Install Pro Tools 103 10 On High Sierra

Installing Pro Tools 10.3.10 on macOS High Sierra (10.13) is not officially supported by Avid and is generally considered unstable. While Avid officially qualified Pro Tools 10 only up to macOS 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion), some users attempt to force the installation using technical workarounds. Compatibility Realities

Official Support: Avid explicitly states that Pro Tools 10.3.10 is not qualified for macOS 10.9 or higher.

Installation Block: Running the standard installer on High Sierra typically triggers an error message: "An incompatible version of the OS was found".

Native High Sierra Support: Official support for High Sierra only began with Pro Tools 12.8.3. Common Installation Workarounds install pro tools 103 10 on high sierra

If you must proceed, community-developed methods involve bypassing the installer's OS version check.

Extracting the Package: Use the Terminal application to manually expand the installer package using commands like pkgutil --expand. This allows you to access the underlying application files without running the restricted installer.

Manual Placement: After extraction, users often manually drag the Pro Tools application into the /Applications folder. Installing Pro Tools 10

System Adjustments: You may need to grant permissions in System Preferences > Security & Privacy to allow software from "unknown sources" to run. Critical Known Issues

Even with a successful "forced" installation, Pro Tools 10 on High Sierra suffers from significant performance bugs:

Step 4: Post-Install Permissions Fix

After installation, the Pro Tools 10 app is likely broken due to permission mismatches. Step 4: Post-Install Permissions Fix After installation, the

  1. Open Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
  2. Type the following exactly: 
    sudo chmod -R 755 /Applications/Avid/Pro\ Tools/
sudo chown -R $USER:staff /Applications/Avid/Pro\ Tools/
  3. Close Terminal.

Disable SIP (Required)

The installer needs to write files to system-protected locations that SIP blocks.

  1. Restart your Mac and hold Command + R until Apple logo appears.
  2. Open Terminal from Utilities menu.
  3. Type: csrutil disable and press Enter.
  4. Restart normally.

Step 4 — Post-Installation Patching

Apply the PT10_HighSierra_fix.dylib to bypass CoreAudio initialization crash:

sudo cp PT10_HighSierra_fix.dylib /Applications/Pro\ Tools.app/Contents/MacOS/
sudo chmod 755 /Applications/Pro\ Tools.app/Contents/MacOS/PT10_HighSierra_fix.dylib

Then modify the binary to load it:

install_name_tool -add_rpath @executable_path/PT10_HighSierra_fix.dylib /Applications/Pro\ Tools.app/Contents/MacOS/Pro\ Tools

Step 1: Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)

Pro Tools 10.3.10 needs to write files to system-protected directories that Apple locked down starting OS X 10.11. You must temporarily disable SIP.

  1. Restart your Mac.
  2. Hold down Command + R immediately after the startup chime until the Apple logo appears.
  3. In Recovery Mode, go to Utilities > Terminal.
  4. Type: csrutil disable and press Enter.
  5. Restart your Mac normally.

Security Note: Re-enable SIP after installation by repeating the process with csrutil enable.