Invalid Termination Status: 6 when downloading macOS Sierra 10.12.6 ISO

[Asnowz]

This error occured when downloading macOS Sierra 10.12.6 ISO

💻 Environment

• Mist version : 0.8.1
• macOS Version : 13.2.1
• Hardware :
  • Model Identifier: iMac18,1
  • Chip : Intel Core i5 dual core
    
    

[ninxsoft]

@Asnowz I am currently unable to replicate this issue, however I am running macOS Ventura 13.4.1 (22F82)

Are you able to confirm you can replicate this issue after a reboot and / or upgrade to 13.4.1 (22F82)?

Also, it failed on the createinstallmedia step, which leverages the Mist Privileged Helper Tool - are you able to confirm Mist has Full Disk Access in System Settings > Privacy & Security:

Mist should prompt you if you don't have Full Disk Access, but it can't hurt to rule that out manually just in case 👍

[Asnowz]

I updated my mac to 13.4.1 and the bug was still there. I'm also able to download ISOs for all other versions of macOS, but the Sierra version gives me this error. Finally, Mist has full access to the disk, so I took away permission and gave it back, then restarted the download and the bug reappeared.

[ninxsoft]

Interesting, thanks for the update! Unfortunately I do not have access to an Intel-based Mac, so my testing is quite limited when it comes to creating bootable ISOs. I suspect I am not capturing the specific output of the createinstallmedia error.

By creating a macOS Installer application (via Mist), are you able to manually verify whether the createinstallmedia command succeeds / fails, independent of Mist?

You can follow this article from Apple for specifics on the createinstallmedia command:

• Create a bootable installer for macOS

Note: You will need a spare 16 GB USB flash drive or mounted volume to build a bootable installer.

[Asnowz]

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

The createinstallmedia command works on my USB key for all macOS versions except macOS Sierra.

I tried with several higher versions (High sierra, Catalina, and BigSur) and the USB stick had indeed become bootable.

When I tried with macOS Sierra the command returned nothing and I had to quit Terminal. I should point out that I tried with and without the --applicationpath argument.

Finally I tried with Yosemite, El Capitan and Mavericks and all 3 were wired to work with the command.

So I think the problem doesn't come from the fact that Sierra is an old version (which is also supported by my Mac, because it's from 2017) but simply that the use of the createinstallmedia command with the macOS Sierra installer is broken, since I'm able to get it to work with older versions of macOS.

I hope that a solution will be found because I would like to have an ISO of macOS Sierra and moreover if I want to make a bootable USB key of Sierra it will be impossible.

Of course, I'm still available to help and test.

[ninxsoft]

I am in the process of trying to source an Intel-based Mac for testing, will keep you posted 👍

[BenFRC5147]

FWIW, Same bug for me, occurring on Mist 0.9.1 and MacOS 13.6 on a 2019 Intel Macbook Pro (4 usb c)

[Archetrix]

Hi to all who saw the same issue with createinstallmedia for macOS Sierra. This is a known issue with the Installer for Sierra. A simple command issued before running createinstallmedia remedies the issue:

sudo plutil -replace CFBundleShortVersionString -string "12.6.03" /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Info.plist
Source: Apple Discussions

Modify the path to Info.plist if your Installer is located somewhere else. You may open the dmg from within the cache folder you've selected in MIST and run the InstallOS.pkg to get the installer-app extracted into /Applications/

[ninxsoft]

@Archetrix thank you so much for your insight 🙏

I can confirm replacing the CFBundleShortVersionString value with 12.6.03 does the trick! The macOS Sierra 10.12.6 ISO builds without a hitch using this workaround 🎉

See: #100