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frdamian Author

Level 1

9 points

Clean installing El Capitan on 2009 MBP

I cannot clean install MAC OSX 10.11 on my 2009 Mac Book Pro.

I need to repurpose this older MBP for someone else here.

I have tried numerous times and a few different ways.

Installed starting from 10.6 and kept installing each subsequent system until I reached 10.10 but when I tried 10.11 no luck.
tried from an external drive that had the 10.11 installer

tried using DiskMaker X Pro

Tried form the recovery partition, re-downloading the OS directly. It looked this was working because it took a while for it to download and install. No luck.
I was able to clone my own 10.11 volume from my MacPro to this MBP but of course that was not the final result I was intending seeing I need a clean/new system.

I have provided a screen shot of the message that comes up everytime.

I tried all of these attempts more than once with the same result.

Any info would be much appreciated. I have been fighting with this on/off for a couple of months now and I am completely baffled with why this will not work.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 22, 2020 9:00 AM

Top-ranking reply

macjack

Level 10

111,216 points

Posted on Feb 22, 2020 9:09 AM

The proper way to prepare your Mac for sale would be to install the original OS it shipped with:

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

If you feel you really need to install a later OS, the issue you are having maybe because a newer OS than El Capitan is available. I'd try High Sierra.

Get macOS High Sierra.

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Clean installing El Capitan on 2009 MBP

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