Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition

[Rosegibson]

I tried to install Sophos, but can't get beyond step 1 (how pathetic). I see, and can open 'Before you install', but 'Sophos antivirus home edition.mkpg' shows as a blank sheet - not as shown in the installation video. When I click it, it says there is no default application for opening it.

I've tried re-starting - no joy. I'm using Mac OS X 10.4.11.

Any suggestions?

[Agile]

If you control-click on the mpkg, can you show package contents?

Are you able to run other .mpkg installers?

You can probably get it to work by running installer.app manually:

1. Command-Space to bring up spotlight
2. type Installer.app
3. press return when the search result highlights
4. navigate to the mpkg file on the mounted disk iamge
5. click Open

[Rosegibson]

Thank you Andrew - but still no luck I'm afraid.

Yes, I can see package contents when I control click. I put 'installer.app' into spotlight, and got 'no results'.

Can I run other .mpkg installers - well I'm not sure. I've installed Sophos successfully before, on a different (but similar) computer.

Rose

[Agile]

Well, I think I see your problem...

Somehow, Installer.app was deleted from your computer -- it's used to install all software that depends on a .pkg or .mpkg bundle, including OS upgrades.  It should be available at /System/Library/CoreServices/Installer.app.

Interestingly, you are not the only person running 10.4.11 to report that this app has vanished: a google search for 10.4 installer.app shows a number of people having this issue.

Your best bet is to restore a copy from your 10.4 install discs -- the 10.4.11 updater only contains updated resources for the file, and so re-running this update is not enough to re-install the installer.  After finding a copy of the original 10.4 installer however, you SHOULD re-run the 10.4.11 combined update.  Also boot from your install DVD/CD and use Disk Utility to repair your disk and permissions, as a missing Installer.app implies possible disk corruption.

[Pam]

help...i c ant install sophos either but mine says no mountable file systems, says the same thing when I tried to install adobe flash  What do I do?  

[Agile]

---

Pam wrote:

help...i c ant install sophos either but mine says no mountable file systems, says the same thing when I tried to install adobe flash  What do I do?  

---

Are you waiting until the disk image is completely downloaded before opening it?

Also, what OS version are you using?

It sounds like your DMG files are failing to mount because Disk Utility can't recognize the internal file system.

[Rosegibson]

Now it's the weekend and I've had time to restore the system. I've done that, and run all the updates, and the installer still isn't there. Am I going to have to upgrade the operating system or something?

Rose

[Agile]

Well, all of your updates require the installer to do their install, so I'd guess that the DMGs or DVDs you're using to do the job must have the Installer.app on them somewhere as well.  Probably worth hunting on there first, before doing something more drastic.

Try grabbing the DMG of the 10.4.11 combo update from Apple's Software Update page, and see if there's a copy of Installer.app on there (it may be in a hidden folder).  I'll boot up my 10.4.11 PPC install and have a poke around.