Mac – Cannot install apps via macOS Big Sur App Store

big surinstallmac-appstore

Since upgrading to macOS Big Sur (11.1), my system has been slow and laggy. Many applications upon first action seems to require a 2-4 second load to become responsive – once they've recovered that first time, things seem to be about as fast as they were on Catalina (no measurements, just perceptual observation).

Recently, I tried to update Xcode to the latest (12.4) via the Mac App Store (3.0). The download seemed to complete, but the install wouldn't finish. I restarted the computer after 4 hours of not completing. Upon restarting, the install did not finish, so I thought I may need to reclaim some disk space. I went to download "Cleaner One – Disk Clean" from the Mac App Store. The app seemed to download but, too, could not finish the install. I restarted the computer again and tried to install the app again.

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This time, it doesn't seem to even start the download, it just hangs at what appears to be 0% – the Launchpad says "Waiting". After this I decided to try, another app that I've never downloaded before (Just a random featured free app) "MindNode – Mind Map & Outline". This time the download starts and seemingly finishes, but stops at the end of the download and fails to install (the same thing I saw with the first attempt of installing "Cleaner One").

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Something is obviously pretty borked here. I'm hoping someone knows somewhere to look to clean out whatever caches are preventing these from completing. I would go back to Catalina, but I think I need the latest macOS for the latest Xcode to develop for the latest iOS.

Best Answer

Okay, I found the solution. I found an Apple Developer forum (that I had to access via Google cache for some reason) that discussed related issues.

To re-iterate here:

  1. Sign out of Mac App Store

    • Store > Sign Out
    • enter image description here

  2. Navigate to ~/Library/Caches in Finder

    • Keyboard Shortcut Cmd+Shift+G (Go to Folder)
    • Enter ~/Library/Caches
    • enter image description here
    • Click "Go"

  3. Find the following folders in the Finder window and move them to the trash

    • com.apple.appstore
    • com.apple.appstoreagent

  4. Reboot

    •  > Restart...

  5. Launch Mac App Store & Sign in

Testing App Store downloads/installs after the above steps seems to have resolved the issues.

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