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msintros

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2014
75
4
Running Mavericks on a late 2009 Mac Pro (5,1)

According to compatibility chart this should be possible, but the app store simply says I can't install this version, without explanation.

Any ideas?
 
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Yes, 10.9.5
[doublepost=1517970335][/doublepost]I just realized that the app store description says that this version of El Capitan is for Snow Leopard and Lion, so that's probably why. But for the life of me I cannot find an installer for Mavericks users. Any ideas?
 
This text pretty much sums it up, taken from the Apple link.
"OS X El Capitan remains available for Mac computers that can't upgrade to macOS High Sierra, or that need to upgrade to El Capitan first."
The link was meant for and supplied as a path to macOS High Sierra for those who had not kept their systems up to-date and now wanted to upgrade.
Your MacPro 5,1 is a High Sierra supported system hence your download problems.
 
This text pretty much sums it up, taken from the Apple link.
"OS X El Capitan remains available for Mac computers that can't upgrade to macOS High Sierra, or that need to upgrade to El Capitan first."
The link was meant for and supplied as a path to macOS High Sierra for those who had not kept their systems up to-date and now wanted to upgrade.
Your MacPro 5,1 is a High Sierra supported system hence your download problems.

Not according to this https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201475
 
You are mis-interpreting that page.
MacPro mid-2010 is a directly supported with High Sierra. That's your MacPro5,1
 
OK, it appears you are probably right. I was able to get the High Sierra installer from the app store however...

1. it requires a firmware update and
2. I don't want to update to High Sierra regardless because some apps I have are not supported on it

So back to my original question: is there any way to still get El Capitan for this system? I assume the answer is to find someone who has a USB or DVD installer that they made themselves. Does Apple ever give access to specific installers if they are not available on the app store?
 
That link just reinforces what I said, your MacPro can use High Sierra so don't fight it, Apple knows what's best for you.

lol, mkay... I know you're probably joking. It's not a question of me fighting it or not fighting it. Unless Apple is gonna buy me upgrades to crucial third party programs, it's not even a decision :)
[doublepost=1517974220][/doublepost]
That link just reinforces what I said, your MacPro can use High Sierra so don't fight it, Apple knows what's best for you.
[doublepost=1517974100][/doublepost]
Times like this, eBay is your friend.

Yeah I found a guy who sells DVD installers so I might have to resort to that. Was hoping to get a download somewhere but it's looking like it ain't gonna happen.
 
This is why I've always download Apples Systems as they came available even if I had no immediate plans for them. Never know what you may need or want in the future and it's nice to have everything at hand.
Even more important now that purchased apps, at least Operating Systems are starting to disappear from ones "Purchased" list.
 
This is why I've always download Apples Systems as they came available even if I had no immediate plans for them. Never know what you may need or want in the future and it's nice to have everything at hand.

In that case... got an El Capitan installer you want to share with me? :D
 
I can show you a screen shot of my system info if it will convince you.
 
It's not that I don't believe you, but the issue is if it's a 2009 (that hasn't been flashed by a hack to a 5,1), then it won't actually support High Sierra (or Sierra).
But it should allow for the installation of El-Capitan, which it won't.
[doublepost=1517976299][/doublepost]
In that case... got an El Capitan installer you want to share with me? :D
Sent you a PM...
 
That's why I'm wondering what is going on. If it's a 2009, then it's a 4,1 and it should see El-Cap.
I would suspect the fact that the OP thinks it is a 5,1 is probably because it was reported as such when he got it.
Many if not most 4,1's end up flashed to a 5,1 and are sold as such.
 
I actually do suspect that it was flashed to 5,1. I bought it on eBay a year or so ago, and it's obviously been upgraded (has a GTX 680 video card, and some extra RAM, hard drives, etc).
 
Unfortunately I can't use Homebrew because it requires 10.10 or above.

I think you can install High Sierra on your cMP, isn't it? Just do that on a spare HDD /SSD, then download whatever installer you want.

El Capitan is only available for those who has downloaded it before. If you never do that, I don't think you can get it in the Appstore (in the normal way).

I know there is a bit of work to do. But if you don't want to download the installer from any other unknown website. And no friend can do it for you. You have to spends some time on the work around.

If you can install HS on a virtual machine, may be you can download the El Capitan installer via that. So, virtually no down time required.
 
Last year Apple started to offer direct download links to 10.11 and 10.12, even if you didn't have "bought" it before on the Mac App Store.

10.11 support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
10.11 Mac App Store direct download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12

10.12 support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202
10.12 Mac App Store direct download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12

Tested both Mac App Store direct links on my 4,1 upgraded to 5,1 Mac Pro.

Got stuck on this mess too, if you use the usual link on your past purchase list, you get the error message.
 
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Last year Apple started to offer direct download links to 10.11 and 10.12, even if you didn't have "bought" it before on the Mac App Store.

10.11 support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
10.11 Mac App Store direct download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12

10.12 support article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202
10.12 Mac App Store direct download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12

Tested both Mac App Store direct links on my 4,1 upgraded to 5,1 Mac Pro.

Got stuck on this mess too, if you use the usual link on your past purchase list, you get the error message.
Unfortunately you can't download El Capitan if you're on a newer build :(

App_Store.png
 
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