How To Fix Damaged App Message On Macos Catalina

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  1. Next Fix: Fix macOS Catalina iMessage, iCloud, App Store on VMware & VirtualBox. This solution is if the first fix didn’t work so proceed with this. Remember not to skip the first method and directly head to this step. This is only if the first step didn’t work. To fix, download the latest version of Clover Configurator.
  2. Sep 21, 2020 If you’re still having problems downloading macOS Catalina, try to find the partially-downloaded macOS 10.15 files and a file named ‘Install macOS 10.15’ on your hard drive.

Oct 27, 2019 Open the Terminal app (Applications Utilities) (you can use Spotlight) Copy and paste the following command; sudo rm -r /Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/ Press enter, you may have to enter your admin password; This will delete the app, now you need to re-download and install Catalina. Simply click the Upgrade Now button. Next Fix: Fix macOS Catalina iMessage, iCloud, App Store on VMware & VirtualBox. This solution is if the first fix didn’t work so proceed with this. Remember not to skip the first method and directly head to this step. This is only if the first step didn’t work. To fix, download the latest version of Clover Configurator.

Apple’s latest macOS, Catalina, has just been released to the public last October 7, 2019 and you can now install it on your Mac, as long as your device meets the hardware requirements. First revealed during the WWDC 2019 conference in San Jose, California, macOS Catalina introduces some new exciting features and functionalities.

As we say goodbye to iTunes, macOS Catalina brings in new apps and features to the table, including Apple Music, Podcasts Books, and TV. Another major feature is Sidecar, which can turn your iPad into another display. For ordinary users, this means getting a secondary display for free. For developers, on the other hand, this secondary screen can be used as a drawing tablet using supported apps.

With the release of macOS Catalina 10.15, a lot of Mac users are enthusiastic to install the newest Mac operating system. Just like the previous versions of macOS, some were able to upgrade without a hitch, but several users encountered various issues during downloading and installation of the update.

Some users experienced slow downloading of the update, while others got error messages when installing Catalina, including:

  • Storage system verify or repair failed
  • This copy of the Install application can’t be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading.
  • An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running again.
  • Copy of install macOS application is damaged and can’t be used to install macOS.
  • There is not enough free space on the selected volume.

This guide will give you a detailed rundown of the most common macOS Catalina installation and update errors encountered by Mac users when upgrading or installing macOS Catalina, along with the instructions on how to deal with these hiccups.

Why macOS Catalina Won’t Install

Various problems can occur during the installation of macOS Catalina. If the installation won’t start, seems to freeze midway , or never seems to complete, then it means that there must be something wrong somewhere.

The first main reason why users can’t install macOS Catalina is compatibility problem. If your Mac doesn’t support macOS Catalina, you won’t be able to proceed with the installation. You need a fairly recent Mac to be able to run macOS Catalina. Here are the Mac models that support the newest macOS:

  • MacBook (2015) and later
  • MacBook Air (2012) and later
  • MacBook Pro (2012) and later
  • Mac Mini (2012) and later
  • iMac (2012) and later
  • iMac Pro (2017) and later
  • Mac Pro (2013) and later

If your device is not on this list, then you’re sure to run into problems when installing Catalina.

Another thing you need to check before installation is your available storage space. You will need around 6.5 GB just to download the installer. Once you’ve downloaded it, the amount of space you will need during the installation depends on whether you’re doing a clean install or an upgrade.

A clean install will eat up around 20 GB of storage. On top of that, you have to make room for apps, user data, and user updates. An upgrade install, on the other hand, will only take up 6.5 GB of space for the installer, plus some installation files that the installer will copy to your startup drive.

If you’re tight on storage space, you should consider removing unneeded apps and files on your Mac. You can uninstall the apps one by one, and delete cache files and data using Outbyte MacRepair. Make sure you have at least 25 GB of free space to be able to install macOS Catalina successfully.

Aside from compatibility issues and insufficient storage, poor internet connection, incomplete or corrupted installation files, hard disk problems, and faulty software can also cause issues during the installation of macOS Catalina.

Installation Checklist for macOS Catalina

Before proceeding with the installation, it is necessary to spend some time ticking off the checklist below. These steps will not only prevent errors from happening, but also ensure that your data remains safe in case something goes wrong.

