Can't Reinstall

[lonewolf_61]

OK, I have a problem reinstalling OS X El Capitan on an old Mac that I just can't fathom. Admittedly I'm new to Macs so, it's possible I could just be doing something wrong, so bear with me. I've booted into recovery and tried the 'reinstall OS X' option, but it keeps asking for an Apple ID and password which I don't have because the Mac was given to me by a friend whom I'm no longer in contact with. There is also no option to obtain one so the install will go no further.

I have gone into the disk utility program as suggested in this forum and tried to erase the internal drive in the hope that it will reinstall from the recovery partition which is visible in the disk utility, but all I get is a fail to erase message saying that it could not unmount the drive. I've tried Shift-Option-Command-R as well, but this too just takes me to the exact same problems. How do I reinstall from the recovery partition?

Can anyone help?

 

[chabig]

When it asks for an AppleID and password, use yours. This is just for connecting to the App Store.

 

[lonewolf_61]

Thanks for the reply, but that's the thing, I don't have one and there is no option to create one. I was just going to try to reinstall from the recovery partition which is visible in the disk utility, but to do that I have to erase the primary hard drive. And that's where it all stalls with an error about being unable to unmount it.

 

[chabig]

I assume the machine boots to the internal hard drive. If so, boot, then go to the App Store and download the appropriate installer for the version you want. It'll install to the Applications folder. Run it from there and select the external SSD as the target volume.

 

[lonewolf_61]

Not at all. In the disk utility there is the internal hard drive listed and another volume leading off it named Imac, which I was able to erase in preparation for a clean install. There is another drive listed below that one named 'Apple Disk Image', and another leading off of that named 'OS X Based System'

If I boot the machine, it now goes straight to the recovery menu. This is what the disk utility shows.

 

[MBAir2010]

from my experience this sunday, you can skip the iCloud log in on el captain and mt lion
but you need a password for the mac which might be intact already.

after the welcome's and language selection options, does El Cap load?

how old is the Imac?
if prior 2011, you might need the copy of the USB OSX or permissions.

and

did we try rebooting from a USB image?
(downloaded osx and install boot program)

 

[Apple_Robert]

Create an Apple ID online or using a different device and then try the install. Follow the guidelines in the support document.

How to create a new Apple Account - Apple Support

With your Apple Account, you can access all Apple devices and services — such as iCloud, the App Store, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[lonewolf_61]

Many thanks for responding. I've not tried rebooting from a USB image yet as I don't actually have one. I also can't get to the welcome and language options yet because it won't let me past the Apple login screen without an actual Apple ID and login to download the OS for reinstall. As I say, I'm not familiar with Macs, but from what I can see so far, nothing is ever as straightforward as the Apple support pages say they are.

 

[lonewolf_61]

Create an Apple ID online or using a different device and then try the install. Follow the guidelines in the support document.

How to create a new Apple Account - Apple Support

With your Apple Account, you can access all Apple devices and services — such as iCloud, the App Store, and more.

support.apple.com

Many thanks. I'm thinking that that may be the only way to go but I don't like giving credit card details online. To be honest I thought that reinstalling from an intact recovery partition would be easy, but it doesn't seem to be. It's right there on the drive, but I can't reinstall from it. It's infuriating.

 

[Slartibart]

Many thanks. I'm thinking that that may be the only way to go but I don't like giving credit card details online.

you do not have to provide credit card details to create an Apple ID.

 

[lonewolf_61]

you do not have to provide credit card details to create an Apple ID.

Ah, OK. Following the link to create an Apple ID provided by Apple_Robert above, one of the steps mentions providing your credit card details, so I assumed this was a mandatory step. Thanks for responding...

 

[Procrastinus]

I also am very new to Macs. I got an old 2007 iMac and reinstalled El Capitan by installing Snow Leopard from installation disks. I was then able to create an Aple ID and upgrade to El Capitan
It all seems to work - hope this may help!

 

[lonewolf_61]

So, I now have an Apple ID, and it still won't go any further. I now see 'Sorry, this item is temporarilly unavailable', meaning it won't download the OS to continue the install. Once again it's frustrating, because there is a recovery file available on this iMac which I cannot access.

