Installing macOS Sierra results in the error message "The installer payload failed signature check"

I have same issue too. My Macbook pro is mid 2012, 2,9 GHz Intel Core i7. At the moment I cannot get through any osx version. El Capitan or any other updates couldn't get through via Mac App Store. Those previous updates are never gone through. When timing gets 0 zero it starts another 30 minutes and it goes repeatedly. Finally I tried MacOS Sierra, it is

The installer payload failed signature check. I tried all solution described by other none of them seemed to work. I was told Apple support team try it on different internet which was same error. i tried external hard driver was another death end.

Any suggestion?

Best,

Altan

I had the same issue but I found my solution here:

http://www.macworld.com/article/3097533/macs/installing-os-x-what-to-do-when-thi s-copy-of-the-install-os-x-application-c…er

For my case, Date/Time was the root cause which I used Terminal in Recovery Mode and fixed the date.

I also can not do a clean install on macbook air and the date was correct.

Well I made some progress and got past that error message, but you probably aren't going to like the answer, which is to download the Sierra again.

What made me do that, when the installer runs, if you look at the menu bar, there is a "display log" along with "all messages" instead of just the errors. What really bugged me was this, which came up just before the payload error:

Sep 22 04:33:18 newmini osinstallersetupd[9503]: Verifying InstallOS.pkg/InstallESD.dmg

Sep 22 04:38:32 newmini osinstallersetupd[9503]: pkgdmg is not signed or altered.

Sep 22 04:38:32 newmini osinstallersetupd[9503]: pkgdmg validation has failed.

After looking around the net everything seemed to point to a bad download, and I did manage to find the sha and md5 values for the image, which is:

SHA1: 139ef35e4af0da8286b2a3af326cb114d774f606

MD5: 98eb1328baa53f5b1e8445c869fcbb3a

To at least eliminate or confirm a good download, do this:

Open a terminal window up (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal) then:

cd "/Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport" with those double quotes.

then type in:

shasum InstallESD.dmg

and after a couple minutes it should return:

139ef35e4af0da8286b2a3af326cb114d774f606 InstallESD.dmg

then type in:

md5 InstallESD.dmg

and a bit quicker, it should return:

MD5 (InstallESD.dmg) = 98eb1328baa53f5b1e8445c869fcbb3a

If those strings don't match EXACTLY, you have a bad download.

At least you'll know if the installer is ok or not. If you do get those checksums but still get the payload error, I have no clue what to tell you. After all that I decided not to install Sierra anyway, it looks like from the posts coming in today there is some problems with afp (apple file protocol) and it's relationship to Time Machine, if you are using a network disk for backup. Will probably install it on a secondary drive to kick the tires but am not doing an upgrade until the dust settles a bit.

I was having similar issue with 'The installer payload failed signature check'. SHA1 & MD5 checksums were okay, and even re-downloaded & recreated flash drive again. Still a problem. I reviewed the install logs and noticed two things:

1. Date/time was incorrect in the logs.

2. Errors referencing 'cert expired' - implying date problem, too.

• If you get the error, exit the installer and open up a Terminal window (from Utilities menu, if I recall).
• Type 'date' to check you system date/time.
• If incorrect, change it by typing 'date <month><day><hour><minute><two digit year>' e.g. date 0923110616.
• You'll get a prompt with new system date/time.
• Quit Terminal and restart the macOS Sierra installation.

This worked for me. Hope it solves problem for others.

I have gotten this error while trying to install Sierra, and similar ones while trying to install older versions of macOS/OSX, the issue is rarely hardware related. The easiest thing to try is to open terminal and check the date. Often times the reason it is failing the signature check is because the date is incorrect. You can open terminal from within the recovery partition or the bootable installer and type date to see the system time. If its off, follow this pattern to set the time correctly.

date {month}{day}{hour}{minute}{year} e.g. date 0923115416

This has worked for me most of the time, if not hardware diagnostics are needed.

I have the same issue. MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2015/512/16GB . I have tried every method including the online recovery, install from USB, Erase all partitions and Setup New Partitions, Boot into a USB drive on which I had installed Sierra before and run the setup from there. Nothing is helping. For me I do get Disk not ejected properly for my internal flash drive when I install on that. If I push in a second USB drive and install on that the OS installs just fine. I am guessing for me the Flash SSD or North bridge is failing (Hardware Issue). If you are seeing this too, maybe take it in for repairs at Apple.

Screenshot attached.

Well, my checksum's are different from each other. Can't install Sierra. Don't know what to do anymore. Time didn't solve my problem.

you can go to terminal and reset time machine .

Thank you, the issue has got resolved in my MBp 15" by correcting the date

Hello, all:

If you get that installer payload failed signature check error, open Terminal, and type the following before installing:

date 0201010016

This worked for me when I had this issue with an OS X El Capitan USB install flash drive I created some time ago, and now, it also works with the macOS Sierra USB install flash drive I prepared for a Late 2009 Unibody MacBook earlier today. It should work with your install methods, as well.

Hope this helps!

EDIT - Noticed someone else posting a similar solution on here earlier!

In my case > Dutch Belgian

iMac-****:SharedSupport ***$ shasum InstallESD.dmg

ff59036a9f8ea86b414942860bfdfd2111539988 InstallESD.dmg

iMac-****:SharedSupport ****$ md5 InstallESD.dmg

MD5 (InstallESD.dmg) = f7908f8838dc725fb82297250883397c

Thanks for your advice waiting untill start-up problems will be resolved