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msw250

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 29, 2017
4
0
OK, I know this is a huge imposition. But to make a long story long. I purchased a macbook air specifically for El Capitan. There was a hardware defect in the unit that did not allow it to be used. After a few repairs with the specific request that the OS not be changed, Apple removed the OS installing Sierra, which I cannot use with my printers. Problem is that after erasing the hard drive, the OS was not El Capitan but an earlier, buggy OS that's impossible to use. And since Apple no longer allows downloads for any OS other than the latest, I can't get El Capitan back and Apple won't provide it to me even though they should contractually. It was recommended that I find someone with El Capitan to make a bootable installer of the program for me. But I don't know anyone with El Capitan. Is there a kind soul out there who might be able to provide this to me in the holiday spirit so I can keep this machine?
 
Problem is that after erasing the hard drive, the OS was not El Capitan but an earlier, buggy OS that's impossible to use.
Out of curiosity just which "earlier buggy OS" would that be.
Never know I might just want to steer clear of it myself.

If all else fails, there's always Ebay...
 
Last edited:
Here's a link to an Apple support article.
Scroll part way down the page to the link to download the El Capitan installer app.
Hi, thanks for the reply. But won't allow download on any computer with newer OS or older - already tried.
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Out of curiosity just which "earlier buggy OS" would that be.
Never know I might just want to steer clear of it myself.

If all else fails, there's always Ebay...

what's on ebay?
 
OP:
What version of the OS is on the MacBook NOW?

If you can't seem to get ahold of El Cap on your own, as was mentioned above, go on ebay and look for a seller who will sell you a USB flash drive with the El Cap installer "ready-to-go".

Just boot and install.
Will run you about $20 or so.
If nothing else works, "go with what does".
 
You might be able to download it from the ‘Purchased’ section in the Mac App Store. If it isn’t there, you could try and do and do an internet recovery by holding CMD + R on boot after erasing the internal hard drive first. If that doesn’t work either, try the link DeltaMac provided on another Mac (if possible).

Once you’ve downloaded the OS, format a USB-drive with ‘Untitled’ as name and run this script in Terminal to create a bootable installer:
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app --nointeraction
 
OK, I know this is a huge imposition. But to make a long story long. I purchased a macbook air specifically for El Capitan. There was a hardware defect in the unit that did not allow it to be used. After a few repairs with the specific request that the OS not be changed, Apple removed the OS installing Sierra, which I cannot use with my printers. Problem is that after erasing the hard drive, the OS was not El Capitan but an earlier, buggy OS that's impossible to use. And since Apple no longer allows downloads for any OS other than the latest, I can't get El Capitan back and Apple won't provide it to me even though they should contractually. It was recommended that I find someone with El Capitan to make a bootable installer of the program for me. But I don't know anyone with El Capitan. Is there a kind soul out there who might be able to provide this to me in the holiday spirit so I can keep this machine?
 
Hello, went in to Apple store to tell my sad tale. And manager there said both Apple Repair and all stores can restore any OS. Not sure why two technical support supervisors kept telling me over the course of three months that no one at Apple could restore any OS other than the newest one, which I thought sounded like BS. Thanks for all the replies.
 
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