can I run el capitan on a mid 2017 imac?

[tellulah]

My trusty laptop finally died and I bought a mid 2017 imac which is running high sierra.

My problem is that much of my software won't run on high sierra and I would like to either use the HD from the laptop (which has el capitan on it) as a start up disc or make a time machine back up of it and reboot using that.

Are either of those options possible? I really don't want to make a mess of this.

Thanks
tellulah

Searches didn't show anything relating to this problem but after I posted I did find one from over a year ago that pretty much says No. Someone suggested it might be possible to install a virtual machine. I would need clarification on that.

 

[jbarley]

I do believe your iMac originally came with Sierra 12.4 installed.
This is normally as far back as you can go with apple systems, (nothing earlier then the original).

 

[1050792]

No you can't, only the version your Mac shipped with.

 

[tellulah]

Thank you both. jbarley it did come with high sierra, unpacked it Friday and did no updates.

 

[jbarley]

Thank you both. jbarley it did come with high sierra, unpacked it Friday and did no updates.

When I mentioned "originally" I was referring to when that model was originally released in 2017.