Hello, forum! I would like some help installing El Capitan on my 2008 Macbook Pro 4,1. I am currently running fresh install 10.7 (Lion). I have the El Capitan dmz and MacOS Extractor. When I try to install the patch on my external hard drive (320GB free, freshly formatted with Mac OS Extended (journaled)), Mac OS Extractor fails almost instantly. I am very new to Macs, but would love to have an OS in which I can update Google Chrome and install Office 2016. I am finding myself supporting Mac's more and more at work, so it would be nice to actually know what I am doing. Thanks.
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Help Installing El Capitan on 2008 Macbook pro
- Thread starter muddblood
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You don't need the Extractor software. Your MBPro4,1 will upgrade to El Capitan without needing to use that.
(The app won't run on your MacBookPro4,1 because it is not supported (and not needed
)
You have the El Capitan .DMG now.
Double click that .dmg so that it mounts on your desktop as a folder. Drag the OS X installer app in that folder to your Applications folder.
Now, from your Applications folder, run the El Capitan installer app.
If for some reason that does not let you install, re-down that El Capitan installer from this link
And, wait for it to restart. It will then complete the update of your system software. Probably will reboot once or twice more. And, that should do it!
(The app won't run on your MacBookPro4,1 because it is not supported (and not needed
)You have the El Capitan .DMG now.
Double click that .dmg so that it mounts on your desktop as a folder. Drag the OS X installer app in that folder to your Applications folder.
Now, from your Applications folder, run the El Capitan installer app.
If for some reason that does not let you install, re-down that El Capitan installer from this link
And, wait for it to restart. It will then complete the update of your system software. Probably will reboot once or twice more. And, that should do it!
When new versions of macOS are released, such as when Yosemite was superceded by El Capitan, then Yosemite was dropped from the App Store, at a least as a new download, so only El Capitan was available at that time. The only way that you could download Yosemite was if you had previously "purchased" Yosemite, and it was already in the Purchased tab in your App Store. That used to work well as new systems replaced old
However, a number of Mac systems were dropped when Sierra was released. El Capitan was still dropped, so, even if you COULD upgrade to El Capitan, it was no longer available as a normal listing in the App Store (again, if you had previously "purchased" El Capitan, it remains available in your Purchased tab. So - how do you get El Capitan, if you have never purchased it, and your Mac is limited to El Capitan?
Apple decided to make that available, but only for those who are in that situation, through a special link to the installer, not normally accessible in the App Store.
And - no, you are limited to El Capitan. The installer for Sierra and newer will not allow you to install directly to update your system to Sierra or High Sierra.
There are workarounds to allow you to install Sierra, etc, but it is not natively supported. Upgrading to Sierra may have limitations, which are mentioned in the article that I linked. For example, your 2008 MBPro built-in wifi card will not work, so you lose wireless.
However, a number of Mac systems were dropped when Sierra was released. El Capitan was still dropped, so, even if you COULD upgrade to El Capitan, it was no longer available as a normal listing in the App Store (again, if you had previously "purchased" El Capitan, it remains available in your Purchased tab. So - how do you get El Capitan, if you have never purchased it, and your Mac is limited to El Capitan?
Apple decided to make that available, but only for those who are in that situation, through a special link to the installer, not normally accessible in the App Store.
And - no, you are limited to El Capitan. The installer for Sierra and newer will not allow you to install directly to update your system to Sierra or High Sierra.
There are workarounds to allow you to install Sierra, etc, but it is not natively supported. Upgrading to Sierra may have limitations, which are mentioned in the article that I linked. For example, your 2008 MBPro built-in wifi card will not work, so you lose wireless.
El Capitan is still available on the App Store for your computer. Follow the instructions here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
You won't be able to use Sierra on that Mac.
Ahh! Thank you! I knew about being able to download if it had already been downloaded (I've been researching this for some time as I have a late 2006 MBP I want to upgrade as well).
So no Sierra for me...I'd rather have wifi. Thank you very much for the help!!
So no Sierra for me...I'd rather have wifi. Thank you very much for the help!!