remove Serial Number]

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Answer 3

judysings

Community Specialist

Oct 10, 2021 6:05 PM in response to Charles Palenz

Hello Charles Palenz.

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We see that you are having some trouble installing Mac OS X Lion. We will be glad to assist. Great steps troubleshooting so far. Let's see if the installation completes in safe mode.

How to use safe mode on your Mac

If you need more help, Contact Apple for support and service

Cheers.

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Answer 4

Oct 11, 2021 7:02 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Thank you for your reply. I opened the applications folder and found that file: "Install Mac OSX Lion". A two step approach and no direct install. Clicking on it to start and after the password, the message "Software could not be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading."

The problem remains, the installation process is not successful. Here are the additional steps taken to resolve:

---Rebooting in safe mode and retrying the install lion that was in the applications folder produced the same error message. Then deleting and reinstalling from the InstallMacOSX.pkg (still in safe mode) and received the same error message again.

---Visiting the Apple download site again, https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2077?locale=en_US the install file was downloaded again, copied to an external drive and transferred to the Mac mini. And the previous Mac mini Lion install files removed and the new file used to install, ending with the same error message.

---Disk utility was run on the destination HD and the "Install Mac OS X" created disk and all ok.

Suggestions please?

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Answer 5

Oct 11, 2021 10:05 AM in response to Eau Rouge

the mini-mac is obsolete, the App store program does not display right or allow me to log in successfully. A few input mistakes did not help the process.

However, yesterday after reading another question in this forum regarding installation, it listed the installer for 10.6.8, https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1399?locale=en_US which is for Mac OS X 10.6.8 update Combo v1.1 and ran it, it loads direct and completed and ended with the mandatory restart. Appeared to overwrite what was already on the computer OS at the 10.6.8 level. So that reloading should mean the mini is up-to-date on snow leopard?dfde

My router is on the other side of the room and there has never been a corruption issue with it in the two years I have had it (nor with previous routers) with hundreds of downloads. I know there can be a first time, this "installer" has been downloaded four times and failed each time. The only computer "use" has been to check download time, open a window, move the mouse, but no programs, no email etc. I recognize your experience, corruption just does not seem to explain the consistency of the failures.

The free download, how does that compare to the purchase version:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion

Thanks for your ideas

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Answer 6

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,596 points

Oct 11, 2021 12:09 PM in response to Charles Palenz

So I thought I would download this InstallOSX.dmg and go through the process to get the Install OS X Lion.app.

first of all the conversion from InstallOSX.pkg to the install app throws up an error about an expired certificate.

This is the Software update certificate in the Keychain which expired in October 2019.

Double-clicking on the Install OS X Lion.app will stop with the corrupted message, so well done Apple they have

released software that has not been tested.

Might be worth trying setting the date on your mac back to before October 2019, when the software update certificate expired.

See the screenshot below to see where it errors out.

Click and drag the screenshot below on to the Preview icon in the Dock.

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Answer 7

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,596 points

Oct 12, 2021 11:51 AM in response to Charles Palenz

The install log is a hidden file in the hidden path

/private/var/log/install.log

If you ant to view it click on the Desktop and click on Go in the menubar

and select Go To Folder, enter the path above and press Go.

A Finder window will open with the file highlighted.

Start from the bottom and work your way up.

I have actually had success installing Mac OS X Lion.

This was done by creating a bootable USB installer (use a USB flash drive at least 8GBs in size)

I used this app which is free, https://diskmakerx.com/download/ scroll down to near the bottom of the page and click on the blue text

DiskMaker X 3.0.4, this will download the app to your mac.

You can also download the slightly older DiskMaker 2.0.2 if version 3.0.4 does not work.

Open the app and follow the on screen instructions, the mac will ask you which USB you want to use and should locate

the Install OS X Lion.app on your mac.

Creating the bootable USB installer can take quite a long time so be patient, in my case it took about 45 minutes.

Once the bootable USB installer has been created Restart the mac while pressing and holding down the option/ alt key.

After a couple of minutes you will see the Boot Manager, the bootable USB should be on the right hand side called

EFI, but it will show the Mac OS X Lion logo. Select the USB and press Restart.

