Installation fail : the installer payload failed signature check

It appears that the installer might have become corrupted either while downloading or while copying.

I would check with a different USB hard disk first.

If you copied this onto a USB stick for install or made a DVD, that install media might be corrupted, I would try making the USB installer media or DVD again.

If this still fails, it is possible the download is corrupt and might need to be downloaded again.

The signature check appears to be a simple check to see if there is any corruption in the file before trusting its contents.

Ok. Thanks, I will try again when I go back home.

I tried to download the macOS installation file again, but the web site said that the code was already redeemed and didn't give me a chance to go to its next page. So, I can't re-download it.

Having the same issue. I have tried downloading it on different computers and tried different external drives. Issue is on a MacBook Air, 2014 model.

I have a Macbook pro 2012 and having the same issue and i have downloaded this 6 times now

Same message here, I tried to install it on an external firewire drive (mac mini 2011) but it won' t install. It worked this way in the past.

I had the same error and worked around it by ensuring the installation source is placed in the /Applications directory.

Hope it helps

I've had the same problem. On a Mac Book Air, 6,2

I've downloaded it on a MBP Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013, ran "sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra\ Developer\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Sierra\ Developer\ Beta --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra\ Developer\ Beta.app" to create a USB drive. Then tried to do a clean install to an erased MBA.

Things I've tried to fix it:

- Deleted and re-downloaded the installer from software update on my MBP

- Coppied the installer to a external hd and then copied it to the Applications folder on a freshly installed MBA

- booting directly from the USB installer

I believe I'm still getting the beta 2 code, the "Install macOS Sierra Developer Beta.app" has a version 12.0.26

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

I got it to install. I had a clean system that was not joined to a network. Once I connected it to wireless and then installed from a copy of the installer I put in the Applications folder it worked.

Any reason it would not install from a USB flash drive? I've never needed an internet connection for that before.

I got it to install by correcting my computer's system date.

Reference: http://www.macworld.com/article/3097533/macs/installing-os-x-what-to-do-when-this-copy-of-the-install-os-x-application-cannot-be-verified.html

I got mine fixed: just make sure your system time is correct before the installation.

For a detailed tutorial to fix this problem, please refer to this link:

http://www.macworld.com/article/3097533/macs/installing-os-x-what-to-do-when-this-copy-of-the-install-os-x-application-cannot-be-verified.html

It also explains why connecting to the internet solves this issue.

As mentioned above, I placed the macOS Install Data dir into the applications folder and launched again the Sierra Update from Launchpad. No more error messages.

I'm having the same issue. Here's a part of the log describing the problem

Verifying InstallOS.pkg/InstallESD.dmg

pkgdmg is not signed or altered.

pkgdmg validation has failed.

Operation queue failed with error: Error Domain=com.apple.OSInstallerSetup.error Code=202 "The installer payload failed signature check."

I tried downloading the installation several times with no luck. Appreciate any help...

This was my issue too, replaced battery and lost the clock.

Open Terminal from the installer and run:

date
ntpdate -u time.apple.com
date

Hi all,

I have the same problem.

I have tried:

• Download new instalation file;
• Create new usb pen instalation;
• Update date time in terminal;
• Use diferent usb port.

Can anyone help me? I don't know what to do now.

Same problem here...

• Download new instalation file;
• Create new usb pen instalation;
• Update date time in terminal;
• Use diferent usb port.

Same error:

The installer payload failed signature check"

I had the same issue - trying to install Sierra from a bootable USB drive eventually resulted in a 'The installer payload failed signature check' message.

The Macbook Air I was installing it on was built in 2012. I suspected the date/time to be an issue.

Here's what worked:

1. Plug in your USB drive.
2. While powering on, hold down 'COMMAND' and 's'
3. You will be dropped into a terminal prompt.
4. In the terminal prompt, type 'date'. Note how far off the date is - Mine was almost a year in the past.
5. Set the date (format: [mm][dd][HHMM][yy] - e.g: December 23rd 4pm 2016 is 1223160016) - 'date 1223160016'
6. Type: exit... the terminal prompt will display a bunch of startup messages and will discover your USB drive.

...In 5 minutes or so, you will be back in the installation screen.

Trying this now. Hopefully this works.

Confirming setting the date worked for me tonight while installing official Sierra from a USB stick. It was a 2010 Macbook Pro that hasn't been powered on for a while and the date when back to 1970 😠 Thanks. This saved me.

Apple: the installer should do a date check. You didn't exist yet in 1970 😉

Likewise, just adding to the list to say that I had exactly the same error message too whilst trying to install Sierra from a usb key on a mid-2010 MacBook Pro. All I needed to do was to reset the date using the steps set out by notpeter above. I was then able to successfully use exactly the same key and installer (my source was in the Applications folder already). A great tip above. Thanks to Shiky for suggesting it and to all those that have confirmed this works.

I think one of the reasons for the failure is that the InstallESD.dmg file was not copied into the USB drive correctly. To verify run the diff command in the terminal to verify. To rectify this open a terminal and copy the file from the Applications directory to the USB drive.

diff /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Sierra/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

--> If this reports that the binary files are different, run the next command

sudo cp /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Sierra/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

--> You will need to provide the Administrative Password for the sudo command

(The directories in the above commands contain spaces which need to be escaped. Also there may be differences in the directory paths.)

This solved my problem.

Hope this helps.

The file verification method worked for me. The following is what I have done:

1. I used the diff command as mentioned above and I found the differences between original file and the one on USB drive.
2. I copied the installation file again to the USB drive by using cp command.
3. Boot with this USB drive, and set correct time by using terminal.
   

   ntpdate -u time.apple.com
   date
   exit

4. Turn off terminal, and run macOS Sierra installation again.