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ecw73 Author

Level 1

0 points

All app store apps exit on startup with code 173

I've tried purchasing two app store apps and they both will not start. The system.log error is like:

com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[119] ([0x0-0x20020].com.rovio.mac.AngryBirds[233]): Exited with exit code: 173

I've reinstalled the 10.6.6 combo update and still no luck. I have no problem signing in to the app store. Has anyone run into this?

2010 MBP 17", Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jan 9, 2011 5:46 PM

35 replies

OrionX

Level 1

0 points

Jan 31, 2011 10:41 PM in response to Flish

Having to re-install OS X as a clean install is not a solution in my book. It's a workaround for a problem that hasn't had it's root cause identified. You should not have to re-install your OS to solve a DRM problem (which is what Error# 173 is supposed to indicate as I understand).

I have a case I opened this evening with Apple because my first and only App Store purchase, Borderlands, exits on startup with error 173 in the console log. (And yes, I have a ticket with Feral Interactive as well).

Apple: Please acknowledge this issue and fix it.

~Orion X

Joe Bailey

Level 6

12,227 points

Feb 4, 2011 4:14 PM in response to Flish

My results have been mixed. Sketchbook Express, Pin Point, iota-Calc and VectorDesigner have all exhibited the error 173 behavior. Aperture, Bevy, Text-Wrangler, MindNode, Translator Free, and Constitution for Mac all installed and ran normally. (By-the-way, $80 for Aperture through App Store sure beats $199 over the counter or in a box.)

Now just to make things more confusing I used App Store to install the ill behaving apps on my Macbook Air where they ran without a hitch. I tried to copy the working versions from the Macbook to my iMac but ran into permissions issues that I resolved by zipping the app and then copying it to the iMac. I replaced the copy on the iMac with the copy from the Macbook and after authorizing with my iTunes account and password the apps worked on the iMac. I have reported this to the App Store and got an automated reply and case number, but so far, no answer to the issue.

I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but the iMac is running in 64 bit mode.

Mar 14, 2011 3:57 AM in response to Joe Bailey

I just wanted to bump this thread and say I get the same exit code 173 errors on several app store purchases on my mac mini, but never on my 13" or 17" macbook pros.
I tried everything suggested here, short of a clean reinstall, and the only thing that works for me is Joe Bailey's solution - copying the app (once launched successfully on either macbook) to the mini brings up an AppleID prompt and the app will work fine from then on. Interestingly, if try to relaunch the original apps, it still spits a 173, even if the new version is currently running.
My 2c

simschla

Level 1

4 points

Apr 3, 2011 11:27 PM in response to ecw73

I had the exact same Problem with SourceTree.app (bought from the AppStore) and others.

I could solve it for me using the Terminal:

cd /Applications
sudo chmod -R 775 SourceTree.app

Afterwards, the App startet normally.

The cause might be, that I do not have the default umask. By creating the file /etc/launchd-user.conf I've set my umask to 007. Since then, I had Problems with Apps purchased from the App Store...

Message was edited by: simschla

diddl14

Level 1

0 points

Apr 26, 2011 8:32 AM in response to ecw73

I'm having the same problem with Transmit. Tried everything except for a fresh OSX install. Painful.. Hope that someone soon finds a simple solution to this...

Jun 3, 2011 7:14 PM in response to simschla

Thanks for the help. I too have a different umask than the default and changing the permissions fixed my issue as well.

Jul 29, 2011 12:11 PM in response to ecw73

This is now happening to me, just after installing Lion. Tried everything mentioned by everyone.

Has there been a resolve for this?

Aug 12, 2011 11:12 AM in response to duncondeacon

fwiw, I was having this problem with only one app (moom) on my lion machine. I deleted the app, rebooted the app store and then reinstalled the app that seems to have fixed it. Hope the same works for you!

Aug 27, 2011 12:58 PM in response to ecw73

I was able to get this fixed!! I was getting the same Exited with exit code: 173 error.

I had this problem with a paid app I regularly use after upgrading my hard drive and using migration assistant to copy over my user and apps. I ended up deleting the paid app (go into applications, put in trash, empty trash) and then downloading again from the app store. After I did this, it worked great.

I agree, it looks like a permission issue. the app would open, ask for my user/password and then immediately close. I tried most of the fixes in this thread and it didnt work.

Oct 26, 2011 10:15 AM in response to Ryan Hobus

I concur with Ryan Hobus. I recently had the logic board replaced on my Mac. After trying to launch a Mac store app, it exited with code 173.

My fix was:

1. Move app to trash

2. Empty trash

3. Sign out of App store

4. Sign in to App store

5. Re-download app

Worked!

Jul 25, 2012 6:55 AM in response to ecw73

This just started happenign to me after purchasing OmniFocus on Jul 12. The app works fine on one Mac, but tnot the other (fine on an early 200 Mac Pro; won't open on a late 2010 Pro).

What's even weirder is that after a week and a half odf trying to troubleshoot this, I did one last delet and download, and it wprked (on Monday, July 23). Everythign worked fine .. until this morning, whn it started crashong on startup with the 173 error again.

Extremely frustrating. (Apple support has been no help, either.)

- Casey

dmuldoon

Level 1

0 points

Aug 19, 2012 6:01 PM in response to ecw73

If you have a case-sensitive file system you just need to change the name of the receipt file in your _MASReceipt directory to Receipt.

here's an example in terminal:

(open terminal)

cd /Applications/Name of Application.app/Contents/_MASReceipt

sudo mv receipt Receipt

(enter your system password)

et voila...

Apr 22, 2013 11:21 AM in response to ecw73

I fixed this problem by making sure all of the installer's parent directories have the execute bit set. I suspect Mac OS X has a security feature enabled to prevent applications from running as different users out of paths that have been set non-executable (this is something *NIX does).

In my case, my Downloads directory only had the execute bit set for 'user' and not for 'group' or 'other': permissions bit mask 700 or drwx------. I added the execute bit only which still prevents others from seeing or modifying my Downloads directory, but allowed the application to run under an administrator account: bit mask 711 or drwx--x--x.

chmod +x ~/Downloads

Apr 22, 2013 12:02 PM in response to Wesley Miaw

You may not want to keep the execute bit set on your Downloads folder, as this would allow downloaded applications to run which you may not want to be true as a security measure.

Jul 26, 2013 5:07 AM in response to ecw73

Folks,

Here's what I did to solve this problem on my machine. I tried deleting the app and then reinstalling it, but I noticed that it didn't seem to be actually re-downloading the package. I became suspicious that there was a corrupted package cached locally, and that was what was being used each time I tried to re-install. So - I watched the console log while I reinstalled, and saw lines like this:

7/26/13 7:44:34.995 AM App Store[539]: PKDistributionController: Found asset mzps1920463678173855336.pkg on disk for item 403388562 - Size 9931864

So I searched my machine for any files called mzps*.pkg,

sudo find / -name 'mzps*.pkg'

and I found them in

/private/var/folders/1s/xrn3l0bd44x127w16mybylz877q2mf/C/com.apple.appstore

(I expect that path will be different on your machine - you'll need to run that find command yourself to locate the proper directory)

I then removed the com.apple.appstore directory

sudo rm -rf /private/var/folders/1s/xrn3l0bd44x127w16mybylz877q2mf/C/com.apple.appstore

restarted the App Store app, and then was able to successfully reinstall the original app. This also seems to have cleared up a problem I was having with two other updates being repeatedly applied. There were other (probably corrupt) pkg files in that directory that I got rid of.

Good luck!

-Colin

Message was edited by: cmurtaugh (fixed the rm command)

All app store apps exit on startup with code 173