The Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks download script is now hosted on Mavericks Forever. To download Mavericks, open a Terminal on any Mac and run:
curl mavericksforever.com/get.sh | sh
Or, navigate directly to mavericksforever.com/get.sh to read what the script does.
Basically trying to fix what Apple broke , when you download the installer app from the old App Store , it can’t validate the InstallESD.dmg but the one your script downloads is valid . Trying to merge the two together to create a working .app is proving tricky. 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
@Sixxdog-UK Hi, see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-we-download-mavericks-directly-from-apples-servers.2444350/page-7?post=33648307#post-33648307
Tl:dr is that, as far as I can tell, what you're trying to do is impossible.
Hi there again.
So I’ve been working with ChatGPT to try and create a script to produce a working “Install OS X Mavericks.app” have had some progress but keep running into the wall where even if the InstallESD.dmg is the one downloaded from your script , once the .app is created and I try to use createinstallmedia tool , it just says This is not a valid OS X installer.
Any Thoughts?
This is the script we came up with.
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
----------------------
USER CONFIG
----------------------
BROKEN_APP_DIR="/Users/labtech4/Desktop/Broken App"
GOOD_ESD_DIR="/Users/labtech4/Desktop/Good ESD"
OUT_PARENT="/Users/labtech4/Desktop/Rebuilt Install OS X Mavericks App"
----------------------
PREPARE PATHS
----------------------
GOOD_ESD="$(find "$GOOD_ESD_DIR" -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname "InstallESD*.dmg" -print -quit || true)"
if [ -z "$GOOD_ESD" ]; then
echo "[ERROR] Cannot find InstallESD.dmg in $GOOD_ESD_DIR"
exit 1
fi
if [ -d "$BROKEN_APP_DIR" ] && [[ "$BROKEN_APP_DIR" == .app ]]; then
BROKEN_APP="$BROKEN_APP_DIR"
else
BROKEN_APP="$(find "$BROKEN_APP_DIR" -maxdepth 1 -type d -iname "Install.app" -print -quit || true)"
if [ -z "$BROKEN_APP" ]; then
echo "[ERROR] Cannot find Install OS X Mavericks.app in $BROKEN_APP_DIR"
exit 1
fi
fi
mkdir -p "$OUT_PARENT"
STAGED_APP="$OUT_PARENT/Install OS X Mavericks.app"
WORKTMP="$(mktemp -d /tmp/mavericks_rebuild.XXXXXX)"
trap 'rm -rf "$WORKTMP"' EXIT
echo "Good ESD: $GOOD_ESD"
echo "Broken app: $BROKEN_APP"
echo "Output app: $STAGED_APP"
echo "Working temp: $WORKTMP"
----------------------
STEP 1: Mount good ESD
----------------------
hdiutil attach "$GOOD_ESD" -nobrowse -readonly >/dev/null
ESD_MOUNT="/Volumes/OS X Install ESD"
----------------------
STEP 2: Copy BaseSystem
----------------------
BASE_LOCAL="$WORKTMP/BaseSystem.dmg"
cp -p "$ESD_MOUNT/BaseSystem.dmg" "$BASE_LOCAL"
cp -p "$ESD_MOUNT/BaseSystem.chunklist" "$WORKTMP/"
----------------------
STEP 3: Convert to writable sparseimage
----------------------
SPARSE="$WORKTMP/BaseSystem.sparseimage"
hdiutil convert -ov "$BASE_LOCAL" -format UDSP -o "$SPARSE" >/dev/null
hdiutil resize -size 6500m "$SPARSE" >/dev/null
----------------------
STEP 4: Mount sparseimage in writable mode
----------------------
hdiutil attach "$SPARSE" -nobrowse -readwrite >/dev/null
MOUNT_BASE="/Volumes/OS X Base System"
----------------------
STEP 5: Copy Packages into BaseSystem
----------------------
rm -rf "$MOUNT_BASE/System/Installation/Packages" 2>/dev/null || true
mkdir -p "$MOUNT_BASE/System/Installation"
cp -R "$ESD_MOUNT/Packages" "$MOUNT_BASE/System/Installation/"
Copy BaseSystem files
cp -p "$ESD_MOUNT/BaseSystem.dmg" "$MOUNT_BASE/System/Installation/"
cp -p "$ESD_MOUNT/BaseSystem.chunklist" "$MOUNT_BASE/System/Installation/"