The mac will now boot to the USB, after two minutes or so you should see a Utilities panel, you may want to run Disk

Utility and Verify the Disk and run a Permissions repair. If the Disk seems happy quit Disk Utility.

Then you can click on Reinstall OS X.

Follow the onscreen prompts.

And with any luck it should go ahead with the install OS X Lion 10.7.5.

Good Luck.

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Answer 8

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,596 points

Oct 11, 2021 4:37 AM in response to Charles Palenz

Right you downloaded InstallOSX.dmg,

opened that to get InstallOSX.pkg.

Opened that and got an installation window,

this does not install Mac OS X Lion, if you read the text in the installation

window it says it will take 14MBs approx of disk space and only takes two minutes

to do. No operating system only takes 2 minutes to install and only a few MBs of disk space.

What is actually happening is the installation window is creating the Install OS X Lion.app

in your Applications folder, have a look.

Double-click on that to start the installation.

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Answer 9

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,596 points

Oct 11, 2021 8:16 AM in response to Charles Palenz

Open the App Store Updates pages to make sure there a re no outstanding updates for Mac OS X Snow Leopard

that may make upgrading the OS run smoother.

If you get that error message then the disk image is being corrupted on download.

Download the InstallOSX.dmg again, make sure the mac that is downloading is connected

to your router via cable rather than WiFi.

Do not use the mac while it is downloading or any other devices that share the same internet connection.

Just keep trying.

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Answer 10

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,596 points

Oct 11, 2021 10:42 AM in response to Charles Palenz

You said earlier that your mac was on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8, that is why I did not give you the

link to the 10.6.8 Combo update earlier.

So are you saying you are using WiFi to download, Apple OS downloads are very prone to corruption if the

WiFi signal is poor or inconsistent. Is it not possible to move your mac closer to the router and connect

to it via cable.

Download, install and run this app https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx there is a free trial period.

This will give a full report on the health of your hard drive.

Disk Utility only reports on the directory structure of your disk.

The free download should be exactly the same as the paid one, Apple should have removed the paid

for Lion and Mountain Lion downloads from the online store.

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Answer 11

Oct 11, 2021 11:45 AM in response to Eau Rouge

The drivedx software shows all green except for age of drive and cycles. No surprise on a 14 year old drive.

Found a long enough ethernet cable and downloaded and still the same error. there's something else mysterious in play, seems to me that the software has a glitch, not the mini. The only observation I have made is that the very last minute of finishing the first install where the program says about a minute left, turns out to be 4 or so minutes while earlier segments run quicker than the stated time, I think that is normal.

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Answer 12

Oct 11, 2021 2:21 PM in response to Eau Rouge

The mini year was set back to 2015 and running the install program located in applications failed, same rejection. So I deleted since it had a 2021 year modified date and the computer had the 2015 year. Going to the .dmg file and re-downloaded the second install file again, thinking possibly the new install file will have the 2015 year associated with it, it did. That failed too, same reason.

Next I thought the .dmg file might imbed a date in the file. So I thought to download the .dmg file from Apple with an old date on my regular computer. Apple safari and web site will not allow a download to a computer with a wrong date.

Last I ran disk utility on the mini since I have noticed it finds many permission "errors" when it verifies, and more "repairs" than "errors" and so had those "repaired" and then ran the installer in the application file and it failed for the same reason again.

So the date change sounded promising, but not the solution. Something else is going on. Still looking for a solution.

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Answer 13

Oct 12, 2021 8:57 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Amazing discovery ! You are amazing, patiently working thru my situation, posting either by staying up all night or from a time zone far from Pennsylvania, USA. I will consider my options for addressing. I will click this solved my question as it did not as I expected. Thank you!

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Answer 14

Oct 12, 2021 9:04 AM in response to Charles Palenz

Forgot to ask, the log showing the error, can that be found on my computer? Where? Thanks again!

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Answer 15

Oct 12, 2021 4:12 PM in response to Eau Rouge

Success, Lion 7.5 is loaded! You solved! Thank you!

I filed a report with Apple and inserted part of the install log to show and we'll see what happens.

Thank you!

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