DMG Files don't work after moving them to Applications

sonik24 wrote:

When installing games that are downloaded as dmg files, they say after opening to move them to Applications. After done so and trying to open the file in Applications, it just shows to move them to Applications again and isn't saved as an App but still as a file, which is weird. I hope someone can tell me how to fix this and make opening downloaded games possible. (MacBook Air 2020)

old issue, new issue...(?)

Typically you open the .dmg on the Desktop— this should mount the .dmg as a volume and open the installer.

It is here either by dragging & dropping the app to the alias within the window —or —physically dragging & dropping the application to the Applications folder.

Then you delete the .dmg and drag the volume to the trash.

This is the way it is always done...

please advise

I have the same problem of dmg files not opening. When I click my H&R Block software dmg icon as it is on the desktop, it opens a window that says I should install by dragging the H&R Block icon that is in the window to the Applications folder. I have tried both dragging it to the Application folder icon in the window and to the regular Applications folder on the desktop. Neither opens it. I see that under security general preferences there is an option to download apps only from Apple and identified developers. Do most large developers get this permission and is this the issue? I have read/write permissions for the application. Since the update to 10.15.7, this has been with any dmg file. I can't get remote support or open anything I have downloaded except pdf files. Any ideas?

leroydouglas wrote:

Then you delete the .dmg and drag the volume to the trash.

I prefer to copy the installer .dmg to an external volume, just in case I need to reinstall the app. It may not be possible to download it again from the App Store or the manufacturer's site. After a new version of MacOS is released older versions of the app for older may no longer be available, or the manufacturer may no longer offer the app at all.

Neither opens it.

Dragging it into Applications doesn't open it. It just copies the app into Applications.

You have to go to the Applications folder and double-click on the app.

If you get an error about it not be from an identified developer, ctrl-click on it and choose Open, then Open again in the dialog.

Thanks for responding. I was trying to convey in my initial post that I had already tried the usual of going to the icon in Applications and double-clicking. I also had tried the solution you mentioned. Ctrl-click open does not give me a dialogue box. Odd this is happening since the software is from an identified developer, but it is happening with anything I download that is not Apple software. I also went to system preferences > security > general. There is no option to open the file anyway.

Well, in your post, you state you click on the disk image to open the app. That is not how it works.

You also stated you drag the app into an Applications folder on he Desktop. There isn’t an applications folder on the Desktop.

If you dragged the app out of the mounted disk image into the one and only Applications folder, then double-clicked the app icon in the Applications folder, you need to contact the developer for help.

A .dmg file is a "Disk Image". It's meant to be double-clicked on after your download. It will mount a disk icon on your desktop. Inside that mounted disk image, some developers will ask that the app that is inside that image be dragged into the Applications folder.

Some more sympathetic developers include a shortcut to the Applications folder within the Disk Image contents so all the user has to do is drag whatever app is in the image, to the Applications shortcut.

Proactive developers worth their salt just have you click the App in the disk image, and it will do everything automatically. Why more developers don't do it this way is beyond me.

Do not ever drag a .dmg into your Applications folder. It's not an app.

Are the GAMES designed for Big Sur

Don't download stuff except from the App Store.

Games are a gateway into most machines.

It's not the DMG you move to /Applications, it's the app/game on it that goes over.

So basic I forgot about the newbie mistake.

.

That is what I did. I called Apple support. The tech told me that given what I'd already tried, the only solution was to reinstall the OS, which I have done. Although it was draconian, it did work.