I've never had so much trouble installing an OS. :-(

 

[Procrastinus]

I should have mentioned in my post #12 that I was installing onto a clean SSD. Perhaps it might be worth a try to take out the currend HDD, connect to another machine (Windows?) and then run Gparted to completely remove all old partitions and content. I then formatted to FAT32, replaced it in the iMac and continued with the Snow Leopard disks

 

[lonewolf_61]

I should have mentioned in my post #12 that I was installing onto a clean SSD. Perhaps it might be worth a try to take out the currend HDD, connect to another machine (Windows?) and then run Gparted to completely remove all old partitions and content. I then formatted to FAT32, replaced it in the iMac and continued with the Snow Leopard disks

Thanks for the reply. I have no install disks though. As I say, it's frustrating because there is a recovery partition right there on the hard drive, but the boot key sequences to boot from it don't work. It just keeps forcing me to the Apple store to download an OS which it then says is not available. I think I know now why most people prefer anything but a Mac.

 

[Procrastinus]

All I can suggest is this: https://archive.org/details/SnowLeopardInstall
I have not tried it, but there seems to be some success. It would download quicker with a wired LAN connection rather than WIFI.
Good luck

 

[Procrastinus]

lonewolf_61 - check your Converations​

 

[lonewolf_61]

OK, so the latest long running saga on getting an OS onto this damned iMac is as follows. Apple account created as advised, but going down that route gives 'Item is Temporarilly Unavailable', which it has been for over a month now. I downloaded a DMG file to Install OS x El Capitan, but cannot get it onto the iMac. It's a 5gb file and Windows says it's too large to fit onto a 64gb thumb drive, most likely because it's the wrong file format. Consequently, I've tried to format the thumbdrive to FAT32, which I'm informed is compatible to both Windows and Apple, but doing so means I cannot fit a file bigger than 4gb onto it so, that's a non starter. I've also tried to format an external hard drive to FAT32 so that I can attach that to the iMac via a USB hub, but Windows won't allow me to format that to anything but NTFS, so again, non starter.

My only remaining option now is to try and burn an ISO of El Capitan (which I've managed to get) to a double sided DVD and try to install from the DVD ROM drive. I'm not too hopeful given the difficulties I've had so far, and it's frustrating given that there is already an El Capitan image on the drive that I cannot access, but if this latest plan doesn't work, the iMac is going in the nearest skip...

 

[Procrastinus]

One can buy USB drives on eBay with El Capitan install loaded on to them, but, of course, you do not know what you are getting - so not advised.
Plenty of Snow Leopard install dvds also on offer - be sure to get a 'Retail' copy whatever that means!
I also recommend GParted as software to format drives and remove all old partitions
I am fairly sure that Apple no longer allow downloads of El Capitan due to it's age, but it is available as an upgrade to a Snow Leopard installation - hence my advice to get the Snow Leopard dvd. That's the route I took and it worked!

 

[Slartibart]

you can create a bootable usb installer on windows using e.g. PowerISO

 

[lonewolf_61]

Well, I managed to source an El Capitan install DVD, booted it, and got as far as choosing the internal drive to install to. And then it failed with an error along the lines of there being no packages to update from. I tried formatting the internal drive via Disk Utilities, but everytime I try it just says, error formatting disk. I'm at my wits end, but have learned a valuable lesson.

Don't ever accept a free Apple product from anyone. Far too much trouble...

 

[jowaju]

You keep saying it won’t reload from the recovery partition, but that’s not the case. A macOS Recovery does not contain the operating system itself, you must either download it via Internet Recovery or provide it yourself in the form of a USB or DVD of the actual OS. El Capitan is so old you can no longer download it through normal internet recovery. If you have the installer DMG but only have access to a Windows PC, you can use the trial version of TransMac to make a bootable USB MacOS El Capitan installer. If you can’t get that to work DM me and I’ll send you a link.

 

[Nermal]

I've also tried to format an external hard drive to FAT32 so that I can attach that to the iMac via a USB hub, but Windows won't allow me to format that to anything but NTFS, so again, non starter.

I realise I'm about a month late here, but NTFS is readable on a Mac (but not writable), so is acceptable for getting files onto a Mac. The 'best' format is exFAT, which supports large files and can be read and written on both systems.

 

[torvan]

The No Packages issue could be because the date on the Mac and the date of the media are in conflict.

You could drop to Terminal and set the date to one of these two. It is what I have had to do.

date 0101010116

date 0923020415

Also note that if you want to install Windows, it is better if you are using a separate hard drive. Then you can head to https://lowendmac.com/2015/run-windows-on-your-mac-without-bootcamp/ I wrote how to do it 7 years ago.

 

[lonewolf_61]

If you have the installer DMG but only have access to a Windows PC, you can use the trial version of TransMac to make a bootable USB MacOS El Capitan installer. If you can’t get that to work DM me and I’ll send you a link.

I did use Transmac to do just that. It created a bootable El Capitan DVD which loaded fine and got as far as telling me it would take 17 Minutes to install the OS before erroring as stated.