How to acquire osx el capitan install

[scofopolis]

I recently upgraded to high sierra, and want to downgrade to El Capitan; Clean install, all data wiped, I don't care - everything is backed up!

So, I tried to acquire the os x el capitan install file on the app store but i get the error message:
"OS X can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because the version of macOS is too new"

Where can I get this file so I can create my bootable usb drive?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[CoastalOR]

I recently upgraded to high sierra, and want to downgrade to El Capitan; Clean install, all data wiped, I don't care - everything is backed up!

So, I tried to acquire the os x el capitan install file on the app store but i get the error message:
"OS X can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because the version of macOS is too new"

Where can I get this file so I can create my bootable usb drive?

You are getting that message because you are using one of these links with a newer OS:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206886
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12

I just used the above links while using Sierra and got the same message:



I could download 10.11 if I used the App Store "Purchased" tab (I had previously downloaded El Capitan):



Click "Download"



Click continue and it will download the El Capitan installer. When the installer is downloaded it will automatically launch. As it launches Quit the installer at the first question. That will leave you with a "Install OS X El Capitan" installer app (about 6 GB) in the Applications folder. I would recommend saving the Installer app somewhere safe on another drive and leave the original installer app in the Application folder for creating the USB installer drive.
Now you are ready to create a El Capitan USB Installer. After you create the USB installer successfully then you can delete the "Install OS X El Capitan" installer app from the Applications folder.

If you have not previously "Purchased" (Downloaded) El Capitan, then you may have to get it from a nearby friend or buy a El Capitan (10.11.6) USB installer from eBay.

EDIT: Can you use Sierra (10.12.6) instead?
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12

 

[scofopolis]

What if I download Yosemite (from my purchased list) and install that? Am I able to upgrade to El Capitan from there?

 

[cruisin]

The only restriction is you cannot go lower than the version that came with the computer. So you can install whatever you want (with a clean install) or do an upgrade at any time (if you are going to a higher version).

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

What if I download Yosemite (from my purchased list) and install that? Am I able to upgrade to El Capitan from there?

No. Have you tried the link on this page?
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT206886

1. Use this link to open the El Capitan page on the App Store: Get OS X El Capitan.

 

[scofopolis]

This does not pertain to me. How come I can't upgrade to el capitan from yosemite? Or from yosemite app store can't i download el capitan installer (I can't now because I'm on a newer os)?

 

[CoastalOR]

What if I download Yosemite (from my purchased list) and install that? Am I able to upgrade to El Capitan from there?

This does not pertain to me. How come I can't upgrade to el capitan from yosemite? Or from yosemite app store can't i download el capitan installer (I can't now because I'm on a newer os)?

It would really help if you told us what Mac model you have?

I did not currently have Yosemite on a Mac, so I connect a External drive that had a basic installation of Yosemite (10.10.5) to a 2011 MBP that I was not using. I used the El Capitan link from:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206886
It still would not let me download El Capitan.

Take a closer look at the Apple Support info in the link. It is geared to provide El Capitan for people that need to meet El Capitan requirements for High Sierra because they are on Snow Leopard or Lion. That is not your situation.

From OS 10.7 to 10.11 Apple tied the OS to your Apple ID used to "Purchase" (download). From OS 10.12 to 10.13 Apple stopped that requirement. Apple does not allow you to download 10.7 to 10.11 (10.11 unless you meet certain requirements) unless you previously purchased it. OS 10.9 - 10.11 were removed form availability for purchase when a new OS was released. Why - I don't know.

You could download Yosemite from your Purchased tab and then make a Yosemite USB installer. Installing Yosemite then trying to get El Capitan will not work unless you have already purchased El Capitan (per my test).

If you have to have El Capitan then you could try what I already suggested in my previous post.

Sierra is available for download.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Please tell us what happens when you click @CoastalOR's link, then 'Get OS X El Capitan'.

 

[scofopolis]

My system specs is attached as a screenshot.
When I try to download the el capitan installer I get the
"OS X can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because the version of macOS is too new." message.

So just to confirm, I cant reinstall a Yosemite system and acquire el capitan installer through the appstore and then create a usb bootable with el capitan?

 

[CoastalOR]

My system specs is attached as a screenshot.
When I try to download the el capitan installer I get the
"OS X can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because the version of macOS is too new." message.

So just to confirm, I cant reinstall a Yosemite system and acquire el capitan installer through the appstore and then create a usb bootable with el capitan?

Correct, that is what I said.

