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

Thanks a lot

Hi there,

I found that if time date/time is (very) wrong on your mac, you get this error. To make your life more difficult, booting from an Sierra OS X installer disk/USB drive doesn't necessarily show a clock in the top-right corner of the screen. So if you have the same experience as I did.. it took me a while to notice this discrepancy.

For me, I disconnected the battery while installing a new hard disk, so I needed to use the terminal utility in the recovery system to update your clock using the ntpdate command and specifying an appropriate time server. If you're connected to the internet, you can use the command below, and then restart the OS X installer.

ntpdate -u time.apple.com

I really hope this helps you (and anyone else who comes across this page).

Good luck!

Hamish

Just tried upgrade from elcapitan,wish i hadnt as everything was running sweet-not now,got the same error message,signature not recognised or similar.Now the whole computer has turned to ****.
Will try OS recovery and reinstall from internet as it seems my best option.

Got it sorted,playing around ages ago i split my "mackintosh HD"in two and the new disc is where i chose to put OS Sierra and thats all that was stored on it.So went to utilities which took an eternity to open because of the install issues then i erased the disc.Also it seemed that google chrome was the main culprit in jamming up CPU as the "chrome helper"was erased so i dragged that to the rubbish and it came good with a reinstall of chrome.Also had to reset email account passwords as they were lost in failed "Sierra" install.
Checked time and date settings first and they were correct,i aint no computer tech however chrome was definitely where things went pair shaped after sierra failed to install.Its going sweet again anyway,jagged a result there somewhere.

Had this problem doing a complete new install of Sierra to Macbook that had gone completely flat so it had lost its clock. Resetting date and time worked perfectly but be aware the default timezone for the clock is PDT so you should probably adjust your entry to reflect that rather than where you are actually located

Hi

I re-created the USB and it installed fine. Thank you.

Hi there,

I was having the same issues, and definitely there is nothing wrong you've been doing.

I'd like to inform you after downloading the latest version .dmg version 10.12.1 and recreated a a USB Installer I was able to get rid of the issues.

Like in some other replies, you may have seen, about using the terminal to update the date; in my case, that was not my situation, since after trying that out; I was still facing the same error.

So, please, download the latest version of the macOS Sierra installer, and redo your USB installer; it should work this time.

*Looks the installer itself had issues on its own.

I hope this reply may have been of some help for you or anyone looking for a solution related to this error.

Thank you

thanks for the info. worked for me too. I've used the terminal app to edit the date. Macbook Pro 2010

Hi there,

I was having the same issues, and definitely there is nothing wrong you've been doing.

I'd like to inform you after downloading the latest version Installer "macOS Sierra.app" (version 10.12.1) (released on 10/27/16), and recreated a USB Installer using the terminal, I was able to get rid of the issues.

Like in some other replies, you may have seen, about using the terminal to update the date; in my case, that was not my situation, since after trying that out; I was still facing the same error.

So, please, download the latest version of the macOS Sierra installer, and redo your USB installer; it should work this time.

*Looks the previous installer itself, had issues on its own, and Apple has fixed it on this new release version 10.12.1.

I hope this reply may have been of some help for you or anyone looking for a solution related to this error.

Thank you

Did you find a solution yet? I'm having the same issues...

Hi unfortunately correcting the date/time is not the error, i have tried loading Sierra many times and failed.