Can't Download Mavericks via App Store nor Upgrade from OS X 10.8.5 -- Command Line Installs Not Supported App Store mentions the following message when I attempt to download/install OS X Mavericks (10.9):

"Command line installs of OS X are not supported on systems older than 10.9."


So it says I need 10.9 in order to upgrade to 10.9?


Mac mini (Late-2012)
OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)
iTunes 11.1.2 or above (so far)
using App Store 1.2.2 (129.16)


Q: How can I download the OS X Mavericks 10.9 installer?

(Note: I'm running the Mac mini over VNC ("Screen Sharing") with no monitor).



Update 1 


I downloaded the Mavericks Installer using a friend's laptop.
Visiting the Apple Store seems to be the default support path around this bug: "you can visit any Apple Retail Store to get help with downloading" (http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/)




Update 2 





Update 3

After thinking perhaps I may have an environment variable set, 
I found the following post, and sure enough, 
my /etc/launchd.conf file had the following line:

setenv COMMAND_LINE_INSTALL 1

which I removed/commented out with a # in front.

#setenv COMMAND_LINE_INSTALL 1

I'm now running Mavericks 10.9.1 ! :) -- the upgrade went wonderfully.

I had added that line several months ago in order to install something, and had forgotten about it. (Hope this fix helps someone)

Lesson Learned:


Track temporary configuration changes (or restore to the original when you're done)
This isn't the ideal path, but you could always boot to the Recovery HD and re-install the OS to an external USB drive. Your Mac might re-download Mavericks directly but more likely would re-download the version that created the Recovery HD.

At that point, you would leave your internal drive untouched and install a clean system on the external drive.

From there, you would be able to boot off that external drive that doesn't have the new iTunes and download Mavericks. Once you had the installer, you could run it against either the internal drive or the external drive and migrate data over if you chose to upgrade the external to Mavericks first.