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Cannot Upgrade from OSX 10.10 to 10.11.

I want to upgrade from Yosemite 10.10 to El Capitan and can only find 10.11.6 download which needs 10.11 to be installed. I cannot find the download for 10.11only 10.11.6 which needs 10.11 installed.

Can anyone offer a solution as to how to fix this?

Thanks in advance.

Mac Pro, OS X 10.10

Posted on Jan 31, 2021 2:40 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jan 31, 2021 2:45 PM

The 10.11.6 update you downloaded, is just that an update where you must already be running an earlier version of

El Capitan before it will install.


What you need to do is download the full installer app using the instructions below.


If you do have an operating system on your mac and it is functioning then you can download

El Capitan using this method.


How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support


Go to Download OS and click on OS X El Capitan 10.11

this downloads InstallMacOSX.dmg to your Downloads folder.


The next section can only be done on a mac that is capable of running El Capitan,

a mac that came preinstalled with an OS later than El Capitan will refuse to do the next bit.


When downloaded open to InstallMacOSX.pkg, double-click on

that and an installation window will open, this does not install El Capitan

but converts the InstallMacOSX.pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app which 

you will find in your Applications folder, it should be 6.2GBs in size.


(If the installation window asks which disk you want to install to, you must pick 

the disk that you are booted to at the time. Not any internal or external disk that 

you want to eventually install El Capitan on, that is for later.)


To start the installation of El Capitan double click on the Install OS X El Capitan.app.


The copy of the install app self deletes after installing El Capitan, so make sure you keep a copy of the 

InstallMacOSX.dmg if you need it in future, or you could just make a copy of the Install OS X El Capitan.app 

prior to installing and moving it to an external drive for safe keeping. 

It is also possible to create a bootable USB installer disk using the Install OS X El Capitan.app in the Applications 

folder and the createinstallmedia command in the Terminal app. 


Read the instructions here,

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support

1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 31, 2021 2:45 PM in response to mb300e

The 10.11.6 update you downloaded, is just that an update where you must already be running an earlier version of

El Capitan before it will install.


What you need to do is download the full installer app using the instructions below.


If you do have an operating system on your mac and it is functioning then you can download

El Capitan using this method.


How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support


Go to Download OS and click on OS X El Capitan 10.11

this downloads InstallMacOSX.dmg to your Downloads folder.


The next section can only be done on a mac that is capable of running El Capitan,

a mac that came preinstalled with an OS later than El Capitan will refuse to do the next bit.


When downloaded open to InstallMacOSX.pkg, double-click on

that and an installation window will open, this does not install El Capitan

but converts the InstallMacOSX.pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app which 

you will find in your Applications folder, it should be 6.2GBs in size.


(If the installation window asks which disk you want to install to, you must pick 

the disk that you are booted to at the time. Not any internal or external disk that 

you want to eventually install El Capitan on, that is for later.)


To start the installation of El Capitan double click on the Install OS X El Capitan.app.


The copy of the install app self deletes after installing El Capitan, so make sure you keep a copy of the 

InstallMacOSX.dmg if you need it in future, or you could just make a copy of the Install OS X El Capitan.app 

prior to installing and moving it to an external drive for safe keeping. 

It is also possible to create a bootable USB installer disk using the Install OS X El Capitan.app in the Applications 

folder and the createinstallmedia command in the Terminal app. 


Read the instructions here,

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support

Cannot Upgrade from OSX 10.10 to 10.11.

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