High Sierra installer download fails on Mac App Store application

Currently running High Sierra (HS) on this 2012 iMac computer but want to do fresh install to a different drive.


I click on the link presented in How to download and install macOS - Apple Support for the HS installer. It opens a page in the Mac App Store App that's clearly for HS. That part works.


I click on the "download" button and for a few seconds it says "calculating" and something about a "minute". About 10 seconds after clicking "download" I get a message saying "macOS High Sierra failed to download" and "Use the Purchased page to try again." I go to the purchased page and there is no mention of High Sierra. The only OS installer is for an El Capitan installer I downloaded a few years ago.


I am using an old Mac App Store application but I have used it for other applications and it "gets" them. This must have worked at some time in the past because I must have used it to upgrade from my old Mavericks to High Sierra a year or two ago.


I have looked in my Applications and Downloads folders and there is no installer file there.


I have been trying this for several days now so I don't think it's a temporary server glitch.

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Jun 23, 2025 07:43 AM

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21 replies

Jun 25, 2025 06:49 AM in response to Limnos

<< The operation couldn’t be completed. (NSURLErrorDomain error -1012.). >>


We have seen that problem before, but I don't have the RESET information at hand.


Your system software update server name has been set to somewhere that is either invalid, or has an httpS: when it needs an http:


This used to happen when you were running macOS Server, and deliberately pointed your software update source to a local server. Deleting the custom name you added would reset it to default server (you did not need to know the correct name) fixed the issue.


maybe this will ring a bell with someone else following here.

Jun 25, 2025 04:23 AM in response to Limnos

Today I could download High Sierra via both App Store link below and 'softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.13.6' on MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015) running Monterey 12.7.6.


Mac mini late 2009 running High Sierra 10.13.6 does not support softwareupdate download but also there the App Store link worked.


How to download and install macOS - Apple Support


Jun 26, 2025 02:39 PM in response to Limnos

Limnos wrote:

That direct link to Sierra works for me, since it is basically FTP, but I don't need Sierra.

I don't want Catalina. I want to keep this old iMac on an OS that is 32 bit application capable should I really need to use several applications I use daily that have no 64 bit application equivalents just using what it has now. I simply want the OS on the internal drive instead of booting to the external drive the way I am now. I do have Mojave on a USB flash drive for "emergencies". I know those aren't really good as a boot drive but if comes down to it just for downloading High Sierra I could boot to it.

That's interesting that Apple axed Mavericks from its downloads. I do remember in the past they have removed certain versions of software where if your hardware was too new to run one version but could run various newer versions, they just offered you the newest your computer could run. So maybe now they are telling you if you have hardware that is capable of more than Mountain Lion you should at least be running Yosemite? I don't have the time to research it now.

Incidentally, trying to download Mojave using the Mac App Store application does get me a stub installer.


understood.


It is a shame Apple makes it difficult to retrieve these old installers.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741


The stub idea did create problems as well...

Mojave is still capable of running the 32 bit applications.


good luck !



Jun 25, 2025 06:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

it is possible that this might be the solution:


sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL


the first token is the plist file, the second token is the field-name to delete inside that file.


my softwareUpdate.plist seems to be working and the plist does NOT have that field-name in it:



source of that reference was this article, which has a bit more information as well.


https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/29070/how-do-i-change-software-update-server-to-official-one-on-os-x-lion-or-later#29071


it also suggests:

On system newer than 10.10

sudo softwareupdate --clear-catalog


Jun 25, 2025 05:17 PM in response to Limnos


you are not going to find High Sierra via the Terminal, Catalina is the oldest via this method,

copy & paste:

softwareupdate --list-full-installers



there is no link to a Mavericks download in the Apple support pages any longer.

Both High Sierra and Mavericks No longer available for undocumented reasons(?)



you can try Sierra from Apple's own CDN—if that does you any good. I know if you can run Sierra, you can run High Sierra; not necessarily the other way around depending on what your mac shipped with when new


report back your success or failure


push past the security warnings...if you are using a third party browser. Safari should go straight away.

Sierra :

http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-39476-20191023-48f365f4-0015-4c41-9f44-39d3d2aca067/InstallOS.dmg



Jun 23, 2025 01:02 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Yes, I had tried standard Recovery Mode and it failed there too, as outlined in #3 of the link you provided. It's a bit of a chore to do all that, particularly since I will have to print all the instructions since I can't be using an Internet browser from inside Internet Recovery.


Good find!


Incidentally, that second solution of downloading the installer using Apple's link does not work for me. That's what my first post was outlining. What I am actually wanting to do is install HS on a different drive, not do anything to HS on my boot drive.

Jun 25, 2025 09:07 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I tried both of those commands. The first one resulted in:

Domain (/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate) not found.

Defaults have not been changed.


The second one:

Changed catalog to Apple production


I then restarted my computer and tried using the App Store. Same error messages as described at the start of this thread. I am guessing it is using "Apple production" but not getting it from Apple itself but maybe referring to something that is part of what was installed with the original High Sierra.


Thanks for the suggestion though. :-)

Jun 25, 2025 01:05 PM in response to Limnos

"/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist" :


defaults:


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate AutomaticCheckEnabled -bool false


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate AutomaticDownload -bool false


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate ConfigDataInstall -bool false


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CriticalUpdateInstall -bool false


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate InactiveUpdates -array


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastAttemptBuildVersion -string "10.13.6 (17G66)"


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastAttemptSystemVersion -string "10.13.6 (17G66)"


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastFullSuccessfulDate -date "2025-06-25 19:50:49 +0000"


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastRecommendedUpdatesAvailable -int 0


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastResultCode -int 100


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastSessionSuccessful -bool true


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastSuccessfulDate -date "2025-06-25 19:50:49 +0000"


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate LastUpdatesAvailable -int 0


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate PrimaryLanguages -array -string en -string en-US


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate RecommendedUpdates -array


defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate SkipLocalCDN -bool false


======


I know it reports a successful download but I also updated a non-Apple application today.





Jun 26, 2025 02:16 PM in response to leroydouglas

That direct link to Sierra works for me, since it is basically FTP, but I don't need Sierra.


I don't want Catalina. I want to keep this old iMac on an OS that is 32 bit application capable should I really need to use several applications I use daily that have no 64 bit application equivalents just using what it has now. I simply want the OS on the internal drive instead of booting to the external drive the way I am now. I do have Mojave on a USB flash drive for "emergencies". I know those aren't really good as a boot drive but if comes down to it just for downloading High Sierra I could boot to it.


That's interesting that Apple axed Mavericks from its downloads. I do remember in the past they have removed certain versions of software where if your hardware was too new to run one version but could run various newer versions, they just offered you the newest your computer could run. So maybe now they are telling you if you have hardware that is capable of more than Mountain Lion you should at least be running Yosemite? I don't have the time to research it now.


Incidentally, trying to download Mojave using the Mac App Store application does get me a stub installer.

Jun 26, 2025 02:26 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I am using the "reinstall" button to see if it will do anything at all in terms of getting High Sierra (I don't want to actually reinstall it on this drive but to install it on another one). I have simply been trying pretty much everything that didn't involve booting to a newer OS just to see if I could download it using that, or involve doing all that Terminal stuff while booted to recovery (I'd have to print those pages of instructions). Neither the App Store application nor trying to get it while booted to Recovery will work.

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High Sierra installer download fails on Mac App Store application

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