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Trouble updating to El capitan in network recovery

Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
Hi all,

I inherited a 2012 macbook pro and formatted the hard drive. I created a bootable usb stick with el capitan on it, but I'm having trouble installing it. I get stuck because i can't install it to applications. Any help is appreciated!
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,749
4,572
Delaware
You said that you have El Capitan on bootable USB stick...
Do you mean a bootable installer for El Capitan?
If so, you just boot to that installer drive, then install El Capitan on your internal drive. The installer takes care of putting everything in the proper place.
Are you getting an error of some kind? What is the error message?
 
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
I grabbed El Capitan from apple directly. I can't even boot to the drive. Even when i hold option, the only choice i get is network recovery
 
Last edited:
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
I grabbed El Capitan from apple directly. I can't even boot to the drive. Even when i hold option, the only choice i get is network recovery
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,749
4,572
Delaware
What steps did you follow to create that bootable installer?
Terminal, or one of the various apps that can do that, or another method?
 
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
DeltaMac said:
What steps did you follow to create that bootable installer?
Terminal, or one of the various apps that can do that, or another method?
Click to expand...

A windows app that creates it. This macbook is the only Mac computer i have.
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,749
4,572
Delaware
Looking at those steps, I can see why you might be having a problem.
What exactly is on the flash drive when transmac is finished with it?
There SHOULD be the actual installer app, which will be named "Install OS X El Capitan"
What do you see when you browse to that flash drive?
(If you see something named "InstallESD.dmg", for example, that is not likely to work, and means that you need to find some other method. I have followed other users that have tried, and failed to correctly make macOS installers on Windows.)
I don't know of reliable methods to do that on Windows --- or, I just haven't looked too hard for something that works.
But then, I have 10 working Macs of various vintages here in the house, so, there's that...

(Find someone with a Mac.. Yeah, I know, today's situation makes that a bit more challenging. But ... )
 
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
I grabbed the one off the Apple website, which is InstallMacOSX.dmg. That has InstallMacOSX.pkg inside it.
 
throAU

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
9,137
7,293
Perth, Western Australia
outside of the issue you're currently dealign with...

One thing I would strongly suggest to check before going any further is - from your running existing OS - check to see where there are any firmware updates for the Mac first!

Otherwise you can get into the situation where the Mac firmware is too old to recognise the code signature on the newer OS and won't accept it. I just spent the best part of a week screwing around with an older 2012 non-retina MacBook Pro with this.
 
throAU

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
9,137
7,293
Perth, Western Australia
Looks like Apple suggest to just do this:

How do I get firmware updates for Mac?

Firmware updates for your Mac are included when you update macOS.
support.apple.com



However the machine I was dealing with I was asked to "just wipe it, we're getting rid of it" and I didn't check for existing Mavericks updates first :D

Once wiped... I had to go finding ancient copies of macOS installers to get it back up and running to then load firmware into it...
 
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
i havent done anything.... i just inherited the computer a couple days ago and wiped it
 
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
So let me pose a question to the class. I was contemplating putting in an SSD. Would that fix all this?
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,749
4,572
Delaware
Casey Jarombek said:
I grabbed the one off the Apple website, which is InstallMacOSX.dmg. That has InstallMacOSX.pkg inside it.
Click to expand...
You need the next step, which is to run that InstallMacOSX.pkg file. It will use the Mac installer app to copy all the files for the installer, and make the app that you actually need to use.
(I don't think you can do this on transmac, but I could be wrong on that. You need the Mac installer app, which likely means that you ... also need a Mac..
One possible solution:
Boot to Internet Recovery (boot, holding Option-Command-R. You will see a rotating globe. Your MBPro will boot to Apple's servers through your internet connection. This might take several minutes to get to the Utilities menu screen. Once there, you can Reinstall OS X, which will offer a system to install. Could be as old as Lion, or something newer (it's Apple's choice at that point, but at least it will be something to boot from then.
Let us know how it goes.

Yes, replacing a spinning hard drive with an SSD is a good step. You do need to remember that if you replace with an SSD, then boot to the installer (internet recovery or whatever works for you), then your FIRST step is to go to Disk Utility, and erase the SSD (format for Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) so the macOS installer will have a valid destination for the system install.
 
Casey Jarombek

Casey Jarombek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 17, 2020
13
0
I already tried installing lion that way. It showed that there was - 567788864211 hours to go, then gave an error saying could not download the additional components needed. I even reset the date back to 2013.
 
BrianBaughn

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,821
2,493
Baltimore, Maryland
Casey Jarombek said:
I already tried installing lion that way. It showed that there was - 567788864211 hours to go, then gave an error saying could not download the additional components needed. I even reset the date back to 2013.
Click to expand...

When you started up in Internet Recovery (Command-R) did you then connect the wifi? It won't download anything unless it's connected. I say try that again.

For sure it's got a spinner hard drive? Some 2012 MBPs came with flash hard drives. I would definitely advise putting in an SSD and increasing the RAM (if needed) but only after you know you can get it working properly. In your OP you didn't say if you know it's working.

2012 MacBook Pros can be updated to the latest macOS version, Catalina, but you'll want to do that after it has an SSD. So if it has a spinner, don't use the method of Internet Recovery that gives you Catalina.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

BTW most 12-year olds know more about this stuff than adults.
 
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