iLife '11 failed installation

It seems I have the same problem as a lot of people. I have partially solved this one.

I have repaired disk permissions, mounted the install disk image onto the desktop, and started to load the programmes individually.

My macbook is old and has no DVD burner so no point in loading iDVD.

First I loaded iPhoto, no problems, iWeb, no problems. iMovie and garageband both produce the "failed install contact software supplier" message.

How do I get the final two programmes installed?

Just successfully installed in safe mode!!!

Thanks for the input, Denzil - glad you're all set.

I am having this issue as well on 2 different computers.

1st computer is an iMac 2007. I've upgraded to iLife '09 and Snow Leopard since I purchased it. I get the same error as everyone else on the failed install of iLife '11.

I have a Mac Mini 2010 that came preinstalled with iLife '09 and SL, and it goes about 25% father in the install than the iMac, but then it fails with the same error message.

I've repaired permissions, repaired disk, and even tried creating an image file of the DVD. When I try creating the image, I get an error that the input/output files do not match.

I was having the same issue: iLife '11 was failing on install. I was upgrading from iLife '09.

Here's what worked for me.

1. I upgraded my iLife '09 with iLife Life Support '09 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1009

2. Used the Disk Utility to repair permission

3. Installed 'iLife '11

That's it. And I tried installing it several times and failed before doing the above steps.

Good luck!

AppleCare sent me 2 separate, new iLife 11 upgrade disks. I ran Disk Utility on both disks and both failed with the same errors, something like "this disk is corrupt and needs to be repaired"

Speaking to AppleCare right now and it sounds like they're seeing a lot of this issue. However no resolution apart from sending new disks. I suggested they check the disks for corruption before sending!

I should say AppleCare customer service is far better than iLife reps; the latter were outright defiant and borderline hostile with me.

Had a successful install on my iMac and 2007 Mac Mini. Install failed on 2009 Mac Mini. Tried everything listed in this forum (permissions, delete old iLife, safe mode, grape Nehi, rubber chicken) - concluding with the coup de grace, *_format the hard drive and reload the OS_*. Still no luck. Then decided to do a remote disc install - using my iMac's DVD drive - and you beaut', she loaded up. Should mean my DVD drive on my 2009 M2 is broken, right? Except the reformat/reload was done with OS X Snow Leopard disc right in my Mac MIni.... Seems like this install is excessively sensitive. The lack of feedback on the nature of the installation failure is probably the most frustrating part. Okay, it failed - perhaps the installer ought to give its best guess as to why?

Per AppleCare guy's instructions, I brought all 3 iLife 11 upgrade disks into the Genius Bar. All had three failed Disk Verify on my new iMac. Today, all three disks passed Disk Verify on the Powerbook at the Genius Bar.

So clearly there's something wrong with my iMac, whether it's OS or optical drive or something else.

So tomorrow I'm bringing my iMac to the Genius Bar to test the optical drive.

Note to others, and to Apple: this may be a hardware/warranty issue.

Will know more tomorrow.

AppleStore changed my optical drive overnight and the problem is solved. iLife 11 install disks no longer test 'corrupt' and iLife upgrade installs flawlessly. This was a problem with the optical drive, although you couldn't tell it from the way iLife 11 gave failure messages. Clearly this is a problem with the iMac optical drives. My setup:

iMac purchased in mid-Nov 2010 from amazon.com
it was the $1100 version, the lowest end option at 21inch
nothing custom, no HW upgrades
optical drive was Pioneer. Didn't record the model number before Apple replaced it.
All in repair cost was $194 incl new drive and labor, but Apple picked it up.

Apple Tech Support diagnosed my problem as a problem with the install DVD and they are sending a replacement. In my problem, not only would the install fail part of the way through, I couldn't even copy some of the install packages via a simple drag-n-drop from the DVD to my Mac Pro desktop (read error).

Meanwhile, I made a disk image (via Disk Utility) of the install DVD using my MacBook, which had no problem reading the DVD. I put the image onto a flash drive, took it to my Mac Pro and installed iLife from that. Worked just fine.

So even if you don't have a second computer that will read the DVD, perhaps you know someone who does (and you have a 4GB flash drive or some other way of copying the image back to your computer). Beats waiting on a replacement DVD.

Thank you for this. Worked perfectly for the one of two iMacs that wouldn't read the disc.

I read through all of the posts and found I was having the same issue, about 40% completion I was prompted with a "failed installation". I took out my disk and examined it, found that there was a smudge on it, I wiped it off, I tried again and had a successful install! So glad I didn't have to visit the genius bar or call Apple. Thanks everyone!

I installed iLife 11 on my 2007 iMac 10.6.5 all up to date first try without and issue. I applied all the software updates before opening and everything worked fine.

However my 2009 Mac Mini 10.6.5 all up to date experienced issues. When inserting a the disc directly in the Mac Mini I was getting an error that the disc was un readable. I then used a external drive and the disc was recognized fine. Twice the install stopped about 25% of the way through and said Install Failed.

I repaired Disc Permissions, tried in safe mode, repaired my iLife 09 Library and everything acted the same. I tried the idea someone posted earlier of using remote disc. I set up my iMac (which iLife installed fine on) to be a remote DVD drive for the Mac Mini. A quick google gave me the simple terminal commands to enable the Mac Mini to look for a remote disc. Once I found the remote disc I opened it up and ran the installer without issues. I updated the software before opening and everything works great.

This leads me to believe that the way the discs are burned (Maybe a bad batch) are not being read properly by certain models of optical drives. If your having issues and don't have a second mac that works I would have Apple get you a new disk.

Hope this helps, and at least with the Mac App Store there wont be any DVD issues.

Update from the issues I've been having on my end:


I had the same read errors on my 2007 iMac and 2009 Mac Mini. I tried all the recommendations in this thread (repairing permissions, try to create a disc image, etc.) and they all did not work.

Strangely, I tried the same disk in my wife's 2009 Macbook, and it worked flawlessly! So I quickly made a disk image of it, and was able to install it on the iMac and the Mac Mini through the image file.

However, once I was able to install iLife, my 30,000+ images somehow shrank to 1,000+. Fortunately, I had exported all my images out of iPhoto and onto an external drive before doing so.

Just wanted to add my input. I just bought my first (used) Mac. I ordered the box set from Apple's website to upgrade the OS, iLife, and iWork. The OS and iWork installs went without a hitch. I received the same error as it looks like many other people did when trying to install ILife. I used my Linux box to make a image of the dvd (I don't know how to do that yet on my Mac). I then copied the image over to the mac's desktop and installed the upgrade directly from the image. The installation went perfectly! So, after reading over the other solutions that others on this forum have tried, this seems like the quickest way to get the install working properly.