[Mingus]

Hey all,

I'm trying to download High Sierra so I can create a stand alone installer but iTunes keeps telling me it isn't available fro it's US store. Apparently is is, but I can't access it. I'm currently using Mavericks. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Rob]

Make sure you're doing this through Safari. It won't link properly through other web browsers.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12

Other OS versions through this link How to get old versions of macOS (Make sure you're using Safari)

 

[Mingus]

Make sure you're doing this through Safari. It won't link properly through other web browsers.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12

Other OS versions through this link How to get old versions of macOS (Make sure you're using Safari)

Brilliant! Thanks Rob. I've been using both Firefox and Safari to attempt this and always get the 'Item Not Available' error.

One more question, my goal is to download only and create a bootable installer. Will it automatically start installing upon download or can I head it off at the pass.

Thanks again!

 

[Rob]

I don't think it starts installing automatically. The file may end up in your applications folder, but I'm not positive about that. After downloading check your applications folder.

 

[Mingus]

I don't think it starts installing automatically. The file may end up in your applications folder, but I'm not positive about that. After downloading check your applications folder.

It is, but it's not the full installer. It's a 20mb proxy that installs from the net. Can't create a boot drive from it. I need to figure out how to download the full installer. The only info I can find has me downloading a 3rd party app. Not keen on this...

 

[pm-r]

I need to figure out how to download the full installer.

Try here and check out some of the most recent date hits:

download High Sierra for a stand alone installer - Google Search

- Patrick
=======

 

[Mingus]

Try here and check out some of the most recent date hits:

download High Sierra for a stand alone installer - Google Search

- Patrick
=======

LOL. Thanks Patrick.

 

[polywog]

Push comes to shove, you can probably install Sierra (macOS Sierra 10.12) and then upgrade to High Sierra.

Although I'm pretty sure last time I created a bootable installer by downloading from the App Store, and then sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/{bootable drive}

 

[Macfury]

Archive.org has been archiving old Apple OSes:

Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13 : Apple, Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The content goes to Apple. Enjoy the operating system! (Installs VMWare Workstation 14.0 only)

archive.org

 

[polywog]

That's fewer steps than mine. No fair.

 

[Reboot]

It is, but it's not the full installer. It's a 20mb proxy that installs from the net. Can't create a boot drive from it. I need to figure out how to download the full installer. The only info I can find has me downloading a 3rd party app. Not keen on this...

If you run the small file it will download the full installer and put it in your Applications folder. When it’s done downloading the full installer it will start the installer but it sits at the initial screen and you’re able to Quit it.

 

[Mingus]

Thanks for your help everyone! I ended up reaching out to a vendor I've used in the past and they kindly uploaded the full installer to my Google Drive. The trouble is, when I download the zip file, I get an error unzipping it. When I tried StuffIt and Terminal, same deal. They however tried the download on their end and it was fine. Even more perplexed now...

 

[Reboot]

Thanks for your help everyone! I ended up reaching out to a vendor I've used in the past and they kindly uploaded the full installer to my Google Drive. The trouble is, when I download the zip file, I get an error unzipping it. When I tried StuffIt and Terminal, same deal. They however tried the download on their end and it was fine. Even more perplexed now...

Did you try what I suggested? Launch the small file that’s in your Applications folder and it will download the full thing. It’ll be a five or six gig file. When it’s done the installer launches, tell it to quit. It won’t go through the rest of the install steps unless you tell it to. It puts the full installer in the Applications folder where the small file was.

 

[Mingus]

Did you try what I suggested? Launch the small file that’s in your Applications folder and it will download the full thing. It’ll be a five or six gig file. When it’s done the installer launches, tell it to quit. It won’t go through the rest of the install steps unless you tell it to. It puts the full installer in the Applications folder where the small file was.

I'll be trying this next. Thanks Reboot.

 

[Reboot]

I'll be trying this next. Thanks Reboot.

I’ve done this three or four times in the last three weeks for customers. It was Catalina but it does the same thing. If you are going to run it on the computer to Upgrade it it will delete the big installer when it’s done installing, so make a copy if you want to keep the big installer.

If you’re going to make a bootable USB stick it’s easier to leave it in the Applications folder because all the instructions for doing it figure it’s in the Applications folder. After you make the USB stick it will not delete the installer.

HTH

 

[Mingus]

I’ve done this three or four times in the last three weeks for customers. It was Catalina but it does the same thing. If you are going to run it on the computer to Upgrade it it will delete the big installer when it’s done installing, so make a copy if you want to keep the big installer.

If you’re going to make a bootable USB stick it’s easier to leave it in the Applications folder because all the instructions for doing it figure it’s in the Applications folder. After you make the USB stick it will not delete the installer.

HTH

Hey again. So I begin the process of running the small installer and it begins a process that very much appears to be an installation, not a download. Are you certain it downloads first and can be stopped before updating?

 

[Reboot]

Hey again. So I begin the process of running the small installer and it begins a process that very much appears to be an installation, not a download. Are you certain it downloads first and can be stopped before updating?

It seems Apple has changed things. The following is a link that tells how to download the installer and make a USB stick. How to create a bootable installer for macOS

It doesn’t work anymore yet the date on it is February 10, 2021. What it does now is download the stub instead of downloading the full installer into the Applications folder. When you launch the stub it downloads all the install files and it puts them on the top level of the hard drive in a folder called macOS Install Data.

If you try and create a USB stick it fails since the full installer is not in the Applications folder.

You need to copy the files over from the macOS Install Data folder to the small installer.

To do that open Terminal and run these two commands, copy everything from sudo on.

sudo mkdir /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport
cd /macOS\ Install\ Data

sudo cp -p /macOS\ Install\ Data/* /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/

You can now use the normal createinstallmedia command. Erase your USB stick and name it Untitled first.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled/ --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/ --nointeraction

If you don’t have the macOS Install Data folder yet you can download a program that’s supposed to allow for High Sierra on unsupported machines, but it also has the option to download the full installer. The link explains how to do it.

macOS High Sierra Patcher

Download the tool and copy the patcher from the mounted DMG to your computer somewhere. To run the patcher application you’ll have to right click Open or the OS will complain about coming from an unidentified developer.

If you want to make a USB stick save the installer to your Applications folder. If you downloaded the small installer you’ll replace that with the full installer. Then you can follow the instructions above on how to make a bootable stick.

If you’ve already downloaded the High Sierra installer and you have the macOS Install Data folder on your hard drive, you can delete the contents once you make the full installer from the two commands above, but you cannot delete the empty folder unless you do the following.

1. Restart your Mac in recovery mode(press and hold Command (⌘)-R at the start-up).
2. Open the Terminal Utility
3. Type the command csrutil disable
4. Reboot and delete the folder
5. Boot back into recovery and in terminal and type csrutil enable
6. Reboot normally
7. you can check the status after you reboot by typing in terminal csrutil status

I just tried this tonight and it does work.

 

[Mingus]

Thanks so much for taking the time for such an elaborate response. This is getting a bit too involved for my liking. Will have to go back to the drawing board it seems.