Installing TrueCrypt on Yosemite

22 February 2015, 03:19

Once upon a time TrueCrypt was the go-to choice for cross-platform encryption. Last year the folks behind it ended all development, stating that modern operating systems have made it redundant (this is actually a pretty questionable statement, but never mind).

The result is that the latest version of TrueCrypt might have security bugs, but it also has a major usability bug: it won’t install on Yosemite. You’ll see the following error: “TrueCrypt requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.”

The solution is as follows:

  1. Download TrueCrypt, then unzip it, mount the DMG by double-clicking it, then copy the installation package to your desktop (this last bit is important!).
  2. Right-click the TrueCrypt 7.2 install file on the desktop and select Open from the menu that appears. This bypasses the fact the installation package isn’t signed – not an issue in this case because it’s downloaded from a safe location.
  3. You’ll be told that TrueCrypt can’t install, as mentioned above. Just quit the installer by clicking the Close button.
  4. Right-click the TrueCrypt 7.2 install file on the desktop, and select Show Package Contents.
  5. Open the Contents folder, then right-click the distribution.dist file and select Open With > Other. Then select TextEdit from the list of apps.
  6. In the file you’ll see the following cluster of lines around mid-way within the file. Delete the lines AFTER function pm_install_check() { and before return true;. See the screenshot below, where the lines you need to delete are highlighted. 
    function pm_install_check() {
  if(!(system.version.ProductVersion >= '10.4.0')) {
    my.result.title = 'Error';
    my.result.message = 'TrueCrypt requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.';
    my.result.type = 'Fatal';
    return false;
  }
  return true;
}
  7. Click File > Save and then quit TextEdit.
  8. Close the Finder window, then double-click the TrueCrypt 7.2 install file to install the app.

Know better?

 
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