iOS Over-the-Air mobile Ad-Hoc downloading: "Could not Extract Archive" error

Question

I am trying to download my application over the web on my iOS 4.2 device.

I have verified that the application I have built installs and runs correctly on my device through XCode - i.e. The application should be built and signed correctly. I package it through "Build and Archive" and "Share..." it - then upload the .plist and .ipa files to my server, which I have the correct links to, etc..etc...

When I try to install it (over-the-air), it says "Waiting...", then "Loading..." then "Installing...", then I get an error: "Unable to Download 'myAppName'" - (Done) (Retry).

Checking the console on my iPhone, I get the following:

Sat Jan 8 18:30:50 unknown installd[26090] : 2ff66000 extract_package: Could not extract archive Sat Jan 8 18:30:50 unknown installd[26090] : 2ff66000 stage_package: Could not extract /var/tmp/install_staging.ReUsa4/foo.zip to /var/tmp/install_staging.ReUsa4/foo_extracted Sat Jan 8 18:30:50 unknown installd[26090] : 2ff66000 MobileInstallationInstall: Could not stage the package Sat Jan 8 18:30:50 unknown installd[26090] : 2ff66000 handle_install: API failed Sat Jan 8 18:30:50 unknown com.apple.itunesstored[26087] : MobileInstallationInstall: failed with -1

Looks like a bunch of problems "Extracting Archive". Anyone know what this means? Any ideas???

UPDATE: I the Diawi web site to install this - and it worked fine. So, it's not a code signing issue.

Psychopharmacology

Did you ever find an answer for this? I am having the same problem and can't seem to figure it out. My application will install through other means like Testflight but not when I set it up. – Cornice

Is the iPhone out of "disk" space? Unlikely I suspect but worth checking. – Mite

I have a similar problem where my app would display the "unable to download at this time" notice. This is a really bizarre problem for me, since I could not replicate the issue in a controlled manner. Once I downloaded the ipa, the installation process would sometimes fail. It would work on some devices, then it wouldn't, and sometimes it didn't work and then it did. I have spent hours trying to figure this out. Please help! – Bellied

Answer 1

Are you positive that the URL you entered when you did the Enterprise distribution, points to your IPA file? The fact it is showing foo.zip in there seems to point in that direction.

Locklin

No - it points to the directory where all the files are. Is it supposed to point to the IPA file itself?! – Psychopharmacology

This is one of those answers that I feel like should have WAY more votes than it does. Thank you, two years later, for saving me hours of frustration. – Tieck

Answer 2

Another thing one may check is the deployment target version vs. iPad iOS version. In my case I was building 4.3 target, while my iPad was at 4.2.1. After I built 4.2 and upload, things works fine.

Neelyneeoma

Answer 3

Yes we had same problem

WRONG
Application URL:http://www.mycompany.com/

RIGHT

Application URL:http://www.mycompany.com/MyApp.ipa

A clue is in the progress bar under the icon: if you see Unable to Download and the bar is at 0 then I found that something in the plist is wrong.

Test All URLS in plist. They should be openable/downloadable in a browser.

If the progress bar moves too quickly it can find the images but the IPA is a problem, check the URL.

If it moves slowly I found its downloding the IPA ok.

If it gets to 75% and fails it usually mean its downloaded what it can and is now failing on install.

Open organizer/Your device/Console logs

if you see unzip error - "cant unarchive" theres something wrong with ipa. We had wrong URL http://www.mycompany.com/ so think it downloaded default.htm because we said this was the application URL then tried to unzip it and failed.

NONE OF THIS IS HELPED BY APPLES CRAPPY DOCs NOT GIVING AN EXAMPLE!!!!

Hyssop

Answer 4

Go to Product -> Edit Schema -> Build Configuration

Change Debug to Release and try it.

Lesbos

Answer 5

I figured my problem out, maybe you are having the same issue. When uploading the .ipa file to my website I was doing so as an ASCII file when it should have been as a binary. Whatever way you are using to upload the files make sure you can specify the transfer type used to upload them. Hope this helps

Cornice

I don't thInk this is it. I was using scp which doesn't make a distinction. You were probibly using FTP, which does. – Psychopharmacology

Answer 6

I was uploading my ipa to a shared host that I use for tinkering. I tried another host and it worked fine.

For future googlers, here's the errrors I was getting on my device in Organizer

unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 bom_file_error_handler: Payload/MyApp/[email protected]:No such file or directory
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 : Can't stat Payload/MyApp/[email protected]: No such file or directory
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 : Can't stat Payload/MyApp: No such file or directory
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 extract_package: Could not extract archive
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 stage_package: Could not extract /var/tmp/install_staging.mqnjNY/foo.zip to /var/tmp/install_staging.mqnjNY/foo_extracted
unknown com.apple.itunesstored[1605] <Notice>: MobileInstallationInstall: failed with -1
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 MobileInstallationInstall: Could not stage the package
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 handle_install: API failed
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 send_message: failed to send mach message of 71 bytes: 10000003
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 send_error: Could not send error response to client

Archives

Answer 7

I had the same problem.

I had created an Ad-Hoc Distribution release of my iPad app, had the URL correct, but then copied the .plist and .ipa files into the wrong directory on my FTP site.

Copying it to the correct place (which corresponded with the "Application URL" setting when I created the Archive) fixed this issue.

Sigh. Wouldn't it be nice if the Terminal gave us an easy-to-read description of why such apps had failed to install...

Hesperidin