El Capitan. no packages were eligible for install.

Hi there, just found a way regarding the date & time issue that everyone is experiencing. Turning just the wifi off doesn’t work, what you need to do is pick another wifi (from the list of available wifi) obviously you are not going to know the password but that doesn’t matter, type a password on which ever wifi you had choosen. This will trigger the incorrect password message and also by doing this your computer will (sort of) forget your home wifi and stay unconnected to internet. So now when you restart the whole thing again it should do it all the way, I’m currently in the process of it.

Thank you jmaiers, this solved my problem too!

I was trying to install El Capitan inside VMWare Fusion and it was the only OS X / macOS version that was giving me serious problems. Your solution finally enabled me to create a 10.11 virtual machine.

For anyone else ending up in here because of problems using El Capitan in VMWare; the other problem was that the installer insisted on me connection an Apple Wireless Mouse and even not working when I got one. This step can be fixed by changing the USB compatibility from 3.1 to 2.0 and just use a wired mouse.

Thanks again, jmaiers! I now finally have 8 OS X / macOS versions running perfectly inside VMWarfe Fusion, from OS X 10.9 to the latest macOS 11.1.

Thanks for this answer, for other like me not reading carefully enough, what you type in terminal is:

date 0115124517

PS: I followed the instructions exactly and it worked (even as wifi reconnects on restart it doesn't change the date back)

Thanks!

jmaiers-

You nailed it! It worked perfectly on an early 2009 21.5 inch iMac I have struggling get ready for sale. I was not able to make a bootable USB installer for El Capitan even after following Apple's latest instructions. Your date tip save the day, so grateful! Thanks for posting.

hi jmaiers

after I turned off wifi . the go to utilities- terminal . inside Terminal text Box ->it start like

-bash-3.2#.

so when I type -> date 0115124517 and when I pressed enter - NO DATE come out and I am stuck ???

any help

Hey just wanted to say thanks - made that work today on an old mac from the old days - for anyone who didn't know - i put in "Date 0115124517" into terminal. just putting the numbers didn't work for me.

Can't thank you enough!!!

Mike

I don’t know how you know this stuff but you’re a genius! Wiped an old Mac to give to my daughter and couldn’t get the da*n thing to reload new software. Saw your answer and it worked perfectly! Many thanks indeed

Thanks mate! This really worked,

But one add on would be holding the option key and clicking on the WiFi, which then shows the option - "Disconnect from the network" (if already connected) and clicking it will ensure that the date changed in the terminal is not reverted back to the original date due to the internet connection at any stage further in this process.

After this you can proceed to the restart option shown and it works well.

jmaiers wrote:

1. Took me forever to figure this out and ive got it dialed in and want to help people with the same issue it happens every time you do a clean restore

no usb needed

use disk utility and clean drive you will install on...

2. Connect to a wifi or plug in ethernet and download os x (second option I believe ..) It will download and then try to install itself and then fail with no packages were eligible message with option to restart ....

3. shut off wifi (top right) or unplug ethernet cord

4. go to utilities -terminal- type this and only this, date 0115124517

5. it will show new date with new time it should be jan 1 12:45 2017

6. now hit restart ( wifi will reconnect automatically)- if using ethernet hit reset and connect ethernet cord

——it will now do its thing and you will notice a different screen then previous—- thank you for everyones input I figured a simplified straight to the point version would be beneficial to everyone- no usb needed

This is brilliant jmiers, this procedure helped a lot. I kept seeing that the problem had to do with the date change but had no context as to when to change it. To those who get to S6 and find still no joy at that point (as I did), try turning off the wifi again and checking the date in Terminal because the date reverted to current once wifi was turned back on (in my case). A slight variant and not sure what the connection, if any.

OP didn't respond so I will. changing the date to mid 2017 did work using the terminal command with two digit inputs (date {month}{day}{hour}{minute}{year} EX: "date 0601120017" changes the date to June 1, 2017 at 12:00 PDT)

My goodness alive! You saved my bacon. Thanks!

I followed your exact instructions, typed "date 0115124517" into Terminal, and I was off to the races. Going to give new life to my old MacBook Late 2008!

Thank you @golyapple & @jmaiers - mine still wouldn’t work as the wifi automatically connects to the Mac when restarting - so I switched it off at the wall before I hit restart & voila! Left it off - currently installing - fingers crossed!

Thank you all!

That frigging worked!!!!! I've been at it all day!! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much jaimers.

I'm the guy who needs exact instructions. Not to be nit-picky, I'd include exact instructions because there's too much to assume.

For example, one instruction was to "hit restart." Since I've never been in these menus before, I had to learn by trial and error. I was looking for a restart button - obviously since there wasn't one, I had to go searching - then I had to make sure I wasn't clicking on the menu item 'restart" - it's so crazy all these details.

I must say, I don't know how you came up with this fix but with the help of Charlee78, I figured it out. Thank the both of you - Thank you SOOOOO much.

Hey there, I'm trying to run this, however, on step 6, when the computer reboots, the wifi automatically connects and the clock gets reset to 2021. This results in the install failure.

Any suggestions?

When you say "hit restart" I believe you mean restart the entire computer... but maybe I'm wrong here.

Thank you jmaiers!! This worked like a charm with my mid-2009 iMac and I’m trying this dated 02april21. Happy to get the computer working again after being stuck on the recovery screen for the last four hours.