[FIXED] Avast Installation FAILING - OSX 10.12.6

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Hi guys,

I am having a weird issue reinstalling Avast Security for Mac since I was unable to update the program yesterday. So I uninstalled Avast via the uninstaller and cleaned all caches and leftovers with Onyx.

Then I wanted to do a fresh and clean new installation of Avast Security which is not possible anymore and the installer always ends with the error message "The installation failed. The installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact software manufacturer for assistance." (See attached screenshot).

After closing this error message of the installer, I've seen that Avast has been installed but I am unable to use it because it tells me it can't connect to the Avast server and the update functions are being greyed out (see also attached screenshots). I double checked my firewall (Little Snitch) and none of the Avast connections are blocked and all have access to the internet.

I already googled around and it seems some other folks also have this issue but I did not find a solve for it yet.

I am running OSX 10.12.6

Really clueless on how to solve this and every help is appreciated!

[lukas.hasik]

@hanser - could you send also some logs? Either via "Help > Technical Support > Generate Support Package", or look for log starting with "avast" in /tmp directory.

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Stupid question...where do I find the log files?

When I "Generate support Package" I can't see any logs....

[lukas.hasik]

you have to submit the feedback to let the AV upload a zip file with logs and your comments to our servers.
The logs are collected from various directories - all /tmp/avast*.log files, some avast config files, etc.
The support package zip file (as we call it) appears in /tmp/support_pkg before you send it.

However I just realized that the package might not be send because it look that the avast service is not running.
Could you collect them manually? Start "Terminal", then "cd /tmp", "zip LOGS avast*", and send me the LOGS.zip that will appear in /tmp directory, please.

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Sorry for the noob question, but where exactly do I find the tmp folder with the zip fiel in it on OSX?

[lukas.hasik]

1) via terminal
press CMD+SPACE and type "terminal", ENTER
then type "cd /tmp", ENTER
you can list files in this directory with "ls"

2) via Finder - probably more convenient as you want to send the zipped logs to me
open Finder, then "Go > Go to Folder..." and type "/tmp"
it will open the /tmp directory, add files starting with avast as attachment to an email and send it to me (hasik at avast dot com)

THX!

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Just sent you an email with the log file.

Thanks for your help Hasik!

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I have the same issue on 10.13.1, please see extract from system log:

Dec  8 10:26:04 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.daemon): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Dec  8 10:26:04 MacBook com.avast.daemon[11183]: Starting daemon.
Dec  8 10:26:04 MacBook sam[11231]: SecureLine installation failed
Dec  8 10:26:05 MacBook sam[11261]: Passwords installation failed
Dec  8 10:26:05 MacBook sam[11335]: Cleanup installation failed
Dec  8 10:26:06 MacBook com.avast.submit[11346]: Invalid version format: bd0cfa0883e5-13.1
Dec  8 10:26:08 MacBook com.avast.daemon[11183]: Loaded VPS #17120800
Dec  8 10:26:08 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.service): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Dec  8 10:26:08 MacBook com.avast.service[11384]: sock_connect_unix_socket: connect(/Library/Application Support/Avast/run/wifiguard.sock) failed: No such file or directory
Dec  8 10:26:08 MacBook com.avast.service[11384]: WifiGuardNotifier: failed to connect
Dec  8 10:26:10 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.proxy): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Dec  8 10:26:10 MacBook com.avast.proxy[11413]: Starting daemon.
Dec  8 10:26:10 MacBook com.avast.proxy[11413]: Error connecting to service socket: connect(): /Library/Application Support/Avast/run/service.sock: No such file or directory
Dec  8 10:26:10 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Dec  8 10:26:10 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.avast.proxy[11413]: swquery.apple.com:https: nodename nor servname provided, or not known
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.avast.daemon[11183]: License error: /Library/Application Support/Avast/config/license.avastlic: No such file or directory
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.avast.service[11384]: sock_connect_unix_socket: connect(/Library/Application Support/Avast/run/wifiguard.sock) failed: No such file or directory
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.avast.service[11384]: WifiGuardNotifier: failed to connect
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.fileshield): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.avast.fileshield[11477]: fs:  Starting daemon
Dec  8 10:26:11 MacBook com.avast.fileshield[11477]: fs:  config_load: ini_read() failed [-1]. Will use defaults.
Dec  8 10:26:12 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy3[11479]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Dec  8 10:26:12 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy3): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Dec  8 10:26:12 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.account[11486]): Could not find and/or execute program specified by service: 2: No such file or directory: /Library/Application Support/components/account/com.avast.account-sync
Dec  8 10:26:12 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.account[11486]): Service setup event to handle failure and will not launch until it fires.
Dec  8 10:26:12 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.avast.wifiguard): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Dec  8 10:26:14 MacBook com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.quicklook[11514]): Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.quicklook
Dec  8 10:26:15 MacBook com.avast.fileshield[11477]: fs:  Stopping File Shield...

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I still could not solve the issue, despite of trying several things.

It seems like the installer/program is unable to connect to "http://mac-av.u.avcdn.net/mac-av/10_9/vps9/vps9.lat" for some reason.

However using any Browser or Terminal is able to connect to the above without any problems.

Reading through the forum and other forums in the web it seems I am not the only one with the problem.

Really clueless, please if anybody has a solve for this let me know. Otherwise I have to switch to a different Antivirus Program on OSX moving forward.

Thanks!

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Wow, just tried AVG AntiVir for Mac and it is also NOT able to connect to the Avast servers.

Wondering if there is an issue with the servers?

Please AV team solve this, otherwise we unfortunately have to chose another AV program.

[ondrej.kolacek]

Hello,
since that operation is done after elevation, there could be something wrong with the root environment. Could you please run shell as root and try the download afterwards? Eg. run these in a terminal:

sudo su -
curl -fsvSL --connect-timeout 30 http://mac-av.u.avcdn.net/mac-av/10_9/vps9/vps9.lat

Please post the output of the command here if you can.
Kind regards,
Ondrej Kolacek

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Hi Ondrej,

I did this already as your colleague Lukas asked me to do this already via email and I sent him the Terminal log 2 days ago.

However I did not hear back from him yet but would love to hear how to solve this.

In the meantime I am using a different AV.
 

[ondrej.kolacek]

Hi Ondrej,

I did this already as your colleague Lukas asked me to do this already via email and I sent him the Terminal log 2 days ago.

However I did not hear back from him yet but would love to hear how to solve this.

In the meantime I am using a different AV.

Hello,
I know you have sent the logs, Lukas Hasik has received them, however since the download command is not run in verbose mode in our script, the log output does not give us any details about why the connect attempt failed. The command I have posted could potentially give us more details about what could be wrong.
EDIT: Sorry, I have missread your answer. The difference between what Lukas asked you to run and this is that this time you run it as root; we are suspecting that something is wrong with the root's environment.
Kind regards,
Ondrej Kolacek

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Thanks Ondrej,

I did sent the new logs using
"sudo su -
curl -fsvSL --connect-timeout 30 http://mac-av.u.avcdn.net/mac-av/10_9/vps9/vps9.lat"

this morning as well as a screenshot of the Proxy settings.

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I'm having exactly the same problem. Any resolution yet?