19Dec/1112
OSX Lion: “Can’t download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X” SOLUTION

Since I had this problem several times when installing Mac OSX Lion 10.7.2, here is the simple solution: remove any RAM over 4GB. Keeping only 4GB RAM in the Mac (in my case a MacBook Pro) made the installer run flawlessly. It's as simple as that.
This post was written by nanofunk on December 19, 2011 and last edited on December 20, 2011
Post categories: apple, hackintosh, hardware, howto, installation, lion, osx, software
Permalink: http://nanofunk.net/osx-lion-cant-download-the-additional-components-needed-to-install-mac-os-x-solution/
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December 27th, 2011 - 19:19
Thank you so much for that post – it really saved my day! After countless attempts to reinstall Mac OS X Lion to a clean HD using a bootable DVD (which were always greeted by the “Can’t download the additional components” message after a few minutes), and even testing the RAM with Memtest86 (-> all good), removing all but 4 GB RAM from my iMac finally let me reinstall Lion without a problem.
February 9th, 2012 - 07:44
Thanks. After four tries from USB and DVD, this worked. Apple, WTF?
February 11th, 2012 - 20:24
GENIUS!!! I have tried a dozen times with different DVDs, usb drives even the original Snow Leopard disk. I almost broke down and brought to Apple. Thank you so much.
February 27th, 2012 - 01:20
This is pure gold. Stupid OS X.
February 29th, 2012 - 20:26
Great!!! Took me a long time!!! Gold!
March 1st, 2012 - 18:29
I had even 1 DIMM of 4 G and it still didn’t work on my iMac. Then i put 2x 2G in and it worked. Does this mean my DIMM of 4G is corrupt? Normally i have 16G (4×4) installed
March 10th, 2012 - 23:14
I just wanted to confirm that my mac mini (late 2009) with 4GB total (2x2gb) exhibited the “Can’t download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X” when attempting to install 10.7. I removed one of the two RAM modules and the setup completed just fine without any errors. I put the RAM module back in the system and ran the AHT (the extended version) and it completed 5 passes without any errors.
July 19th, 2012 - 10:01
Hi guys! I am facing the same problem right now, trying to help a friend with her MacBook Pro, form december 2011. I Cant really tell whether it has more than 4 GB Ram or not, but I get the exact same message.
Is there any other solution than removing the Ram? (I am not that confident opening up the MacBook Pro)..
August 1st, 2012 - 22:16
That was the solution for my mountain lion trouble.
Thanks so much!
Cheers from Germany,
Ben
January 15th, 2013 - 06:49
Pls, am facing the same problem but my memory is 2GB
January 16th, 2013 - 13:44
@Felix: which version of OSX are you trying to install? 10.7 or 10.8 Mountain Lion? There are some cases where the DVD is broken or cannot be read; You can take a look at the log output and see what exactly is the problem. If you post the log output here we might be able to help you install OS X after all!
March 1st, 2013 - 05:32
Thanks man!!!! very nice!!!!! :)