How to download a complete macOS Mojave installer app

Attempting to download macOS Mojave from the Mac App Store I found that a small 22 MB version of the “Install macOS Mojave.app” file downloads to the “Applications” folder, rather than the complete 6 GB installer file.

The tiny 22 MB incomplete installer requires an internet connection during usage to download the rest of the Mojave update files. Additionally, it does not allow to create a macOS Mojave USB installer drive for use on multiple computers.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to download the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” file from Apple servers using the “macOS Mojave Patcher” app instead of via the Mac App Store.

A similar mini-installer issue occurred previously with some users getting a tiny incomplete macOS High Sierra installer too and I covered a similar workaround here to download the complete installer file from Apple servers.

About the app

In this workaround, we’re going to use the macOS Mojave Patcher app from the dosdude1.com. This app is intended for those with unsupported Macs and Hackintosh users, but any Mac user can use the app to be able to download the complete macOS Mojave installer file from Apple servers. For our purposes in this particular walkthrough, we will use the app only to download the complete installer file.

Note! This method relies on a third party app from an unverified third party source. If you are not comfortable with using unvetted and unverified software, do not follow this process.

Let’s begin

Downloading the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” file from Apple servers using the “macOS Mojave Patcher” app is a really easy process. Now, step by step guide.

Go to the official website of the “macOS Mojave Patcher” app here and download the app.

The download links are labeled as “Direct” and “Mirror” on that page.

Launch the “macOS Mojave Patcher” app.

Note! By default, macOS preventing apps from unidentified developers or sources from being launched. So you most likely will get an alert message that says: “macOS Mojave Patcher.app can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer”. To allow just one specific app to run do the following:

1. Hold down the Control key and click the app icon. From the contextual menu choose Open.
2. A popup will appear asking you to confirm this action. Click the Open button.

Ignore everything about patching, instead pull down the “Tools” menu and choose “Download macOS Mojave…”.

Confirm that you want to download the “Install macOS Mojave.app” app, and then point it to a location to save on the hard drive.

Close the “macOS Mojave Patcher” app when the download is complete and locate the “Install macOS Mojave.app” file you downloaded.

Conclusion

That’s it, you’re done. Now you have the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” file downloaded. So simple isn’t it?

You can confirm that you have the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” file by getting info on the file. For this simply select the file and click the Spacebar key (or right-click on the file and choose “Get Info”). The complete installer should be around 6 GB rather than the tiny 22 MB incomplete installer that requires additional downloads.

Note! Remember, the “Install macOS Mojave.app” file deletes itself automatically after macOS Mojave has successfully installed. Therefore, you may want to make a backup by having previously copied it to external storage.

Let me know in the comments section if you know another way to download the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” file rather than the tiny incomplete installer.

I hope this article has helped you learn how to downloaded the complete “Install macOS Mojave.app” file from Apple servers. If this article has helped you then please leave a comment

Thanks for reading!