I tried installing mavericks and i always get "This copy of the Install OS X Mavericks application can't be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading."

I have canvassed the support forums for a solution to the unverified isntall file and have not seen the FIX that worked for me:

http://blog.mconserv.net/2013/10/install-os-x-mavericks-application-cant.html

This saved me from messing with my RAM and doing tests, etc. Setting the time in the Terminal allows for the file to get verified. I was installing a new hard drive.

Good luck with your installs.

Thanks for the suggestion to try installing from safe mode. Worked for me!

(after no luck downloading the installer 3 times and running it in normal mode)

This worked for me as well.

Same issue here and setting the date fixed it. Thanks!

I had the same problem with this error message while trying to install after download. I tried the no-sleep-mode solution, the date solution, the wifi location solution, the downloading from a new user account solution and verified the disk (no repairs were required) - none of which worked. What finally worked was booting in safe mode, downloading again and then installing. The install FINALLY completed. I know the next step if this didn't work was going to be a new install of the operating system. Thank goodness I did not have to do that. So time consuming. Good luck, everyone.

Yes that fixed it for me. I noticed that the wiifi was not operative and the date was 2001. As soon as I switched wi-fi on and corrected the date, all was well. Its obviously a glitch whereby you cant install Mavericks on a date prior to its manufacture. Makes sense in a Microsoft sort of way.

Just for anyone who doesn't know the steps How to change the date in terminal, I found this great article with step by step process showing you how to do it.

Good Luck,

Cheers!!

https://bensmann.no/changing-system-date-from-terminal-os-x-recovery/

Judging by the handful of different solutions that have worked for different poeple, this same error message might be popping for more than one reason. Of course the last one I tried was the one that one worked:

In my case (trying to install Mavericks onto an external drive):

1. Re-download the installer and try again: ➖ Didn't work for me.
2. Delete the installer, re-download the installer and try again: ➖ Didn't work for me.
3. Check the system date: ➖ Date was already set correctly.
4. Boot in safe mode, re-download the installer and try again. ➖ Didn't work for me.
5. Reboot in normal mode, plug in wired LAN, disable wifi, re-download the installer and try again: ➕ Worked for me.

That worked. Great job! I'm working on a macbook pro which I think the battery has depleted and not keeping the correct time and date.

Was trying to do clean install of Mavericks on a 2009 white macbook. Changing the date in terminal fixed the issue - thanks folks!

I too have been using a Mavericks install on a USB Flash drive to clean install several systems here at work. None of them would install and they would error out with the above error.

Changing the date on my 2010 MBP did the trick for me as well. Mine was set to December 31st, 2000. Changed it to December 15th 2013 and it installed the first time, nice and clean, without any errors.

Thanks Bill!

Can anyone please help me? Trying to do a clean install of Mavericks on my macbook. I originally had the Mavericks upgrade but it was extremely slow after the upgrade and I read it on some forums that I should probably do a clean upgrade. I had the macbook for a while and never cleaned it up so I figured it will be a good chance to get my macbook straightened up (i.e. start fresh). I downloaded Mavericks no problem (wifi) and used the terminal to make a bootable usb with the Installer for OSX Mavericks. Everything went fine, I saved everything that I needed to a separate flash drive and had a nostalgic moment with my Macbook for a few seconds and booted up with the usb drive. Formatted the disk using disk utility and hit install Mavericks, and I get the "this copy of the install os x mavericks application can't be verified..." I tried the date change (which wasn't off besides the fact that I'm in EST and Macbook is set to PST the time wasn't off like everyone), I tried changing the language and changing back, I tried verifying and reparing disk but I stilll get the error message... I've tried 13 times now (on my 14th). The only thing I didn't get to try is using ahrd Ethernet cable to download the Mavericks and making the bootable USB. But this is the only mac I have (I'm writing this from a PC) and I can't download Mavericks again as my Mac currently has no OS and no timemachine backup of any kind (stupid of me)........ Can anyone help?????

How did you verify your date was set correctly? I had to:

1. Boot into my USB stick
2. Go to the menu and select Terminal
3. Type date and see the result
4. If the date is wrong, type date 1118125013
5. Type date again to verify that it's set to November 18 2013 (note that the actual date you use doesn't matter, but keep it sometime in late 2013)
6. Quit the terminal window and quit the termain app
7. Proceed with the reinstall of the OS without rebooting

If your Macbook came pre-shipped with 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, you can try booting directly into the recovery / reinstall method by holding down cmd-opt-r on reboot. That should let you use the Internet Recovery option to redownload and reinstall a fresh 10.7 or 10.8, at which point you can boot up and try reinstalling or troubleshooting your Mavericks install.

Hi plochner, thanks so much for replying and helping. I didn't realize I was suppose to set the date/time to somewhere in late 2013. Before, I "verified" the date by looking at it and it was showing today and current time.

I just tried what you said (setting it to somewhere in late 2013) and it is still not working (followed your step exactly). I even tried pulling out the upgrade RAM that I installed to see that works (someone in the thread mentioned this). :'(

It always gets stuck for a good 5~10 minutes at "About a second remaining" part and then I get the same error message that it couldn't be verified... :''(

Do you kno wof any other solution? (ps it had Snow Leopard that I upgraded to Lion before this attempt of upgrade. It was not pre-shipped with Lion or Mountain Lion) also, does it matter that the Macbook is currently connected to wifi? I tried hooking up the ethernet and it doesn't get internet that way. :'''(

Well, it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be set in 2013. I just set mine in 2013 and that's what worked for me. I wanted to make sure my Date was set sometime after Mavericks was released to the public, so I settled on late 2013.

My post was to verify that you were setting the date after you booted into the USB stick, ie not in Single User Mode or any other method. It appears you have correctly set the date, so we can rule out that part of the problem.

Unfortunately as you said, your laptop was shipped with 10.6, so that gets rid of the recovery partition option. Do you have any 10.6 CD-ROMs laying around that you can boot to and reinstall (put disk in, hold down C key as it boots)?

You may be able to bring it to the Apple store and let them know you tried the Mavericks upgrade and now the system won't boot. You're out of warranty on your machine and I'm not sure if it'll cost anything, but they may be able to hellp out for a nominal fee. Sadly I don't think there's any way to purchase 10.7, 10.8, or 10.9 media to boot to, it all went digital distribution a few years ago.