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

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.

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.

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.

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!!!!

Answer 4

Go to Product -> Edit Schema -> Build Configuration
Change Debug to Release and try it.

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

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/thumb#2x.png:No such file or directory
unknown installd[1595] <Error>: 2fff9000 : Can't stat Payload/MyApp/thumb#2x.png: 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

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...