I have the same model MBP that you do, so I booted it from Yosemite (10.10.5) external drive and tried the link to download El Capitan. It did not work (see pic):

 

[Nermal]

I'm a bit confused. You say that you want to return to El Captain, which implies that you had it in the past. It should therefore be in your Purchased list and you should be able to download it from there without the compatibility check getting in the way.

 

[scofopolis]

I'm a bit confused. You say that you want to return to El Captain, which implies that you had it in the past. It should therefore be in your Purchased list and you should be able to download it from there without the compatibility check getting in the way.

sorry, I assumed el capital was a free upgrade from yosemite.. It is not?

 

[rafark]

I'm a bit confused. You say that you want to return to El Captain, which implies that you had it in the past. It should therefore be in your Purchased list and you should be able to download it from there without the compatibility check getting in the way.

His mac came with el capitan pre installed.

 

[DeltaMac]

From the opening post in this thread:

So, I tried to acquire the os x el capitan install file on the app store but i get the error message:
"OS X can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because the version of macOS is too new"

Isn't that the message that you get when you try to run the downloaded installer app, while booted to a newer system? That's what the OP has.

OP (@scofopolis ), don't you have the downloaded El Capitan installer app in your Applications folder (because you successfully downloaded it?). If that is true, all you need now is to use THAT installer app to create a bootable installer.
Just to make sure, check in your Applications folder for the app named "Install OS X El Capitan". Should be a 6.2GB app.

If that installer app is there in your Applications folder, then you are very close to what you need to do (go back to El Capitan.)
AND, all you need is to use that app to create a bootable installer, and you'll have what you need to downgrade.

 

[Nermal]

His mac came with el capitan pre installed.

Well if that's the case, then just use Internet Recovery (Cmd-Opt-R at chime) to reinstall it.

sorry, I assumed el capital was a free upgrade from yosemite.. It is not?

Yes, it was free, but still treated as a "purchase" (for $0) in the App Store.

 

[Weaselboy]

His mac came with el capitan pre installed.

OP try a Shift-Option-Command-R boot to get to Internet recovery and install the OS version that came from the factory.

When the recovery screen comes up, use Disk Util to erase the whole disk, not just the Macintosh HD volume.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

 

[ApfelKuchen]

sorry, I assumed el capital was a free upgrade from yosemite.. It is not?

The upgrade will be free, but if your Mac is capable of running the current version of MacOS, Apple won't allow you to upgrade to an intermediate version - you'll go from Yosemite right back to High Sierra.

Apple wants you on the current OS. This is part of the price we pay for free upgrades.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

I can really understand that you don´t want to stay with HighSierra. I did not even try to install it...

But Sierra in its last version runs perfectly and smooth.
Why not just go back to Sierra?
This would be easy because apple has this made possible for traumatized HS-Users...

Every HS-User can download the Sierra installer and easily go back from HS a step to the very stable OS 10.12.6 - and it will be supported/updated longer than ElCap (which runs indeed very good as well)...
regarding the Intel- hardware-issues (Meltdown and specter) this might be very important as I think there will be still many security patches to come for years.... much more than the ones we still got (last one yesterday)....
I think in September (then introducing OS 14.0) the support for El Cap will become less or just stop...

 

[cruisin]

The upgrade will be free, but if your Mac is capable of running the current version of MacOS, Apple won't allow you to upgrade to an intermediate version - you'll go from Yosemite right back to High Sierra.

Apple wants you on the current OS. This is part of the price we pay for free upgrades.

If you have ever downloaded a specific installer (like Sierra) you can redownload that installer from your history and use it to install. The forced install of the latest version is so far a iOS exclusive.

 

[DeltaMac]

And, of course, that only applies IF you have "purchased" that version. I'm not sure what you mean by "history", but the "Purchased" tab will show any apps that you have actually purchased. In this case, "free" is considered a purchase.
And, Apple does not list any OS after El Capitan in the Purchased tab, so you have to use the link (from post #2 above) to show the Sierra download page - even if you have previously downloaded Sierra. El Capitan, and older, should appear IF you have previously purchased those. There is a link where you can obtain El Capitan, too, should that be necessary.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

That is the reason why one should ALWAYS just download (not: install) the newest (mostly for one year very buggy) OS... as long as it is the "newest" one and appears as "update" in the App Store-app.

Once you downloaded it, it is registered as "purchased and ready to install". So you have always access to the OS, even if you never installed it - and even if apple decides to no longer allow you in future times to download "purchased" OS!