----------------------
STEP 6: Detach sparse and ESD
----------------------
hdiutil detach "$MOUNT_BASE" >/dev/null
hdiutil detach "$ESD_MOUNT" >/dev/null
----------------------
STEP 7: Convert sparseimage to final DMG
----------------------
OUT_DMG="$WORKTMP/InstallMacOSXMavericks.dmg"
hdiutil convert -ov "$SPARSE" -format UDZO -o "$OUT_DMG" >/dev/null
----------------------
STEP 8: Build app structure
----------------------
rm -rf "$STAGED_APP"
mkdir -p "$STAGED_APP/Contents/SharedSupport"
mkdir -p "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources"
mkdir -p "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Frameworks"
mkdir -p "$STAGED_APP/Contents/MacOS"
Copy broken app resources
cp -R "$BROKEN_APP/Contents/Resources/"* "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources/" 2>/dev/null || true
cp -R "$BROKEN_APP/Contents/Frameworks/"* "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Frameworks/" 2>/dev/null || true
Place rebuilt DMG in SharedSupport
cp -p "$OUT_DMG" "$STAGED_APP/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg"
Copy InstallableMachines.plist
if [ -f "$ESD_MOUNT/Packages/InstallableMachines.plist" ]; then
cp -p "$ESD_MOUNT/Packages/InstallableMachines.plist" "$STAGED_APP/Contents/SharedSupport/"
fi
createinstallmedia
if [ -f "$BROKEN_APP/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" ]; then
cp -p "$BROKEN_APP/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources/"
chmod +x "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia"
else
cat > "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" <<'CIM'
#!/bin/sh
echo "Use ASR restore method; createinstallmedia not included."
exit 1
CIM
chmod +x "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia"
fi
Minimal Info.plist
cat > "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Info.plist" <<'EOF'
CFBundleIdentifier com.apple.InstallAssistant.Mavericks CFBundleName Install OS X Mavericks CFBundleVersion 1 CFBundleExecutable InstallAssistant EOF----------------------
STEP 9: Fix permissions
----------------------
xattr -cr "$STAGED_APP" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
chmod -R 755 "$STAGED_APP"
chown -R "$(whoami)":staff "$STAGED_APP"
echo
echo "=== Rebuild complete! ==="
echo "Rebuilt app location: $STAGED_APP"
----------------------
STEP 10: CREATE BOOTABLE USB WITH DATE FIX
----------------------
echo
echo "Do you want to create a bootable USB now? (This will erase the selected disk) [y/N]: "
read -r CREATE_USB
if [[ "$CREATE_USB" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
echo "Available volumes:"
ls /Volumes
echo
echo "Enter the name of the USB drive exactly as it appears in /Volumes (will be erased): "
read -r USB_VOL
DISK_ID=$(diskutil info "/Volumes/$USB_VOL" | awk '/Part of Whole/ {print $NF}')
if [ -z "$DISK_ID" ]; then
echo "[ERROR] Could not determine disk identifier for $USB_VOL"
exit 1
fi
echo
echo "All data on $USB_VOL ($DISK_ID) will be erased! Confirm by typing YES: "
read -r CONFIRM
if [ "$CONFIRM" != "YES" ]; then
echo "Aborting USB creation."
exit 1
fi
Save current date
CURRENT_DATE=$(date "+%m%d%H%M%Y")
Set safe date for installer
echo "Temporarily setting system date to Jan 1, 2015 to avoid certificate errors..."
sudo date 0101010115
echo "Creating bootable USB..."
sudo "$STAGED_APP/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia"
--volume "/Volumes/$USB_VOL"
--applicationpath "$STAGED_APP"
--nointeraction
Restore original date
echo "Restoring original system date..."
sudo date "$CURRENT_DATE"
echo "Bootable USB created on $USB_VOL"
else
echo "USB creation skipped. You can use createinstallmedia manually."
fi
echo "Done."