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I uninstalled iTunes a while back when I first got my Mac. I'd now like to get it back.

This seems nearly impossible on Mojave, as far as I can tell. The available installers are here:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-13022

The latest macOS they support is High Sierra, 10.13. When I try to install iTunes 12.8.3 on my machine (macOS 10.14.6), I see

"This update requires macOS version 10.13.99 or earlier."

And I cannot install the latest version of iTunes, because it is for Catalina (10.15).

It seems there is a gap in the available installers, which does not include Mojave. I don't know if this is Apple trying to strong-arm 10.14 users into upgrading to 10.15 and losing 32-bit application support. All I know is that iTunes was installed on this machine at one point, so a working installer must exist. Any help?

Edit: there is a really obvious statement on the link that I posted above that I somehow missed:

"Note: macOS 10.14 Mojave includes iTunes 12.9.x as part of the operating system. There is no standalone installer provided. Updates to iTunes are included in OS updates when applicable. You can reinstall Mojave to repair iTunes."

Is this really the only solution? Is there a way to "repair" the OS/install missing components, without reinstalling the entire thing? And if I did do the reinstall, does that reset data and settings configurations, etc.?

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  • There's an app called Pacifist that can extract parts form a macOS installer. If you only deleted the iTunes.app, you can use it to reinstall just that portion from the Mojave installer.
    – At0micMutex
    Commented Jun 22, 2021 at 21:41
  • @At0mic That's amazing. Do you have a guide or something?
    – pretzlstyle
    Commented Jun 23, 2021 at 16:19
  • @At0mic also, is this it? charlessoft.com
    – pretzlstyle
    Commented Jun 23, 2021 at 16:35

1 Answer 1

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  1. Download a copy of macOS Mojave (you can get it here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683)
  2. Download Pacifist from https://www.charlessoft.com/
  3. Open Pacifist and drag the Mojave installer onto the window
  4. Once it's done loading, go to OSInstall/Core.pkg/Applications/iTunes
  5. Click the "Extract To..." button at the top of the window. Choose your /Applications folder and complete the steps to install it.

If you removed other parts of iTunes (so not just iTunes.app) you'll need to reinstall those as well. I'll assume you know what you've removed and can find them.

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  • Thank you so much! Only problem... I don't know where to find the downloaded update file. I downloaded the update at ~6gb, and all I can find is the installer application in /User/Applications. I do not see it in /Library/Updates Edit: nevermind, understood
    – pretzlstyle
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 21:32
  • It is ridiculous that Apple cannot provide an independent installer, when clearly it is possible...
    – pretzlstyle
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 21:35

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