  • Back up your Mac, especially your iTunes media library since Catalina will no longer have iTunes.
  • Take note of the 32-bit apps on your Mac . You will need to update them to the 64-bit version after upgrading, or find an alternative for them.
  • Delete old Install macOS files from your Applications folder. These old macOS installation files may cause error during the upgrade.
  • Remove all external drives and accessories.
  • Plug in your Mac’s power adapter.
  • Connect to a stable Wi-Fi network.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you can now proceed with the upgrade.

How to Upgrade to macOS Catalina

The easiest way to download and install macOS Catalina is through the App Store on your Mac. Just open the App Store and search for macOS Catalina. Click the install button to start downloading, then click Continue.

You can also visit the macOS Catalina website and download the installer from there. The installer will be downloaded to the Applications folder on your Mac. Once downloaded, the installer will open by itself. Just follow the onscreen instructions to proceed with the installation. You might be asked to log in using your admin username and password during the process.

As long as your device is compatible with Catalina and you’ve followed the instructions, you’ll be able to successfully install the new macOS on your Mac. But if you encounter any error during the download or installation, refer to our guide below to sort out the issue.

How to Fix Common Download Errors for macOS Catalina

Downloading the installer is the first step of the installation process. The installer takes up 6.5GB of storage, but you will need more space to be able to run the new macOS smoothly. If you have Automatic Updates enabled, the installer might already be downloaded on your device.

If the installer has not yet been downloaded, go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Software Update to download Catalina.

If the downloading process gets stuck or is taking a long time to complete, here’s what you can do:

  1. Go to the Apple Server status website and check if the macOS Software Update‘s button is green. If not, then there’s probably some issues with the website, so you might need to try upgrading some other time.
  2. If the macOS Software Update is green, but you’re still having download problems, check your internet connection. Consider switching to a wired internet connection if possible.
  3. If the download is stuck for a long time, cancel it by clicking the X button.
  4. Switch to a different DNS server and retry the download again.

It might take a few attempts for the downloading to be successful, especially in the early days of the release of the update.

How to Fix Errors When Preparing for the Installation of macOS Catalina

Once you have successfully downloaded the installer to your device, the system then prepares your Mac for the installation process. There are users who encountered errors during this stage and came across the Error occurred preparing the installation. Try running the applicationagain message.

The first thing you need to do when you encounter this error is to reboot your Mac. You might need to restart your system a couple of times to deal with this problem. If the error doesn’t go away after rebooting, here are some steps you can try:

Check Your Mac’s System Date and Time.

An incorrect system time usually gets in the way of a lot of system processes, including updates. To make sure your Mac’s date and time are correct, follow the instructions below:

  1. Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Date & Time.
  2. Tick off Set Date and Time Automatically.
  3. If the option is already checked, uncheck it then reboot your Mac.
  4. Go back to the Date and Time panel and check the option again.
  5. Next, try re-installing macOS Catalina.

Re-Download the Installer.

If the step above did not work, you might have to delete the macOS Catalina installer on your Applications folder. Find the Install macOS file in the Applications folder and move it to the Trash. Empty the Trash and reboot. Once your Mac restarts, try downloading the installer and then run the install process again.

Damaged

Delete the Installinfo.plist File.

If you encounter the Copy of install macOS application is damaged and cant be used to install macOS error during the preparation of the installation, the best workaround is to delete the installinfo.plist from the installer package, then try re-installing.

To delete the installinfo.plist file, check out the steps below:

  1. Go to the Applications folder and look for the installer package for macOS Catalina. It is usually named Install macOS.
  2. Right-click on the file and select Show Package Contents.
  3. Click on Contents > SharedSupport.
  4. Delete the Installlnfo.plist inside the folder.
  5. Type in your admin password to confirm the action.
  6. Click on the installer to run it again.

How to Fix Catalina Installation Errors on Mac

After preparing your Mac, the system then proceeds to the installation process. There are different errors you might encounter at this stage, so you need to take note of the error message and at which stage it happened.

Here are some of the errors you may encounter during the installation process.

