How do I install iMovie 10.0.0 on El Capitan?

The screenshot you posted shows " update " for iMovie 10 which would suggest that your Mac sees that it already has version 10 installed .

I too see the word update on my El Capitan system but this is because I have never updated to 10.1.6 from 10.1.4. I hardly use it so I haven't bothered .

When I click on update I too get the constant spinning wheel that you get , nothing else happens

I then dragged iMovie 10 to the trash BUT DID NOT EMPTY THE TRASH .

Now going to the App Store I get Install instead of update and the option to download a compatible version.

Were you the one that upgraded to El Capitan from Snow Leopard , or did somebody else do it .

Could somebody else have installed iMovie 10 ?

Do a search on your Mac for iMovie 10 to see if it is hidden somewhere .

It would appear that your Mac sees that it already has a version of iMovie 10 so try to find it .

If you do find iMovie 10 on your Mac and you want to update it, then drag it to the trash but do not empty the trash yet and see if you now get the option to install from the App Store that I got.

If you cannot find iMovie 10 on your Mac then drag iMovie 9.0.9 to the trash , do not empty trash as you will lose it for ever and see now if you get the option to install iMovie 10.

If you can install the latest compatible version of iMovie 10 then now drag version 9.0.9 from the trash before you forget, or else it will be gone the next time you empty the trash.

You would increase your chances of getting responses by starting a new discussion.

iMovie 9 started to become a little dysfunctional begining with El Capitan. The dysfunctionality continued to get worse with each successive operating system until by Mojave it didn’t work at all. Black photos was one of the earlier observed issues. I am not aware of issues with video clips. Unfortunately no cure other than to upgrade to iMovie 10, that unfortunately you are unable to do from your present software.

For some workarounds, you might try reducing the resolution of the photos by opening them in the Preview app on your Mac, and doing a Tools/Adjust size and reducing the long dimension to a value under 4000, say 2500. You might also try reducing the resolution of the video clips by opening them in QuickTimePlayer and exporting them at a lower resolution.

One of the workarounds for black photos was to put them into a Photos app slide show and export them as video files. The video files would play normally when imported into iMovie.

— Rich

So, to recap, when you sign in at the app store and search for iMovie, and the iMovie app icon displays, and you click on the "Install" button, nothing happens and you can't get the iMovie 10 upgrade. Apparently nothing in the links that I previously posted has resolved it. If that's the situation, then I think that you are out of luck unless you can purchase iMovie 10 from a third party vendor, or transfer it from another computer that you own.

However, iMovie 9.0.9 is a very good program. It actually offers more features than iMovie 10 -- such as chapters and an aspect ratio option. So, since you are stuck back in El Capitan, there would be no reason other than personal preference to upgrade to iMovie 10. You can create great movies with iMovie 9. But, of course, that would be your call.

-- Rich

You may remember that when I clicked on update I got the spinning wheel like you did and nothing else happened..This was with nothing dragged to the trash.

I have still not updated so I still have the word update when I search for iMovie in the App Store.

So I have just tried this...you will have needed to have dragged iMovie 9.0.9 from the trash back to the applications folder , if not do it before trying the following.

In the App Store, as before, I clicked on update but got the spinning wheel . After about 30 seconds and whilst the wheel is still spinning I clicked on Store at the top and selected >Check for unfinished downloads and it started to install .

So give that a try .

The difference with mine is that I do have iMovie 10 installed and is shown in the purchased page and you do not , so that could make the difference but worth a shot.

The spinning wheel that I am referring to is the one you marked with an arrow and a question mark in your 2nd screen shot in the very first post.

If you scroll down to the Answers section at the end of the link I sent earlier from the spectre_ghost post on a different thread, you will see a method of obtaining iMovie 10 from the iMovie 9 .dmg that you already have.

Here's the link:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/301762/is-it-possible-to-download-acquire-imovie-10-1-6/378247#378247

I am not clear as to whether you tried the solution.

-- Rich

You are very welcome. 😊

If it's any solace, there are lots of people with older operating systems that are in your situation. Fortunately, El Capitan is a good OS with hardly any problems reported. Actually, it runs iMovie 10.1.6 very well with no glitches, but can't run the current iMovie versions that are designed for 64bit. The problem is in finding iMovie 10.1.6. There are unauthorized websites that purport to provide downloads of past iMovie versions, but they are not reliable and can sometimes result in malware being installed on your Mac. iMovie 9 is a good alternative. Some people have problems even getting iMovie 9, since it is discontinued, but you have it.

-- Rich

Hmmm. Unfortunately it looks like iMovie 10 isn’t in the cards, unless you can copy it from another computer that you own. There are websites that purport to sell older iMovie versions. They are not Apple approved and often contain malware.

Sorry we couldn’t find a fix for your situation.

—- Rich

Thesurreyfriends brings up a very good point. I hadn't noticed the "Update" button next to the iMovie icon. So iMovie 10 could have been on your Mac at some point in time, although it may have been deleted. This occurs frequently when the computer was purchased second hand and the seller deleted iMovie before transferring it. Or it could have have accidentally been deleted.

-- Rich

Hi Rich

The interesting thing is that when I drag iMovie 10 to the trash then the App Store changes from Update to Install. So , I interpret this to mean that if it says Update then it is on the Mac but not in the trash.

Who knows ?

Hi, thesurreyfriends,

That's what I would think. The app store apparently doesn't recognize things in the trash and regards them as deleted. So can't "Update" them since it doesn't see anything to update, but can "Install". So since the original poster is showing "Update" I think you are right that the app store thinks that iMovie 10 is still on the Mac. But sometimes the app store works in mysterious ways.

-- Rich