NEVER click on "automatically update" . ALWAYS keep yourself independent by choosing "Manual update" - but then always look for security updates and so on and install them.

Even if you only downloaded but not installed the last OS-version but a previous version from before, once you install it, you will be able to update to the latest version before the next version entered the market... (I think this works maybe even automatically)

you can also download the installer several times and copy it on a CD or so. By doing that it is not even necessary to download it once you want to install. Ive, I personally wait always just to the very last version of a "new" OS before installing it. This is the time always just after the next OS after begins its buggy existence in autumn...

After you installed a new OS, you will be asked if you want to delete the installer or if you want to keep the installer.
I prefer always to keep the installer. This is time-saving and makes you independent of sudden non-previsible changes in apple´s customer policies... (you never know...). Once you have an installer, nobody but you yourself can make it disappear/erase....

 

[macstatic]

That is the reason why one should ALWAYS just download (not: install) the newest (mostly for one year very buggy) OS... as long as it is the "newest" one and appears as "update" in the App Store-app.

Once you downloaded it, it is registered as "purchased and ready to install". So you have always access to the OS, even if you never installed it - and even if apple decides to no longer allow you in future times to download "purchased" OS!

A question related to the above (excellent advice BTW)...
Using the link (https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12) in posting #2 above I was redirected to the App store for downloading El Capitan. Unfortunately I was refused downloading it within 10.9.5 Mavericks which i'm using, so I had to install OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard (and further upgrade it to 10.6.8) on a different partition for this (luckily I have the installation DVDs from years ago) and access the App store El Capitan download from there.
Keeping the above in mind I first logged into my itunes account, but even though I downloaded the entire installer it didn't show up in the App Store "Purchased" section. How come?

Another tip regarding to what you write. To keep the update files (for storage on a hard drive etc. for later installations without needing to download again), go to the "App store" system preference and select "Download newly available updates in the background". This means the files are accessable (as far as I remember in the /Library/Updates/ folder -correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Newer bers

A question related to the above...
Using the link (https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12) in posting #2 above I was redirected to the App store for downloading El Capitan. Unfortunately I was refused downloading it within 10.9.5 Mavericks which i'm using, so I had to install OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard (and further upgrade it to 10.6.8) on a different partition for this (luckily I have the installation DVDs from years ago) and access the App store El Capitan download from there.
Keeping the above in mind I first logged into my itunes account, but even though I downloaded the entire installer it didn't show up in the App Store "Purchased" section. How come?

They stopped appearing in purchased around Sierra/High Sierra. Only Yosemite and older still do, I believe.

 

[macstatic]

Ah, you're right -I later read the same thing earlier in this thread.

So, 10.8 Mountain Lion is the first OSX which could be bought as a download from the Mac App store -I suppose it should show up there if purchased, and next 10.9 Mavericks if downloaded (free).
I do see 10.9 Mavericks in my "Purchases" since I did upgrade to that some years ago, but no other OSX/MacOS version (my previous OSX versions came with the computers as installation DVDs, or were purchased separately as physical DVDs).

But that leaves 10.10 Yosemite -is there an app store download for it, which I could use so as to register it as a "purchase" in the app store?

There's this page from Apple (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210717) which allows you to download 10.10 Yosemite, but directly from some Apple site, as a DMG file and not via the Mac app store, so it won't register as a purchase (on the other hand I believe that the OSX installers has had its certificates updated in the above link and for this link for downloading OSX 10.10 Yosemite up to 10.14 Mojave).

As far as I understand, this DMG file (which isn't the installer app itself, but in installer for the installer app! Confusing, but you need to open the DMG file, double-click on the .PKG file within in order for the actual 10.11 installer app to appear) has had its certificate updated from Apple so you don't need to do the date trick (adjust the Mac's clock prior to installing, using the Terminal tool which can be accessed at the very start of the installation procedure).

 

[sprague.rod]

This is always a hot topic and without going back over the previous 24 pages of this thread is love to just put in my 5 cents worth based on recent experience.
About 6 months ago my 2015 13" MBP running Mojave crashed. Unfortunately this also included my Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup. I never managed to identify the cause of the corruption but the OS was irrevocably damaged.
I was saved by a bootable thumb drive I had created of the High Sierra installer. I used to use DiskMaker X for this task but I have now swapped to Install Disk Creator, a much easier and reliable app.
A bootable installer of your previous macOS is invaluable because it overcomes two Apple issues. The fact that Apple removes the previous OS from the App Store on release of a new one (albeit temporarily) and the retrograde OS upgrade ban.