Cannot install any .pkg files

I laughed at you thinking it was a ridiculous solution. Because I don't think Apple is stupid. After moving the pkg from the Downloads folder to the Desktop, the installation proceeded without any problems. Apple and I were fools. you are a genius Thank you.

Any chance you're all using Dropbox backup function to backup your folders?

I was so happy to see your post, but the disappointment was big when it did not work for me to simply drag the .pkg to my Desktop folder.... Then I realised that Dropbox is also backing up my Desktop folder... I dragged it to the 'Video's' folder, outside the backup range of Dropbox and guess who is installing now!!!?? 😃

Recently they changed some things in the backup process in the Dropbox app. Folders marked to be backupped are now moved to 'another' place and a shortcut to that folder is left in the original place, in my case only Desktop, Downloads en Documents! Your post helped me out a lot!!

Didn't fix it for me :/

After much searching and experimenting what worked for me was in system settings give total disk access to the installer (System/Library/CoreServices/Installer), the thing is that once activated I managed to install one pkg file, and it disappears from the list, so to install another file you need to add it again. I would think the software installer had to have total access without one having to add it, but I hope Apple solves it in a new update. Hope this works for any of you!

So, I had the same issue and moving the .pkg file in another folder (I've tried many) didn't help.

Giving 'Full Disk Access' permissions to the Installer app (located in System/Library/CoreServices) didn't help either.

The way I solved the issue was by choosing an external drive as the destination.

In my case, I had a drive called 'Data HD' (which I selected) then clicked on 'Choose folder...'

At the root of the external drive, I created a folder called 'macOS'.

I then chose that folder as the destination.

After that, I clicked the 'Continue' button and after a few minutes the installation was successful:

When I looked into my external drive, I noticed that the PKG file created an 'Applications' subfolder inside the one I chose initially.

And the Ventura installer was available in that other 'Applications' folder:

Not sure if it was needed, but I then moved the macOS Ventura installer from the external drive to the 'Applications' folder of the internal drive 'Macintosh HD'.

Hope this can help someone too

Thank you so much, been experiencing this issue for so long and much like you was happy to see the post, but got disappointed when it didn’t work. I moved it to desktop but did not work, then I moved it to Music, did not work then moved it to images, and Bingo!!! I want to hug you!! Thank you.

Hahaha, happy I could help out...! About that hug... any chance you live in The Netherlands...? 🤣🤣🤣

PS. I've been in contact with DropBox about this issue. The problem is on their side and they are aware of it... Believe it or not, they don't have a clue when it will be fixed... This issue is also causing problems with AirDropping to a Dropbox backup'd Mac... 🤦🏻‍♂️ I cancelled my payed subscription!

The cause I have seen is similar to the one mentioned for Dropbox. If a user downloads a PKG to a non-local storage, such as OneDrive, the package fails as mentioned in this thread. I have been advising users to move it to Downloads or Desktop but if the user's environment setup includes OneDrive KFM (Known Folder Move) then these two folders are actually in the cloud. I'd like to know what the underlying problem is so I could craft a package that would run from anywhere, or at minimum, instruct the user to move the pkg if it fails.I checked the /var/log/install.log file and discovered this:

An error occurred while extracting files from the package "[PackageName.pkg]"

I wonder if this is bug with the package installer?

I'm not an expert, but for what I know, based on the information I read, it's not a bug in the package installer, nor is it a bug in the macOS. It's a built in safety precaution that simply prevents the OS to accept installations done from a non-local (cloud) drive.

I can see the thought process behind such a policy but if that's what is going on, I'd expect a decent UX designer to provide feedback to the user to explain that and to prevent the installer from allowing you to go through each step, only to fail,v without providing a useful reason. I raised a bug report in any case so let's see...

I think it worked for me, with the exception of my having to go into the Activity Monitor and kill the "usernotification" process to get rid of the error messages, which then allowed the installation to proceed to completion.

Thank you, thank you. I have worked with Apple Support for about a year and have gotten nowhere, as I linked the problem to the "usernotification" process rather than the .pkg installation. I will let them know the mystery is solved.

this solved it for me. had been stuck with this for weeks. very frustrating

I can't believe it was that easy... You da best!

my issue is resolved from this I was trying since 3 months for this