Delete the installer & go back into the Appstore & see if you can download HS.

You could also try to boot via Safe Mode:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25617?locale=en_US

Then try running the installer or delete the installer & go into the Appstore to download & install.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

quote:

Originally posted by lkdr1989:
Check the "Applications" folder & see if the High Sierra installer is in there; it could be that the Appstore has detected that HS has already been downloaded. If this is the case, you just need to run the installer. Make sure you backup your files before you update your Mac

Aha! I did find "Install MacOS High Sierra" in the Applications folder.
Clicked it... waited... got a dialog box that says, "Downloading Installer Information to the target volume failed." I click "OK", the box goes away, and that's that. Grrr.

Okay, it took me a minute to figure out how to delete the installer file, but I finally figured out to drag it to the trash can. at myself..

I then downloaded it again and launched it. Now I've got a dialog box that says, "Downloading installer information to the target volume failed." OK button just makes it go away, but without any clue what to do about it.

Guess I'll try the safe mode boot next....

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

ETA: Booted to safe mode and tried again to upgrade the OS. Not happening.
Created a new user with admin rights and tried again. No dice.

Rats....

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I then downloaded it again and launched it. Now I've got a dialog box that says, "Downloading installer information to the target volume failed." OK button just makes it go away, but without any clue what to do about it.

How are you downloading it from the App Store? Do you go to "Updates" and do it from there? If so, try downloading it from the main page ("Featured"). It should show as an icon/link but if not, search for High Sierra.
 

Are you anywhere close to an Apple Store?

You can go to one to upgrade - free. They’ll likely use a thumbdrive or external hard drive to do the install.

On mine, I download once, create an install thumbdrive and use that on all my various Macs, mine, my husband’s, my BILs, my goddaughter’s...

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
How are you downloading it from the App Store? Do you go to "Updates" and do it from there? If so, try downloading it from the main page ("Featured"). It should show as an icon/link but if not, search for High Sierra.

I've downloaded it through Updates, I've downloaded it straight from the App Store. I've been through about eight attempts now... still no luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Leeann:
Are you anywhere close to an Apple Store?

You can go to one to upgrade - free. They’ll likely use a thumbdrive or external hard drive to do the install.

On mine, I download once, create an install thumbdrive and use that on all my various Macs, mine, my husband’s, my BILs, my goddaughter’s...

The closest Apple Store is about two hours away. It's on the way (sort of) to my brother's place, so I could make it an excuse for a road trip. I'd like to get this done myself, though, as it will be a few weeks before I get to make the road trip again.

How do I download a file to a thumbdrive? I'm used to Windows, which offers me something like "save target as..." but I haven't yet seen such an option on the Mac.

The reason the installation fails is because there is something wrong with the target volume. Either the virus software is the problem, or there is an actual problem with the drive/volume.

Here’s what I’d do:

-Make a bootable partion on an external drive. Download the free utility “SuperDuper!” and duplicate the current startup volume to the external drive.
-After duplicating the startup volume to the external drive and while still booted up internally, make a Time Machine backup to the external drive.
-Reboot the machine from the external drive and download the OS from the App Store.
-Once the OS installation starts, bypass the default installation and use the included disk utility to reformat the internal volume.
-After reformatting the internal volume, do a clean install.
-Restart the Mac on the internal volume, and select the option to setup the Mac from a Time Machine backup, and select the backup that resides on the external hard drive.
-The Mac will restore all its user files, and you’re done.

I would also make a verified backup elsewhere before I did anything, and keep that backup sandboxed from everything.

Good luck. Most installation problems of this nature are traceable back to a failing drive or corrupt volume. You might first also try launching Disk Utility and use it to verify the volume. If this drive is a few years old, and especially if it’s a spinning HD, then it’s days are numbered. The reformat may help for awhile, but the failing drive’s issues will return as the corruption continues.

I sympathize with your lack of a close Apple Store. I’m originally from Roanoke, and my brother there is constantly annoyed at the lack of a close store. I would be too, but I decided to go to BYU at the last minute after planning my whole youth to go to VPI. Living in the lower Blue Ridge sometimes felt like the proverbial “two weeks from everywhere” from Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Leeann, I owe you! Thank you so much for your help. I'm running on High Sierra now.

I think my next task is to do a Time Machine backup, and then back up the entire thing to another external drive as sigcrazy7 suggests. After that, I need to learn about Boot Camp.

My next quick question has to do with my [32GB] "EDC" jump drive. It's formatted for PC, and got lots of PC-style data. Will the MacBook read from it? I'm genuinely aiming to replace my Windows laptop with this MacBook, but I won't be Mac-only. This drive contains files I use at work, too. So... will it be "cross-compatible," so to speak? Or will I need to set up a Mac-specific jump drive? Similarly, what about my iTunes library (which currently resides on a Windows-format external hard drive)? It seems I would need to copy that all over to a Mac-format hard drive. Or is that something Boot Camp will help me solve easily?

Geeze, I've got SO much learning to do! But I am liking this MacBook!

quote:

Living in the lower Blue Ridge sometimes felt like the proverbial “two weeks from everywhere” from Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

No kidding, sir! I'm familiar with Roanoke, and I know what you're saying. The cool thing about this area is just that, though... want the beach? It's just a couple hours away. Want the big city? It's just a couple hours away. Want to be far enough out that there's no cell service? Just a few minutes (Ha!) away. It's a nice area here, mostly.

Anytime

Yep, it will read and write to the thumb drive with no trouble, assuming it's FAT32 or EXFAT. NTFS will work, but you need to add a driver for that.

I have an EXFAT 64 GB thumb drive I use for work and take files back and forth every day.

Perfect!
I just need to move the files off this drive, reformat, and move them back. Sounds like a job for the coming rainy Sunday afternoon.