Stuck at Setting Up Screen

When you’ve been stuck with the Setting up your Mac message for several hours or you encounter the dreaded spinning wheel, the best way to deal with this is to restart your device. Press the power button to shut down your Mac, then press it again to reboot.

Storage Space Problems

If you failed to optimize your storage space before the installation, you might come across errors related to insufficient storage space. You might see the macOS Could not be installed, the target disk is too small message or the There is not enough free space on the selected volume error.

This happens because you do not have enough space on your Mac. Free up some storage first before proceeding with the installation. You might need around 20GB to 25GB of space for macOS Catalina to run efficiently on your Mac.

Network Access Error

If you see a Code=551 error anytime during the installation process, you need to check your network settings. This error happens to devices with overactive firewall or those installed with third-party security software, such as VPN and antivirus. If this happens, disable this software first before trying to reinstall macOS Catalina.

Installation Doesn’t Complete

Sometimes, your Mac gets stuck with the x minutes remaining screen during the installation. When you encounter this problem, click the X button to exit the installation process and check your console logs. It is possible that your user account is corrupted, preventing your system from completing the installation process.

The only way to deal with this is to create another admin user account and install macOS Catalina using that account.

Mac Fails to Start After Update

You might think that everything is over once you finish the installation process and your Mac restarts. But sometimes, errors can still happen even after the installation has been completed. Some users reported getting stuck with a black screen, while others encounter the spinning wheel during the restart following the update.

This error is usually caused by incompatible or corrupted kext files. Kext or Kernel Extension files are the drivers for macOS. To check whether kext files are causing the error, move all of them out of your Extensions folder before rebooting your Mac.

To move your kext files, follow the steps below:

  1. Boot your Mac into Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key until you see the Apple logo.
  2. Open Terminal under the Utilities folder, then copy-paste the following command:

mkdir ~/Extensions-Backup && sudo mv /Library/Extensions/* ~/Extensions-Backup/

Once done, restart your Mac in normal mode and see if it goes through.

If All Else Fails, Do a Fresh Install.

If you’re still having issues despite following the guide above, you may need to do a fresh install of macOS Catalina. To do this:

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Press Power + Command + R keys to bring up the macOS Utilities screen .
  3. Click Reinstall macOS.
  4. Select Disk Utility > Erase HDD.
  5. Install the macOS Catalina from here.

Remember that erasing your HDD will delete all of your files and settings, so make sure you have a backup before doing a fresh install. This should hopefully take care of common macOS Catalina installation problems.

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Until now, most who are interested in macOS might have known everything or at least heard about the next version of macOS. The macOS Catalina is one of the most up running operating systems which has the most advanced features and update apps. This new version of the operating system which is recently out in July 2019 does everything in a quick, easy, and fairway.

In addition to Mac users who are enthusiastic about macOS, Windows users are also interested in macOS. Now without any use, there’s no benefit of their interest. With this in mind, they’ve found a working way to install macOS on Windows. The installation is process is shown by us and we’ve also shared the file.

With that, there are countless of Windows users running macOS on virtual machines such as VMware Workstation or VirtualBox. But after installation, pretty much most of the users have informed us of the features not working problem such as iMessage, iCloud, and App Store. In this article, I’ll show how to fix macOS Catalina iMessage, iCloud, and App Store problem on VMware on Windows PC.

Every time Apple announces a new operating system, Apple also reveals new awesome unique features with it such as Dark Mode. The Dark mode is one of the highlighted features in the new macOS Catalina. There are also a bunch of other features such as iCloud Drive folder sharing, Screen Time, Apple Music time-synced lyrics view, and more. You can also experience your favorite iPad apps now on your Mac. The update also improves the performance, quality, and security of your Mac.

Something else which you may notice is no more iTunes. That is the shifted with three different apps so now we have separate Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts. And use Finder for some of the other functions, for example, syncing iPhone. Around that, Apple has also updated its existing features such as iMessage, iCloud, App Store and more.

