Installation fail : the installer payload failed signature check

Same problem here...

• Download new instalation file;
• Create new usb pen instalation;
• Update date time in terminal;
• Use diferent usb port.

Same error:

The installer payload failed signature check"

I had the same issue - trying to install Sierra from a bootable USB drive eventually resulted in a 'The installer payload failed signature check' message.

The Macbook Air I was installing it on was built in 2012. I suspected the date/time to be an issue.

Here's what worked:

1. Plug in your USB drive.
2. While powering on, hold down 'COMMAND' and 's'
3. You will be dropped into a terminal prompt.
4. In the terminal prompt, type 'date'. Note how far off the date is - Mine was almost a year in the past.
5. Set the date (format: [mm][dd][HHMM][yy] - e.g: December 23rd 4pm 2016 is 1223160016) - 'date 1223160016'
6. Type: exit... the terminal prompt will display a bunch of startup messages and will discover your USB drive.

...In 5 minutes or so, you will be back in the installation screen.

Trying this now. Hopefully this works.

Confirming setting the date worked for me tonight while installing official Sierra from a USB stick. It was a 2010 Macbook Pro that hasn't been powered on for a while and the date when back to 1970 😠 Thanks. This saved me.

Apple: the installer should do a date check. You didn't exist yet in 1970 😉

Likewise, just adding to the list to say that I had exactly the same error message too whilst trying to install Sierra from a usb key on a mid-2010 MacBook Pro. All I needed to do was to reset the date using the steps set out by notpeter above. I was then able to successfully use exactly the same key and installer (my source was in the Applications folder already). A great tip above. Thanks to Shiky for suggesting it and to all those that have confirmed this works.

I think one of the reasons for the failure is that the InstallESD.dmg file was not copied into the USB drive correctly. To verify run the diff command in the terminal to verify. To rectify this open a terminal and copy the file from the Applications directory to the USB drive.

diff /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Sierra/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

--> If this reports that the binary files are different, run the next command

sudo cp /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ Sierra/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

--> You will need to provide the Administrative Password for the sudo command

(The directories in the above commands contain spaces which need to be escaped. Also there may be differences in the directory paths.)

This solved my problem.

Hope this helps.

The file verification method worked for me. The following is what I have done:

1. I used the diff command as mentioned above and I found the differences between original file and the one on USB drive.
2. I copied the installation file again to the USB drive by using cp command.
3. Boot with this USB drive, and set correct time by using terminal.
   

   ntpdate -u time.apple.com
   date
   exit

4. Turn off terminal, and run macOS Sierra installation again.