Trying to create fresh Sierra install on external drive has been a ridiculous 4 day circle jerk. Had to start w/ a Mavs install and work up to Sierra, but along the way, all sorts of various errors would bite the install, regardless of whether it was USB or FW. Then, after finally getting to Sierra, trying to install the last couple of Apple apps and security updates, more errors.

What should've been a leisurely evening, morphed into four days of sheer hell. Finally got it working, but no clue why it didn't go smoothly. The following error messages indiscriminately kept rearing their fugly heads:

OS X could not be installed on your computer

Volume contains an OS X installation which may be damaged.
Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.

and...

OS X could not be installed on your computer
No packages were eligible for install. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.
Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.

So, why should life be so difficult?
Only negative hardware issue is only 16GB of 24GB RAM is showing on Mac Pro 5,1 3.33GHz 6-pack tower (gotta re-seat the stick in slot #2).
Any idea why the OS X upgrade put up such a fight?
Thanks.
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memory problems can certainly mess up an OS install, but if that Sierra installer is older than Oct 2019 - it won't work. You'll need to set the date back to sometime before Oct 2019 before installing.

big discussion here: [forums.macresource.com]

The external drive may have physical problems.

I DL'ed the newer, updated updaters from AAPL, and didn't count trying to use the stale, prior installers as part of the problem(s) encountered. My complaints are based solely on supposedly viable updaters being used.

I called our local, highly rated, Mac fixit shop, and they also suggested possible external drive issues, but I tried different drives, different enclosures, different interfaces, and even different computers (Mac Pro & MBP). IOW, too much swapping stuff around to figure out anything specific about any individual drive/enclosure/interface combination.

Kid has been dealing w/ a bout of food poisoning, and there was a death in his GF's family, so he hasn't been available to help muscle the Mac Pro around... I've also been meaning to add another 8GB stick to the mix to make the 6-pack a 32GB monolith.
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I'd put money on old installers or your clock being set wrong on the Mac.

For the ram, if you did a CPU upgrade, if the processor isn't sitting correctly ram slots stop working.

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C(-)ris
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Throwback Thursday Signature:

....toasted Pita tastes good......

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

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C(-)ris
I'd put money on old installers or your clock being set wrong on the Mac.

I recently upgraded my MBP from Mavericks to High Sierra and I experienced this error message with both the base installers and the combo updaters. Setting my clock back to Jan 2017 resolved the issue and enabled me to complete the install.

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It is what it is.

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C(-)ris
I'd put money on old installers or your clock being set wrong on the Mac.

For the ram, if you did a CPU upgrade, if the processor isn't sitting correctly ram slots stop working.

New installers, clocks were OK; that lesson, while learned earlier on, wasn't part of the last of the last few days escapades....
RAM-wise, the 24GB always showed up properly, until fairly recently, ...after the tower was jostled a few times while moving stuff around and I don't think it liked that sort of attention. As soon as Baby Buzz is available, we'll address the tower's RAM thing, and take a look at the processor fitment as needed; thanks for the heads up. FWIW, the MBP (a legit 16GB machine) was more problematic than the tower. While I tried to be careful, the cables may have moved slightly when the other chairs and/or tablecloth were moved near the laptop, but never anytime near/during when the problems hit.

I'm hoping the iMac will play nicely w/ the external Sierra drive, and that my friend/client doesn't have any issues w/ the migration from Mavs and/or any unforeseen software conflicts.
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Did you download the new installers from the App Store or the web? Because apparently (as of Christmas time), the App Store installers hadn’t been updated and you had to download them from the web. It’s possible the App Store versions may never get updated since they are now allowing you to download older OS’s via the web whereas before you had to have “purchased” them in order to download.

Also, the “No Packages” error was what I was getting with new “App Store” downloaded installers at Christmas. Web downloaded installer install went smoothly.

Why are you going to just Sierra?

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Gareth
Did you download the new installers from the App Store or the web?

Installers found on random sites on the "web" are almost universally malware.

Sites like TidBITS will link back to legit installers on Apple's site.
[tidbits.com]

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Sarcany

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Gareth
Did you download the new installers from the App Store or the web?

Installers found on random sites on the "web" are almost universally malware.

Sites like TidBITS will link back to legit installers on Apple's site.
[tidbits.com]

By web, I meant from Apple.com. It's easy to find the official installers from Apple now as a simple Google search will return the correct page.

....whole wheat PITA.....if you can.......

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Installers all came from AAPL's latest links. What I found was, partly, that the installer package that's supposed to end up in the Applications folder prior to install, wasn't always showing up there, so I had to open the dmg and move the installer to the App folder manually. Then, when running updates from the App Store after the basic OS installed, the entire installation would somehow get borked by the updaters. Totally exasperating.

Going to Sierra from Mavs for him, because that seems to the sweet spot for the apps that he, and his wife, use and need. My thought was to run Sierra for awhile, while still having Mavs available, and if/when/after they get down w/ Sierra, and Mavs is in their rear view mirror, then try to matriculate along the OS X path as far as it makes sense to do so...., since the new file system kick in on the next step to High Sierra.

I kinda get the feeling that if I would've put a drive in one of the tower's drive bays, some or all of nasties might've been avoided.
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Buzz
Installers all came from AAPL's latest links. What I found was, partly, that the installer package that's supposed to end up in the Applications folder prior to install, wasn't always showing up there, so I had to open the dmg and move the installer to the App folder manually. Then, when running updates from the App Store after the basic OS installed, the entire installation would somehow get borked by the updaters. Totally exasperating.

Are you sure that you're following Apple's directions correctly, the actions that you took seems like you're not. Look at steps 5 and 6 and read each carefully. The process is very different than what's typically been done in the past.

The installer on that disk image is not the Sierra OS installer, it's an installer that will create the "Install macOS Sierra" app in your applications folder. It's sounding like you're not doing that step, since you seem to think the file on that disk image is what you will install the OS with. So you might also be finding an "Old/expired certificate" version of "Install macOS Sierra" in your Applications folder.

[support.apple.com]

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Install the macOS installer

Double-click the downloaded file to open a window showing its contents. Then double-click the file within, named InstallOS.pkg.

Follow the onscreen instructions, which will guide you through the steps necessary to install.


Begin installation

After installation of the installer is complete, open the Applications folder on your Mac, then double-click the file named Install macOS Sierra.

I followed instructions properly, but sometimes the install app wouldn't make it/didn't install into the Applications folder. It was worse than SCSI voodoo. I'm gonna clone the final Sierra install onto one of the USB SSD's linked previously (as soon as it shows up), and assuming that goes smoothly, will migrate everything from Mavs. If anything bad happens, we can just reclone the final Sierra install onto the SSD, and try again. Turned out to be a project not suitable for the faint of heart.
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Try a USB installer?

[lifehacker.com]

[support.apple.com]

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I thought about a USB installer, and have made them thru Mavs, but since the goal was to get a bootable USB Sierra drive, in my mind it was almost like making a jumbo bootable USB installer as it was. Slapping Mavs on the USB drive to start with, was the easy part... getting it updated to Sierra was an American Horror Story IRL.
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Buzz
I thought about a USB installer, and have made them thru Mavs, but since the goal was to get a bootable USB Sierra drive, in my mind it was almost like making a jumbo bootable USB installer as it was. Slapping Mavs on the USB drive to start with, was the easy part... getting it updated to Sierra was an American Horror Story IRL.
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Might be worth a try.

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