Trying to upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan

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Level 1

8 points

Trying to upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan

Hi El Capitan Community,

I'm trying to upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan but am struggling to download it. I followed the instructions in the official Apple support note;

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

which instruct you to click on this app store link;

https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12

and when I do so and click 'Get', I get this error;

'We could not complete your purchase - This version of OS X 10.11 cannot be installed on this computer'

I did see another post somewhere suggesting it was to do with the app store terms and conditions having changed and that trying to download something else from the app store to trigger the new T&C acceptance prompt would then make the error go away, but that didn't lead me anywhere useful.

My machine is a Late 2013 Retina MBP, so meets the minimum spec.

I'd welcome any suggestions for where to go from here please...

Thanks! :-)

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on May 31, 2019 3:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

May 31, 2019 10:01 AM in response to snowyshiers

As Neil says your Mac can upgrade to Mojave. When you try to download El Capitan the App Store will have a quick check of your Macs details, if you can upgrade further than El Capitan you will be refused the download, with the rather unhelpful message.

So go ahead and download Mojave via Neils link. Make a full back up first, check that any third party apps you use have updates so they will continue to work in Mojave. Also if you use any printers/ scanners or other hardware have updated drivers and software so they too will operate under Mojave.

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Answer 2

Niel

Community+ 2025

Level 10

741,125 points

May 31, 2019 6:45 AM in response to snowyshiers

Your computer is capable of running Mojave. If you don't want to upgrade all the way, go to a Mac which isn't or one running 10.7.5 or earlier, start the download there, and then get it from the purchases list on the MacBook Pro.

(171938)

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Answer 3

snowyshiers Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 2, 2019 1:35 PM in response to Niel

Thanks very much - I was able to download the installer with another older machine. Even though I didn't do the install yet, I'm marking this as solved since my question was really about the download. Thanks again!

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,215 points

May 31, 2019 11:09 AM in response to snowyshiers

Application Compatibility

Do a backup before installing, preferable 2 backups on 2 different drives.

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Trying to upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan

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