I have a 09 MacBook Pro that I installed a new SSD in because the old hard drive was trashed. Im trying to use my wifes new MacBook Air to create a bootable USB drive with El Capitan. I downloaded the El Capitan disk image and when I try and run the installer it will not let me run the installer on the MacBook Air. Im not sure where to go from here.
MacBook Pro
The problem might be that your wifes' MacBook Air maybe too new to install El Capitan, I know that is not what you want to do but if your wifes' mac came installed with a newer OS then Mac OS X El Capitan it will refuse it.
Even though you simply want to convert the Install MacOSX.pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app so you can make a bootable USB installer for your MBP, the mac does not understand that and assumes your intention is to try and install El Capitan on a mac that cannot run it. What happens is that the installer checks what mac you are using against the Distribution file in the InstallMacOSX.pkg which includes a list of macs it can be installed on, if there is no match you will get the error.
Can you let me know what MacBook Air you have, look under About This Mac for the Model and year
and also open the System Information.app (Application/Utilities) and tell me what the model identifier is,
highlight the Hardware section.
There is a way round it but it takes modifying the Distribution file by adding the Board ID of your wifes' mac and repackaging it and then hopefully it would work.
To find the Board-ID of the MacBook Air you need to open Terminal and copy and paste the text,
ioreg -lp IOService | grep board-id
then press Return
You can let me know here and if I find the time in-between loading my sleigh with presents,
getting the reindeer prepped for the big night and having a hearty goodbye with Mother Christmas
I may be able to send you instructions.
The other thing you could try is borrow another mac that could run El Capitan and do it on that mac,
a lot simpler.
The problem might be that your wifes' MacBook Air maybe too new to install El Capitan, I know that is not what you want to do but if your wifes' mac came installed with a newer OS then Mac OS X El Capitan it will refuse it.
Even though you simply want to convert the Install MacOSX.pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app so you can make a bootable USB installer for your MBP, the mac does not understand that and assumes your intention is to try and install El Capitan on a mac that cannot run it. What happens is that the installer checks what mac you are using against the Distribution file in the InstallMacOSX.pkg which includes a list of macs it can be installed on, if there is no match you will get the error.
Can you let me know what MacBook Air you have, look under About This Mac for the Model and year
and also open the System Information.app (Application/Utilities) and tell me what the model identifier is,
highlight the Hardware section.
There is a way round it but it takes modifying the Distribution file by adding the Board ID of your wifes' mac and repackaging it and then hopefully it would work.
To find the Board-ID of the MacBook Air you need to open Terminal and copy and paste the text,
ioreg -lp IOService | grep board-id
then press Return
You can let me know here and if I find the time in-between loading my sleigh with presents,
getting the reindeer prepped for the big night and having a hearty goodbye with Mother Christmas
I may be able to send you instructions.
The other thing you could try is borrow another mac that could run El Capitan and do it on that mac,
a lot simpler.
I appreciate your response a great deal, I have about 10 places to go between today and tomorrow so I will get the information you requested as soon as I can. Again thank you for your reply.
creating bootable usb drive
