Having trouble gettting it to work

[skarzzzz]

Having trouble gettting it to work, ive followed the detailed tut on https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/downloading-installer-packages-from-the-mac-app-store-with-appstoreextract/ with no success, need some help to get it to work please

[maxschlapfer]

Hi @skarzzzz

Thanks for your interest in my script, I'm happy to try to bring you up and running with it:
The write-up from Rich is a bit old and will only work partly on newer OS versions. To make it run (with less problems) starting on Catalina, you need another CLI tool, called "mas": https://github.com/mas-cli/mas, If you attempt to download the packages manually from the AppStore itself it will fail, as Apple has changed some background processes.

Easiest is to install it through home brew (https://brew.sh), then do these steps (tested under macOS Big Sur 11.2.1):

• prepare the MacAppStore-Extractor-Script and start it in a Terminal Window:
  ---> /PATH/TO/MacAppStoreExtract.sh -m (use the -m for Munki compatibility)

---> Important, let it run while you download with mas in another terminal window.
run mas-cli to install the desired package (for example the Safe Exam Browser from ETH Zurich):
---> /opt/homebrew/bin/mas install 411684841

When it has finished, go back to the MacAppStore Extractor script and press any key, then Y(es) to finish up the DMG.

You should now find it in "/Users/Shared/AppStore_Packages".

Hope that works for you, if now, please find me on the Mac Admins and send me a PM.

[blakeusblade]

Try using v3.1

https://github.com/blakeusblade/MacAdminHelpers/tree/master/AppStoreExtract