Fix macOS Catalina iMessage, iCloud, App Store on VMware & VirtualBox
iMessage is one of the most useful features of Apple’s ecosystem that works amazingly across all their devices. While iMessage might work fine across all the Apple devices but it doesn’t actually work well on macOS installed on VMware or VirtualBox. And the reason is also very clear. That is because it is neither supported by Apple nor it is compatible with Windows.
You can use iMessages in iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. iMessages are not available on iCloud.com. The messages are stored in the iCloud backup. So you cannot view iMessages online. But with an iPhone backup extractor, you can access iMessages, text messages on iCloud backup.
How
But unfortunately, as useful as it is that users would like to use it, they are failed to do so. The iMessage, iCloud, and App store doesn’t work the way you want or doesn’t work well as before so there is a simple way to fix that problem. Follow the steps below for fixing the problems of iMessage, iCloud, and App Store.
Go to the VMware or VirtualBox and look for machine files where it is located. Then head to the folder and navigate to the file with .vmx file at the end. By default, virtual machines are stored in My Documents > Virtual Machine > macOS Mojave > macOS Mojave.vmx. When you’re there, right-click on the file and open it with Notepad.
If you didn’t find Notepad there, click on Choose another app and then from there select Notepad.
When the file opened, search for board-id.reflectHost = “True”. When you find this text, change “TRUE” to “FALSE” and add a blank line below it. Add your system definitions from below to that blank line. If you don’t know how to create a system definition for your computer, check out the items below that are some system definitions.

System Definitions

  • iMac 13,2
    board-id = “Mac-FC02E91DDD3FA6A4”
    hw.model.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    hw.model = “iMac13,2”
    serialNumber.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    serialNumber = “C02H82KLDNCW”
    smbios.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.MLB.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM = “3c0754a2f9be”
  • iMac 14,2
    board-id = “Mac-27ADBB7B4CEE8E61”
    hw.model.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    hw.model = “iMac14,2”
    serialNumber.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    serialNumber = “C02KP7A9F8JC”
    smbios.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.MLB.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM = “3c0754a2f9be”
  • iMac 18,3
    board-id = “Mac-BE088AF8C5EB4FA2”
    hw.model.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    hw.model = “iMac18,3”
    serialNumber.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    serialNumber = “C02TC4YKJ1GJ”
    smbios.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.MLB.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM = “3c0754a2f9be”
  • MacBook Pro 14,3
    board-id = “Mac-551B86E5744E2388”
    hw.model.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    hw.model = “MacBookPro14,3”
    serialNumber.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    serialNumber = “C02TX2EZHTD5”
    smbios.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.MLB.reflectHost = “FALSE”
    efi.nvram.var.ROM = “3c0754a2f9be”

Once added the system definition to the macOS Catalina vmx then press Ctrl + S to save the file.

After restart, the problem will be no more longer there so enjoy. But if this method doesn’t work or you couldn’t accomplish with this method or want another method so take a look at another step below.

Next Fix: Fix macOS Catalina iMessage, iCloud, App Store on VMware & VirtualBox

This solution is if the first fix didn’t work so proceed with this. Remember not to skip the first method and directly head to this step. This is only if the first step didn’t work.

To fix, download the latest version of Clover Configurator. Once installed, open it and click on SMBIOS on the left and then click on the top and bottom of the arrow shown in the image below. After selecting the macOS version (iMac 18,3, MacBook Pro 14,2) and then click “Generate New”. It will produce a new series to define the system you have chosen.

Generate New Serial Number for MacOS

By creating a new serial number, replace it with the old serial number in the macOS Catalina.vmx file. Be sure not to change somewhere else and only make this change. Other changes make break machine.

Fix Apps Not Opening on macOS Catalina

If you received an error message while opening Clover Configurator or any other program, click Ok to close the error window.

Clover-Configurator Not Open

Open Preferences> Security & Privacy.

How To Fix Damaged App Message On Macos Catalina Dmg

Click the Allow or Open button anyway and open the app.

How To Fix Damaged App Message On Macos Catalina Island

That was the method I did to fix iMessage and iCloud and App Store on VMware. I recommend using the first method first. If it didn’t work, try for the next one. In the final fix, I’ve shown and fixed the problem of not opening apps which requires some permission. I’ve also done allowing third-party apps in a separate tutorial.

That should do the thing. If it didn’t, put out the error in the comments form.