Installation failed: Can't install the software

TL;DR Use a different cable.

I was having the same problem and I kept seeing the solution of using a different lightning cable show up. I've been in tech for 20+ years and I couldn't imagine that the cable I was just charging my iPad with from a wall adapter would be faulty for connecting it to my MacBook.

Turns out switching the cable worked. Note, however, that the one that didn't work is the Apple cable that came in the box brand new about 4 months ago. That cable is visually in perfect condition and has been treated gently. The cable I switched to was purchased alongside the highway at a gas station some ten months ago or more and it worked. There's no sensible reason why one works and the other doesn't.

It also doesn't make much sense to me that all these red-herring type messages and errors come up from a mere damaged cable. I hope this reply helps.

*Attention, I solved the problem!!!*

Hopefully this will fix the problem for someone else too albeit I doubt everyone.

Did you have your iOS devices connected to another Mac or PC before? Did you use the backup on computer feature before rather than iCloud backup?

I connected the iPad Pro that had this problem to my previous Mac, thinking of backing it up there to restore it and then hope it would work on the Macbook Pro where it didn't. I deactivated the computer backup there and activated iCloud backup instead.

I knew that was it...I suspected that could be the problem. Now that the iPad isn't looking for the former computer to backup with...or the computer isn't attempting to back it up...now I can connect it to my new Macbook Pro, it shows it correctly on iTunes and it doesn't give me that silly popup anymore. Finally!

Works fine on both Usb ports on the 2015 Macbook Pro.

I'm not going to activate the computer backups for this device, which I don't want anyway. I like the iCloud backup. I also don't need to sync anything, so I don't guarantee it will work for that. "Prevent syncing" is on in iTunes' settings. I'm not gonna try, and I just don't need it. What I needed is using the iPad as a display with Duet, use it for development in the future (not sure there will be problems there) and most of all CHARGE it via the Macbook. Now it does.

I'm very happy I solved the problem, at least for now, and I hope this can help someone. Apparently the old computer backup set on iTunes messed things up a bit. Eventually not having to backup on computer doesn't force iTunes to attempt to install that piece that won't install. I tried all other solutions to no avail, including the Xcode one and the resets.

Hope this will help somebody else reclaim their devices.

I stumbled across another solution for the "Installation Failed - Can't install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server."

Solution: Make sure that your phone and laptop are fully charged before attempting the software update.

Further Details: In my case, my phone was at approximately 50% battery and my laptop was at 40% battery. I tried different Lightning cables (no luck), restarting the phone and laptop, confirming clock settings on both phone and laptop, reseting NVRAM, running MobileDeviceUpdater manually, and was only able to resolve the problem by charging the devices.

My devices:

iPhone XR - iOS v12.1.2, Model MT442LL/A

MacBook Pro, Retina, 15 inch, Mid-2015, Mac OS 10.14.2 Mojave, iTunes 12.9.2.5

First, I cleaned out the Lightning slot (using a 'dental stimulator' that was all plastic.) That got a lot of lint out, and made the connection reliable. But I still had the problem.

Changing cables did not help.

Installing XCode did.

Clearly there is a significant bug in iTunes. I'm appalled at how ****-poorly Apple responds to bugs like this (or even to the serious ones, like the FaceTime bug.) There's no excuse for this, it's not like Apple can't afford to do Software QA.

Try to set the date and try - u can use terminal to set the date and time

Exactly the same issue out of the blue despite all software being up to date. Swapped cable from 3rd party one (which had previously worked perfectly) back to the official apple cable and all is well.

Changed the wire and worked fine

Had a third-party cable. Switched to Apple cable and it surprisingly fixed the issue!

I had the same issue. Even after updating to the latest software, it still showed up.

What solved it was changing the lightning cable I used to a non-Apple store one that I had bought elsewhere.

It automatically connected.

I figured it out! I had been messing with instructions for about an hour. Sometimes my ipad would become visible for maybe a minute and then disappear and then I would get the message we all got and try and install software and NADA! Then I got the message about the server.

Soooooooooo, the easiest item for me to replace was the USB cable from my Mac to my iPad! Found the original I got with my Mac. Used it, and "BINGO" All is well. Got my iPad and Mac synced! I am a happy camper. No more buying low budget cables on ebay!!!!

1. Sign out and sign in into your iCloud in your phone.
2. May be thats bug just do not update from iTunes, go to phone software update.

And if your iMessage & FaceTime throws error in Sigin (See my answer somewhere in previous reply)

Fix 1:

The version of the iOS device may got expired. Check whether both the device are up to date. If not then update the device with latest version and try to sync the device.

• Go to Settings > General > Software Update.

If you still face the issue then follow next fix.

Fix 2:

It may cause due to the date an time mismatch of your device which you want to sync up.

https://techmazza.com/installation-failed-cant-install-the-software-because-currently-not-available-ios/

I had this issue which caused my iphone to continuously connecting and disconnecting from the mac.

Finally apple support find a way to solve it :

After creating a new user, when connecting the iphone on the new user session, the problem was not reproduced.

We tried also to install a previous version of itunes but mac wouldn't allow us.

Finally this is what fixed the issue :

• go to finder
• choose go on the top left and select go to folder
• type the following : /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/Current/Resour ces/MobileDeviceUpdater
• Go inside the package called MobileDeviceUpdater
• Under the Mac OS folder you should see this :

then execute this unix executable. You should see some message about an update.

I did this when the phone was connected to itunes.

After that, when reconnecting the iphone, the pb was fixed.

Thanks

Romain

You might try CMD+L keys to see if logging shows & offers any clues.

I had same problem. I was using extension wire. When I connected iphone directly, it worked for me.