As of June 2025, DownloadFullInstaller by scriptingosx has been archived by the developer. For over three years, my DownloadFullInstaller repo was a fork of the source. However, after it was archived, I created a new repo. This new repo is a standalone (not forked) version. I'll keep this project active and up to date as long as it is useful to other users.
Download Full Installer runs on macOS 13 Ventura through macOS 26 Tahoe.
Note: For Download Full Installer running and compiling on macOS 11+, you can get the version 2.0 or the Xcode project from the old branch and build the app from source.
- Updated up to macOS 26 Tahoe
- Xcode project requires macOS 13 Ventura or newer
- Preferences for choosing catalog are no longer a separate dialog but are now at the top of the main window
- A single macOS version or all versions can be displayed at once
- Added sleep prevention logic to avoid sleeping while the application is running
- Added language selection system
- Updated translations
- Initial support for Liquid Glass with backward compatibility
- Added download resume functionality that automatically handles network interruptions.
After downloading an InstallAssistant.pkg file, you can create the macOS installer application (e.g., "Install macOS Sequoia.app") directly from within Download Full Installer:
- Download the installer PKG using the download button (↓)
- Click the "Create Installer App" button next to the download button
- The PKG file will open with the standard macOS installer
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation
- The macOS installer app will be created in the
/Applicationsfolder
If you see App is damaged and can't be opened when you open DownloadFullInstaller for the first time, read this.
The first time you use the app in Xcode, you can see that the download appears to be complete, with the GB downloaded matching the expected amount, but the installer is not in the Downloads folder. DownloadFullInstaller also does not show the Show in Finder button
To fix this, go to the Sandbox settings in Xcode ➡️ Target ➡️ Signing & Capabilities ➡️ Sandbox to grant read/write permissions to the Downloads folder.
This is a Swift UI implementation of the scriptingosx's fetch-installer-pkg script. It will list the full macOS Big Sur (and later) installer pkgs available for download in Apple's software update catalogs. You can then choose to download one of them.
You may want to download the installer pkg instead of the installer application directly, because you want to re-deploy the installer application with a management system, such as Jamf.
Since the Big Sur macOS installer application contains a single file larger than 8GB, normal packaging tools will fail. I have described the problem and some solutions in detail in this blog post.
- Copy the download URL for a given installer pkg from the context menu.
- Change the seed program in the Preferences dropdown menu.
- Create the installer app directly from the downloaded PKG without leaving the application.
No. Apple only provides installer PKGs for Big Sur and later. Earlier versions of the Big Sur installer are removed regularly.
No.
As far as I can tell, this downloads the same pkg as softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer and installinstallmacOS.py.
The difference is that the other tools then immediately perform the installation so that you get the installer application in the /Applications folder. This tool just downloads the pkg, so you can use it in your management system, archive the installer pkg, or manually run the installation.
- Both fetch-installer-pkg and this application are based on Greg Neagle's installinstallmacos.py script.
- Thanks to matxpa: fixes and improvements in version 2.0.
